Nisargadatta Maharaj... the cream of lay spirituality

 

Tappeto di Stelle - dipinto di Franco Farina

In tema di spiritualità laica d'assalto, una sessione di domande e risposte con Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (di cui spesso leggete i pensieri sul dopo Giornaletto di Saul), egli è uno dei più grandi maestri non-duali laici della nostra epoca, lasciò il corpo nel 1981 e feci appena in tempo ad incontrarlo quell'anno, pochi mesi prima della sua dipartita... Forse alcuni di voi avranno letto il resoconto di quella mia esperienza. Comunque il dialogo che oggi vi propongo (in inglese) è molto illuminate per la nostra mente dubbiosa di occidentali nichilisti.. (Paolo D'Arpini)

 

"You are not yet here... I am here... Come in!" (Nisargadatta Maharaj)

 

Questions and answers:

Question: I agree that the world I live in and the God I believe in are both creatures of imagination.
But in what way are they created by desire?
Why do I imagine a world so painful and a God so indifferent?
What is wrong with me that I should torture myself so cruelly?
The enlightened man comes and tells me: 'it is but a dream to put an end to', but is he not himself a part of the dream?
I find myself trapped and see no way out.
You say you are free.
Of what are you free?
For heaven's sake, don't feed me on words, enlighten me, help me to wake up, since it is you who sees me tossing in my sleep.

Nisargadatta Maharaj: When I say I am free, I merely state a fact. If you are an adult, you are free from infancy.
I am free from all description and identification.
Whatever you may hear, see, or think of, I am not that.
I am free from being a percept, or a concept.



Q: Still, you have a body and you depend on it.

M: Again you assume that your point of view is the only correct one. I repeat: I was not, am not, shall not be a body.
To me this is a fact.
I too was under the illusion of having been born, but my Guru made me see that birth and death are mere ideas -- birth is merely the idea: 'I have a body'.
And death -- 'I have lost my body'.
Now, when I know I am not a body, the body may be there or may not -- what difference does it make?
The bodymind is like a room.
It is there, but I need not live in it all the time.


Q: Yet, there is a body and you do take care of it.

M: The power that created the body takes care of it.


Q: We are jumping from level to level all the time.

M: There are two levels to consider -- the physical -- of facts, and mental -- of ideas.
I am beyond both.
Neither your facts, nor ideas are mine.
What I see is beyond.
Cross over to my side and see with me.


Q: What I want to say is very simple.
As long as I believe: 'I am the body', I must not say: 'God will look after my body'.
God will not. He will let it starve, sicken and die.

M: What else do you expect from a mere body?
Why are you so anxious about it?
Because you think you are the body, you want it indestructible.
You can extend its life considerably by appropriate practices, but for what ultimate good?


Q: It is better to live long and healthy.
It gives us a chance to avoid the mistakes of childhood and youth, the frustrations of adulthood, the miseries and imbecility of old age.

M: By all means live long.
But you are not the master.
Can you decide the days of your birth and death?
We are not speaking the same language.
Yours is a make-believe talk, all hangs on suppositions and assumptions. You speak with assurance about things you are not sure of.


Q: Therefore, I am here.

M: You are not yet here.
I am here.
Come in!
But you don't.
You want me to live your life, feel your way, use your language.
I cannot, and it will not help you.
You must come to me.
Words are of the mind and the mind obscures and distorts.
Hence the absolute need to go beyond words and move over to my side.



Q: Take me over.

M: I am doing it, but you resist.
You give reality to concepts, while concepts are distortions of reality.
Abandon all conceptualisation and stay silent and attentive.
Be earnest about it and all will be well with you.