Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
25. Remain focused on the I am till it goes into oblivion, then the
eternal is, Absolute is, Parabrahman is.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
50. The very core of this consciousness is the quality I am, there is no
personality or individual there, reside there and transcend it.
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.
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.
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.
67. Who can know the illusory state I am? Only a nonillusory state
can do so, its the Awareness, the Parabrahman, the Absolute.
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?
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.
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.
80. You are neither the I am nor the activities carried out by the
beingness, you as the Absolute are none of these.
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?
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?
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.
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.
Part One
Go deep into the sense of 'I am' and you will find.
Before all beginnings, after all ending -- I am. All has its
being in me, in the 'I am', that shines in every living
being.
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!
Part Three
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
Part Five
After the first four parts were edited, more 'I Am'
expressions were found and are included here:
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.
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
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.
**
**
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.
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.
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.
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.
Questioner: I am asking.
Questioner: How?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: 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.
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.
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.
Meditation will help you to find your bonds, loosen them, untie
38.
them and cast your moorings.
40. Why don't you inquire how real are the world and the person?
Nisargadatta: Because of you, there is a world
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'.
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.
False ideas about this 'I am' lead to bondage, right knowledge
44.
leads to freedom and happiness.
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.
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.
'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.
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.
When you shall begin to question your dream, awakening will not
58.
be far away.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
The Bhogi worships at many altars; the Yogi serves none but his
own true Self.
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).
89. The false self must be abandoned before the real self can be found.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: But why did it come into being in the first instance?
Nisargadatta: Now.
Nisargadatta: Now.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Think of yourself by all means. Only don't bring the idea of a body
140.
into the picture.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
182. All I can tell you is the way I traveled and invite you to take it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
24. Remain focused on the I am till it goes into oblivion, then the eternal
is, Absolute is, Parabrahman is
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
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
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
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
49. The very core of this consciousness is the quality I am, there is no
personality or individual there, reside there and transcend it
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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
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
100. You have to understand that the I am is even before the arising
of any words, thoughts or feelings
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
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
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
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
115. You must know how this I am came about as it is the only thing
by which you can unravel the whole mystery
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
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
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?
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
137. The birth principle is Turiya (the fourth state) which means
where the consciousness is 138
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
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
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
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
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
171. Waking, dreaming and deep sleep states pertain only to the I
am, you are above these
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
180. Along with the knowledge I am appears the space and world.
When the knowledge I am sets the world is liquidated
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
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
194. Catch hold of the I am and all obstacles will evaporate, you will
be beyond the realm of body-mind
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
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
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
208. When you dwell in destiny as I am, you realize that it is not your
death, but the disappearance of I amness