Source Text
It will tear away all your internal and external covers and leave your innermost core bare, with no support and ultimately no concepts, method or system to cling onto. At its foundation, of course, are the non-dual teachings of Vedanta or similar schools of thought. Its uniqueness is that here it comes to us from an enlightened master’s direct experience expressed spontaneously.
dhyana or meditation, is the best practice. After waking up and before going to bed, meditate for half an hour. This is what Maharaj used to prescribe: Sit steady with the back erect. Contemplate on: ‘I am not the body. I am formless. I am self-illumined, pure consciousness’. Remain aware of pure consciousness without words till you forget yourself while still awake.
Maharaj has given further spiritual advice: ‘The search for happiness is the cause of suffering’. The world is a repository of desire and fear. True detachment brings peace. The anxiety of ‘what will happen to me?’ is removed by detachment.
Consciousness and the world appear together and disappear together. They are two sides of the same coin. The world exists till the mind exists. The world comes into being with the birth of the body. Realize that the world is within you and not you in the world.
Maharaj says: ‘From your point of view, you are born and you will die. From my point of view, the world appears and then disappears’.
You wear clothes but you do not say, ‘I am the clothes’. Similarly, learn to say, ‘I am not the body’. Your form is of the nature of space.
Liberation means being free. It is freedom from our own concepts, from the bondage of our mind, intellect and imagination. The Self is free from the concept, ‘I want to be’ and requires no liberation.
When there is no time, there is no world. (This time is not by the clock. Maharaj says time starts with the birth of the person. It is not the child, but it is time that is born. So, the world is there as long as you are.)
You will get time for spirituality only when your mind is silent. For this, concentrate on the goal. Krishna says: ‘That, through which the world is known, is My nature as well as yours’.
When I am beyond my sense of ‘I am’, how can I commit a sin or a virtuous act?”
AI Summary
Meditations With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj by English editing by Suresh Mehta presents key insights from the Advaita Vedanta tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.