Without using your thoughts, memory, associations, or perceptions,

are you a man, a woman or neither?

If you do not use your using your thoughts, memory, associations, or

perceptions, are you defined, undefined or neither?

Without using your thoughts, memory, associations, or perceptions,

are you limited, unlimited or neither?

If you do not use your thoughts, memory, associations, or

perceptions, are you in a body, out of a body, or neither?

If you do not use your thoughts, memory, associations, or

perceptions, notice the no-state state of I AM.. No thoughts, memory,
associations, or perceptions,

Open your eyes and allow your awareness to remain with I AM as

you go about in the illusions of what appear before your eyes and
"things" trying to attach itself to I AM (ex. I AM smart, I AM cool)
through ego.

Have awareness, be vigilant. That is all that needs to be done.

Focused I am Meditation
1. The I am came first, its ever present, ever available, refuse all
thoughts except I am, stay there.

2. Just stay put firmly and establish yourself in the I am, reject all that
does not go with I am

3. Consistently and with perseverance separate the I am from this or

that, just keep in mind the feeling I am

4. Only the I am is certain, its impersonal, all knowledge stems from it,
its the root, hold on to it and let all else go.

5. You are sure of the I am, its the totality of being, remember I am
and its enough to heal your mind and take you beyond.

6. The I am is, its ever fresh, all else is inference, when the I am goes
all that remains is the Absolute.

7. Give all your attention to the I am, which is timeless presence, the I
am applies to all, come back to it repeatedly.

8. Hang on to the I am and go beyond it, without the I am you are at

peace and happy.

9. Hold on to the I am to the exclusion of everything else, the I am in

movement creates the world, the I am at peace becomes the Absolute.

10. Immortality is freedom from the feeling I am, to have that freedom
remain in the sense I am, its simple, its crude, yet it works!

11. The I am is unreal and real, unreal when identified with body, real
when wordless and used to go beyond.
12. The I am has brought you in, the I am will take you out, the I am
is the door, stay at it! Its open!

13. You have to be there before you can say I am, the I am is the root
of all appearance.

14. The I am is the permanent link in the succession of events called

life, be at the link I am only and go beyond it.

15. The I am is the sum total of all that you perceive, its timebound,
the I am itself is an illusion, you are not the I am you are prior to it.

16. The I am is your greatest foe and greatest friend, foe when binding
to the illusion as body, friend when taking out of the illusion as body.

17. The beginning and the end of knowledge is the I am, be attentive to
the I am, once you understand it, you are apart from it.

18. You must meditate on the I am without holding on to the body

mind, the I am is the first ignorance, persist on it and you will go
beyond it.

19. Your Guru, your God, is the I am, with its coming came duality and
all activity, stay on the I am, you are before the I am appeared.

20. The I am concept is the last outpost of the illusion, hold on to it,
stabilize in the I am, then you are no more an individual.

21. Without doing anything you have the knowledge I am, it has come
spontaneously and unwillingly on you, stay there and put an axe to the I
am.

22. Your only capital is the I am, its the only tool you can use to solve
the riddle of life, the I am is in all and movement inherent in it.
23. Only be the I am, just be, the I am has appeared on your
homogeneous state, the one free of the I am is liberated, you are prior
to the I am.

24. Worship the indwelling I am in you, it is the I am that is born, it is

the I am that will die, you are not that I am.

25. Remain focused on the I am till it goes into oblivion, then the
eternal is, Absolute is, Parabrahman is.

26. The knowledge I am is the birth principle, investigate it and youll

finally stabilize in the Absolute Parabrahman.

27. All knowledge including the I am is formless, throw out the I am

and stay put in quietude

28. Prior to birth where was the I am? Dont contaminate the I am
with the body idea, I as the Absolute am not the I am

29. In the absence of I am nothing is required, the I am will go with

the body, what remains is the Absolute.

30. You must not only have the conviction that I am but also that you
are free from the I am.

31. Remember the knowledge I am only and give up the rest, staying in
the I am you would realize that it is unreal.

32. Understand that the knowledge I am has dawned on you and all
are its manifestations, in this understanding you realize you are not the
I am.

33. When this concept I am departs there would be no memory left that
I was and I had those experiences, the very memory will be erased.
34. With the arrival of the primary concept I am, time began, with its
departure time would end, you the Absolute are not the primary concept
I am.

35. When you know both the I am and the I am not then you are the
Absolute which transcends both knowingness and noknowingness.

36. Appearance and disappearance, birth and death these are qualities
of I am, they do not belong to you, the Absolute.

37. Out of the nothingness, the I am or beingness has come, there is

no individual, the knowledge I am not the individual has to go back
to its source.

38. By meditating on the knowledge I am it gradually settles down at

its source and disappears, then, you are the Absolute.

39. Go on to know the I am without words, you must be that and not
deviate from it for even a moment, and then it would disappear.

40. With the dropping off of the primary experience I am all

experiences would vanish and only the Absolute remains.

41. On your true state has arisen this subtle principle I am, which is
the cause of all mischief, no I am, and no question of mischief.

42. Whatever you try to become that is not you, before even the words I
am were said, that is you.

43. The root habit is the I am and it has arisen from the domain five
elements and three qualities which are unreal.

44. Abide in the knowledge I am without identifying with the body, how
did you function before the arrival of the knowledge I am?
45. The state of being, that is the message I am, without words, is
common to all, change begins only with the mindflow.

46. The belief in the I am to be something as a body, as an individual is

the cause of all fear, in the absence of the I am, who is to fear what?

47. Try to stabilize in the primary concept I am in order to lose that

and be free from all other concepts, in understating the unreality of the
I am you are totally free.

48. Sitting quietly, being one with the knowledge I am, you would lose
all concern with the world, then the I am would also go, leaving you as
the Absolute.

49. Putting aside everything, stabilize in the I am as you continue

with this practice in the process you will transcend the I am.

50. The very core of this consciousness is the quality I am, there is no
personality or individual there, reside there and transcend it.

51. Worship the knowledge I am as God, as your Guru, the message I

am is there, the mindflow is there, stay in the I am realize you are
neither.

52. Presently you are sustaining the memory I am, you are not that I
am, you are the Absolute, prior to that I am.

53. You feel the I am due to the five elements and three qualities, when
they go the I am goes but you are still there.

54. Keep focused on the I am till you become a witness to it, then you
stand apart, you have reached the highest.
55. This knowledge I am has come out of the state prior to it and now
is the cause of all suffering, before the I am came you were happy, so
revert.

56. When you remain in the I am you will realize everything else is
useless, then you are Parabrahman, the Absolute.

57. One who abides in that principle by which he knows I am, then he
knows all and does not require anything.

58. Just sit and know that you are, the I am without words, nothing
else has to be done, shortly you will arrive to your natural Absolute
state.

59. Erroneously you have handed over this knowledge I am to the body
thereby reduced the limitless to the limited, hence you are afraid of
dying.

60. You have to realize that you are not the body nor the knowledge I
am, you as the Absolute are neither nor do you require them.

61. Inquire into the validity of the fundamental concept of your

individuality the I am and it will disappear, then you are Parabrahman,
the Absolute.

62. The essential thing to be convinced about is that the original concept
I am is false, only accept that which is conducive to this development.

63. Before you occurred to yourself as I am you were the highest

Parabrahman now, until the impurity of I am the body goes stay put
in the I am quietude.
64. Your fall started with the appearance of I am, then you blundered
by embracing the body as I am, all that gathered thereafter is unreal.

65. This is no joke, but you can become Parabrahman right now! You
are Parabrahman right now! Just focus your attention on the I am.

66.Who has the knowledge I am? Somebody in you knows the

knowledge I am, you are, who is it?

67. Who can know the illusory state I am? Only a nonillusory state
can do so, its the Awareness, the Parabrahman, the Absolute.

68. The primary concept I am is dishonest, a cheat, it has deceived

you, into believing what is not, sharply focus on the I am and itll
disappear.

69. Finally you have to transcend the I am to enter the conceptfree

Parabrahman state, where you do not even know you are!

70. The Absolute or the Parabrahman is prior to the I am, its the
unborn state, so how can it have the knowledge I am?

71. Presently whatever you know is the I am which is a product of the

five elements, three qualities or the food body, but you are none of these.

72. One who has realized the knowledge I am which means

transcending it as well, for him there is no birth or death nor any karma.

73. The primary illusion is only this knowingness I am; it is liberation

when the knowingness is transformed to nonknowingness.

74. You are even before even you could say the words I am, witnessing
happens to the state prior to your saying the words I am.
75. When the body dies the I am goes into oblivion, only the Absolute
remains, stay put there, nothing happens to you the Absolute.

76. From nonbeing to being, how is it known? Its by the knowledge I

am, stay there in the I am, then youll revert from being to nonbeing.

77. Right now, here, you are the Absolute, the Parabrahman, very firmly
hold on to the I am, ever abide in it and itll dissolve, then you are as
you are.

78. On the state of nonbeingness, beingness as the I am has occurred,

who is that is not important, the I am is important, stay there.

79. First came the aham as I am, then ahamakar (identification

with body, ego), now revert back to aham, dwelling there realize
ahambrahmasmi

80. You are neither the I am nor the activities carried out by the
beingness, you as the Absolute are none of these.

81. With the transcendence of the knowledge I am, the Absolute

prevails. The state is called Parabrahman, while the knowledge I am is
Brahman.

82. How were you prior to the message I am? In the absence of the
message I am only my eternal Absolute state prevails.

83. Who would have witnessed the message I am, if your prior state of
nonbeingness were not there?

84. A true devotee, by abiding in the knowledge I am, transcends the

experience of death and attains immortality.
85. Hold on to this knowingness I am without words and every secret of
your existence would be revealed to you.

86. What is it in you that understands this knowledge I am without a

name, title or word? Subside in that innermost center and witness the
knowledge I am.

87. Totally accept the knowledge I am as oneself and with full

conviction and faith and firmly believe in the dictum I am that by which
I know I am.

88. Reality prevails prior to the knowledge I am; you must stay put at
the source of your creation, at the beginning of the knowledge I am.

89. When one is established in the final free Absolute state, the
knowledge I am becomes nonknowledge.

90. The first witnessing is that of I am, the primary prerequisite for all
further witnessing, but to whom is the first witnessing of I am
occurring?

91. The borderline of I am (beingness) and I am not (nonbeingness}

is the precise location where the intellect subsides, its the mahayoga
state, be there.

92. Recognize the Atman by understanding the knowledge I am, the

Atmajnana, which is all pervading, limitless and infinite.

93. To abide in the knowledge I am is ones true religion, give the

highest honor due to it, doing so you will not undergo suffering or death.

94. Who says I was not and I would not be like the present I am? He
is the one who was, is, and would be forever.
95. When you say I was not prior to conception you actually mean not
like the present I am, but the one to discern the absence of the present
I am was there.

96. Catch hold of the knowledge I am in meditation and the realization

would occur that I the Absolute am not the guna I am.

97. Do nothing but stay in the knowledge I am the moolmaya the

primary illusion, then it will release its stranglehold on you and get lost.

98. In deep meditation, infused only with the knowledge I am, it would
be intuitively revealed to you as to how this I amness came to be.

99. The knowledge I am means consciousness, God, Guru, Ishwara,

but you the Absolute are none of these.

100. There is no I am anymore, Its the Parabrahman only

Part One

Go deep into the sense of 'I am' and you will find.

...focus your mind on 'I am', which is pure and simple

being.
Take the first step first. All blessings come from within.
Turn within. 'I am' you know. Be with it all the time you
can spare, until you revert to it spontaneously. There is no
simpler and easier way.

Before all beginnings, after all ending -- I am. All has its
being in me, in the 'I am', that shines in every living
being.

On a deeper level my experience is your experience. Dive

deep within yourself and you will find it easily and simply.
Go in the direction of 'I am'.

Part Two

When I met my Guru, he told me: "You are not what you
take yourself to be. Find out what you are. Watch the
sense 'I am', find your real Self." I obeyed him, because I
trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time I would
spend looking at myself in silence. And what a difference
it made, and how soon!

My teacher told me to hold on to the sense 'I am'

tenaciously and not to swerve from it even for a moment.
I did my best to follow his advice and in a comparatively
short time I realized within myself the truth of his
teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his face,
his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind; in
the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am -- unbound.

I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction which was to

focus the mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in it. I used
to sit for hours together, with nothing but the 'I am' in my
mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing
love became my normal state. In it all disappeared --
myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me.
Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.

My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to

give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not
follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation,
or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn
away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I
am', it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason
for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!
Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears.

There is no sense of purpose in my doing anything.

Things happen as they happen -- not because I make
them happen, but it is because I am that they happen. In
reality nothing ever happens. When the mind is restless,
it makes Shiva dance, like the restless waters of the lake
make the moon dance. It is all appearance, due to wrong
ideas.

...in whatever role I may appear and whatever function I

may perform -- I remain what I am: the 'I am' immovable,
unshakable, independent.

When I say 'I am', I do not mean a separate entity with a

body as its nucleus. I mean the totality of being, the
ocean of consciousness, the entire universe of all that is
and knows. I have nothing to desire for I am complete
forever.

Words betray their hollowness. The real cannot be

described, it must be experienced. I cannot find better
words for what I know. What I say may sound ridiculous.
But what the words try to convey is the highest truth. All
is one, however much we quibble. And all is done to
please the one source and goal of every desire, whom we
all know as the 'I am'.

