The Core of Sri
Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Teaching
By Pradeep Apte
This is a nice collection of quotes from the book 'I Am That ' made by Pradeep Apte
1.
Understanding
the ‘I am’, your sense
of ‘being’ or
just ‘presence’ is
extremely
important as on it rests
the entire
outcome of the teaching.
2.
You have ‘to be’
before anything else
can be, your
sense of ‘presence’ or
the feeling ‘I
am’ is really
fundamental to
anything that has to
follow.
3.
This sense of
‘being’ or the feeling ‘I
am’, was it not
the very first event or
happening before
any of your living
experiences
could begin?
4.
Apply your mind,
go back in time
and try to
recollect the moment
when for the
first time it dawned on
you that ‘you
are’ or ‘I am’. This
nascent ‘I am’
is without words or
non-verbal.
5.
This ‘I am’ is
still there with you,
ever present,
ever available, it was
and still is the
first thought, refuse
all other
thoughts and come back
there and stay
there.
6.
Establish
yourself firmly in the ‘I
am’ and reject
all that does not go
with it.
7.
Only the ‘I am’
is certain, it’s
impersonal, all
knowledge stems
from it, it’s
the root, hold on to it and
let all else go.
8.
When the ‘I am’
goes all that
remains is the
Absolute, give all your
attention to the
‘I am’.
9.
The ‘I am’ is
the sum total of all that
you perceive,
it’s time-bound, the
‘I am’ itself is
an illusion, you are not
the ‘I am’ you
are prior to it.
10.
Immortality is
freedom from the
feeling ‘I am’,
to have that freedom
remain in the
sense ‘I am’.
11.
The beginning
and the end of
knowledge is the
‘I am’, be attentive
to the ‘I am’,
once you understand it,
you are apart
from it.
12.
You must
meditate on the ‘I am’
without holding
on to the body-mind,
the ‘I am’ is
the first ignorance,
persist on it
and you will go beyond
it.
13.
Your Guru, your
God is the ‘I am’,
with its coming
came duality and all
activity, stay
on the ‘I am’, you are
before the ‘I
am’ appeared.
14.
Remain focused
on the ‘I am’ till it
goes into
oblivion, then the eternal is,
the Absolute is,
Parabrahman is.
15.
Remember the
knowledge ‘I am’
only and give up
the rest, staying in
the ‘I am’ you
will realize that it is
unreal.
16.
Understand that
the knowledge ‘I
am’ has dawned
on you and all are
its
manifestations, in this
understanding
you realize you are
not the ‘I am’.
17.
When this
concept ‘I am’ departs
there will be no
memory left that ‘I
was’ and ‘I had’
those experiences,
the very memory
will be erased.
18.
With the arrival
of the primary
concept ‘I am’,
time began, with its
departure time
will end; you the
Absolute are not
the primary
concept ‘I am’.
19.
Appearance and
disappearance,
birth and death
these are qualities of
‘I am’, they do
not belong to you, the
Absolute.
20.
Out of the
nothingness, the ‘I am’ or
beingness has
come, there is no
individual, the
knowledge ‘I am’- not
the individual –
has to go back to its
source.
21.
By meditating on
the knowledge ‘I
am’ it gradually
settles down at its
source and
disappears, then you are
the Absolute.
22.
Go on to know
the ‘I am’ without
words, you must
be that and not
deviate from it
for even a moment,
and then it will
disappear.
23.
Get stabilized
in the primary concept
‘I am’ in order
to loose it and be free
from all
concepts. In understanding
the unreality of
‘I am’ you are totally
free from it.
24.
Sitting quietly,
being one with the
knowledge ‘I
am’, you will lose all
concern with the
world, then the ‘I
am’ will also
go, leaving you as the
Absolute.
25.
Putting aside
everything, stabilize in
the ‘I am’. As
you continue with this
practice, in the
process you will
transcend the ‘I
am’.
26.
The very core of
this consciousness is
the quality ‘I
am’, there is no
personality or
individual there,
reside there and
transcend it.
27.
Keep focused on
the ‘I am’ till you
become a witness
to it, then you
stand apart, you
have reached the
highest.
28.
When you remain
in the ‘I am’ you
will realize
everything else is useless,
and then you are
Parabrahman, the
Absolute.
29.
The One who
abides in that principle
by which he
knows ‘I am’ knows all
and does not
require anything.
30.
Just sit and
know that ‘you are’ the
‘I am’ without
words, nothing else
has to be done;
shortly you will
arrive to your
natural Absolute state.
31.
You have to
realize that you are not
the body or the
knowledge ‘I am’.
You as the
Absolute are neither, nor
do you require
them.
32.
The Absolute or
the Parabrahman
is prior to the
‘I am’, it’s the unborn
state, so how
can it have or even
require the
knowledge ‘I am’?
