The True Nature of Reality

Everything manifest is simply the play of the five elements - space, air, fire, water, earth.  The series will share the View of  the  elemental  interplay of "material life", the sense of beingness or "I Am", and the Absolute state which is prior to and gives rise to this elemental play. Consciousness is the product of the five elements and their interactions. Consciousness is present as long as the five elements are present. When the great dissolution of the universe occurs, there is dissolution of the five elements, and consciousness also finishes. But the knower of consciousness, the Absolute state, is unaffected. In that state there is no fear of anything. Even when there is total destruction, the Absolute is merely watching, being in a state of witnessing.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

Everything manifest is simply the play of the five elements - space, air, fire, water, earth.  The series will share the View of  the  elemental  interplay of "material life", the sense of beingness or "I Am", and the Absolute state which is prior to and gives rise to this elemental play. When the foliage, the grass, and the vegetation is eaten, the essence is eaten and another consciousness appears through that. Consciousness is the essence of the food that has been digested, and along with the food, that consciousness will also disappear. The consciousness that has come out of the five elements, through the body, is the state of beingness, the knowledge that ‘I Am’. That state of beingness will perish.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

Everything manifest is simply the play of the five elements - space, air, fire, water, earth.  The series will share the View of  the  elemental  interplay of "material life", the sense of beingness or "I Am", and the Absolute state which is prior to and gives rise to this elemental play. Not an individual but the knowledge ‘I am’ must go to its source. Out of the no-being comes the beingness. It comes as quietly as twilight; just a feel of ‘I am’ and then suddenly the space is there. In the space, the movement starts with the air, the fire, the water, and the earth. All these five elements are you only. Out of your consciousness all this has happened. There is no individual. There is only you, the total functioning is you, the consciousness is you.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. You are like a child with a lollypop in its mouth. You may feel happy for a moment by being totally self-centered, but it is enough to have a good look at human faces to perceive the universality of suffering. Even your own happiness is so vulnerable and short-lived, at the mercy of a bank-crash, or a stomach ulcer. It is just a moment of respite, a mere gap between two sorrows. Real happiness is not vulnerable, because it does not depend on circumstances.

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. A man who is given a stone and assured that it is a priceless diamond will be mightily pleased until he realizes his mistake; in the same way, pleasures lose their tang and pains their barb when the self is known. Both are seen as they are - conditional responses, mere reactions.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. You are concerned with your own happiness and I am telling you that there is no such thing. Happiness is never your own, it is where the "I" is not. I do not say it is beyond your reach; you have only to reach out beyond yourself, and you will find it.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Self-interest and self-concern are the focal points of the false. Your daily life vibrates between desire and fear. Watch it intently and you will see how the mind assumes innumerable names and shapes, like a river foaming between the boulders. Trace every action to its selfish motive and look at the motive intently till it dissolves. Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen and you need not look for truth; thuth will find you.;  –       Nisa

BEYOND THE DUALITY OF GAINING AND LOSING PEACE - PART 22 With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. There is no difference in the types of ‘I amness’, I experience fatigue now, good health earlier, but the common factor is beingness which has not changed. All is illusion, the ‘I am’ is knowledge, but it’s also an illusion, say what you like, nothing prevails, except the knowledge ‘you are’. You presume that the world has existed without your beingness; your world is with your arrival, not prior to it, i

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. 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 a

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Don’t 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 no

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. This beingness, the knowledge 'I am', which I call 'upadro', is the source of trouble. In this 'upadro', in this primary essence, lies the knowledge 'I am' - you know that you are. This quality of beingness ('sattvaguna'), the knowledge 'I am' cannot tolerate itself. It cannot stand itself, alone, just knowing itself. Therefore that 'rajoguna' is there it takes the beingness for a ride in various activities,

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Pay no attention [to thoughts]. Don’t fight them. Just do nothing about them, let them be, whatever they are. Your very fighting them gives them life. Just disregard. Look through. Remember to remember: ‘whatever happens – happens because I am’. All reminds you that you are. Take full advantage of the fact that to experience you must be. You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. It is disinterestedness that liberates. Don’t hold on, that is all. The

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. You want something like a round-the-clock ecstasy. Ecstasies come and go, necessarily, for the human brain cannot stand the tension for a long time. A prolonged ecstasy will burn out your brain, unless it is extremely pure and subtle. In nature nothing is at stand-still, everything pulsates, appears and disappears. Heart, breath, digestion, sleep and waking – birth and death everything comes and goes in waves. Rhythm, periodicity, harmonious alternation of extremes