Just like the sun is reflected in a billion dew drops, so is

the timeless endlessly repeated. When I repeat: 'I am, I
am', I merely assert and re-assert an ever-present fact.
You get tired of my words because you do not see the
living truth behind them. Contact it and you will find the
full meaning of words and of silence -- both.

...I trusted my Guru. What he told me to do, I did. He told

me to concentrate on 'I am' -- I did. He told me that I am
beyond all perceivables and conceivables -- I believed. ...
You may choose any way that suits you; your earnestness
will determine the rate of progress.

Part Three

First of all, establish a constant contact with your self, be

with yourself all the time. Into self-awareness all blessings
flow. Begin as a centre of observation, deliberate
cognizance, and grow into a centre of love in action. 'I
am' is a tiny seed which will grow into a mighty tree --
quite naturally, without a trace of effort.

Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of 'I am'. This is

the beginning and also the end of all endeavour.

Hold onto the sense of 'I am' to the exclusion of

everything else. When thus the mind becomes completely
silent, it shines with a new light and vibrates with new
knowledge. It all comes spontaneously, you need only
hold on to the 'I am'.

Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. The
mind will rebel in the beginning, but with patience and
perseverance it will yield and keep quiet. Once you are
quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and
quite naturally, without any interference on your part.

Just keep in mind the feeling 'I am', merge in it, till your
mind and feeling become one. By repeated attempts you
will stumble on the right balance of attention and
affection and your mind will be firmly established in the
thought-feeling 'I am'. Whatever you think, say, or do,
this sense of immutable and affectionate being remains
as the ever-present background of the mind.

To know what you are you must first investigate and know
what you are not. And to know what you are not you must
watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not
necessarily go with the basic fact: 'I am'. ... Separate
consistently and perseveringly the 'I am' from 'this' or
'that', and try to feel what it means to be, just to be,
without being 'this' or 'that'.
Give up all questions except one: 'Who am I'? After all,
the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The 'I am' is
certain. The 'I am this' is not. Struggle to find out what
you are in reality.

Cling to one thing, that matters, hold on to 'I am' and let
go all else. This is sadhana. In realization there is nothing
to hold on to and nothing to forget. Everything is known,
nothing is remembered.

...just remember yourself. 'I am', is enough to heal your

mind and take you beyond. Just have some trust.

Stop searching, and see -- it is here and now -- it is that 'I

am' you know so well.

You cannot meaningfully say 'this is what I am'. It just

makes no sense.

'I am' is first-hand and needs no proofs. Stay with it.

Be content with what you are sure of. And the only thing
you can be sure of is 'I am'. Stay with it, and reject
everything else. This is Yoga.
Go back to that state of pure being, where the 'I am' is
still in its purity before it got contaminated with 'this I am'
or 'that I am'. Your burden is of false self-identifications --
abandon them all.

Don't you see that it is your very search for happiness

that makes you miserable? Try the other way: indifferent
to pain and pleasure, neither asking nor refusing, give all
your attention to the level on which 'I am' is timelessly
present. Soon you will realize that peace and happiness
are in your very nature and it is only seeking them
through some particular channels, that disturbs.

Give your heart and mind to brooding over the 'I am',
what is it, how is it, what is its source, its life, its meaning.
It is very much like digging a well. You reject all that is not
water, till you reach the life-giving spring.

The 'I am' that pursues the pleasant and shuns the
unpleasant is false; the 'I am' that sees pleasure and pain
as inseparable sees rightly.

Those who practise the sadhana of focussing their minds

on 'I am' may feel related to others who have followed
the same sadhana and succeeded.
You need not worry about your worries. Just be. Do not try
to be quiet; do not make 'being quiet' into a task to be
performed. Don't be restless about 'being quiet',
miserable about 'being happy'. Just be aware that you are
and remain aware -- don't say: 'yes, I am; what next?'
There is not 'next' in 'I am'. It is a timeless state.

Part Four

On waking up, was it not the sense 'I am' that came first?

The sense 'I am' is always with you, only you have
attached all kinds of things to it -- body, feelings,
thoughts, ideas, possessions, etc. All these self-
identifications are misleading. Because of them you take
yourself to be what you are not.

What is mine is mine and was mine even when God was
not. Of course, it is a very tiny little thing, a speck -- the
sense 'I am', the fact of being.

The light by which you see the world, which is God, is the
tiny little spark: 'I am', apparently so small, yet the first
and the last in every act of knowing and loving.
Without the 'I am' there is nothing. All knowledge is about
the 'I am'.

Outside the Self there is nothing. All is one and all is

contained in 'I am'.

Give it all up and be ready for the real to assert itself. This
self-assertion is best expressed in words: 'I am'. Nothing
else has being. Of this you are absolutely certain.

Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them

as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you will
also see yourself as you are. It is like cleansing a mirror.
The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will
also show you your own face. The thought 'I am' is the
polishing cloth.

'I am' is ever afresh. You do not need to remember in

order to be. ... At present your being is mixed up with
experiencing. All you need is to unravel being from the
tangle of experiences. Once you have known pure being,
without being this or that, you will discern it among
experiences and you will no longer be misled by names
and forms.
...the 'I am' in movement creates the world. The 'I am' at
peace becomes the Absolute.

In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny

point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and
feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing on
paper. And the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are
that tiny point and by your movement the world is ever
re-created. Stop moving and there will be no world. Look
within and you will find that the point of light is the
reflection of the immensity of light in the body, as the
sense 'I am'. There is only light, all else appears.

The 'I am' is at the root of all appearance and the

permanent link in the succession of events that we call
life... .

Human beings die every second, the fear and the agony
of dying hangs over the world like a cloud. No wonder you
too are afraid. But once you know that the body alone
dies and not the continuity of memory and the sense of 'I
am' reflected in it, you are afraid no longer.
People differ, but all are faced with the fact of their own
existence. 'I am' is the ultimate fact; 'Who am I?' is the
ultimate question to which everybody must find an
answer.

Delve deeply into the sense 'I am' and you will surely
discover that the perceiving centre is universal, as
universal as the light that illumines the world. All that
happens in the universe happens to you, the silent
witness. On the other hand, whatever is done, is done by
you, the universal and inexhaustible energy.

Before the mind -- I am. 'I am' is not a thought in the

mind; the mind happens to me, I do not happen to the
mind. And since time and space are in the mind, I am
beyond time and space, eternal and omnipresent.

...you are not this, there is nothing of yours in this, except

the little point of 'I am' ... . 'I am this, I am that' is dream,
while pure 'I am' has the stamp of reality on it. You have
tasted so many things -- all came to naught. Only the
sense 'I am' persisted -- unchanged. Stay with the
changeless among the changeful, until you are able to go
beyond.
When the 'I am myself' goes, the 'I am all' comes. When
the 'I am all' goes, 'I am' comes. When even 'I am' goes,
reality alone is...

Part Five

After the first four parts were edited, more 'I Am'
expressions were found and are included here:

There are many starting points -- they all lead to the

same goal. You may begin with selfless work, abandoning
the fruits of action; you may then give up thinking and in
the end giving up all desires. Here, giving up (tyaga) is
the operational factor. Or, you may not bother about any
thing you want, or think, or do and just stay put in the
thought and feeling 'I am', focussing 'I am' firmly in your
mind. All kinds of experience may come to you -- remain
unmoved in the knowledge that all perceivable is
transient, and only the 'I am' endures.

What do you love now? The 'I am'. Give your heart and
mind to it, think of nothing else. This, when effortless and
natural, is the highest state. In it love itself is the lover
and the beloved.
Before the world was, consciousness was. In
consciousness it comes into being, in consciousness it
lasts and into pure consciousness it dissolves. At the root
of everything, is the feeling 'I am'. The state of mind:
'there is a world' is secondary, for to be, I do not need the
world, the world needs me.

Go home, take charge of your father's business, look after

your parents in their old age. Marry the girl who is waiting
for you, be loyal, by simple, be humble. Hide your virtue,
live silently. The five senses and the three qualities
(gunas) are your eight steps in Yoga. And 'I am' is the
Great Reminder (mahamantra). You can learn from them
all you need to know. Be attentive, enquire ceaselessly.
That is all.

Everything is a play of ideas. In the state free from

ideation (nirvikalpa samadhi) nothing is perceived. The
root idea is: 'I am'. It shatters the state of pure
consciousness and is followed by the innumerable
sensations and perceptions, feeling and ideas, which in
their totality constitute God and His world. The 'I am'
remains as the witness, but it is by the will of God that
everything happens.

In my world nobody is born and nobody dies. Some

people go on a journey and come back, some never
leave. What difference does it make since they travel in
dreamlands, each wrapped up in his own dream. Only the
waking up is important. It is enough to know the 'I am' as
reality and also love.

As it is natural for the incense stick to burn out, so it is

natural for the body to die. Really, it is a matter of very
little iimportance. What matters is that I am neither the
body nor the mind. I am.

Don't identify yourself with an idea. If you mean by God,

the Unknown, then you merely say: 'I do not know what I
am'. If you know God as you know yourself, you need not
say it. Best is the simple feeling 'I am'. Dwell on it
patiently. Here patience is wisdom; don't think of failure.
There can be no failure in this understanding.

That which makes you think you are human is not human.
It is but a dimensionless point of consciousness, a
conscious nothing; all you can say about yourself is: 'I
am'. You are pure being, awareness, bliss. To realize that
is the end of all seeking. You come to it when you see all
you think yourself to be as mere imagination and stand
aloof in pure awareness of the transient as transient,
imaginary as imaginary, unreal as unreal.
A SUMMARY OF THE MEDITATION ''I AM'' of Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj

A SUMMARY OF THE MEDITATION ''I AM''

The meditation 'l AM' is the Core practice of Sri

Nisargadatta Maharaj. In these verses (which are extract
from the book I AM THAT) Nisargadatta gives the
fundamental ideas about the meditation I AM.

Appearance and disappearance,

birth and death these are qualities of
I am, they do not belong to you, the
Absolute.

The I am is the sum total of all that

you perceive, its time-bound, the
I am itself is an illusion, you are not
the I am you are prior to it.
You have to be before anything else
can be, your sense of presence or
the feeling I am is really
fundamental to anything that has to
follow.

Only the I am is certain, its

impersonal, all knowledge stems
from it, its the root, hold on to it and
let all else go.

This I am is ever present, ever available.

Remember the knowledge I am
only and give up the rest, staying in
the I am you will realize that it is unreal.

You must meditate on the I am

without holding on to the body-mind,
the I am is the first ignorance,
persist on it and you will go beyond it.

Putting aside everything, stabilize in

the I am. As you continue with this
practice, in the process you will
transcend the I am.

Immortality is freedom from the

feeling I am, to have that freedom
remain in the sense I am.

Keep focused on the I am till you

become a witness to it, then you
stand apart, you have reached the
highest.
All your efforts should be directed towards
coming to that pure state of 'I am' and reside there only.

If you do this with great sincerity and earnestness

you are bound to transcend the 'I am' one day.

So understand the importance of earnest 'being'.

When the I am goes all that

remains is the Absolute, give all your
attention to the I am.

Remain focused on the I am till it

goes into oblivion, then the eternal is,
the Absolute is, Parabrahman is.

Maharaj: For meditation you should sit with identification with the
knowledge "I am" only and have confirmed to yourself that you are
not the body. You must dwell only in that knowledge "I am"--not
merely the words "I am." The design of your body does not signify
your identification. And also, the name which is given to you or to
the body is not your correct identity. The name which is imposed on
you, or the name which you have heard about you--you have
accepted that name as yourself. Similarly, since you have seen your
body, you think you are the body. So you have to give up both these
identities. And the indwelling knowledge that you are, without
words, that itself you are. In that identity, you must stabilize
yourself. And then, whatever doubts you have, will be cleared by
that very knowledge, and everything will be opened up in you.

**

Question: All teachers advise to meditate. What is the purpose of

meditation?

Maharaj: We know the outer world of sensations and actions. But of

our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little. The
primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and
familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the
source of life and consciousness. Incidentally, practice of meditation
affects deeply our character. We are slaves to what we do not know.
Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand
its causes and its workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the
unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious. The
dissolution of the unconscious release energy; the mind feels
adequate and become quiet.

**

My teacher told me to hold on to the sense 'I am' tenaciously and

not to swerve from it even for a moment. I did my best to follow his
advice and in a comparatively short time I realized within myself the
truth of his teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his
face, his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind; in the
stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am -- unbound.

I simply followed (my teacher's) instruction which was to focus the

mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in it. I used to sit for hours
together, with nothing but the 'I am' in my mind and soon peace and
joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all
disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around
me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.

My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give

attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any
particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures.
Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and
remain with the sense 'I am', it may look too simple, even crude. My
only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!
Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears.

Nisargadatta said:

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.

1. 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.

2. 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 all 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 results of your
actions. Study the prison you have built around yourself, by
inadvertence.

We discover it by being earnest, by searching, inquiring,

3.
questioning daily and hourly, by giving one's life to this discovery.

Look at the net [one's personal world] and its many contradictions.
You do and undo at every step. You want peace, love, happiness
and work hard to create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity
4.
and overeat, you want friendship and exploit. See your net as
made of such contradictions and remove them - your very seeing
will make them go.

How do you go about finding anything? By keeping your mind

and heart on it. Interest there must be and steady remembrance. To
5.
remember what needs to be remembered is the secret of success.
You come to it through earnestness.

