“Nirupana 128

Thursday, August 30, 1979

The jnani has consciousness, but it is not of an individual nature. It is universal. You may give a name to what is all-pervading, but actually it has no name. The unmanifest principle became manifest as your consciousness. Whether you practice spirituality or not, it makes no difference to the Absolute. You have created a sense of duality by separating yourself from the totality.

What is seen, felt, or known has been created through consciousness. It is created from the knower. Once the universal consciousness is realized, there is no need of liberation. From the point of view of a jnani, no one is ignorant. He is not separate from the totality.

Whatever name you take, you will be that. The universal consciousness can never be caught. The names of the various deities are the names of the all-manifest, universal consciousness. What is the indication that someone is a jnani ? Each one recognizes the jnani according to the worthiness of his mind, intellect and feeling. Scientists will discover what is created out of what already exists, but they can never invent That which is spontaneously there without having been created. They may have discovered many things but they will not be able to discover consciousness. If they realize consciousness, at that very moment they will lose their hopes, desires and passions, and they will do nothing. They will have no expectation at all for themselves. All this knowledge is quite ancient. You are just learning about it, therefore you feel it is new.

Someday you are going to die, are you not? Then why do you not finish it right now? Only then will you know the Truth. (Here, Maharaj is not asking us to die physically. He is asking us to get rid of the attachment to the world and remain in a thought-free state.)”

Excerpt From: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. “Meditations With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj”

“[One reaches the Supreme state] by renouncing all lesser desires. As long as you are pleased with the lesser, you cannot have the highest. Whatever pleases you keeps you back. Until you realize the unsatisfactoriness of everything, its transiency and limitation, and collect your energies in one great longing, ever the first step is not made. On the other hand, the integrity of the desire for the Supreme is by itself a call from the Supreme. Nothing, physical or mental, can give you freedom. You are free once you understand that your bondage is of your own making and cease forging the chains that bind you.”

Excerpt From: Roy Melvyn. “The Essential Nisargadatta.”