33.
You have to
transcend the ‘I am’ to
enter the
concept-free Parabrahman
state, where you
do not even know
you are!
34.
One who has
realized the knowledge
‘I am’, which
means transcending it
as well, for him
there is no birth or
death nor any
karma.
35.
Witnessing
happens to the state prior
to your saying
the words ‘I am’.
Right now, right
here, you are the
Absolute, the Parabrahman.
Hold on
to the ‘I am’
very firmly, ever abide
in it and it’ll
dissolve, then you are as
you are.
36.
You are neither
the ‘I am’ nor its
activities, you
as the Absolute are
none of these.
Be a true devotee, by
abiding in the
knowledge ‘I am’
thereby
transcending the experience
of death to
attain immortality.
37.
What is it in
you that understands
this knowledge
‘I am’ without a
name, title or
word? Sink in that
innermost center
and witness the
knowledge ‘I
am’.
38.
Totally accept
the knowledge ‘I am’
as oneself, and
with full conviction
and faith firmly
believe in the dictum
‘I am that by
which I know I am’.
39.
Catch hold of
the knowledge ‘I am’
in meditation
and the realization will
occur that ‘I’,
the Absolute, am not
the quality ‘I
am’.
40.
Do nothing but
stay in the knowledge
‘I am’, the
‘moolmaya’ or primary
illusion, and
then it will release its
stranglehold on
you and get lost.
41.
In deep
meditation, infused only with
the knowledge ‘I
am’, it will be
intuitively
revealed to you as to how
this ‘I amness’
came to be.
42.
To do away with
body-mind sense or
identity, imbibe
or dwell in the ‘I
am’. Later the ‘I am’
will merge into
the ultimate
nature.
43.
Having acquired
and understood the
knowledge ‘I am’
stay there in
seclusion and
don’t wander around
here and there.
Once you stabilize in
the ‘I am’, you
will realize that it is
not the eternal
state, but ‘you’ are
eternal and
ancient.
44.
The teaching is
simple, when the ‘I
am’ arises,
everything appears, when
‘I am’ subsides
everything
disappears. Onto
your Absoluteness,
which is without
form or shape,
came this
knowledge ‘I am’, which is
also without
shape and form.
45.
This knowledge
‘I am’ has
spontaneously
‘appeared’ on your
Absolute state,
therefore it is an
illusion. The
feeling ‘I am’ is itself an
illusion,
therefore whatever is seen
through this
illusion cannot be real.
46.
When you
meditate on the
knowledge ‘I
am’, which is the
beginning of
knowledge, how can
there be any
questions? It is not with
the body
identification that you
should sit for
meditation. It is the
knowledge ‘I am’
that is meditating
on itself.
47.
You should
identify yourself only
with this
indwelling knowledge ‘I
am’. That is all. Sit in
meditation by
identifying with
the ‘I am’, dwell
only on the ‘I
am’- not merely the
words ‘I am’.
48.
Forget all about
physical disciplines
in this
connection and just be with
the knowledge ‘I
am’. When you are
established in
the ‘I am’ there are no
thoughts or
words.
49.
It is the ‘I am’
that investigates the ‘I
am’ and on
realizing its falsehood it
disappears and
merges into eternity.
50.
Along with the
knowledge ‘I am’
appears space
and the world. When
the knowledge ‘I
am’ departs the
world is
liquidated.
51.
My Guru taught
me what ‘I am’, I
pondered only on
that. My original
state is to be
in that state where there
is no ‘I am’.
52.
Catch hold of
the ‘I am’ and all
obstacles will
evaporate, you will be
beyond the realm
of body-mind.
53.
The ‘I am’ in
body form can reach
the highest
state only if you
understand,
accept it and dwell
there. Then you
escape birth and
death.
54.
The body
identity cannot get this
knowledge, the
knowledge ‘I am’
must get this
knowledge; when
knowledge abides
in knowledge there
is transcendence
of knowledge.
55.
The ‘I am’ has
great potency, the
entire
manifestation has come from
it. When you
dwell in the ‘I am’ as
your destiny you
realize that your
destiny is not
death but the
disappearance of
‘I am’.
56.
Go to the ‘I am’
state, remain there,
merge, and go
beyond. If you were to
dwell in the ‘I
am’ and firmly abide
in it, all
external things will lose their
grip on you.
57.
You are the
Reality beyond the ‘I
am’, you are the
‘Parabrahma’.
Meditate on this
and remember this,
finally this
idea, too, shall leave you.
Understand the
‘I am’, transcend it
and realize the
Absolute.
********
YOU CAN SEE THESE QUOTES IN THE VIDEO: 'I AM AWARENESS'
