Nirupana 16
Sunday, March 19, 1978

‘I am not the body, I am the Self ‘. If you meditate like this, you will become God. This great mantra is the same as pure consciousness. Do not worship it by giving it a form. The idea that you are the body must go. Then the rest will be fine.

You say, ‘I forgot to meditate’, but the one who says it has not forgotten it.
Just as gold is the source of ornaments, similarly, the sense ‘I am’ is the source of all words. When consciousness realizes itself, it is called the grace of the Guru.

One must be the proof of the Guru’s words.
The initiation with mantra establishes a special relationship with the Guru. Hence, you must have faith in the Guru. One could die anytime. Then how can he neglect the Guru’s words?

Real devotees are illumined by Self-knowledge. Their existence is like that of space. When the stage of the seeker evolves, his behavior also changes. Some behave in a peculiar fashion. Some go about naked, some keep silent, and some become very abusive. As they are Self-realized they do not behave consciously.
A Self-realized person has no concern with how the body behaves. His conduct is not governed by any rule of law.

The flavor of your beingness is the holy presence of God. The concern about the individual self can be compared to a snakebite. Sages do not consider themselves as the body, so they are not bitten. The Self is beyond light and darkness. Only the body or the mind gets stained.

Bhagavan means light. The light of Bhagavan is a big void of light. Is there a difference between that light and your own light? When you know your consciousness and become a witness, you will understand that the sky is your light. There is nothing beyond the light of God. The natural quality of God is your own consciousness.

As soon as consciousness arises, the five elements are created along with the world. Your sight has the same color as that of space. All the names are of the incarnations of God. Were there any names prior to that? Bhagavan means the manifested consciousness. That by which you know ‘you are’ is the same as His nature. Embrace it tightly.

In everything all around, there is God and only God. Does this light see any difference between a man and a woman? All this, one and all, in its totality is consciousness. That taste or knowledge of self-existence is
Bhagavan. To understand this means to see God in every living being.

Forget that you are a human being. Your light is the light of Bhagavan. In all that appears, what is the underlying luminous Source? It is this light alone. It is present even in a stone but it is prominently
expressed in you.

In all things there is only one true quality. It is consciousness. It demonstrates existence. All other knowledge comes about because of knowingness. Paramatman means ‘I, myself, am Atman’. He is not a
deity. Deities worship Him. It is my own Self. It is the direct, correct knowledge. It is there before a single word is uttered.

The one that rises and the one that sets finds his rest in Paramatman. People are awed by the knowledge of Paramatman. How can it even be felt when one has no body? The enlightened devotee says, ‘I
am not the body’. Then who is it that became enlightened? (When a person becomes realized, he no longer considers himself a body. Then who says, ‘I have become realized’? In other words, there is no one who has become enlightened. There is neither knower, nor known. No one is born, no one dies, nothing has happened.)
The experience can be described in many ways but the experiencer cannot be described. When words are silent, there is no sense in enumerating the divine names.

🕉 MEDITATIONS WITH
SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