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I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Nisargadatta Maharaj's "I AM THAT" is the last spiritual book you'll ever need to read. Congratulations, you've reached the end of your search! Nisargadatta's words are alive and will cut like a razor to the core of your being. Get this book! Read it and be devoured by it. Here are a few quotes...

Nothing can trouble you but your own imagination. (I AM THAT p.113)

General knowledge develops the mind, no doubt. But if you are going to spend your life in amassing knowledge, you build a wall round yourself. To go beyond the mind, a well-furnished mind is not needed. (p50)

The window is the absence of the wall, and it gives air and light because it is empty. Be empty of al mental content, of all imagination and effort, and the very absence of obstacles will cause reality to rush in. (p260)

Leave it all behind you. Forget it. Go forth, unburdened with ideas and beliefs. Abandon all verbal structures, all relative truth, all tangible objectives. (p340)

All are mere words, of what use are they to you? You are entangled in the web of verbal definitions and formulations. Go beyond your concepts and ideas; in the silence of desire and thought the truth is found. (p295)

Too much analysis leads you nowhere. There is in you the core of being which is beyond analysis, beyond the mind. You can know it in action only. The legitimate function of the mind is to tell you what is not. But if you want possitive knowledge, you must go beyond the mind. (p341)

Before you can know anything directly, non-verbally, you must know the knower. So far, you took the mind for the knower, but it is not so. The mind clogs you up with images and ideas, which leave scars in memory. You take remembering to be knowledge. True knowledge is ever fresh, new, unexpected. It wells up from within. When you know what you are, you also are what you know. Between knowing and being there is no gap. (p520)

Consciousness, being a product of conditions and circumstances, depends on them and changes along with them. What is independent, uncreated, timeless and changeless and yet ever new and fresh is beyond the mind. When the mind thinks of it, the mind dissolves and only happiness remains. (p488)

[With self-awareness] you grow more intelligent. In awareness you learn, in self-awareness you learn about yourself. Of course, you can only learn what you are not. To know what you are, you must go beyond the mind. Awareness is the point at which the mind reaches out beyond itself into reality. In awareness you seek not what pleases, but what is true. (p346)

Stop making use of your mind and see what happens. Do this one thing thoroughly. That is all. (p197)


Stephen Wingate
livinginpeace-thenaturalstate.com

I've had the book 'I Am That' for a long time, have read it many times (enough, I don't read it anymore) and highly recommend it. But it should be recognized that although reading may spur an intuition of 'that which is beyond words', reading is not enough. I've seen too many reviews that seem to place emphasis on the book itself, or on Maharaj (who ALWAYS placed the emphasis back on the Self or Absolute, imploring the reader not to WORSHIP 'HIM'). One reader even stated an addiction to the book ("I've burned several copies").

Words are ultimately empty. If the recommendations in this book are put into practice, a condition of ripeness may come about, the "I" or "me" (ego) may drop. Nothing is guaranteed, but if an addiction to words exists, it can almost be guaranteed that attachment to thought will continue. A brief respite is not enough. Read with courage (once or twice), then put the book down and follow the recommendations -- or let some self-inquiry happen naturally. Depend on nobody and nothing but proceed courageously and alone, knowing 'You are That'! Attaching to the book or to Nisargadatta will not bring freedom any nearer.

I read it the first time in June of 2002. It quite simply is one of the best books on the Absolute (non-dual). In a very direct, no-nonsense style, Nisargadatta spells it out. The book is full of deep metaphors pointing us beyond the mind such as:

"The personal needs a base, a body to identify oneself with, just as a colour needs a surface to appear on."

"The mind exists in two states: as water and as honey. The water vibrates at the least disturbance, while the honey, however disturbed, returns quickly to immobility."

What is not poetically stated as such is given very directly:

"To know that you are neither the body nor mind, watch yourself steadily and live unaffected by your body and mind, completely aloof, as if you were dead. It means you have no vested interests, either in the body or in the mind."

"Self-remembrance, awareness of 'I am' ripens him powerfully and speedily. Give up all ideas about yourself and simply be."

The value of this book cannot be overstated I hold my copy very close and dear. From the perspective of sheer knowledge this book wastes no paper. The non-dual doesn't waste your time.

I've noticed in that the same depth of wisdom is given by a few others such as: Jean Klein, Ramana Maharshi and Paul Brunton. All are authorities on the non-dual. The reason for the similarities is that essentially the books are written by the same author, The Absolute, filtered through the personality/ego of the body delivering the material.

I want to echo what another reader said :Read with courage. It is one of the Most Amazing book I've ever read. It is unique in its clarity, forthrightness, and transformative power. We are tremendously fortunate that such a being is speaking openly about his state. I've read literally thousands of pages on books related to consciousness expansion and eastern spirituality. But after reading Nisargadatta's Maharaj, something in me has totally shifted. I can never think about things in the same way. His practice of "I am-ness" is so simple and has deepened the more I practice it. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a totally unique being who speaks directly to the core of our being. It's amazing that he had barely any formal education (therefore he is not teaching what he has read in books, but from his experience), lived almost unknown, in a tenement in Bombay. As he says he was a simple man who sincerely followed what his guru (From an authentic and revered Indian spiritual lineage) taught him and regained his "natural state"(which is what we are all trying to do). He never established any large ashram or following, as he could have easily done if he was looking for ego gratification. He simply was himself and gave of himself naturally to those around him.

