QUESTIONER: How does the person come into being? NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ: Exactly as a shadow appears when light is intercepted by the body, so does the person arise when pure self-awareness is obstructed by the I am-the-body idea. And as the shadow changes shape and position according to the lay of the land, so does the person appear to rejoice and suffer, rest and toil, find and lose according to the pattern of destiny. When the body is no more, the person disappears completely without return, only the witness remains and the Great Unknown. The witness is that which says I know. The person says I do. Now, to say I know is not untrue - it is merely limited. But to say I do is altogether false, because there is nobody who does; all happens by itself, including the idea of being a doer. Q : Then what is action? M : The universe is full of action, but there is no actor. There are numberless persons small and big and very big, who, through identification, imagine themselves as acting, but it does not change the fact that the world of action (mahadakash) is one single whole in which all depends on, and affects all. The stars affect us deeply and we affect the stars. Step back from action to consciousness, leave action to the body and mind; it is their domain. Remain as pure witness, till even witnessing dissolves in the Supreme. Imagine a thick jungle full of heavy timber. A plank is shaped out of the timber and a small pencil to write on it. The witness reads the writing and knows that while the pencil and the plank are distantly related to the jungle, the writing has nothing to do with it. It is totally super-imposed and its disappearance just does not matter. The dissolution of personality is followed always by a sense of great relief, as if a heavy burden has fallen off. ~ from I AM THAT.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 03:33:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015