Customer Reviews

I Am That I Am: Experience the Teaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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This is a unique and all too scarce spiritual presentation on video. Stephen Wolinsky delivers a vivid account of his remarkable experiences within the presence of a great enlightened teacher in modern times. Nisargadatta spoke from and about The Absolute. He did this from his own realizations and did not quote from other sources, nor was he a scholar, but an ordinary family man. Stephen leads an excellent guided meditation early in the program and later defines many Sanskrit terms with articulation and even clarifies the statements of the Master. One can begin to sense the state of the ineffable awareness which is that the substrate of all form and non-form is pure conciousness. To better put this in context the viewer should have some familiarity with Advaita. I recommend firstly to see the VHS/DVD "Awaken to the Eternal" featuring N. Maharaj. Also the three books edited by Jean Dunn, one of which is "Prior to Conciousness". Very well done. Enjoy.\

"I Am That I Am," is a new release on DVD of the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, with narration and presentation done by a disciple of Nisargadattaji, Steven Wolinsky. Nothing could have prepared me for the impact this teaching would have on me, did have me, has on me this moment. Hearing, really hearing what he was saying, it's nearly indescribable the clarity of understanding which has come through this gift of Sri Nisargadattaji. If I ever recommended anything of any value for you to see, to experience, this is it, this is the one thing recommended, and to everyone, anyone, regardless of their spiritual background, which exceeds anything ever that I have experienced of the Truth of "Who Am I?"

There are guided meditations with Steven Wolinsky based on these teachings that are so simple, so powerfully clarifying, I cannot even express how greatly they allow the fallacies of Who I Am, to fall away like leaves in their perfectly inexpressible as to why, falling away day. Amazed more than you can imagine of how much I did not grasp, did not even know at all, even in the light of how much I imagined I knew, through this great teaching, something so incredibly clear came ... just was suddenly understood. Beyond conception of what ever has been understood to this entity with a name and face and body.

There is only One Substance.

"I Am, and beyond, into that One Substance from which all phenomena appear to arise."

"All you can teach is understanding, the rest comes on its own."

Steven Wolinsky is the founder of Quantum Psychology, and Post-Deconstruction. He also has an audio tape series called, "Waking From the Trance."

The DVD, "I Am That I Am," is divided into twelve themes:

The I Am
The Body
Consciousness
The Nothingness
Realization
Spirituality and Spiritual Paths
The Guru
The Void
Birth and Death
Cause and Effect
That One Substance
The Illusion

This man of God and Love, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, his teachings, it's completely changed my life. I don't even know how so, but I just know so. I have no idea of anything that's going to happen in my life, and there's a great Peace in that, a great ease and rest in that.

This DVD, this teaching, this which is beyond my scope to express, I highly and Lovingly recommend it to every single person I know and to the people that they know. The first thing that we said, Bob and I when we watched it, experienced it, was, "We've got to get this for our friends!" In Love with and for our Beloved Friends, this Joy and YesYesYes wants to share it with those whom we Love. Everyone, it's not your ordinary DVD. But it's the most powerful viewing I've ever experienced. Ever. And that's saying some whole bunch of "most" and "ever."

Mazie Lane

A listener from Chicago...WOW! This is a serious and sincere piece by one of Nisargadatta Maharaj's last living disciples. I had studied I AM THAT (the book) since the early 1980's and was stuck on the I AM and there being no doer. This DVD explains it all. I am sure this DVD will push alot of spiritual buttons as Wolinsky uses Maharaj's words to deconstruct everything.
If you want Advaita at its clearest and most concise, this is it, and this is what I have been waiting for.