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all. It is only when you have a vested interest in any particular level, that your attention gets caught in it and you black out on other levels. Even then the work on the blacked out levels goes on, out

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. You think you are coming and going, passing through various states and moods. I see things as they are, momentary events , presenting themselves to me in rapid succession, deriving their being from me, yet definitely neither me nor mine. Among phenomena I am not one, nor subject to any. I am independant so simply and totally, that your mind, accustomed to opposition and denial, cannot grasp it. I mean literally what I say: I do not need oppose, or deny, because it

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Nature is neither pleasant nor painful. It is all intelligence and beauty. Pain and pleasure are in the mind. Change your scale of values and all will change. Pleasure and pain are mere disturbances of the senses; treat them equally and there will be only bliss. And the world is, what you make it; by all means make it happy. Only contentment can make you happy - desires fulfilled breed more desires. Keeping away from all desires and contentment in what comes by its

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. The waters of life are thundering over the rocks of objects - desirable or hateful . Remove the rocks by insight and detachment and the same waters will flow deep and silent and swift, in greater volume and with greater power. Don't be theoretical about it, give time to thought and consideration; if you desire to be free, neglect not the nearest step to freedom. It is like climbing a mountain: not a step can be missed. One step less – and the summit is not reach

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Of the unknowable only silence talks. The mind can talk only of what it knows. If you diligently investigate the knowable, it dissolves and only the unknowable remains. But with the first flicker of imagination and interest the unknowable is obscured and the known comes to the fore-front. The known, the changing, is what you live with; the unchangeable is of no use to you. It is only when you are satiated with the changeable and long for the unchangeable that you a

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. There is no need of a way out [of the dream]! Don't you see that a way out is also a part of the dream? All you have to do is see the dream as dream. The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that you are dreaming a dream you call the world, and stop looking for ways out. The problem is not the dream. Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining. When

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. At the root of my being is pure awareness, a speck of intense light. This speck, by its very nature, radiates and creates pictures in space and events in time.....effortlessly and spontaneously. As long as it is merely aware there are no problems. But when the discriminative mind comes into being and creates distinctions, pleasure and pain arise.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words.

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Whatever may be the experience, true or false, the fact of an experience taking place cannot be denied. It is its own proof. Watch yourself closely, and you will see that whatever be the content of consciousness, the witnessing of it does not depend on the content. Awareness is itself, and does not change with the event. The event may be pleasant or unpleasant, minor or important, awareness is the same. Take note of the peculiar nature of pure awareness, its natura

With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Who talks? That which hears the question, answers it. Who is it? Not who, but what. I am not a person in your sense of the word, although I may appear a person to you. I am that infinite ocean of consciousness in which all happens. I am also beyond all existence and cognition, pure bliss of being. There is nothing I feel separate from, hence I am all. No thing is me, so I am nothing. The same power that makes the fire burn and the water flow, the seeds sprout and t

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Like water is shaped by the container, so is everything determined by conditions (gunas). But as light remains itself regardless of the colours it brings out, so does the real remain real, regardless of conditions in which it is reflected.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Enjoyment is a state of mind.....it comes and goes. Its very impermanence makes it perceivable. You cannot be conscious of what does not change. All consciousness is consciousness of change.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. All division is in the mind (chitta); there is none in reality (chit).  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. All manifestation is in the opposites: pleasure and pain, good and bad, high and low, progress and regress, rest and strife.....they all come and go together, and as long as there is a world, its contradictions will be there. There may also be periods of perfect harmony, of bliss and beauty, but only for a time. What is perfect, returns to the source of all perfection, and the opposites play on.

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. Keep in mind your goal of freedom, until it dawns on you that you are already free, that freedom is not something in the distant future to be earned with painful efforts, but perennially one’s own, to be used. Liberation is not an acquisition but a matter of courage, the courage to believe that you are free already, and to act on it.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. With the practice of self-enquiry, seekers often have experiences of profound peace and silence. However, these peaceful experiences are not stable. Sooner or later seekers will experience some type of stress or drama in everyday life, and then they will feel that they have lost this sense of peace and stillness.  The series will share pointers that reveal the pattern of attraction and aversion that create "heaven" and "hell" and keep seekers trapped on the roller coaster of pleasure and pain. The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time. Cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist. You need not forget; when desire and fear end, bondage also ends. It is the emotional involvement, the pattern of likes and dislikes which we call character and temperament, that create the bondage.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj