60.
Live Facts, not Fancies
Questioner:
You say that whatever you see is yourself. You also admit that you see
the world as
we
see it. Here is today's newspaper with All the horrors going on. Since
the world is yourself, how
can
you explain such misbehaviour?
Nisargadatta:
Which world do you have in mind?
Questioner:
Our common world, in which we live.
Nisargadatta:
Are you sure we live in the same world? I do not mean nature, the sea
and the land, plants and
animals.
They are not the problem, nor the endless space, the infinite time,
the inexhaustible power.
Do
not be misled by my eating and smoking, reading and talking. My mind
is not here, my life is not
here.
Your world, of desires and their fulfilments, of fears and their
escapes, is definitely not my
world.
I do not even perceive it, except through what you tell me about it.
It is your private dream
world
and my only reaction to it is to ask you to stop dreaming.
Questioner:
Surely, wars and revolutions are not dreams. Sick mothers and starving
children are not
dreams.
Wealth, ill-gotten and misused, is not a dream.
Nisargadatta:
What else?
Questioner:
A dream cannot be shared.
Nisargadatta:
Nor can the waking state. All the three states -- of waking, dreaming
and sleeping -- are
subjective,
personal, intimate. They all happen to and are contained within the
little bubble in
consciousness,
called 'I'. The real world lies beyond the self.
Questioner:
Self or no self, facts are real.
Nisargadatta:
Of course facts are real! I live among them. But you live with
fancies, not with facts. Facts never
clash,
while your life and world are full of contradictions. Contradiction is
the mark of the false; the
real
never contradicts itself.
For
instance, you complain that people are abjectly poor. Yet you do not
share your riches with
them.
You mind the war next door, but you hardly give it a thought when it
is in some far off country.
The
shifting fortunes of your ego determine your values; 'I think', 'I
want', 'I must' are made into
absolutes.
Questioner:
Nevertheless, the evil is real.
Nisargadatta:
Not more real than you are. Evil is in the wrong approach to problems
created by
misunderstanding
and misuse. It is a vicious circle.
Questioner:
Can the circle be broken?
Nisargadatta:
A false circle need not be broken. It is enough to see it as it is --
non-existent.
Questioner:
But, real enough to make us submit to and inflict indignities and
atrocities.
Nisargadatta:
Insanity is universal. Sanity is rare. Yet there is hope, because the
moment we perceive our
insanity,
we are on the way to sanity. This is the function of the Guru -- to
make us see the
madness
of our daily living. Life makes you conscious, but the teacher makes
you aware.
Questioner:
Sir, you are neither the first nor the last. Since immemorial times
people were breaking into
reality.
Yet how little it affected our lives! The Ramas and the Krishnas, the
Buddhas and the Christs
have
come and gone and we are as we were; wallowing in sweat and tears.
What have the great
ones
done, whose lives we witnessed? What have you done, Sir, to alleviate
the world's thrall?
Nisargadatta:
You alone can undo the evil you have created. Your own callous
selfishness is at the root of it.
Put
first your own house in order and you will see that your work is done.
Questioner:
The men of wisdom and of love, who came before us, did set themselves
right, often at a
tremendous
cost. What was the outcome? A shooting star, however bright, does not
make the night
less
dark.
Nisargadatta:
To judge them and their work you must become one of them. A frog in a
well knows nothing
about
the birds in the sky.
Questioner:
Do you mean to say that between good and evil there is no wall?
Nisargadatta:
There is no wall, because there is no good and no evil. In every
concrete situation there is only
the
necessary and the unnecessary. The needful is right, the needless is
wrong.
Questioner:
Who decides?
Nisargadatta:
The situation decides. Every situation is a challenge which demands
the right response. When
the
response is right, the challenge is met and the problem ceases. If the
response is wrong, the
challenge
is not met and the problem remains unsolved. Your unsolved problems --
that is what
constitutes
your karma. Solve them rightly and be free.
Questioner:
You seem to drive me always back into myself. Is there no objective
solution to the world's
problems?
Nisargadatta:
The world problems were created by numberless people like you, each
full of his own desires
and
fears. Who can free you of your past, personal and social, except
yourself? And how will you do
it
unless you see the urgent need of your being first free of cravings
born of illusion? How can you
truly
help, as long as you need help yourself?
Questioner:
In what way did the ancient sages help? In what way do you help? A few
individuals profit, no
doubt;
your guidance and example may mean a lot to them; but in what way do
you affect humanity,
the
totality of life and consciousness? You say that you are the world and
the world is you; what
impact
have you made on it?
Nisargadatta:
What kind of Impact do you expect?
Questioner:
Man is stupid, selfish, cruel.
Nisargadatta:
Man is also wise, affectionate and kind.
Questioner:
Why does not goodness prevail?
Nisargadatta:
It does -- in my real world. In my world even what you call evil is
the servant of the good and
therefore
necessary. It is like boils and fevers that clear the body of
impurities. Disease is painful,
even
dangerous, but if dealt with rightly, it heals.
Questioner:
Or kills.
Nisargadatta:
In some cases death is the best cure. A life may be worse than death,
which is but rarely an
unpleasant
experience, whatever the appearances. Therefore, pity the living,
never the dead. This
problem
of things, good and evil in themselves, does not exist in my world.
The needful is good and
the
needless is evil. In your world the pleasant is good and the painful
is evil.
Questioner:
What is necessary?
Nisargadatta:
To grow is necessary. To outgrow is necessary. To leave behind the
good for the sake of the
better
is necessary.
Questioner:
To what end?
Nisargadatta:
The end is in the beginning. You end where you start -- in the
Absolute.
Questioner:
Why all this trouble then? To come back to where I started?
Nisargadatta:
Whose trouble? Which trouble? Do you pity the seed that is to grow and
multiply till it becomes
a
mighty forest? Do you kill an infant to save him from the bother of
living? What is wrong with life,
ever
more life? Remove the obstacles to growing and all your personal,
social, economic and
political
problems will just dissolve. The universe is perfect as a whole and
the part's striving for
perfection
is a way of joy. Willingly sacrifice the imperfect to the perfect and
there will be no more
talk
about good and evil.
Questioner:
Yet we are afraid of the better and cling to the worse.
Nisargadatta:
This is our stupidity, verging on insanity.