What is supremely important is to be free from contradictions: the

goal and the way must not be on different levels; life and light
must not quarrel; behaviour must not betray belief.
6.
Call it honesty, integrity, wholeness; you must not go back, undo,
uproot, abandon the conquered ground. Tenacity of purpose and
honesty in pursuit will bring you to your goal.

Take the first step first. All blessings come from within. Turn
7. within. 'I am' you know. Be with it all the time you can spare, until
you revert to it spontaneously. There is no simpler and easier way.
 We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but of our
inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little. The
primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and
familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the
source of life and consciousness.

Incidentally, practice of meditation affects deeply our character.

8.
We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are
masters. Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves, we discover and
understand its causes and its workings, we overcome it by the very
knowing; the unconscious dissolves when brought into the
conscious. The dissolution of the unconscious releases energy; the
mind feels adequate and becomes quiet.

It is not so much the matter of levels as of gunas (qualities).

Meditation is a sattvic (pure, true) activity and aims at complete
9.
elimination of tamas (inertia) and rajas (motivity, activity). Pure
sattva (harmony) is perfect freedom from sloth and restlessness.

Questioner: Since I cannot improve sattva, am I to deal with tamas

and rajas only? How do I deal with them?

10. Nisargadatta: By watching their influence in you and on you. Be

aware of them in operation, watch their expression in your
thoughts, words and deeds, and gradually their grip on you will
lessen and the clear light of sattva will emerge.

Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. The mind will
11. rebel in the beginning, but with patience and perserverance it will
yield and keep quiet.
 True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass
away. Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness comes
12.
from the self and can be found in the self only. Find your real self
(swarupa) and all else will come with it.

Every pleasure, physical or mental, needs an instrument. Both the

physical and mental instruments are material, they get tired and
worn out. The pleasure they yield is necessarily limited in its
13. intensity and duration.

Pain is the background of all your pleasures. You want them

because you suffer. On the other hand, the very search for pleasure
is the cause of pain. It is a vicious circle.

Questioner: I can see the mechanism of my confusion, but I do not

see my way out of it.

14. Nisargadatta: The very examination of the mechanism shows the

way. After all, your confusion is only in your mind, which so far
has never rebelled against confusion and never got to grips with it.
It rebelled only against pain.

Be alert. Question, observe, investigate, learn all you can about

15. confusion, how it operates, what it does to you and others. By
being clear about confusion you become clear of confusion.

By elminating the intervals of inadvertance during the waking

hours you will gradually eliminate the long interval of absent-
16.
mindedness, which you call sleep. You will be aware that you are
asleep.
 Nisargadatta: You can have for the asking all the peace you want.

Questioner: I am asking.

Nisargadatta: You must ask with an undivided heart and live an

integrated life.

Questioner: How?

Nisargadatta: Detach yourself from all that makes your mind

restless. Renounce all that disturbs its peace. If you want peace,
deserve it.

Questioner: Surely everybody deserves peace

17.
Nisargadatta: Those only deserve it, who don't disturb it.

Questioner: In what way do I disturb peace?

Nisargadatta: By being a slave to your desires and fears.

Questioner: Even when they are justified?

Nisargadatta: Emotional reactions, born of ignorance or

inadvertance, are never justified.

Seek a clear mind and a clean heart. All you need is to keep
quietly alert, inquiring into the real nature of yourself. This is the
only way to peace.

18. All these sufferings are man-made and it is within man's power to
put an end to them.

God helps by facing man with the results of his actions and
demanding that the balance be restored. Karma is the law that
 works for righteousness; it is the healing hand of God.

Use your mind. Remember. Observe.

You are not different from others. Most of their experiences are
valid for you too.

19. Think clearly and deeply, go into the structure of your desires and
their ramifications. They are a most important part of your mental
and emotional make-up and powerfully affect your actions.

Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know. To go

beyond yourself, you must know yourself.

Purify yourself by a well-ordered and useful life. Watch over your

20.
thoughts, feelings, words and actions. This will clear your vision.

Questioner: Well, you told me that I am the Supreme Reality. I

believe you. What next is there for me to do?

Nisargadatta: I told you already. Discover all that you are not.
Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not-being,
this or that - nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is
21.
you. A mere verbal statement will not do - you may repeat a
formula endlessly without any result whatsoever.

You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind -

moment by moment, missing nothing. This witnessing is essential
for the separation of the self from the not-self.

22. Questioner: What about witnessing the witness?

 Nisargadatta: Putting words together will not take you far. Go
within and discover what you are not. Nothing else matters.

Since it is awareness that makes consciousness possible, there is

awareness in every state of consciousness. Therefore, the very
consciousness of being conscious is already a movement in
23. awareness. Interest in your stream of consciousness takes you to
awareness.

It is not a new state. It is at once recognized as the original, basic

existence, which is life itself, and also love and joy.

Realization is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the world as

real and one's self as unreal is ignorance, the cause of sorrow. To
know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and
transient is freedom, peace and joy.

It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to

24.
see them as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you
will also see yourself as you are. It is like cleansing a mirror.

The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show
you your own face. The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use
it.

Devotion to your goal makes you live a clean and orderly life,
given to the search for truth and to helping people. And realization
25.
makes noble virtue easy and spontaneous, by removing for good
the obstacles in the shape of desires and fears and wrong ideas.

26. The entire purpose of a clean and well-ordered life is to liberate

 man from the thaldrom of chaos and the burden of sorrow.

In reality only the Ultimate is. The rest is a matter of name and
form. And as long as you cling to the idea that only what has name
and shape exists, the Supreme will appear to you non-existing.
27. When you understand that names and shapes are hollow shells
without any content whatsoever, and what is real is nameless and
formless, pure energy of life and light of consciousness, you will
be at peace - immersed in the deep silence of reality.

28. All will happen as you want it, provided you really want it.

Within the prison of your world appears a man who tells you that
the world of painful contradictions, which you have created, is
neither continuous nor permanent and is based on a
29. misaprehension.

He pleads with you to get out of it, by the same way by which you
got into it. You got into it by forgetting what you are and you will
get out of it by knowing yourself as you are.

Why not turn away from the experience to the experiencer and
30. realize the full import of the only true statement you can make: 'I
am'?

Just keep in mind the feeling 'I am', merge in it, till your mind and
feeling become one. By repeated attempts you will stumble on the
31.
right balance of attention and affection and your mind will be
firmly established in the thought-feeling 'I am'.
 Questioner: Then what is needed?

Nisargadatta: Distrust your mind, and go beyond.

Questioner: What shall I find beyond the mind?

Nisargadatta: The direct experience of being, knowing and loving.

Questioner: How does one go beyond the mind?

Nisargadatta: There are many starting points - they all lead to the
32. same goal. You may begin with selfless work, abandoning the
fruits of action; you may then give up thinking and in the end give
up all desires. Here, giving up (tyaga) is the operational factor.

Or you may not bother about anything you want, or think, or do

and just stay put in the thought and feeling 'I am, focussing 'I am
firmly in your mind.

All kind of experience may come to you - remain unmoved in the

knowledge that all perceivable is transient, and only the 'I am'
endures.

33. Questioner: The inner teacher is not easily reached.

Nisargadatta: Since he is in you and with you, the difficulty cannot

be serious. Look within and you will find him.

Questioner: When I look within, I find sensations and perceptions,

thoughts and feelings, desires and fears, memories and
expectations. I am immersed in this cloud and see nothing else.

Nisargadatta: That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the
inner teacher. He alone is, all else only appears to be. He is your
own self (swarupa), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him
 and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.

Seeing the false as false, is meditation. This must go on all the

34.
time.

Deliberate daily exercise in discrimination between the true and

35.
the false, and renunciation of the false, is meditation.

I can tell you about myself. I was a simple man, but I trusted my
Guru. What he told me to do, I did. He told me to concentrate on 'I
am' - I did. He told me that I am beyond all perceivables and
conceivables - I believed.
36.
I gave him my heart and soul, my entire attention and the whole of
my spare time (I had to work to keep my family alive). As a result
of faith and earnest application, I realized my self (swarupa)
within three years.

Establish yourself in the awareness of 'I am'. This is the beginning

37.
and also the end of all endeavour.

Meditation will help you to find your bonds, loosen them, untie
38.
them and cast your moorings.

To solve a problem you must trace it to its source. Only in the

39. dissolution of the problem in the universal solvents of inquiry and
dispassion, can its right solution be found.

40. Why don't you inquire how real are the world and the person?
 Nisargadatta: Because of you, there is a world

41. Questioner: To me such statement appears meaningless.

Nisargadatta: Its meaninglessness may disappear on investigation.

To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what
you are not. And to know what you are not you must watch
yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not necessarily go with
the basic fact: 'I am'.

The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my

parents and now I am so-and-so, living at, married to, father of,
employed by, and so on, are not inherent in the sense 'I am'.
42. Our usual attitude is of 'I am this'. Separate consistently and
perserveringly the 'I am' from 'this' or 'that', and try to feel what it
means to be, just to be, without being 'this' or 'that'.

All our habits go against it and the task of fighting them is long
and hard sometimes, but clear understanding helps a lot. The
clearer you understand that on the level of the mind you can be
described in negative terms only, the quicker you will come to the
end of your search and realize your limitless being.

When things repeatedly happen together, we tend to see a causal

43. link between them. It creates a mental habit, but a habit is not a
necessity.

False ideas about this 'I am' lead to bondage, right knowledge
44.
leads to freedom and happiness.

45. Nisargadatta: It is solid, steady, changless, beginingless and

 endless, ever new, ever fresh.

Questioner: How is it reached?

Nisargadatta: Desirelessness and fearlessness will take you there.

The sense 'I am' is your own. You cannot part with it, but you can
impart it to anything, as in saying: 'I am young, I am rich, etc.' But
46.
such self-identifications are patently false and the cause of
bondage.

The Supreme is the easiest to reach for it is your very being. It is

47.
enough to stop thinking and desiring anything, but the Supreme.

By forgetting who you are and imagining yourself a mortal

48. creature, you created so much trouble for yourself that you have to
wake up, like from a bad dream. Inquiry also wakes you up.

Truth is simple and open to all. Why do you complicate? Truth is

loving and lovable. It includes all, accepts all, purifies all.

It is untruth that is difficult and a source of trouble. It always

49. wants, expects, demands. Being false, it is empty, always in search
of confirmation and reassurance. It is afraid of and avoids inquiry.
It identifies itself with any support, however weak and momentary.
Whatever it gets, it loses and asks for more.

50. Questioner: What is permanent?

Nisargadatta: Look to yourself for the permanent. Dive deep

within and find what is real in you.
 Questioner: How to look for myself?

Nisargadatta: Whatever happens it happens to you. What you do,

the doer is in you. Find the subject of all that you are as a person.

Questioner: What else can I be?

Nisargadatta: Find out. Even if I tell you that you are the witness,
the silent watcher, it will mean nothing to you, unless you find the
way to your own being.

Questioner: My question is: How to find the way to one's own

being?

Nisargadatta: Give up all questions except one: 'Who am I?' After

all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The 'I am' is
certain. The 'I am this' is not. Struggle to find out what you are in
reality.

'I am' itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you
discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love
51. of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one. The
consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two,
really one, seek unity and that is love.

Questioner: How am I to find that love?

52. Nisargadatta: What do you love now? The 'I am'. Give your heart
and mind to it, think of nothing else.

All desire has its source in the self. It is all a matter of choosing
53.
the right desire.
 Nisargadatta: All these questions arise from your believing
54.
yourself to be a person. Go beyond the personal and see.

I ask you only to stop imagining that you were born, have parents,
55. are a body, will die and so on. Just try, make a beginning - it is not
as hard as you think.

56. Whatever you do against your better knowledge is sin.

57. Remembering yourself is virtue, forgetting yourself is sin.

When you shall begin to question your dream, awakening will not
58.
be far away.

Steady faith is stronger than destiny. Destiny is the result of

59. causes, mostly accidental, and is therefore loosely woven.
Confidence and good hope will overcome it easily.

60. Questioner: In Europe there is no tradition of a mantra, except in

some contemplative orders. Of what use is it to a modern day
young Westerner?

Nisargadatta: None, unless he is very much attracted. For him the

right procedure is to adhere to the thought that he is the ground of
all knowledge, the immutable and perennial awareness of all that
happens to the senses and mind.

If he keeps it in mind all the time, aware and alert, he is bound to

break the bounds of non-awareness and emerge into pure life, light
and love.
 The idea - 'I am the witness only' will purify the body and the
mind and open the eye of wisdom. Then man goes beyond illusion
and his heart is free of all desires.

Just like ice turns to water and water to vapour, and vapour
dissolves in air and disappears into space, so does the body
dissolve into pure awareness (chidakash), then into pure being
(paramakash), which is beyond all existence and non-existence.

You should consider more closely your own world, examine it

61.
critically and, suddenly, one day you will find yourself in mine.

See your world as it is, not as you imagine it to be. Discrimination

will lead to detachment; detachment will ensure right action, right
62. action will build the inner bridge to your real being.

Action is proof of earnestness. Do what you are told diligently and

faithfully and all obstacles will disolve.

Investigate your world, apply your mind to it, examine it critically,

63.
scrutinize every idea about it; that will do.

The entire universe of pain is born of desire. Give up the desire for
64.
pleasure and you will not even know what is pain.

By its very nature pleasure is limited and transient. Out of pain

desire is born, in pain it seeks fulfilment, and it ends in the pain of
65.
frustration and despair. Pain is the background of pleasure, all
seeking of pleasure is born in pain and ends in pain.