Pranams to narrator, Stephen Wolinsky, and director, Maurizio Benazzo, for an exquisite presentation of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and his Teachings. This DVD is a Satsang and darshan of Sri Nisargadatta on disc! Stephen Wolinsky, a quantum psychologist, and long time direct student of Maharaj, skillfully and articulately presents the basic teachings of his Teacher in both a narrative and experiential format to facilitate not only a mental,cognitive understanding, but an experiential realization of Sri Nisargaddatta's core teaching, the,'I AM'. He does so, by taking the viewer through a series of subjective experiential self enquiry exercises that facilitate a recognization of 'I AM-ness'. Central to Sri Nisargadatta's teaching on Advaita Vedanta was this primordial experience wherein all preconceived notions of oneself and one's reality are relinquished through the process of "neti-neti", roughly translated as "not this, not that" until the primordial bedrock of Existence is reached, the Supreme Reality of Self or Truth. Sri Nisargadatta himself, was instructed by by his Sadguru to "hold on to the 'I AM'", an instruction he obediently and devotionally carried out until his own Self Realization, three years later. Sri Nisargadatta is perhaps one of the greatest Advaita teachers of our modern Age, along with Sri Ramana Maharshi. As such his immortal Words and transmission stand out like a beacon of Light on the starless night guiding Truth seekers across the ocean of samsara to other shore, and indeed, beyond it. This DVD captures the essence of Sri Nisargadatta and his Teachings creating an enduring relationship between seeker and Teacher and ultimately transcending both. As such, this important DVD, is as appropiate for the beginner, as well as, advanced student of Advaita Vedanta and can not be recommended highly enough. This remarkable DVD also contains never before seen footage of Maharaj giving Satsang and discourse from his home in Bombay. A real treasure!
Wolinsky, likens the immortal Words and transmission of Sri Nisargadatta to a "virus" that consumes and destroys everything in its way, unlike itself, until it arrives at that bedrock of Truth, the primordial nature of one's very Existence, the Self, transcending birth and death and the mind itself. This is the Power of these Teachings, and as such, can never be overstated for the very nature of Truth lies somewhere beyond the conventions of the mind, intellect and the rational. Within the province of the 'I AM', everything dissolves into the Formless and is yet not divorced from it. And so it is, this DVD, has the ability to "infect" the watcher with a "virus" emanating from the Truth of the immortal Words and Grace of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj transforming the "watcher" into the "Witness" abiding in Self. Such is the Power and Grace of a Realized Master transcending time and space. Such is the Power of Maharaj! In the end, all concepts of Guru, God and Self disslove into the One. And beyond. Om Jai Sri Ram!

A word of caution regarding this DVD. It is very unique and has many instructive points, but can be understood as Nihlism if one does not have background or perparation for this type of teaching. Whatever the intent of the makers of this film, it can be interpreted as being nihlistic if one does not have a understanding of this type of wisdom.
Several points -
This DVD claims to be all the teachings of Maharaj. Shouldn't it have been maybe the essence or quintessence of those teachings since the book "I Am That" is huge and not his only statements?
This is more like Stephen Wolinsky's understanding of Maharaj in video Cliff's Notes form.
And this is as much about Wolinsky as it is Maharaj.
They use the term "nothingness" quite a bit when this concept is questioned by science. Even a vacuum has things going on. Voidness, emptiness, shunyata, and spaciousness are better choices of words.
No discusion of the two truths ultimate and relative just an assumption from the ultimate perspective but they never say this. No discussion of Bodhicitta, universal lovingkindness for all apparent beings.
Materialiam reflected in the interpretation of the "fluids coming together" statements on the DVD. Its all just nueroscience apparently. No expansive view of Consciousness which seems to be just nuerotransmitters according to the DVD. Even Joseph Campbell recognized varying forms of consciousness such as in the plant kingdom.
No Karma - which is very dangerous for those not prepared and defies many traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jains, etc.
The coverage of Nirvana seems to be one dimensional and it ends there. Dr. Wolinsky defines it but little depth follows what could be a more elaborate discussion. Once again, possibly giving an impression of Nihlism.
The experiential exercises are very good, but I sense this DVD while useful on many levels and even profound is flawed and incomplete and could easily give the wrong impression on several fronts. Be careful. Do some good background reading on Advaita Vedanta, Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Middle Way Buddhism.

