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Ron: thirty-two & thirty-three > 05/21/2023
Posted by Holger:
Sunday, May 21, 2023 3:45 pm (California Time)
We are a small group of friends;
together we read some paragraphs in
Nisargadatta’s I AM THAT
and then talk about it.
Feel warmly welcome
Please RSVP to Ron@Nondual.Community
and you will receive a free Zoom link ❤️
Greetings to One and All!
Sending the summary out earlier this week to allow more time for reflection and practice.
If you like, chose a pointer that resonates with you and practice reflection during the week.
We can share our understanding on Sunday evening.
Holger will facilitate.
Peace Peace Peace
Chapter 32 Life is the Supreme Guru
Q: What does it mean to go beyond the mind?
NM: We are, most of our time, mind and body-conscious, because they constantly call for help. Pain and suffering are only the body and the mind screaming for attention. To go beyond the body you must be healthy: 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 you up. ‘Pick up your rubbish’ seems to be the universal law. And a just law too. 130
Q: How did you go beyond the mind?
NM: By the grace of my Guru… He told me I am the Supreme Reality… My advice to you is even less difficult than this – just remember yourself. ‘I am’, is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond… 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
Q: Why should Self-remembrance bring one to Self-realization?
NM: Because they are but two aspects of the same state. Self-remembrance is in the mind, Self-realization is beyond the mind. The image in the mirror is of the face beyond the mirror. 130
Q: All I want is to be happy. Let others take care of themselves?
NM: Sir, you are not separate. The happiness you cannot share is spurious. Only the shareable is truly desirable. 131
Q: Do I need a Guru?
NM: It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task. Life itself is the Supreme Guru; be attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. When you personalize their source, you have an outer Guru; when you take them from life directly, the Guru is within. Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, make it your own – the words of your Guru, outer or inner. 131
Q: A thing so universal as the desire to live cannot be wrong?
NM: Not wrong, of course. In its own place and time nothing is wrong. But when you are concerned with truth, with reality, you must question every thing, your very life. By asserting the necessity of sensory and intellectual experience you narrow down your inquiry to a search for comfort. 132
Q: Why don’t you organize an Ashram so that people can live near you?
NM: The moment I create an institution I become its prisoner. As a matter of fact I am available to all. Common roof and food will not make people more welcome. ‘Living near’ does not mean breathing the same air. It means trusting and obeying, not letting the good intentions of the teacher go to waste. Have your Guru always in your heart and remember his instructions – this is real abidance with the true. Physical proximity is least important. Make your entire life an expression of your faith and love for your teacher – this is the real dwelling with the Guru. 132
Chapter 33 Everything Happens by Itself
Q: What lies beyond knowledge, consciousness and wisdom?
NM: Knowledge has its rising and setting. Consciousness comes into being and goes out of being… To a jnani nothing has beginning or ending. As salt dissolves in water, so does everything dissolve into pure being. Wisdom is eternally negating the unreal. Beyond this lies the inexpressible. 133
Q: When did this state of consciousness begin?
NM: You cannot speak of a beginning of consciousness. The very ideas of beginning and time are within consciousness. To talk meaningfully of the beginning of anything, you must step out of it. And the moment you step out, you realize that there is no such thing and never was. 133-134
Q: Are things independently real?
NM: There is only reality, in which no ‘thing’ has any being on its own. Like waves are inseparable from the ocean, so is all existence rooted in being… A false question cannot be answered. It can only be seen as false. 134
Q: Are my questions real?
NM: What is real about your question? It is a state of mind. No state of mind can be more real than the mind itself. 134
Q: Isn’t the mind real?
NM: The mind is but a collection of states, each of them transitory. How can a succession of transitory states be considered real? 134
Q: What creates the illusion of existence?
NM: Both mind and body are intermittent states. The sum total of these flashes creates the illusion of existence. 135
Q: Why is the illusion of being the body-mind there?
NM: Only because it is not investigated. Non-investigation is the thread on which all the states of the 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. 134-135
Q: Where does wisdom lie?
NM: Wisdom lies in never forgetting the Self as the ever-present source of both the experiencer and his experience. 135
Please RSVP to Ron@Nondual.Community
and you will receive a free Zoom link for Sunday ❤️
One Source
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Image Source:
“File:’I Am That’ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Book Cover.jpg”
by Vyacheslav Argenberg is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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Created: May 20, 2023
Last modified: May 27, 2023
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