66. Sorting out and discarding (viveka-vairagya) are absolutely

 necessary. Everything must be scrutinized and the unnecessary
ruthlessly destroyed.

Believe me, there cannot be too much destruction. For in reality

nothing is of value. Be passionately dispassionate - that is all.

When through the practice of discrimination and detachment

67. (viveka-vairagya) you lose sight of sensory and mental states, pure
being emerges as the natural state.

Questioner: How does one bring to an end this sense of

separateness?

Nisargadatta: By focusssing the mind on 'I am', on the sense of

being. 'I am so-and-so' dissolves, 'I am a witness only' remains and
68.
that too submerges in 'I am all'. Then the all becomes the One and
the One - yourself, not separate from me.

Abandon the idea of a separate 'I' and the question of 'whose

experience?' will not arise.

Dive deep within yourself and you will find it easily and simply.
69.
Go in the direction of 'I am'.

To know the world you forget the self - to know the self you forget
the world.
70. What is the world after all? A collection of memories. Cling to one
thing that matters, hold on to 'I am' and let go all else. This is
sadhana.

71. Questioner: I do not feel the world is the result of a mistake.

 Nisargadatta: You may say so only after a full investigation, not
before. Of course, when you discern and let go all that is unreal,
what remains is real.

Be fully aware of your own being and you will be in bliss

consciously. Because you take your mind off yourself and make it
72.
dwell on what you are not, you lose your sense of well-being, of
being well.

Questioner: There are two paths before us the path of effort (yoga
marga), and the path of ease (bhoga marga). Both lead to the same
goal - liberation.

Nisargadatta: Why do you call bhoga a path? How can ease bring
73. you perfection?

Questioner: The perfect renouncer (yogi) will find reality. The

perfect enjoyer (bhogi) also will come to it.

Nisargadatta: How can it be? Aren't they contradictory?

Questioner: Similarly the good news of enlightenment will, sooner

or later, bring about a transformation.

74. Nisargadatta: Yes, first hearing (shravana), then remembering

(smarana), pondering (manana) and so on. We are on familiar
ground. The man who heard the news becomes a Yogi; while the
rest continue in their Bhoga.

75. As you are now, the personality is only an obstacle. Self-

identification with the body may be good for an infant, but true
 growing up depends on getting the body out of the way.

Normally, one should outgrow body-based desires early in life.

Even the Bhogi, who does not refuse enjoyments, need not hanker
after the ones he has tasted. Habit, desire for repetition, frustrates
both the Yogi and the Bhogi.

Questioner: Why do you keep on dismissing the person (vyakti) as

of no importance? Personality is the primary fact of our existence.
It occupies the entire stage.

Nisargadatta: As long as you do not see that it is a mere habit, built

76. on memory, prompted by desire, you will think yourself to be a
person - living, feeling, thinking, active, passive, pleased or
pained. Question yourself, ask yourself: 'Is it so?', 'Who am I?',
'What is behind and beyond all this?' And soon you will see your
mistake. And it is in the very nature of a mistake to cease to be,
when seen.

There are so many who take the dawn for the noon, a momentary
experience for full realization and destroy even the little they gain
77. by excess of pride. Humility and silence are essential for a
sadhaka, however advanced. Only a fully ripened gnani can allow
himself complete spontaneity.

Pure experience does not bind; experience caught between desire

78.
and fear is impure and creates karma.

79. Be attentive, enquire ceaselessly. That is all.

80. A spark of truth can burn up a mountain of lies. The opposite is

 also true. The sun of truth remains hidden behind the cloud of self-
identification with the body.

Questioner: What is a fact?

81. Nisargadatta: What is perceived in pure awareness, unaffected by
desire and fear is fact.

The Yogi is narrow as the sharp edge of the knife. He has to be - to

cut deep and smoothly, to penetrate unerringly the many layers of
82. the false.

The Bhogi worships at many altars; the Yogi serves none but his
own true Self.

84. There are no others [for the yogis] to help.

85. The only thing that can help is to wake up from the dream.

The self by its nature knows itself only. For lack of experience
whatever it perceives it takes to be itself. Battered, it learns to look
out (viveka) and to live alone (vairagya). When right behaviour
86.
(uparati), becomes normal, a powerful inner urge (mukmukshutva)
makes it seek its source. The candle of the body is lighted and all
becomes clear and bright (atmaprakash).

85. Questioner: What is the real cause of suffering?

Nisargadatta: Self-identification with the limited. Sensations as

such, do not cause suffering. It is the mind, bewildered by wrong
ideas, addicted to thinking: 'I am this', 'I am that', that fears loss
 and craves gain and suffers when frustrated.

Questioner: A friend of mine used to have horrible dreams night

after night. Going to sleep would terrorise him. Nothing could
86. help him.

Nisargadatta: Company of the truly good (satsang) would help

him.

87. Seek within. Your own self is your best friend.

As long as we delude ourselves by what we imagine ourselves to

88. be, to know, to have, to do, we are in a sad plight indeed. Only in
complete self-negation is there a chance to discover our real being.

89. The false self must be abandoned before the real self can be found.

Perceptions based on sensations and shaped by memory imply a

perceiver, whose nature you never cared to examine. Give it your
90. full attention, examine it with loving care and you will discover
heights and depths of being which you did not dream of,
engrossed as you are in your puny image of yourself.

You must be serious, intent, truly interested. You must be full of

91.
goodwill for yourself.

By all means be selfish - the right way. Wish yourself well, labour
92. at what is good for you. Destroy all that stands betweeen you and
happiness. Be all - love all - be happy - make happy.
 Questioner: What is the place of sex in love?
93. Nisargadatta: Love is a state of being. Sex is energy. Love is wise,
sex is blind.

94. Without love all is evil. Life itself without love is evil.

95. You are love itself - when you are not afraid.

Memory is material - destructible, perishable, transient. On such

flimsy foundations we build a sense of personal existence - vague,
96. intermittent, dreamlike. This vague persuasion: 'I am so-and-so'
obscures the changless state of pure awareness and makes us
believe that we are born to suffer and to die.

There is progress all the time. Everything contributes to progress.

But this is the progress of ignorance. The circles of ignorance may
be ever widening, yet it remains a bondage all the same.
97. In due course a Guru appears to teach and inspire us to practise
Yoga and a ripening takes place, as a result of which the
immemorial night of ignorance dissolves before the rising sun of
wisdom.

When ignorance becomes obstinate and hard and the character

98.
gets perverted, effort and the pain of it become inevitable.

Freedom to do what one likes is really bondage, while being free

99.
to do what one must, what is right, is real freedom.
 You mean to say everybody's life is totally determined at his birth?
100. What a strange idea! Were it so, the power that determines would
see to it that nobody should suffer.

101. Man alone can destroy in himself the roots of pain.

Not to know, and not to know that one does not know, is the cause
102.
of endless suffering.

What business have you with saving the world, when all the world
103. needs is to be saved from you? Get out of the picture and see
whether there is anything left to save.

Just like a deficiency disease is cured through the supply of the

104. missing factor, so are the diseases of living cured by a good dose
of intelligent detachment (viveka-vairagya).

105. Remove the sense of separateness and there will be no conflict.

106. All you have to do is to see the dream as dream.

107. Whatever name you give it: will, or steady purpose, or one
pointedness of mind, you come back to earnestness, sincerity,
honesty. When you are in dead earnest, you bend every incident,
every second of your life to your purpose. You do not waste time
and energy on other things. You are totally dedicated, call it will,
or love, or plain honesty.

We are complex beings, at war within and without. We contradict

ourselves all the time, undoing today the work of yesterday. No
 wonder we are stuck. A little of integrity would make a lot of
difference.

Collect and strengthen your mind and you will find that your
108. thoughts and feelings, words and actions will align themselves in
the direction of your will.

Weak-mindedness is due to lack of intelligence, of understanding,

109. which again is the result of non-awareness. By striving for
awareness you bring your mind together and strengthen it.

Questioner: I may be fully aware of what is going on, and yet

quite unable to influence it in any way.

Nisargadatta: You are mistaken. What is going on is a projection

of your mind. A weak mind cannot control its own projections. Be
110.
aware, therefore, of your mind and its projections.

You cannot control what you do not know. On the other hand,
knowledge gives power. In practice it is very simple. To control
yourself - know yourself.

Go to the source of both pain and pleasure, of desire and fear.

111.
Observe, investigate, try to understand.

Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is abandoned,

112.
death loses its terror, it becomes a part of living.

Find the permanent in the fleeting, the one constant factor in every
113.
experience.
 First purify your vision. Learn to see instead of staring.

Also you must be eager to see. You need to both clarity and
114. earnestness for self-knowledge. You need purity of heart and
mind, which comes through earnest application in daily life of
whatever little you have understood. There is no such thing as
compromise in Yoga.

Nothing can block you so effectively as compromise, for it shows

115.
lack of earnestness, without which nothing can be done.

Begin by disassociating yourself from your mind. Resolutely

116. remind yourself that you are not the mind and that its problems are
not yours.

Go on pondering, wondering, being anxious to find a way. Be

conscious of yourself, watch your mind, give it your full attention.
Don't look for quick results; there may be none within your
noticing. Unkown to you, your psyche will undergo a change,
117. there will be more clarity in your thinking, charity in your feeling,
purity in your behaviour.

You need not aim at these - you will witness the change all the
same. For, what you are now is the result of inattention and what
you become will be the fruit of attention.

Do not undervalue attention. It means interest and also love.

118. To know, to do, to discover, or to create you must give your heart
to it - which means attention. All blessings flow from it.

119. Questioner: You advise us to concentrate on 'I am'. Is this too a

 form of attention?

Nisargadatta: What else? Give your undivided attention to the

most important in your life - yourself. Of your personal universe
you are the center - without knowing the center what else can you
know?

Questioner: How am I to get such a stainless mirror?

120. Nisargadatta: Obviously, by removing stains. See the stains and
remove them. The ancient teaching is fully valid.

121. Nisargadatta: The nature of the perfect mirror is such that you
cannot see it. Whatever you can see is bound to be a stain. Turn
away from it, give it up, know it as unwanted.

Questioner: All perceivables, are they stains?

Nisargadatta: All are stains

Questioner: The entire world is a stain.

Nisargadatta: Yes, it is.

Questioner: How awful! So, the universe is of no value?

Nisargadatta: It is of tremendous value. By going beyond it you

realize yourself.

Questioner: But why did it come into being in the first instance?

Nisargadatta: You will know when it ends.

Questioner: Will it ever end?

 Nisargadatta: Yes, for you.

Questioner: When did it begin?

Nisargadatta: Now.

Questioner: When will it end?

Nisargadatta: Now.

Questioner: It does not end now?

Nisargadatta: You don't let it.

Questioner: I want to let it.

Nisargadatta: You don't. All your life is connected with it. Your
past and future, your desires and fears, all have their roots in the
world. Without the world where are you. who are you?

Questioner: But that is exactly what I came to find out.

Nisargadatta: And I am telling you exactly this: find a foothold in

the beyond and all will be clear and easy.

Is not meaness also a form of madness? And is not madness the

misuse of the mind? Humanity's problem lies in this misuse of the
122.
mind only. All treasures of nature and spirit are open to man who
will use his mind rightly.

Fear and greed cause the misuse of the mind. The right use of
123.
mind is the service of love, life, of truth, of beauty.

124. Attend to yourself, set yourself right - mentally and emotionally.

 Leave alone the reforms and mind the reformer.

All you need is to stop searching outside what can be found only
within. Set your vision right before you operate. You are suffering
125. from acute misapprehension. Clarify your mind, purify your heart,
sanctify your life - this is the quickest way to a change of your
world.

Problems [in the material world] created by desires and fears and
126. wrong ideas can be solved only on the level of the mind. You must
conquer your own mind and for this you must go beyond it.

To go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order.
You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. The mess will bog
127.
you up. 'Pick up your rubbish' seems to be the Universal law. And
a just law too.

Just remember yourself. 'I am', is enough to heal your mind and
take you beyond. Just have some trust.

128. Commonsense too will tell you that to fulfill a desire you must
keep your mind on it. If you want to know your true nature, you
must have yourself in mind all the time, until the secret of your
being stands revealed.

129. To help others, one must be beyond the need of help.

130. It is not the worship of a person [guru] that is crucial, but the
steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task. Remember,
wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow into it, grow with it,
 make it your own - the word of your Guru, outer or inner.

Put in all and you will get all. I was doing it. All my time I was
giving to my Guru and to what he told me.

131. It is easy, if you are earnest.

When you are concerned with truth, with reality, you must
question everything, your very life. By asserting the necessity of
132.
sensory and intellectual experience [craving sensory experience]
you narrow down your inquiry to search for comfort.

Question every urge, hold no desire legitimate. Empty of

133. possession, physical and mental, free of all self-concern, be open
for discovery.

Have your Guru always in your heart and remember his

134.
instructions - this is real abidance with the true.

You can not speak of a beginning of consciousness. The very ideas

of beginning and time are within consciousness. To talk
135. meaningfully of the beginning of anything, you must step out of it.
And the moment you step out, you realize that there is no such
thing and never was.

136. The illusion of being the body-mind is there, only because it is not
investigated. Non-investigation is the thread on which all the
states of mind are strung. All states of mind, all names and forms
of existence are rooted in non-inquiry, non-investigation, in
imagination and credulity.
 It is right to say 'I am', but to say 'I am this', 'I am that' is a sign of
not inquiring, not examining, of mental weakness or lethargy.

