Nisargadatta Maharaj

Indian guru (1897-1981)

Nisargadatta Maharaj (17 April 1897 – 8 September 1981) was a spiritual teacher of nonduality, who lived and taught in Bombay, India. He was very much admired for his direct and informal teaching. He is most famous for the work I Am That.

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Alternative Names: Maruti Shivrampant Kambli

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Whatever you do against your better knowledge is sin. (…) Remembering your self is virtue, forgetting your self is sin. (…)

Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.

Reality can neither be proved nor disproved. Within the mind you cannot, beyond the mind you need not. In the real, the question 'what is real?' does not arise. (...)

(…) It is like taking food. All you can do is to bite off, chew and swallow. All else is unconscious and automatic. Listen, remember and understand – the mind is both the actor and the stage. All is of the mind and you are not the mind. (…).

The experience of being empty, uncluttered by memories and expectations; it is like the happiness of open spaces, of being young, of having all the time and energy for doing things, for discovery, for adventure.

Don’t try to understand! It’s enough if you do not misunderstand.

Wisdom tells me I am nothing, love tells me I am everything. Between the two, my life flows.

Nisargadatta: You can have for the asking all the peace you want.

Questioner: I am asking.

Nisargadatta: You must ask with an undivided heart and live an integrated life.

Questioner: How?

Nisargadatta: Detach yourself from all that makes your mind restless. Renounce all that disturbs its peace. If you want peace, deserve it.

Questioner: Surely everybody deserves peace

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

Questioner: In what way do I disturb peace?

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

Questioner: Even when they are justified?

Nisargadatta: Emotional reactions, born of ignorance or inadvertence, are never justified.

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

It does not matter much what happens, for ultimately the return to balance and harmony is inevitable. The heart of things is at peace.

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.