I AM THAT

A few days ago I picked up a book I have been reading off and on for a few years. Dubbed "a modern spiritual classic," which indeed it is, I AM THAT is a compilation of talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Between the covers of this glorious book are countless gems of unfathomable wisdom. For example, in response to the question, "Do you experience the three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping just as we do, or otherwise?", he answers with the following words:

"All the three states are sleep to me. My waking state is beyond them. As I look at you, you all seem asleep, dreaming up words of your own. I am aware, for I imagine nothing. It is not samadhi, which is a kind of sleep. It is just a state unaffected by the mind, free from the past and future. In your case, it is distorted by desire and fear, by memories and hopes; in mine it is as it is -- normal. To be a person is to be asleep."

Truly, Nisargadatta, recently deceased, was a great sage of deep understanding and profound wisdom. Anyone thirsty for the living waters of truth would do well to drink deeply the words of this great Master.

"What you are, you must find out. I can only tell you what you are not. You are not of the world, you are not even in the world. The world is not, you alone are. You create the world in your imagination like a dream. . . . Don't be afraid of a world you yourself have created. Cease from looking for happiness and reality in a dream and you shall wake up."