Nisargadatta Maharaj's 'I AM'

[wolfgang]

Originally Posted by drama07

I have to study but im too lazy to
I want to be with someone, but im too scared to
I want to be popular, but im unable to
I dont want to be alone, but it has been my comfort zone.

^^ All those are not me, yet they cause suffering to the body as a result of the mind. Yet that suffering aint me, so why care? Is it all about not caring anymore about anything? Because usually after a near-death experience, an individual ends up not caring about its desires & fear and actually(finally) lives life as the life it is.

Hmmm...

old thread, oh well...

I've thought the suffering would come from believing you are lazy or scared or unable to be popular and staying in the comfort zone. And those beliefs are boundaries that define the self that isn't really there.

If you see the false sense of self in those conditioned beliefs, you won't have these types of blocks. It's not that you don't care but that the motivating setup in limiting beliefs melt away.

The lazy or scared, etc... set up won't exist and then there isn't the need to insist you are popular or not... and studying will be what you need to it to be for your path.

[ethereal]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread! It was highly useful for me.

I've tried to do various forms of self-enquiry for about 2 years...but gradually dropped it in favor of other types of contemplation, like surrender. It seemed like no matter how I tried, I still had no idea what the "I AM" or the "I-I" or awareness meant!

But after reading through this thread and perhaps making some progress in the past few years, I think I am beginning to grasp what exactly the "I AM" or awareness is. To me it feels like a nothingness, a non-experience experience, that just IS. The synonyms / pointers I would give to it may be Reality, Self, What Is, Awareness. It does not seem like something the mind can grasp onto, but something that you are, perhaps? In fact the more active the mind is and the more desire it has for trying to "find" it and "do it right" and "get back there", the less likely it is to actually to succeed (at least for me). However I think the main pointer or distinguishing factor that has helped me succeed, is that your experience does not have to change at all, in order to recognize this awareness. Awareness is not an experience, it is the ground of all experiences. So naturally you will not find it in a shift of experience. It is already present in every experience that you have. There is no need to search for it in a certain type of experience, you will not find it there. So do not try to manipulate the mind in certain directions or try to manipulate or change your experience -- that does nothing. What does happen though, is that there is a recognition that arises, that this non-form awareness is present, that this is the Reality. This recognition occurs without any change in experience. It literally feels like nothing...because it is nothing experiencable. There is just that small simple recognition that this nothing is it. Also, notice how the mind always moves in certain "mental" directions...by definition that is dualistic and cannot be what you are looking for. The recognition is more of a "directionless" movement of the mind that transcends itself...perhaps?

I know my words are probably not that accurate, and I would agree with you...most notably, that this awareness/witness is still an experience, albeit very subtle, and you have to transcend this also. However, for people like me just starting the path, these words and pointers will probably reflect more closely what they are feeling, even if it is not the ultimate truth.

[Ariel Bravy]

Originally Posted by drama07

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj says all you need to do is dwell on 'I am'. For those who are familiar with what I'm talking about... please elaborate.

To elaborate would be to miss the point entirely.

He didn't say, "Think about the 'I am' and develop a conceptual understanding as if getting somewhere in the mind is going to get you any closer to realization."

It's about not going to the mind in the first place and resting in the 'I am' itself, coming to know yourself as the eternal being that you are, the I Am that I Am, the I Am that You Are... it's not about moving the mind from not understanding to understanding, to adopting a certain set of ideas, concepts, thoughts, or beliefs.

Don't try to get it with the mind. That's just distraction.

Focus on the 'I am' rather than the thoughts. It's not about the thoughts. It's not about the understanding. It's not about getting somewhere in the mind. It's about realizing who you are as what's already here.

[Solipsist]

Originally Posted by Ariel Bravy

To elaborate would be to miss the point entirely.

He didn't say, "Think about the 'I am' and develop a conceptual understanding as if getting somewhere in the mind is going to get you any closer to realization."

It's about not going to the mind in the first place and resting in the 'I am' itself, coming to know yourself as the eternal being that you are, the I Am that I Am, the I Am that You Are... it's not about moving the mind from not understanding to understanding, to adopting a certain set of ideas, concepts, thoughts, or beliefs.

Don't try to get it with the mind. That's just distraction.

Focus on the 'I am' rather than the thoughts. It's not about the thoughts. It's not about the understanding. It's not about getting somewhere in the mind. It's about realizing who you are as what's already here.

x 2.

Nissargadatta calls "I am" a "sense." In this regard, "I am" is niether a thought or a feeling.

I came to a realization while reading this stuff--You (or, if you prefer, Who You Are), are not your thoughts. I came to this awareness when a friend and I were playing psychotherapy with "free association"--you know, when someone says a word, and you say the first word that pops into your head. You must be still enough, in your mind, to catch the word that pops into your head. In that stillness, that quiet, you simply ARE. Eckhart Tolle would call this "being present." Of course, we only have to be still for a nanosecond to play at "free association," but Maharraj's dictum is to allow ourselves to be still as long as possible, and never lose sight of it.

Worked for him. And it works for me.

[Ariel Bravy]

oh here, read this chapter taken from the book, The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss. It will help clarify the whole "Focus upon the I Am" thing.

[Remez Sasson]

Look at your mind dispassionately; this is enough to calm it. When it is quiet, you can go beyond it. Do not keep it busy all the time. Stop it - and just be. If you give it a rest, it will settle down and recover its purity and strength. Constant thinking makes it decay.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj

The mind covers up reality, without knowing it. To know the nature of the mind, you need intelligence, the capacity to look at the mind in silent and dispassionate awareness.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj

[manu4groups]

Originally Posted by manu4groups

Thank you for joining me to this forum. I maintain a site. All the books of Nisargadatta Maharaj is available here for free download here : Download all the books of Nisargadatta Maharaj, the Great Indian Spiritual Guru of Advaita Vedanta
Check if you have missed to read any. If anybody knows about a book which is not listed here, please send me a copy, I shall include it.

Manu

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