Consciousness and the Absolute - Nisagadatta
Q: Why did this consciousness arise?
M: You are both the question and the answer. All your questions come from your identification with the body. How can any question relating to that which was prior to the body and consciousness be answered? There are yogis who have sat in meditation for many, many years seeking answers to this question, but even they haven't understood it. And yet you are complaining.
Q: It is a great mystery.
M: It's a mystery only to the ignorant. To the one not identified with the body, it is no longer a mystery.
Q: Maharaj cannot convey it to us?
M: I keep telling you but you don't listen.
Q: Does Maharaj see us as individuals?
M: There are no individuals; there are only food bodies with the knowledge `I am'. There is no difference between an ant, a human being, and Isvara; they are of the same quality. The body of an ant is small, an elephant's is large. The strength is different, because of size, but the life-force is the same. For knowledge the body is necessary.
Q: How did Maharaj get the name Nisargadatta?
M: At one time I was composing poems. It flowed out continuously until my guru cautioned me, "you are enjoying composing these poems too much; give them up!"
What was he driving at? His objective was for me to merge in the Absolute state instead of revelling in my being-ness.
This was the way I realized knowledge, not through mental manipulation. My guru said: "this is so, and for me, it was finished! If you continue in the realm of intellect you will become entangled and lost in more and more concepts. Consciousness is time flowing continuously. But I, the Absolute, will not have its company eternally, because consciousness is time bound. When this being-ness goes, the Absolute will not know `I Am". Appearance and disappearance, birth and death, these are the qualities of being-ness; they are not your qualities. You have urinated and odor is coming from that-are you that odor?
Q: No, I am not.
M: This being-ness is like that urine. Can you be that being-ness?
Q: Absolutely not!
M: You required no more sadhana. For you, the words of the Guru are
final.
"Consciousness and the Absolute"
The Final Talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Edited by Jean Dunn 29th July 1980
M: You are both the question and the answer. All your questions come from your identification with the body. How can any question relating to that which was prior to the body and consciousness be answered? There are yogis who have sat in meditation for many, many years seeking answers to this question, but even they haven't understood it. And yet you are complaining.
Q: It is a great mystery.
M: It's a mystery only to the ignorant. To the one not identified with the body, it is no longer a mystery.
Q: Maharaj cannot convey it to us?
M: I keep telling you but you don't listen.
Q: Does Maharaj see us as individuals?
M: There are no individuals; there are only food bodies with the knowledge `I am'. There is no difference between an ant, a human being, and Isvara; they are of the same quality. The body of an ant is small, an elephant's is large. The strength is different, because of size, but the life-force is the same. For knowledge the body is necessary.
Q: How did Maharaj get the name Nisargadatta?
M: At one time I was composing poems. It flowed out continuously until my guru cautioned me, "you are enjoying composing these poems too much; give them up!"
What was he driving at? His objective was for me to merge in the Absolute state instead of revelling in my being-ness.
This was the way I realized knowledge, not through mental manipulation. My guru said: "this is so, and for me, it was finished! If you continue in the realm of intellect you will become entangled and lost in more and more concepts. Consciousness is time flowing continuously. But I, the Absolute, will not have its company eternally, because consciousness is time bound. When this being-ness goes, the Absolute will not know `I Am". Appearance and disappearance, birth and death, these are the qualities of being-ness; they are not your qualities. You have urinated and odor is coming from that-are you that odor?
Q: No, I am not.
M: This being-ness is like that urine. Can you be that being-ness?
Q: Absolutely not!
M: You required no more sadhana. For you, the words of the Guru are
final.
"Consciousness and the Absolute"
The Final Talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Edited by Jean Dunn 29th July 1980
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