The True Nature of Reality

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on resting in the sense “I Am” without attributes. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. 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.  –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Notes on this preliminary stage can be found  here .

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on resting in the sense “I Am” without attributes. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. 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 b...

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on resting in the sense “I Am” without attributes. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. 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 etc. But such self-identifications are patently false and the cause of bondage. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj Notes on this preliminary stage can be found  here .

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. There is no such thing as a person. There are only restrictions and limitations. The sum total of these defines the person. The person merely appears to be, like the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume and smell of the pot. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. It is enough if you do not imagine yourself to be the body. It is the “I am the body” idea that is so calamitous. It blinds you completely to your real nature. Even for a moment do not think that you are the body. Give yourself no name, no shape. In the darkness and the silence reality is found. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by  Nisargadatta  Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. Do you realize that as long as you have a self to defend, you must be violent? –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by  Nisargadatta  Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. There is no chaos in the world, except the chaos which your mind creates. It is self-created in the sense that at its very centre is the false idea of oneself as a thing different and separate from other things. In reality you are not a thing, nor separate. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by Nisargadatta Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. To divide and particularize is the mind's very nature. There is no harm in dividing. But separation goes against fact. Things and people are different, but they are not separate. Nature is one, reality is one. There are opposites, but no opposition. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by  Nisargadatta  Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations.  Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. 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. 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. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj How to reflect on the pointers The sense of personal self is simply the result of conditioning. How did you form your ideas about yourself? If you reflect on this question, you will discover that your ideas of self-identity ...

This series is a collection of pointers or teaching aphorisms by  Nisargadatta  Maharaj on the theme of separation - uncluttered with words and explanations. Remember, to know Yourself, return to the silence before words. In the universal consciousness there are no individuals. We are looking at different forms, we give them names like man, God, donkey, and such. But ultimately there is this consciousness only, the universal consciousness.  And we should not identify ourselves as a separate entity, a separate body. We are that knowledge; it has no name or form. That is the essence of my teaching. –       Nisargadatta Maharaj

The most striking shift in Advaita Vedanta is from viewing the world out there from the perspective of the individual self to identifying with the True Reality that is prior to the manifestation of the world.  As Nisargadatta says: Who was born first, you or the world? As long as you give first place to the world, you are bound by it; once you realize, beyond all trace of doubt, that the world is in you and not you in the world, you are out of it. Of course your body remains in the world and of the world, but you are not deluded by it. However, this shift in vantage point, while seemly simple and effortless, has a requirement – giving up all identification with the personal self and the network of desires and fears that fuel the sense of self.  For the individually bound seeker, this price can seem too high: What about my position on the mountain? What about my relationship with the pebbles nearby to me? What about my smooth edges and unique colours? What if I...