When we are absorbed in other things, in the not-self, we forget

137.
the self.

Sadhana (practice) consists in reminding oneself forcibly of one's

pure 'being-ness', of not being anything in particular, nor a sum of
138.
particulars, not even the totality of particulars, which make up a
universe.

Inquire what is permanent in the transient, real in the unreal. This

139.
is sadhana.

Think of yourself by all means. Only don't bring the idea of a body
140.
into the picture.

Attachment is bondage, detachment is freedom. To crave is to

141.
slave.

Inertia and restlessness (tamas and rajas) work together and keep
142. clarity and harmony (sattva) down. Tamas and rajas must be
conquered before Sattva can appear.

You come to it by putting an end to indolence and using all your

energy to clear the way for clarity and charity. Don't be afraid,
143.
don't resist, don't delay. There is nothing to be afraid of. Trust and
try. Experiment honestly.
 That immovable state, which is not affected by the birth and death
144.
of a body or a mind, that state you must perceive.

In life nothing can be had without overcoming obstacles. The

obstacles to the clear perception of one's true being are desire for
145.
pleasure and the fear of pain. It is the pleasure-pain motivation
that stands in the way.

Leave alone your desires and fears, give your entire attention to
146. the subject, to him who is behind the experience of desire and fear.
Ask: who desires? Let each desire bring you back to yourself.

It would be a grievous mistake to identify yourself with something

147.
external.

The desire to find the self will surely be fulfilled, provided you
want nothing else. But you must be honest with yourself and really
want nothing else.

148. If in the meantime you want many other things and are engaged in
their pursuit, your main purpose may be delayed until you grow
wiser and cease being torn between contradictory urges.

Go within, without swerving, without ever looking outward.

Questioner: But my desires and fears are still there.

149. Nisargadatta: Where are they but in your memory? Realize that
their root is in expectation born of memory - and they will cease to
obsess you.
 Whatever work you have undertaken - complete it. Do not take up
new tasks, unless it is called for by a concrete situation of
suffering and relief from suffering. Find yourself first, and endless
150. blessings will follow. Nothing profits the world as much as the
abandoning of profits. A man who no longer thinks in terms of
loss and gain is truly the non-violent man, for he is beyond all
conflict.

Primarily, ahimsa means what is says: 'don't hurt'. It is not doing

151. good that comes first, but ceasing to hurt, not adding to suffering.
Pleasing others is not ahimsa.

The only help worth giving is freeing from the need of further
152. help. Repeated help is no help at all. Do not talk of helping
another, unless you can put him beyond all need of help.

When you have understood that all existence, in separation and

limitation, is painful, and when you are willing and able to live
integrally, in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have gone
153. beyond the need of help.
You can help another by precept and example and, above all, by
your being. You cannot give what you do not have and you don't
have what you are not.

154. You can only cease to be - as you seem to be now.

There is nothing cruel in what I say. To wake up a man from a

nightmare is compassion. You came here because you are in pain,
and all I say is: wake up, know yourself, be yourself.
 The end of pain lies not in pleasure. When you realize that you are
beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the
pursuit of happiness ceases and the resultant sorrow too. For pain
aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in pain, relentlessly.

Questioner: In the ultimate state there can be no happiness?

Nisargadatta: Nor sorrow. Only freedom. Happiness depends on

155. something or other and can be lost; freedom from everything
depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Freedom from sorrow has
no cause and therefore, cannot be destroyed. Realize that freedom.

What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a
stream of events in consciousness? Because of the idea of
separation and limitation they are painful. Momentary relief from
156.
pain we call pleasure - and we build castles in the air hoping for
endless pleasure which we call happiness. It is all
misunderstanding and misuse. Wake up, go beyond, live really.

Have your being outside this body of birth and death and all your
157. problems will be solved. They exist because you believe yourself
born to die. Undeceive yourself and be free. You are not a person.

Just look and remember, whatever you perceive is not you, nor
yours. It is there in the field of consciousness, but you are not the
158.
field and its contents, nor even the knower of the field. Simply
look at whatever happens and know you are beyond it.

159. All you need to do is to cease taking yourself to be within the field
of consciousness. Unless you have already considered these
 matters carefully, listening to me once will not do.

Of all the people the knower of the self, the liberated man, is the
most trustworthy. But merely to trust is not enough. You must also
desire. Without desire for freedom of what use is the confidence
that you can acquire freedom? Desire and confidence must go
together. The stronger your desire, the easier comes the help.

The greatest Guru is helpless as long as the disciple is not eager to

learn. Eagerness and earnestness are all-important. Confidence
will come with experience. Be devoted to your goal and devotion
to him who can guide you will follow.

160. If your desire and confidence are strong, they will operate and take
you to your goal, for you will not cause delay by hesitation and
compromise.

The greates Guru is your inner self. Truly, he is the supreme

teacher. He alone can take you to your goal and he alone meets
you at the end of the road.

Confide in him and you need no outer Guru. But again you must
have the strong desire to find him and do nothing that will create
obstacles and delays. And do not waste energy and time on regrets.
Learn from your mistakes and do not repeat them.

Let us wait with improving others until we have seen ourselves as

we are - and have changed. There is no need to turn round and
161.
round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall
into its proper place.

162. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the
dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To
 identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless
suffering.

You are the god of your world and you are both stupid and cruel.
Let God be a concept - your own creation. Find out who you are,
how did you come to live, longing for truth, goodness and beauty
in a world full of evil.
163.
Of what use is your arguing for or against God, when you just do
not know who is God and what you are talking about?

The God born of fear and hope, shaped by desire and imagination,
cannot be the Power That is, the Mind and Heart of the universe.

There are two levels to consider: the physical - of facts, and

mental - of ideas. I am beyond both. Neither your facts, nor ideas
164.
are mine. What I see is beyond. Cross-over to my side and see
with me.

Nisargadatta: You are not yet here. I am here. [I say] Come in! But
you don't. You want me to live your life, feel your way, use your
language. I cannot, and it will not help you. You must come to me.
Words are of the mind and the mind obscures and distorts. Hence
the absolute need to go beyond words and move over to my side.
165.
Questioner: Take me over.

Nisargadatta: I am doing it, but you resist. You give reality to

concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality. Abandon all
conceptualization and stay silent and attentive. Be earnest about it
and all will be well with you.
 Why play with ideas? Be content with what you are sure of. And
166. the only thing you can be sure of is 'I am'. Stay with it, and reject
everything else. This is Yoga.

Questioner: I can reject only verbally. At best I remember to repeat

the formula: 'This is not me, this is not mine. I am beyond all this.'

167. Nisargadatta: Good enough. First verbally, then mentally and

emotionally, then in action. Give attention to the reality within you
and it will come to light. It is like churning butter. Do it correctly
and assidiously and the result is sure to come.

Questioner: How can the absolute be the result of a process?

Nisargadatta: You are right, the relative cannot result in the

absolute. But the relative can block the absolute, just as the non-
168.
churning of the cream may prevent butter from separating.

It is the real that creates the urge; the inner prompts the outer and
the outer responds in interest and effort.

169. Don't identify yourself with the world and you will not suffer.

Nisargadatta: What is the root of pain? Ignorance of yourself.

What is the root of desire? The urge to find yourself. All creation
toils for its self and will not rest until it returns to it.
170.
Questioner: When will it return?

Nisargadatta: It can return whenever you want it.

171. Give up the idea of being what you think yourself to be.
 What matters is the idea you have of yourself, for it blocks you.
172.
Give it up.

Easier to change, than to suffer. Grow out of your childishness,

173.
that is all.

This is childishness, clinging to the toys, to your desires and fears,

174. opinions and ideas. Give it all up and be ready for the real to assert
itself. This self-assertion is best expressed in the words: 'I am'.

So far you took yourself to be the movable and overlooked the

immovable. Turn your mind inside out. Overlook the movable and
175.
you will find yourself to be the ever-present, changeless reality,
inexpressible, but solid like a rock.

176. You are conscious. Hold on to it.

Call it silence, or void, or abeyance, the fact is that the three -

experiencer, experiencing, experience - are not. In witnessing, in
177.
awareness, self-consciousness, the sense of being this or that, is
not. Unidentified being remains.

178. Who are you, who is unsatisfied?

179. Questioner: All I know is desire for pleasure and fear of pain.

Nisargadatta: That is what you think about yourself. Stop it. If you
cannot break a habit all at once, consider the familiar way of
 thinking and see its falseness.

Questioning the habitual is the duty of the mind. What the mind
created, the mind must destroy. Or realize that there is no desire
outside the mind and stay out.

What I say is true, but to you it is only a theory. How will you
come to know that it is true? Listen, remember, ponder, visualize,
180. experience. Also apply it in your daily life. Have patience with me
and above all have patience with yourself, for you are your only
obstacle.

181. To recieve communication, you must be receptive.

182. All I can tell you is the way I traveled and invite you to take it.

As far as I am concerned, my teaching is simple: trust me for a

183. while and do what I tell you. If you persevere, you will find that
your trust was justified.

Questioner: And what to do with people who are interested, but

cannot trust?
184. Nisargadatta: If they could stay with me, they would come to trust
me. Once they trust me, they will follow my advice and discover
for themselves.

You seem to want instant insight, forgetting that the instant is

185. always preceded by a long preparation. The fruit falls suddenly,
but the ripening takes time.
 After all, what I am offering you is the operational approach, so
current in Western science. When a scientist describes an
186.
experiment and its results, usally you accept his statements on
trust and repeat his experiment as he describes it.

To have the direct experience of a country one must go and live

187.
there

188. The scientific approach is for all. Trust-test-taste.

189. Givers there are many; where are the takers?

190. Who is willing to take what I am willing to give?

What can I do beyond showing you the way to improve your

191.
vision?

But while you repeat verbally: 'give, give', you do nothing to take
what is offered. I am showing you a short and easy way to being
192.
able to see what I see, but you cling to your old habits of thought,
feeling and action and put all the blame on me.

Whatever he does, if he does it for the sake of finding his own real
193.
self, will surely bring him to himself.

194. No need of faith which is but expectation of results. Here the

action only counts. Whatever you do for the sake of truth, will
take you to truth. Only be earnest and honest. The shape it takes
 hardly matters.

The very facts of repetiton, of struggling on and on and of

195. endurance and perseverance, in spite of boredom and despair and
complete lack of conviction are really crucial.

There is a connection between the word and its meaning, between

196. action and its motive. Spiritual practice is will asserted and re-
asserted.

Meet your own self. Be with your own self, listen to it, obey it,
cherish it, keep it in mind endlessly. You need no other guide.

As long as your urge for truth affects your daily life, all is well
197. with you. Live your life without hurting anybody. Harmlessness is
a most powerful form of Yoga and it will take you speedily to your
goal. This is what I call nisarga yoga, the Natural yoga. It is the
art of living in peace and harmony, in friendliness and love. The
fruit of it is happiness, uncaused and endless.

198. Turn within and you will come to trust yourself.

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,
199.
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.

200. There is nothing wrong in repeating the same truth again and
 again until it becomes reality. People need to hear words until
facts speak to them louder than words.

Quotes of Nisargadatta Maharaj from 'I am That'

Compiled by Pradeep Apte

1. Was it not the sense of I am that came first? Some seed consciousness must be
existing even during sleep, or swoon. On waking up the experience runs: I am-the body-
in the world. It may appear to arise in succession but in fact it is all simultaneous, a
single idea of having a body in a world. Can there be the sense of I am without being
somebody or other?

2. Go deep into the sense of I am and you will find. How do you find a thing you have
mislaid or forgotten? 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, which cannot be
verbalized, but which can be experienced. All you need to do is to try and try again. After
all the sense of I am is always with you, only you have attached all kinds of things to
it- body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions and so on. All these self-identifications are
misleading, because of these you take yourself to be what you are not.

3. The I am is a useful pointer, it shows where to seek, but not what to seek. Just have a
good look at it. Once you are convinced that you cannot say truthfully about yourself
anything except I am, and that nothing can be pointed at, can be your self, the need
for the I am is over - you are no longer intent on verbalizing what you are. All
definitions apply to your body only and to its expressions. Once this obsession with the
body goes, you will revert to your natural state. We discover the natural state by being
earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving ones life to this
discovery.

4. What makes the present so different? Obviously, my presence, I am real for I am always
now, in the present, and what is with me now shares in my reality. The past is in
memory, the future in imagination. There is nothing in the present event itself that
makes it stand out as real. A thing focused in the now is with me, for I am ever present, it
is my own reality that I impart to the present event.

5. Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought I am. The mind will rebel in the
beginning, but with patience and perseverance it will yield and keep quiet. Once you are
quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally, without any
interference on your part.

6. To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom,
peace and joy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them
as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you are. It
 is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show
you your own face. The thought I am is the polishing cloth. Use it.

7. Why not turn away from the experience to the experiencer and realize the full import of the
only true statement you can make: I am. Just keep in mind the feeling I am,
merge in it, till your mind and feeling become one. By repeated attempts you will stumble
on the right balance of attention and affection and your mind will be firmly established in
the thought-feeling I am. Whatever you think, say or do, this sense of immutable and
affectionate being remains as the ever-present background of the mind.

8. Do not bother about anything you want, or think, or do, just stay put in the thought and
feeling, I am, focusing I am firmly in your mind. All kinds of experience may come
to you remain unmoved in the knowledge that all perceivable is transient and only the
I am endures.

9. No way to self-realization is short or long, but some people are more in earnest and some
are less. I can tell you about myself. I was a simple man, but I trusted my Guru. What he
told me to do, I did. He told me to concentrate on I am I did. He told me that I am
beyond all perceivables and conceivables I believed. I gave my heart and soul, my
entire attention and the whole of my spare time (I had to work to keep family alive). As a
result of faith and earnest application, I realized my self (swarupa) within three years.
You may choose any way that suits you; your earnestness will determine the rate of
progress. Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of I am. This is the beginning and
also the end of all endeavour.

10. To know what you are you must first investigate and know what you are not. And to know
what you are not, you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not necessarily
go with basic fact I am. The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my
parents and now I am so-and-so, living at, married to, father of, employed by, and so on,
are not inherent in the sense I am. Our usual attitude is I am this or that.
Separate consistently and perseveringly the I am from this or that and try to
feel what it means to be, just to be, without being this or that. All our habits
go against it and the task of fighting them is long and hard sometimes, but clear
understanding helps a lot. The clearer you understand that on the level of the mind you
can be described in negative terms only the quicker you will come to the end of your
search and realize your limitless being.

11. When you see the world you see God. There is no seeing God apart from the world.
Beyond the world to see God is to be God. The light by which you see the world, which is
God is the tiny little spark: I am, apparently so small and yet the first and the last in
every act of knowing and loving.

12. All is secondary to the tiny little thing which is the I am. Without the I am there is
nothing. All knowledge is about the I am. False ideas about this I am lead to
bondage, right knowledge leads to freedom and happiness. The I am denotes the
inner while there is denotes the outer; both are based on the sense of being.

13. The sense of I am is your own. You cannot part with it, but you can impart it to
anything, as in saying, I am young, I am rich, and so on. But such self-identifications are
patently false and the cause of bondage.
14. Give up all questions except one who am I? After all the only fact you are sure of is
that you are. The I am is certain, the I am this is not. Struggle to find out
what you are in reality.

15. I am itself is God, the seeking itself is God. In seeking you discover that you are
neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two
are one. The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really
one, seek unity and that is love. What do you love now? The I am. Give your heart and
mind to it, think of nothing else. This when effortless and natural, is the highest state. In it
love itself is the lover and the beloved.

16. The impersonal is real, the personal appears and disappears. I am is the impersonal
being. I am this is the person. The person is relative and the pure being the
fundamental.

17. By focusing the mind on I am, on the sense of being, I am so-and-so dissolves;
am a witness only remains and that too submerges in I am all. Then the all
becomes the One and the One yourself, not to be separate from me. Abandon the idea
of a separate I and the question of whose experience? will not arise. On a deeper
level my experience is your experience. Dive deep within yourself and you will find it easily
and simply. Go in the direction of I am.

18. Cling to the one thing that matters, hold on to I am and let go all else. This is
sadhana. In realization there is nothing to hold on to and nothing to forget. Everything
is known, nothing is remembered.

19. At the root of everything is the feeling I am. The state of mind there is a world is
secondary, for to be I do not need the world, the world needs me.

20. Beyond the mind there is no such thing as experience. Experience is a dual state. You
cannot talk of reality as an experience. Once this is understood, you will no longer look for
being and becoming as separate and opposite. In reality they are one and separable, like
roots and branches of the same tree. Both can only exist in the light of consciousness,
which again arises in the wake of the sense I am. This is the primary fact. If you miss
it you miss all.

21. Everything is a play of ideas. In the state free from ideation (nirvikalpa samadhi) nothing is
perceived. The root idea is I am. It shatters the state of pure consciousness and is
followed by the innumerable sensations and perceptions, feelings and ideas, which in
their totality constitute God and His world. The I am remains as the witness, but it is
by the will of God that everything happens.

22. The concentration on I am is a form of attention. Give your undivided attention to the
most important thing in your life yourself. Of your personal universe you are the center
without knowing the center what else can you know?

23. My advice to you is very simple just remember yourself, I am, it is enough to heal
your mind and take you beyond, just have some trust. I dont mislead you. Why should I?
Do I want anything from you? I wish you well such is my nature. Why should I mislead
you? Commonsense too will tell you that to fulfill a desire you must keep your mind on it.
If you want to know your true nature, you must have yourself in mind all the time, until the
secret of your being stands revealed.
24. It is right to say I am, but to say I am this, I am that, is a sign of not
enquiring, not examining, of mental weakness or lethargy. Practice (sadhana) consists of
reminding oneself forcibly of ones pure beingness, of not being anything in
particular, not a sum of particulars, not even the totality of all particulars, which make up a
universe.

25. Be content with what you are sure of. And the only thing you can be sure of is I am.
Stay with it and reject everything else. This is Yoga.

26. The one witness reflects itself in the countless bodies as I am. As long as the bodies,
however subtle, last, the I am appears as many. Beyond the body there is only the
One.

27. When I say I am, I do not mean a separate entity with a body as its nucleus, I mean the
totality of being, the ocean of consciousness, the entire universe of all that is known. I
have nothing to desire for I am complete forever.

28. Words betray their hollowness. The real cannot be described, it must be experienced. I
cannot find better words for what I know. What I say may sound ridiculous. But what the
words try to convey is the highest truth. All is one, however much we quibble. And all is
done to please the one source and goal of every desire, whom we all know as the I
am.

29. When I repeat: I am, I am, I merely assert and re-assert an ever-present fact. You
get tired of my words because you do not see the living truth behind them. Contact it and
you will find the full meaning of words and of silence- both.

30. Self-remembrance, awareness of I am ripens man powerfully and speedily. Give up all
ideas about yourself and simply be. Stop making use of your mind and see what happens.
Do this one thing thoroughly. That is all.

31. The fact is you. The only thing you know for sure is: here and now I am. Remove the
here and now, the I am remains unassailable.

32. All I can say is I am, all else is inference. But the inference has become a habit.
Destroy all habits of thinking and sleeping. The sense I am is a manifestation of a
deeper cause, which you may call self, God, Reality or by any other name. The I am is
in the world but it is the key which can open the door out of the world.

33. Only your sense I am though in the world, is not of the world. By no effort of logic you
can change the I am into I am not. In the very denial of your being you assert it.
Once you realize that the world is your own projection, you are free of it. You need not free
yourself of a world that does not exist, except in your imagination.

34. The sense I am is composed of pure light and the sense of being. The I is there
even without the am. So is the pure light there whether you say I or not. Become
aware of that pure light and you will never lose it. The beingness in being, the awareness
in consciousness, the interest in every experience that is not describable, yet perfectly
accessible, for there is nothing else.
35. I am is ever fresh. You do need to remember in order to be As a matter of fact,
before you can experience anything, there must be the sense of being. At present your
being is mixed up with experiencing. All you need to do is to unravel being from the tangle
of experiences. Once you have known pure being, without being this or that, you will
discern it among experiences, and you will no longer be misled by names and forms.

36. All talk of gnana is a sign of ignorance. It is the mind that imagines that it does not
know and then comes to know. Reality knows nothing of these contortions. Even the idea
of God as the Creator is false. Do I owe my being to another being? Because I am all
is.

37. My teacher told me to hold on to the sense I am tenaciously and not to swerve from it
even for a moment. I did my best to follow his advice and in a comparatively short time I
realized within myself the truth of his teaching. All I did was to remember his teaching, his
face, his words constantly. This brought an end to the mind, in the stillness of the mind I
saw myself as I am unbound.

38. One has to understand that the search for reality, God, Guru and the search for the self are
the same, when one is found all are found. When I am and God is become in your
mind indistinguishable, then something will happen and you will know without a trace of
doubt that God is because you are, you are because God is. The two are one.

39. When I am myself goes the I am all comes. When the I am all goes, I am
comes. When even I am goes, reality alone is, and in it every I am is preserved
and glorified.

40. I am now 74 years old. And yet I feel that I am an infant. I feel clearly that in spite of all the
changes I am a child. My Guru told me that the child, which is you even now, is your real
self (swarupa). Go back to that state of pure being, where the I am is still in its
purity before it gets contaminated with this I am or that I am. Your burden is of
false self-identification abandon them all. My Guru told me Trust me. I tell you, you
are divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine; your suffering is divine too. All
comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done. I did believe
him and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were his words. I did not
condition my mind by thinking: I am God, I am wonderful, I am beyond. I simply
followed his instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being, I am and stay in
it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the I am in my mind and soon
peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared
- myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and
unfathomable silence.

41. Dont you see that it is your very search for happiness that makes you feel miserable?
Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither seeking, nor refusing, give all
your attention to the level on which I am is timelessly present. Soon you will realize
that peace and happiness are in your very nature and it is only seeking them through
some particular channels that disturbs. Avoid the disturbance, that is all. To seek there is
no need, you would not seek what you already have. You yourself are God, the Supreme
Reality. To begin with, trust me, trust the teacher. It enables you to make the first step - and
then your trust is justified by your own experience.

42. The best is the simple feeling I am. Dwell on it patiently. Here patience is wisdom;
dont think of failure. There can be no failure in this undertaking.
43. No use rebelling against the very pattern of life. If you seek the immutable, go beyond
experience. When I say remember I am all the time, I mean come back to it repeatedly.
No particular thought can be minds natural state, only silence. Not the idea of silence
but silence itself. When the mind is in its natural state, it reverts to silence spontaneously
after every experience, or rather, every experience happens against a background of
silence. Now, what you have learnt here becomes the seed. You may forget it
apparently. But it will live and in due season sprout and grow and bring forth flowers and
fruits. All will happen by itself. You need not do anything, only dont prevent it.

44. First know your own mind and you will find that the question of other minds does not arise
at all, for there are no other people. You are the common factor, the only link between the
minds, Being is consciousness; I am applies to all.

45. The I am is a thought, while awareness is not a thought; there is no I am aware in

awareness. Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not, one can be aware of
being conscious, but not conscious of awareness. God is the totality of consciousness,
but awareness is beyond all being as well as non-being.

46. When you follow my advice and try to keep the mind on the notion of I am only, you
become fully aware of your mind and its vagaries. Awareness being lucid harmony
(sattwa) in action dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and
gently but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it
maybe hardly noticeable; and yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light
from inadvertence to awareness.

47. There is the body and there is the Self, between them is the mind, in which the Self is
reflected as I am. Because of the imperfections of the mind, its crudity and
restlessness, lack of discernment and insight, it takes itself to be the body and not the
Self. All that is needed is to purify the mind so that it can realize its identity with the Self.
When the mind merges in the Self, the body presents no problems. It remains what it is, an
instrument of cognition and action, the tool and the expression of the creative fire within.

48. The tangle which is entirely below the level of consciousness can be set right by being
with yourself, the I am, by watching yourself in your daily life with alert interest with
the intention to understand rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever may
emerge, because it is there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface and enrich
your life and consciousness with its captive energies. This is the great work of awareness;
it removes obstacles and releases energies by understanding the nature of life and mind.
Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.

49. There must be love in the relation between the person who says I am and the
observer of the I am. As long as the observer, the inner self; the higher self
considers himself apart from the observed, the lower self, despises it and condemns
it, the situation is hopeless. It is only when the observer (vyakta) accepts the person
(vyakti) as a projection or manifestation of himself, and so to say, takes the self into
the Self, the duality of I and this goes and the identity of the outer and the inner,
the Supreme Reality manifests itself.

50. There is no I apart from the body nor the world. The three appear and disappear
together. At the root is the sense I am. Go beyond it. The idea I-am-not-body is
merely an antidote to the idea I-am-the-body, which is false. What is that I am?
Unless you know yourself, what else can you know?
51. All hangs on the idea I am. Examine it very thoroughly. It lies at the root of every
trouble. This I am idea was not born with you. You could have lived very well without
it. It came later due to your self-identification with the body. It created an illusion of
separation where there was none. It made you a stranger in your own world alien and
inimical. Without the sense of I am life goes on. There are moments when we are
without the sense of I am, at peace and happy. With the return of I am, trouble
starts.

52. It is because the I am is false that it wants to continue. Reality need not continue
knowing itself indestructible, it is indifferent to the destruction of forms and expressions.
To strengthen and stabilize the I am we do all sorts of things all in vain for the I
am is being rebuilt from moment to moment. No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are
for the sake of I am. If you want to make real progress you must give up all ideas of
personal attainment.

53. When I met my Guru, he told me: you are not what you take yourself to be. Find out what
you are. Watch the sense I am, find you real self I obeyed him because I trusted
him; I did as he told me. All my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And
what a difference it made, and how soon. It took me only three years to realize my true
nature. My Guru died soon after I met him, but it made no difference. I remembered what
he told me and persevered. The fruit of it is here, with me.

54. All directions are within the mind. I am not asking you to look in any particular direction.
Just look away from all that happens in your mind and bring it to the feeling I am. The
I am is not a direction. It is the negation of all directions. Ultimately even the I am
will have to go for you need not keep asserting what is obvious. Bringing the mind to the
feeling I am merely helps turning the mind away from everything else.

55. Tirelessly I draw your attention to the one incontrovertible factor that of being. Being
needs no proofs it proves itself. If only you go deep into the fact of being and discover
the vastness and the glory, to which the I am is the door, and cross the door and go
beyond, your life will be full of happiness and light. Believe me, the effort needed is as
nothing when compared with the discoveries arrived at.

56. Hold on to the sense I am to the exclusion of everything else. When this mind
becomes completely silent, it shines with a new light and vibrates with new knowledge. It
all comes spontaneously; you need only to hold on to the I am.