To her credit, one of my favorite Zen Buddhist Teachers, Joko Beck, has confessed scepticism that enlightenment is a genuine human possibility. To my own credit, I contemplated for some time the possibility that she might well be correct. Then I read Sri Nisargatta Maharaj's book of oral talks entitled "I am That." This is without a doubt the greatest work of human wisdom that I've so far encountered, and I can only hope it reaches the widest possible audience. As a veteran spiritual seeker I can say with conviction that the majority of people I've encountered on the path are seeking to enhance their lives in some way. This is not at all the message of Sri Nisargatta, however. What he is proposing is that we have the courage to loose our lives altogether -- which obviously is no easy thing. If, however, you understand this imperative, then by all means read his book. You will surely be carried farther than you have so far imagined possible.

This book is pure gold! It is an translated transcript of Q&A sessions between spiritual aspirants and a liberated sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Each Q&A session has been grouped as a chapter with a suitable titles like 'the sense of I AM', 'What is born must die', 'Meditation', 'Greatest Guru is Your Inner Self' etc. Nisargadatta answers most of the common questions and doubts that arise in the mind of a spiritual aspirant. It also contains very practical and clear spiritual instructions. A must buy for every spiritual aspirant.

A few quotes from the book ....

"Go deep into the sense of 'I am' and you will find. How do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotton? You keep it in your mind until you recall it. The sense of being, of 'I am' is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes, or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the 'I am', without moving, you enter a state that cannot be verbalized but can be experienced. All you need to do is to try and try again."

"We discover it by being earnest,
by searching, inquiring,
questioning daily and hourly,
by giving one's life to this discovery."

"It has nothing to do with effort.
Just turn away, look between the thoughts,
rather than at the thoughts.
When you happen to walk in a crowd, you do not fight every man you meet,
you just find your way between.
When you fight, you invite a fight.
But when you do not resist, you meet no resistance.
When you refuse to play the game, you are out of it."

"Pay no attention [to your thoughts]. Don't fight them. Just do
nothing about them, let them be, whatever they are. Your very
fighting them gives them life. just disregard. Look through."

"The all important word is 'try'.
Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly
and trying, just trying,
to go beyond the personality,
with its addictions and obsessions."

"You just keep on trying until you succeed.
If you persevere, there can be no failure."

"What prevents you from knowing is not
the lack of opportunity,
but the lack of ability to focus in your mind
what you want to understand.
If you could but keep in mind
what you do not know,
it would reveal to you its secrets.
But if you are shallow and impatient,
not earnest enough to look and wait,
you are like a child crying for the moon."

"It is not a matter of easy, or difficult.
Either you try or you don't."

For most of his life Maruti (later called Nisargadatta Maharaj) worked as a small shopkeeper in the backlanes of Bombay. He lived a common life - he married, raised his children, gossiped with neighbours. In late middle age however, everything changed. By chance a friend introduced Maruti to a Guru, who instructed him in meditation.

Shortly thereafter, sitting quietly and silent, Truth exploded within Maruti dissolving the sense of individual forever.

Slowly word of the change became known. It was said Maruti (now honorarily known as Nisargadatta Maharaj) had become a great teacher. Little by little, people started to come from all over the world to visit him in his small apartement above his shop, where he would talk and answer questions.

This book beautifully presents translations of the recordings made during these talks. It divides the talks into 101 short chapters on topics such as 'Obsession with the Body', 'I and Mine are false ideas', 'Desires fullfilled breed more desires', and 'Seek the Source of consciousness'.

Here is a small excert:
Questioner: "What do you see" Maharaj: "I see what you too could see, here and now, but for the wrong focus of your attention. You give no attention to your self. Your mind is always with things, people and ideas, never with your self. Bring your self into focus, become aware of your own existence. See how you function, watch the motives and the results of your actions. Study the prision you have built around yourself, by inadvertence. By knowing what you are not, you come to know your self."

This book is truly a gem - a rarity that speaks straight to your heart. As you read it you may find that your habits and conditioning begin to fall away. The pull and push of your life will be seen for what it is, as slowly your viewpoint shifts. And your gaze turns from its obsession with that which occurs toward the Source of all occurance.

Well, when you're ready to go to the core, have seen how you are perhaps using spiritual seeking and books as entertainment, and are now damned serious about waking up, AND you've grasped a least some parts of A Course in Miracles and know they are true even if you can't yet believe them, take on this: I AM THAT.

A dear friend (whom I sometimes wonder of he actually believes any of this) passed this along sometime ago, but that is a side story. My copy is worn and in tatters from some much reading and re-reading. I keep it bedside as nightly reading to remind me of who I am, as we are bound to forget from moment to moment.

One can pick up this book and open to any chapter and proceed reading. It is a BRILLIANT work, and perhaps, the last book you or I will ever need if you take it to heart as did Nisardagatta take his Guru's simple instruction to heart.

This book is a teaching in question and answer form and carries the powerfull shakti of Sri Nisargadatta right on the pages. With absolute ruthlessness, he turns every question on end, returning again to the core of the enlightened state and how to achieve it. Yet, also repeatedly tells us we are not away from that state as we are now, we are just not paying attention to being what we are at the core.

Reading this book will throw you into meditation. You cannot escape. The busy mind is brought to a halt with simple instructions that grab the reader and don't let go. Only by reading quickly and without comprehensiion can you get thru 10 pages at a time withhout being tossed into meditation. Go for it!

Length:: 1:55 Mins

I hope you enjoy my video review of this book. Mark Waller author of Awakening: Exposing the Voice of the Mosaic Mind