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| Where is the confusion! |
AN: Hi Nitin, I've never been to India, but I was driven from an early age to find out if all this was real and if there was a better way to live, if humans were meant to be happier. I tried Christianity and all the Western esoteric stuff available, New Age, etc., and I never got close to any kind of answer. Then finally I came across "I AM THAT" and during my reading of that book, I knew that was the end. Things quickly fell away right after that. It was my typical twenty-five-year search, and all of it contributed to my being ready to hear what Nisargadatta was saying, but I still don't know anyone else who says it as clearly as he does. Without him, I might still be stumbling around in the dark.
Is Nisargadatta considered sort of "unorthodox," or renegade, in Advaita terms? I mean, does he say things that don't fit the party line? For instance, he sometimes says there is no reincarnation (because there is no individual soul) which resonates with me, but I have heard him criticized for that. Even his Guru Siddharameshwar seems to think there is some "further to go" that I don't understand. Nisargadatta cuts through all of that and I wonder if he was a trail-blazer in that regard.
NR: Thanks for the mail. I am very glad to read it. I have met many who were bowled out through I AM THAT ;-) Frankly I never read I AM THAT in totality but it is a mixed up discussion sessions with Nisargadatta Maharaj where Seekers apparently from different levels of comprehensions or understanding asking Him questions and His specific answers pointed towards their specific questions or their at that moment understanding.
Even Nisargadatta Maharaj answered in affirmative when asked about Re-Birth concept to some seekers (who were apparently on preliminary comprehension level) but later in His last days He spoke only the FINAL TRUTH without any dilution and discarded the concept of reincarnation. :-)
As I see, most of the Indian sages have taught distinctively on two levels to their students/disciples. (Level is conceptual only) Those on primary levels were given relative truths/pointers which they could digest and comprehend from where they were at that point of time. Most of the Masters found that 99.99% belong to this category. And the others, one in a million were given the Final truths which they instantly COGNIZED within and were out of the game of seeking enlightenment ;-)
The confusion happens when such mixed up discussions are read together. Naturally there will be strong contradictions. But when seen in and as TOTALITY there is no contradiction at all. It is like one discussion is for the kindergarten student and the other is for the graduate student! The Sat-guru is like a traffic signal post built-in with Red & Yellow & also Green signals! The colour of the signal changes depending upon the traveler! ;-) The traveler with questions are shown Red, the traveler with gestalt of understanding are shown Yellow and to those without any question are shown Green Lol. From the outset it looks contradictory but like the signal post, the Sat-Guru/ Truth/ Real Nature is all comprehensive!
In the same way, as I see it, I AM THAT is a kind of elementary book which is great for the beginners as there is a lot of mixed-up stuff. One can relate or resonate with one or the other thing in it. :-) But many get stuck here and get lost in the words. :-) Words are beautiful and in a way easy to understand intellectually but the RECOGNITION or UNDERSTANDING of the entity ‘which’ understands those words… is totally different thing :-)
I call it, Being is ‘ease’ and Becoming...a Dis’ease’ :-) When this ‘ease’ is dis’covered’, unconcealed, revealed....it is unstoppable. :-) Thank you so much once again.
AN: Thank you for answering my question about Nisargadatta. I agree with you that the teachings have to be given at two very different levels that will end up seeming contradictory. "I AM THAT" is like that. But it's a great book to open people's eyes, I don't know why. I feel Maharaj's presence on the page... I never felt that reading any other book. The line that really shocked me was, roughly: "I am coming to you from outside your dream to tell you that you are dreaming." It was the first time I realized that my dream was not the whole story! :-)
Most people aren't ever going to understand the final teaching, as you and I know. It unfolds as it will. I don't know why I bother to write and have a website, when I think it's really all just a matter of the randomness of conditioning...I happened to be conditioned to search and to need it all to make logical sense and to be "earnest" and not give up. And so there it was. But I don't understand why "me," and of course, there is no "me," so that's the answer.
NR: Thanks and regards! Jai Guru _()_
-Nitin Ram
01 Feb 2010
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