57. Begin with feeling I am. All else is neither true nor false, it seems real when it appears,
it disappears when it is denied. A transient thing is a mystery. The real is simple, open,
clear and kind, beautiful and joyous. It is completely free of contradictions. It is ever-new,
ever-fresh, and endlessly creative. Being and non-being, life and death, all distinctions
merge in it.

58. The teacher tells the watcher you are not this, there is nothing yours in this, except the
point of I am, which is the bridge between the watcher and his dream. I am this,
I am that is a dream, while pure I am has the stamp of reality on it. You have
tasted so many things all came to naught. Only the sense I am persisted
unchanged. Stay with the changeless among the changeful, until you are able to go
beyond.
59. First you create a world, then the I am becomes a person, who is not happy for
various reasons. He goes out in search of happiness, meets a Guru who tells him You
are not a person, find out who you are. He does it and goes beyond.

60. He who is beyond time is the un-nameable. A glowing ember moved round and round
quickly enough, appears as a glowing circle. When the movement ceases, the ember
remains. Similarly, the I am in movement creates the world. The I am at peace
becomes the Absolute.

61. Immortality is freedom from the feeling: I am. Yet it is not extinction. On the contrary,
it is a state infinitely more real, aware and happy than you can possibly think of. Only self-
consciousness is no more. Who would remain even to say I am the witness? When
there is no I am, where is the witness? In the timeless state there no self to take
refuge in.

62. The witness is both unreal and real. The last remnant of the illusion, the first touch of the
real. To say: I am only the witness is both false and true, false because of the I am,
true because of the witness. It is better to say: there is witnessing. The moment you
say I am, the entire universe comes into being along with its creator.

63. Trust the teacher. Take my case. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense I am and
to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of
breathing or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened I would turn away my
attention from it and remain with the sense I am, it may look too simple, even crude.
My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a
powerful solvent of all desires and fears.

64. 64.Look at the I am as a sign of love between the inner and the outer, the real and the
appearance. Just like in a dream all is different, except the sense of I, which enables
you to say I dreamt, so does the sense of I am enable you to say, I am my real
Self again. I do nothing nor is anything done to me. I am what I am and nothing can affect
me. I appear to depend on everything, but in fact all depends on me.

65. In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and
traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like a pen writing on paper. And
the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are that tiny point and by your movement the
world is ever re-created. Stop moving and there will be no world. Look within and you will
find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body as the
sense I am. There is only light all else appears.

66. To be the point of light (reflected as the sense I am) tracing the world is turiya. To
be the light itself is turiyatita. But of what use are names when reality is so near?

67. The sense of I am is both unreal and real. Unreal when I say I am this or that. It is
real when we mean I am not this nor that. The I am and the witness are not one,
but without one the other cannot be.

68. Give your heart and mind to brooding over the I am, what is it, how is it, what is its
source, its life, its meaning. It is very much like digging a well. You reject all that is not
water, till you reach the life-giving spring.
69. The witness and consciousness appear and disappear together. The witness or the sense
I am too is transient but is given importance to break the spell of the known; the
illusion that only the perceivable is real. Presently for you perception is primary and
witnessing secondary, revert it to make witnessing primary and perception secondary (The
I am is just a device to revert).

70. Look at yourself steadily it is enough. The door that locks you in is also the door that
lets you out. The I am is the door. Stay at it until it opens. As a matter of fact, it is
open, only you are not at it. You are waiting at the non-existent painted doors, which will
never open.

71. Keep the I am in the focus of awareness, remember that you are, watch yourself
ceaselessly and the unconscious will flow into the conscious without any special effort on
your part. The person merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness
into pure being, yet identity is not lost, only its limitations are lost. It is transfigured and
becomes the real Self, the sadguru, the eternal friend and guide. To go deeper,
meditation is essential, the striving to go beyond the states of sleep, dream and waking. In
the beginning the attempts are irregular, then recur more often, become regular, then
continuous and intense, until all obstacles are conquered.

72. All that happens, happens in and to the mind, not to the source of the I am. Once you
realize that all happens by itself (call it destiny, or the will of God or mere accident), you
remain as witness only, understanding and enjoying, but not perturbed.

73. Before you can say I am, you must be there to say it. Being need not be self-
conscious. You need not know to be, but you must be to know.

74. The subtle body is created with the emergence of the I am idea. The two are one. It is
momentary. Real when present, unreal when over. Call it empirical, or actual, or factual. It
is the reality of immediate experience, here and now, which cannot be denied.
You can question the description and the meaning, but not the event itself. Being and non-
being alternate and their reality is momentary. The immutable reality lies beyond space
and time. Realize the momentariness of being and non-being and be free from both.

75. The I am is at the root of all appearance and the permanent link in the succession of
events that we call life; but I am beyond the I am.

76. All the glories will come with mere dwelling on the feeling I am. It is the simple that is
certain, not the complicated. Somehow, people do not trust the simple, the easy, the
always available. Why not give a honest trial to what I say? It may look very small and
insignificant, but it is like a seed that grows into a mighty tree. Give yourself a chance.

77. I was taught to give attention to my sense of I am and I found it supremely effective.
Therefore, I can speak of it with full confidence. But often people come with bodies, brains
and minds so mishandled, perverted and weak that the state of formless attention is
beyond them. In such cases some simpler token of earnestness (like repeating a
mantra) is appropriate. After all it is the earnestness that is indispensable, the crucial
factor. Sadhana is only a vessel and it must be filled to be brim with earnestness,
which is but love in action. For nothing can be done without love.

78. Delve deeply into the sense I am and you surely discover that the perceiving center is
universal, as universal as the light that illumines the world. All that happens in the
 universe happens to you, the silent witness. On the other hand, whatever is done, is done
by you, the universal and inexhaustible energy.

79. Theoretically you always have a chance for self-realization. In practice a situation must
arise, when all the factors necessary for self-realization are present. This need not
discourage you. Your dwelling on the fact of I am will soon create another chance. For
attitude attracts opportunity. All you know is second-hand. Only I am is first-hand and
needs no proofs. Stay with it.

Focused I am Meditation - Nisargadatta Maharaj

Focused I am Meditation Based on the teachings of Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Compiled by Pradeep Apte aptep@yahoo.com

1. The I am came first, its ever present, ever available, refuse all
thoughts except I am, stay there Just stay put firmly and establish
yourself in the I am, reject all that does not go with I am

2. Consistently and with perseverance separate the I am from this or

that, just keep in mind the feeling I am

3. Only the I am is certain, its impersonal, all knowledge stems from it,
its the root, hold on to it and let all else go

4. You are sure of the I am, its the totality of being, remember I am
and its enough to heal your mind and take you beyond

5. The I am is, its ever fresh, all else is inference, when the I am goes
all that remains is the Absolute
6. Give all you attention to the I am, which is timeless presence, the I
am applies to all, come back to it repeatedly

7. Hang to the I am and go beyond it, without the I am you are at

peace and happy

8. Hold on to the I am to the exclusion of everything else, the I am in

movement creates the world, the I am at peace becomes the
Absolute

9. Immortality is freedom from the feeling I am, to have that freedom

remain in the sense I am, its simple, its crude, yet it works! 10

10. The I am is unreal and real, unreal when identified with body, real
when wordless and used to go beyond

11. The I am has brought you in, the I am will take you out, the I am is
the door, stay at it! Its open!

12. You have to be there before you can say I am, the I am is the root of
all appearance

13. The I am is the permanent link in the succession of events called life,
be at the link I am only and go beyond it

14. The I am is the sum total of all that you perceive, its time-bound, the
I am itself is an illusion, you are not the I am you are prior to it

15. The I am is your greatest foe and greatest friend, foe when binding to
the illusion as body, friend when taking out of the illusion as body

16. The beginning and the end of knowledge is the I am, be attentive to
the I am, once you understand it, you are apart from it

17. You must meditate on the I am without holding on to the body-mind,

the I am is the first ignorance, persist on it and you will go beyond it

18. Your Guru, your God, is the I am, with its coming came duality and all
activity, stay on the I am, you are before the I am appeared

19. The I am concept is the last out post of the illusion, hold on to it,
stabilize in the I am, then you are no more and individual

20. Without doing anything you have the knowledge I am, it has come
spontaneously and unwillingly on you, stay there and put an ax to the
I am

21. Your only capital is the I am, its the only tool you can use to solve the
riddle of life, the I am is in all and movement inherent in it
22. Only be the I am, just be, the I am has appeared on your
homogenous state, the one free of the I am is liberated, you are prior
to the I am

23. Worship the indwelling I am in you, it is the I am that is born, it is the

I am that will die, you are not that I am

24. Remain focused on the I am till it goes into oblivion, then the eternal
is, Absolute is, Parabrahman is

25. The knowledge I am is the birth principle, investigate it and youll

finally stabilize in the Absolute Parabrahman

26. All knowledge including the I am is formless, throw out the I am and
stay put in quietude 27

27. Prior to birth where was the I am? Dont contaminate the I am with
the body idea, I as the Absolute am not the I am 28

28. In the absence of I am nothing is required, the I am will go with the

body, what remains is the Absolute

29. You must not only have the conviction that I am but also that you are
free from the I am

30. Remember the knowledge I am only and give up the rest, staying in
the I am you would realize that it is unreal

31. Understand that the knowledge I am has dawned on you and all are
its manifestations, in this understanding you realize you are not the I
am

32. When this concept I am departs there would be no memory left that I
was and I had those experiences, the very memory will be erased

33. With the arrival of the primary concept I am, time began, with its
departure time would end; you the Absolute are not the primary
concept I am

34. When you know both the I am and the I am not then you are the
Absolute which transcends both knowingness and no-knowingness

35. Appearance and disappearance, birth and death these are qualities of
I am, they do not belong to you, the Absolute

36. Out of the nothingness, the I am or beingness has come, there is no

individual, the knowledge I am- not the individual has to go back to
its source
37. By meditating on the knowledge I am it gradually settles down at its
source and disappears, then, you are the Absolute

38. Go on to know the I am without words, you must be that and not
deviate from it for even a moment, and then it would disappear

39. With the dropping off of the primary experience I am all experiences
would vanish and only the Absolute remains

40. On your true state has arisen this subtle principle I am, which is the
cause of all mischief, no I am, and no question of mischief

41. Whatever you try to become that is not you, before even the words I
am were said, that is you

42. The root habit is the I am and it has arisen from the domain five
elements and three qualities which are unreal

43. Abide in the knowledge I am without identifying with the body, how
did you function before the arrival of the knowledge I am?

44. The state of being, that is the message I am, without words, is
common to all, change begins only with the mind-flow

45. The belief in the I am to be something as a body, as an individual is

the cause of all fear, in the absence of the I am, who is to fear what?

46. Try to stabilize in the primary concept I am in order to lose that and
be free from all other concepts, in understating the unreality of the I
am you are totally free

47. Sitting quietly, being one with the knowledge I am, you would lose all
concern with the world, then the I am would also go, leaving you as
the Absolute

48. Putting aside everything, stabilize in the I am - as you continue with

this practice in the process you will transcend the I am

49. The very core of this consciousness is the quality I am, there is no
personality or individual there, reside there and transcend it

50. Worship the knowledge I am as God, as your Guru, the message I

am is there, the mind-flow is there, stay in the I am realize you are
neither

51. Presently you are sustaining the memory I am, you are not that I am,
you are the Absolute prior to that I am

52. You feel the I am due to the five elements and three qualities, they
gone the I am goes but you are still there
53. Keep focused on the I am till you become a witness to it, then you
stand apart, you have reached the highest

54. This knowledge I am has come out of the state prior to it and now is
the cause of all suffering, before the I am came you were happy, so
revert

55. When you remain in the I am you will realize everything else is
useless, and then you are Parabrahman, the Absolute

56. The One who abides in that principle by which he knows I am knows
all and does not require anything

57. Just sit and know that you are, the I am without words, nothing else
has to be done; shortly you will arrive to your natural Absolute state

58. Erroneously you have handed over this knowledge I am to the body
thereby reduced the limitless to the limited; hence you are afraid of
dying

59. You have to realize that you are not the body or the knowledge I am,
you as the Absolute are neither, nor do you require them

60. Inquire into the validity of the fundamental concept of you individuality
the I am and it will disappear, then you are Parabrahman, the
Absolute

61. The essential thing to be convinced about is that the original concept I
am is false, only accept that which is conducive to this development

62. Before you occurred to yourself as I am you were the highest -

Parabrahman now, until the impurity of I am the body goes stay put
in the I am quietude

63. Your fall started with the appearance of I am, then you blundered by
embracing the body as I am, all that gathered thereafter is unreal

64. This is no joke, but you can become Parabrahman right now! You are
Parabrahman right now! Just focus your attention on the I am

65. Who has the knowledge I am? Somebody in you knows the knowledge
I am, you are, who is it?

66. Who can know the illusory state I am? Only a non-illusory state can do
so, its the Awareness, the Parabrahman, or the Absolute

67. The primary concept I am is dishonest, a cheat, it has deceived you,

into believing what is not, sharply focus on the I am and itll disappear
68. Finally you have to transcend the I am to enter the concept-free
Parabrahman state, where you do not even know you are!