To anyone actively integrating the teaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, perhaps at first the interpretations given by narrator/meditation guide Stephen H. Wolinsky in this excellent film will seem superfluous. But repeated viewing will relax the tendency to minimalize Nisargadatta's realization in this way and allow the viewer to experience Dr. Wolinsky's intimate understanding of the core realization of the Self that is at the heart of I AM THAT I AM. The inclusion of actual footage of Nisargadatta puttering around his modest domicile, honoring images of the Navanath Sampradya lineage and uncompromisingly correcting misguided ego-manifestations of visitors while Bombay traffic bleats through the walls and someone bangs away with hammer and nails is solid gold.

It surprises me to see such contrasting reviews on this amazing piece.
But then...NIsargadatta has always been very difficult to accept unless your palate is open to accept new, sometimes hard to digest, morcels...
But once you get to him it's impossible not to appreciate his honesty that at times seems to be verging on rudness...
The same rudness appearing in some unnecessarily bad reviews on this page...
This DVD is fantastic, Dr Wolinsky does an amaziong job in presenting Nisargadatta teaching and what I appreciate the most is the fact that he does not put himself on a pedestal, does not claim any form of enlightnment like many other "teachers" and that is to me the sign of a TRUE seeker and, incidentally, one that understands Nisargadatta complex message.
Thank you Dr Wolinsky for your work!
EK

Through Steven Wolinsky's eyes you will encounter several themes about which Nisargadatta spoke. Through Wolinsky's enquiries and meditations you may be able to experience the message of the themes.

Included is footage of Nisargadatta teaching and interacting. The films of Nisargadatta himself are integrated into the film and are also included as a separate 35 minute track on the DVD.

The themes identified and explained include (quotations are Wolinsky's words)

--Advaita vedanta: "Everything is one substance, not two."

--Gnana: "Anything you think you are, you're not."

--The I Am: "(The I Am is) your being as it is."

-- It's all an illusion: "More striking, the witness of the illusion is part of the illusion. The witness is an abstraction of nothing."

--No doer: "You may not even be aware of your own enlightenment since there is no I there to realize it. That is there is no I to get enlightened."

--It's all a concept: "A concept is an abstracted representation of nothing."

--Cause and effect: "Since there is only one substance, no specific localized thing can cause a specific localized thing. One drop in the ocean cannot choose to go someplace other than the entire ocean."

Wolinsky quotes Nisargadatta: "My sentences will tear apart anyone who listens to them." Can the same be said for Wolinsky's words? That brings up another theme:

--Guru: "Ask yourself: Can they teach? Can they teach ... me?"

Wolinsky is a teacher. You will have to determine how effective he is for you. In any case, he teaches his themes very well. I also enjoyed a separate track on the DVD in which Steven tells about the history of his spiritual life, how he encountered Nisargadatta, and what his meetings with Nisargadatta were like. You might want to view that track first.

This is the first of four videos in which Steven Wolinsky presents Nisargadatta Maharaj's teachings and elaborates certain premises set forth by Nisargadatta. These videos are not intended to replace a direct study of Nisargadatta's work. They consist of the direct teaching of Steven Wolinsky and they supplement Nisargadatta. Nisargadatta Maharaj is one of the great sages in recorded history and Wolinsky is an effective living teacher.

All religious fundamentalism is essentially a literary problem. Fundamentalists read language in an overly concrete way and consequently don't understand the paradoxes of language or perceive irony well. The result is that religion is turned into ideology. I believe that Stephen Wolinsky is a fundamentalist.

At one point in this DVD Wolinsky tells a story about Maharaj asking him if he understands who he really is, and when Stephen replies no then Maharaj tells him to "shut up until he does". It is ironic that he tells this story on this DVD. I believe Stephen made this DVD with the best of intentions, but I can also understand the outrage of the reviewers who felt he is borrowing the name of Maharaj to peddle his own teachings. This DVD is more about what Stephen Wolinsky thinks than it is about what Maharaj actually taught.