69. The Absolute or the Parabrahman is prior to the I am, its the unborn
state, so how can it have the knowledge I am?

70. Presently whatever you know is the I am which is a product of the five
elements, three qualities or the food body, but you are none of these

71. One who has realized the knowledge I am which means transcending
it as well, for him there is no birth or death nor any karma

72. The primary illusion is only this knowingness I am; it is liberation

when the knowingness is transformed to nonknowingness

73. You are even before even you could say the words I am, witnessing
happens to the state prior to your saying the words I am

74. When the body dies the I am goes into oblivion, only the Absolute
remains, stay put there, nothing happens to you the Absolute

75. From non-being to being, how is it known? Its by the knowledge I am,
stay there in the I am, then youll revert from being to non-being

76. Right now, here, you are the Absolute, the Parabrahman, very firmly
hold on to the I am, ever abide in it and itll dissolve, then you are as
you are

77. On the state of non-beingness, beingness as the I am has occurred,

who that is not important, the I am is important, stay there

78. First came the aham as I am, then aham-akar (identification with
body, ego), now revert back to aham, dwelling there realize
ahambrahmasmi

79. You are neither the I am nor the activities carried out by the
beingness, you as the Absolute are none of these

80. With the transcendence of the knowledge I am, the Absolute prevails.
The state is called Parabrahman, while the knowledge I am is
Brahman

81. How were you prior to the message I am? In the absence of the
message I am only my eternal Absolute state prevails

82. Who would have witnessed the message I am, if your prior state of
non-beingness were not there?

83. A true devotee, by abiding in the knowledge I am, transcends the

experience of death and attains immortality
84. Hold on to this knowingness I am without words and every secret of
your existence would be revealed to you

85. What is it in you that understands this knowledge I am without a

name, title or word? Subside in that innermost center and witness the
knowledge I am

86. Totally accept the knowledge I am as oneself and with full conviction
and faith and firmly believe in the dictum I am that by which I know I
am

87. Reality prevails prior to the knowledge I am; you must stay put at the
source of your creation, at the beginning of the knowledge I am

88. When one is established in the final free Absolute state, the knowledge
I am becomes non-knowledge

89. The first witnessing is that of I am, the primary prerequisite for all
further witnessing, but to whom is the first witnessing of I am
occurring?

90. The borderline of I am (beingness) and I am not (non-beingness} is

the precise location where the intellect subsides, its the maha-yoga
state, be there

91. Recognize the Atman by understanding the knowledge I am, the

Atma-jnana, which is all pervading, limitless and infinite

92. To abide in the knowledge I am is ones true religion, give the highest
honor due to it, doing so you will not undergo suffering or death

93. Who says I was not and I would not be like the present I am? He is
the one who was, is, and would be forever

94. When you say I was not prior to conception you actually mean not like
the present I am, but the one to discern the absence of the present I
am was there

95. Catch hold of the knowledge I am in meditation and the realization

would occur that I the Absolute am not the guna I am

96. Do nothing but stay in the knowledge I am the moolmaya the

primary illusion, and then it will release its stranglehold on you and get
lost

97. In deep meditation, infused only with the knowledge I am, it would be
intuitively revealed to you as to how this I amness came to be

98. The knowledge I am means consciousness, God, Guru, Ishwara, but

you the Absolute are none of these
99. OM

100. You have to understand that the I am is even before the arising
of any words, thoughts or feelings

101. The indwelling principle I am is common to all and has no

attributes; it is the principle of the whole functioning

102. Identify yourself with the highest principle in you which is the
knowledge I am This will elevate you to the status of Brihaspati the
guru of gods

103. This knowingness I am that came spontaneously and you felt

gradually is the ignorant-child-principle, the Balkrishna state

104. This I am or Balkrishna state has great potential. Here Bal

means the child food body and Krishna means nonknowing

105. To do away with body-mind sense or identity, imbibe or dwell in

the I am, later the I am would merge in the ultimate nature

106. The highest type of rest is when I am and I am not both are
forgotten. It is called Param Vishranti, which means ultimately forget
everything in the end

107. Having acquired and understood the knowledge I am stay there

in seclusion and dont wander around here and there

108. Once you stabilize in the I am you will realize that it is not the
eternal state. But you are eternal and ancient
109. The sequence is I am- the witness to the whole manifestation,
it occurs simultaneously. The I am subsiding, what remains? You are
That

110. What I say is simple, when the I am arises, everything appears,

when I am subsides everything disappears

111. You want me to say something about the post-I am-

manifestation, while I am driving you to the pre-I am- Absolute

112. I am not telling you what the real is, because words negate that.
Whatever I am telling you is not the truth because it has come from
the I am

113. I take you to the source I am again and again, on reaching and
stabilizing there you realize there is no I am! 114

114. There is no explanation how this seed, this consciousness or the

knowledge I am has arisen. But once come it keeps humming through
the gunas

115. You must know how this I am came about as it is the only thing
by which you can unravel the whole mystery

116. On your pure Absoluteness which is without form or shape, came

this knowledge I am, which is also without shape and form

117. This knowledge I am has spontaneously appeared on your

Absolute state, therefore it is an illusion

118. This knowledge I am, the sattva cannot tolerate itself, so it

needs the rajas(doing) and tamas(claiming doership) for sustenance

119. The only sadhana (practice) is to think: I am not the body, but I
am the formless, nameless knowledge I am indwelling in this body

120. When you abide for a sufficiently long time in the I am, the
knowledge I am itself will make everything clear to you. No external
knowledge will be necessary

121. Conviction is the only technique and the only initiation by the
guru is: you are not the body but only the I am without words

122. When you clearly see that it is the I am that is born, you stand
apart from it as the unborn

123. Once the I am goes what remains is the Original which is

unconditioned, without attributes or identity, it is called Parabrahma,
or the Absolute
124. The absence of I am is not experienced by someone; it has to
be understood in a manner as the experiencer and experience are one

125. The knowledge I am that appeared in childhood is a cheat as it

made you believe the illusion to be true

126. This knowledge I am has dawned on you, thereafter witnessing

began. That One to whom the witnessing takes place is separate from
the witnessed

127. Meditation is this knowledge I am, this consciousness,

meditating on itself and unfolding its own meaning

128. When you meditate on the knowledge I am, how can there be
any questions at this point? As it is the beginning of knowledge

129. Use name, form and design only for worldly activities; otherwise
just hold on to the knowledge I am without body sense beyond
name, form or design

130. There are no techniques except the technique that I am the firm
conviction that I am means I am only

131. This conviction can be strengthened by meditation and

meditation means when the knowledge I am remains in that
knowledge

132. The greatest miracle is that you got the news I am, its self-
evident. Prior to knowing that you are what knowledge did you have?

133. Meditation means to have an objective or hold something, you

are that something. Just being the being I am

134. It is not with the body identification that you should sit for
meditation. It is the knowledge I am that is meditating on itself

135. When this I am or conscious presence merges in itself and

disappears the state of Samadhi ensues

136. In the womb the knowledge I am is in a dormant condition. It is

the birth principle which contains everything

137. The birth principle is Turiya (the fourth state) which means
where the consciousness is 138

138. The experience that I am or you exist is Turiya. One who

knows Turiya is Turiyatita (beyond the fourth state), which is my
state
139. Turiya or I am is within the consciousness which is the product
of five elements

140. In order to stabilize in the I am or Turiya you must understand

this birth principle

141. Turiya or I am is always described as the witness state that

sees through the waking, dreaming and sleeping. And Turiyatita is
even beyond that

142. In the absence of the basic concept I am, there is no thought,

no awareness, and no consciousness of ones existence

143. Together with the body and the indwelling principle I am

everything is. Prior to that what was there?

144. Hang on to the I am which is your only capital, meditate on it,

and let that unfold all the knowledge that has to come

145. You should identify yourself only with this indwelling knowledge I
am. That is all

146. Sit for meditation by identifying with the I am, dwell only on the
I am- not merely the words I am

147. Forget all about physical disciplines in this connection and just be
with that knowledge I am

148. Do you require any special effort to know that you are? The I
am without words itself is God

149. You must fulfill the vow that I am not the body but the indwelling
principle I am only

150. Once you become the I am it will reveal all the knowledge and
you need not go to anybody

151. The primary concept I am appears spontaneously and is the

source of all concepts, so everything is mental entertainment

152. This memory I am is neither true nor false, it is without these

two attributes. That memory of beingness only appears to exist

153. The I am itself is the world, go to the source and find out how it
appeared and when

154. The conviction that the I am and the world never existed can
happen only to Parabrahman (The Absolute)
155. To stabilize in the I am which has no name and form is itself
liberation

156. The knowledge that is prior to thought I am is covered by a

human body which food with the vital breath and knowledge of the Self
(Prana and Jnana)

157. Once you reach the state of I am and are aware of that only you
will have transcended all the tendencies (Vasanas)

158. Be one with the Self, the I am, if necessary discard the words I
am, even without them you know you are

159. The I am is the awareness before thoughts it cannot be put into

words; you have to just be

160. The I am in you came from the I am in your parents but only
then could they be called parents!

161. The I am is the divinity in you and cause of the sacred repetition
(Japa) in you breath of So Hum (I am That)

162. The Absolute doesnt know that It is, only when the knowledge
I am spontaneously appeared it knew It is

163. Become initiated into the understanding of what I am

expounding to you; I am telling about the seed of Brahman or I am
that I am planting in you

164. That Brahman or I am state alone embraces everything and is

all the manifestation. You have to forget everything and merge with
Brahman

165. Whatever is created is created by the knowledge I am, there is

no other path, only this conviction. This is it! The name and body arise
from the I am

166. Abiding in the I am (which is God) you wouldnt want to leave it,
and then it wouldnt leave you!

167. The I am is there even without your saying so. Once you
understand the I am, there is nothing further to understand

168. When you are established in the I am there are no thoughts or

words, you are everything and everything is you; later even that goes

169. The I am is without ego, you can become its watcher

only by getting established in it
170. Watching happens to the Absolute with the appearance of I am,
only then it knows that it is

171. Waking, dreaming and deep sleep states pertain only to the I
am, you are above these

172. When you go deep inside, nothing is there, no I am; the I am

merges in the Absolute

173. Understand this I am business and stand apart from it,

transcend it. Just be

174. The story of all of us begins with the I am, it is the starting point
of both misery and happiness

175. Prior to the appearance of form in the womb, the food stuffs take
the form I am and that appears in nine months

176. Stabilize in the Bindu (Point) I am and transcend it. Bindu

means without duality (Bin=without, Du=two)

177. It is the I am that investigates the I am, disposes it off and

stabilizes in Eternity

178. The knowledge I am is God, if presently you are unable to

understand it then just worship it

179. If you like take the I am as your prarabdha (destiny), become

one with it, then you can transcend it

180. Along with the knowledge I am appears the space and world.
When the knowledge I am sets the world is liquidated

181. Hammer it into yourself that the I am or beingness is the

parent of the entire manifestation, then the I am itself will help you
stabilize in the I am

182. The I am is observed by the Absolute, it has no senses or eyes,

witnessing just happens

183. I am introducing you to your I am, the first stage is to meditate

on the I am and stabilize in it

184. Carry the conviction in yourself that the knowledge I am within

you is God

185. The One who meditates on the knowledge I am, everything in

the realm of Consciousness becomes clear to him

186. Go anywhere but never forget that the knowledge I am is God

187. Day by day by constant meditation this conviction will grow

188. Dont bother about anything, just continue abiding in the I am,
a moment will come when it will be pleased and reveal all the secrets

189. The trap of birth and death is because of the I am, dwell on it,
realize it and transcend it

190. Get established in the I am without words, the Paravani, but

you the Absolute are not that Your true identity The Absolute is prior
to the I am. How can you provide a uniform to it? 191

191. My Guru taught me what I am, I pondered only on that. My

original state is to be in that state where there is no I am

192. The I am happened and the world was cooked up. Prior to that
you did not have the message I am, you existed, but you did not
know

193. In the infinite state, the I am state is temporary; dont give up

your true standpoint, otherwise you will be fooled

194. Catch hold of the I am and all obstacles will evaporate, you will
be beyond the realm of body-mind

195. All questions exist because the I am is there, the I am

disappearing no questions will arise

196. Understand the I am, transcend it and conclude that

beingness, the world and Brahman are unreal

197. The So Hum japa (recitation) is incessantly going on in your

pulse indicating I am; get in tune with it by recitation

198. The recitation of So Hum, indicating I am, must be for a very

long time, it is prior to words

199. The I am is the only God to be pleased and if pleased it will lead
you to the source

200. A Jnani is one who has come to a conclusion about the raw
material I am and stands apart from it

201. That soundless sound, the humming I am is a reminder that you

are God. To understand and realize it meditate on it

202. You are in the I am without any effort, so be there. Dont try to
interpret the I am
203. The I am in body form can reach the highest state, if you accept
it and dwell there you escape birth and death

204. The I am is an advertisement of the Absolute, an illusion,

temporary, the one who knows this knows the eternal principle. In the
womb the I am is dormant, at three years it arises spontaneously; it
climaxes at middle age and diminishes in old age and finally it
disappears

205. Remember this, if you want to remember me or this visit here,

remember the knowledge I am

206. The body identity cannot get this knowledge, the knowledge I
am must get this knowledge; when knowledge abides in knowledge
there is transcendence of knowledge

207. This I am whenever enjoyed beyond the body is your destiny,

dwell in it and itself it will tell you its own story

208. When you dwell in destiny as I am, you realize that it is not your
death, but the disappearance of I amness

209. Understand the I am, transcend it and realize the Absolute

210. In such a simplified way nobody has expounded this profound

teaching