Ultimately, as we find out in the second DVD, Stephen's ideology is the rather pretentiously named Post-deconstruction. It's apparent that Stephen doesn't understand deconstruction any better then he understands non-dualism. In the first DVD Stephen tells us that Jacque Derrida, who coined the term deconstruction and applied it as one of the terms for his critical theory, is the inventor of Post-Modernism. This is akin to claiming Al Gore invented the internet. Rather Derrida was a Post-structuralist who's technique of deconstruction has played an important role in one flavor of Post-Modernism.

Stephen, in true fundamentalist fashion, even entitles his second second DVD, Nirvana Means Extinction. Which it does literally, but here is what noted Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman has to say about that:

Nirvana, the name for the final reality realized by an enlightened being, literally means "extinguished," blow out," or "gone out," The spiritual climate in the Buddha's time was derived from numerous movements of ascetic intellectuals, who were sick of fettered, unenlightened life, who saw it as unendingly miserable, and who sought annihilation of the mind as well as the body through intense, transcending samadhi. To help them, the Buddha presented the nirvana he had found in slightly dualistic light, as if it were the final extinction they so fervently desired.

Stephen's second DVD is almost solely about a dualistic nihilism, presented as the advaita Vedanta teachings of Maharaj.

I think one reviewer said it best when he said that Stephen is selling snake oil. This video, however, does have one redeeming quality, and that is the many stories that he tells about Maharaj. In this one respect I feel that he really does know what he is talking about and presents the personality of Maharaj forcefully.

The DVD is sold as a presentation of the teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj by Stephen Wolinsky, one of his students. The eastern teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj was a strong proponent of the enlightenment teachings of the Avaita-Vedanta (Non-duality) tradition. He came to be renowned in the west after the publication of the book "I am that" in 1974 which became a spiritual classic.

I was very excited when I saw the various chapters of the video on the back cover as they appear show a great outline of this masters teaching. Chapters show on the back cover include:

The I AM
The Body
Consciousness
The Nothingness
Realization
Spirituality
The Guru
The Void
Birth and Death
Cause and Effect
The One Substance
The Illusion

Only a few of these topics are well covered and on the most part they do not really reflect what this video is about. Do not think for one moment that you are going to get a nice explanation or understanding of each of these topics. While the video starts off well with the first few explanations of these chapters it quickly deteriorates into something unnecessarily confusing, complicated and based in personal opinion. I believe Stephen made this DVD with the best of intentions but he is definitely NOT enlightened and therefore not qualified to teach the words of the master. He is simply a student like you or me. His interpretations are at times clear and useful but at other times his own theory.

The beauty of Nisargadatta's teachings is there simplicity, Wolinsky's explinations on the other hand can get complicated. Also at times Dr. Wolinsky's can go on ad nauseam especially when he is giving his experiential exercise. Dr. Stephen Wolinsky is often unable to explain himself clearly in one take as can plainly been seen by the numerous edits/cuts during his explanations. This DVD is actually about what Stephen Wolinsky thinks Nisargadatta taught. The product description states "The Complete Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" which is true but they forgot to add on the end "according to Stephen Wolinsky".

I did not listen to other reviewers when they said do not to buy this DVD. I wish I had but because I love Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj so much I just wanted see this video and the footage of him. Please don't be fooled by the product description saying you are going to get "extraordinary video material includes a 30 minutes subtitled question and answer session with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj". Yes, you do get 30 minutes of extraordinary video footage, extraordinarily bad quality audio with haphazard subtitles and bad translation into English. Unless you are very familiar with Nisargadatta's material then this won't mean much to you. Reading one page of I AM THAT would be far more beneficial then watching these 30 minutes. There is very little merit to this watching this video footage other than seeing Nisargadatta light up a cigar or cigarette much to my surprise! Did he know they were bad for him? I wanted to reach out and take them away from him just to see his reaction! Now that would be a good test wouldn't it?

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