Nisargadatta's Realization

[inavalan]

• David: One morning he looked around and noticed that there were no local people there at all except for the one translator.
  
  A mischievous look appeared on his face and he said, ‘Three things are absolutely necessary for human life: food, oxygen and sex.’
  
  We all perked up. This was something different from the usual lecture on consciousness. We waited for him to continue, to develop his theme and explain in more detail, but he refused to elaborate.
  
  Instead he said, ‘Come on! Somebody dispute that statement. It’s very controversial. Somebody disagree with me.’
  
  It looked like he wanted to start an argument, but about what wasn’t clear.
  
  When no one else seemed interested in disputing his statement, I stepped into the breach to be the fall guy.
  
  ‘If you don’t breathe for a few minutes, you die,’ I began. ‘If you don’t eat for a few weeks, you die. But I have never heard of anyone dying because they didn’t have sex. How can you say that it is essential for human existence?’
  
  Maharaj refused to explain himself. Instead he just repeated himself.
  
  ‘Three things are absolutely necessary for human life: food, oxygen and sex.’
  
  I couldn’t see where he was going with the conversation, or where he wanted me to go with it.
  
  ‘Are you saying that we should all have sex because if we don’t we will all die?’
  
  I was trying to provoke him into revealing why he had suddenly brought this topic up.
  
  ‘No, I’m not saying that at all. I’m simply saying, ‘Three things are absolutely necessary for human life: food, oxygen and sex.’
  
  I tried a couple of other approaches but didn’t get anywhere, and no one else in the room seemed willing to pitch in and help out. He just kept on repeating his original statement. After a few minutes he heard footsteps on the stairs. He immediately started talking about consciousness, and as the new visitors, a group of local people, came into the room, he was well into one of his standard explanations. He obviously didn’t feel comfortable discussing sex in front of his Marathi devotees. I never did find out what the point of his statement was because he never brought it up again.

Obviously: without sex there wouldn't be human life ... This is an example of not realizing the obvious.

[inavalan]

• I told you a few minutes ago that Maharaj discounted all theories of reincarnation, but he did tell one story that possibly indicated that we had all been searching for God in India before.
  
  ‘At the end of the Ramayana,’ he said, ‘all the animals who had helped Ram to win the war were given rewards. The monkeys were all told that they could go to a monkey heaven. Now, what is heaven to a monkey? Vast quantities of food, lots of fighting, and limitless sex. So, all the monkeys were reborn as human beings in the West in the twentieth century to experience their idea of “heaven”. After some time, though, they all began to get bored of all this excess. One by one, they all started coming back to India because they wanted to find Ram and be with him again.’

Niz derogatorily called the 20th century Westerns 'monkeys' (known to be brainless imitators), and they took it as an indication 'that we had all been searching for God in India before' ...

[inavalan]

• Maharaj to some extent determined the sort of people who were likely to come and stay by setting the agenda on what he was willing to talk about and what he wasn’t. He wasn’t interested in what he called ‘kindergarten lessons’. That meant he generally refused to talk about many of the tenets of traditional Hinduism: ritual worship, karma and reincarnation, common practices such as japa, things like that. A large proportion of the foreigners who were there had come because they had read I am That. They wanted to talk about liberation, not traditional Hindu practices and traditions, and Maharaj was happy to oblige them. The people who wanted to talk about other things soon left to find somewhere more suitable for their inclinations and interests. Some, though, came with traditional ideas and beliefs and fell under the spell of Maharaj and his radical teachings, but I think these people were in the minority.
  
  I remember Mullarpathan telling us one day, ‘I was a traditional Ram bhakta when I first arrived here. I thought that if I could have a vision of Ram, I would be sure to join him in Vaikunta [Ram’s heavenly realm] when I died. The first day I came, Maharaj told me that Vaikunta didn’t exist. I was very shocked to hear a Guru speak like this, but I felt attracted to him and I stayed on. Within a short period of time I dropped all my ideas about the gods and their heavens.’

[stardustpilgrim]

Sept 23, 2024 23:50:53 GMT -5 inavalan said:

• I told you a few minutes ago that Maharaj discounted all theories of reincarnation, but he did tell one story that possibly indicated that we had all been searching for God in India before.
  
  ‘At the end of the Ramayana,’ he said, ‘all the animals who had helped Ram to win the war were given rewards. The monkeys were all told that they could go to a monkey heaven. Now, what is heaven to a monkey? Vast quantities of food, lots of fighting, and limitless sex. So, all the monkeys were reborn as human beings in the West in the twentieth century to experience their idea of “heaven”. After some time, though, they all began to get bored of all this excess. One by one, they all started coming back to India because they wanted to find Ram and be with him again.’

Niz derogatorily called the 20th century Westerns 'monkeys' (known to be brainless imitators), and they took it as an indication 'that we had all been searching for God in India before' ...

[justlikeyou]

Question: Nisargadatta Maharaj provides a profound account of his realization: "Pleasure and pain lost their sway over me. I was free from desire and fear. I found myself full, needing nothing. I saw that in the ocean of pure awareness, on the surface of the universal consciousness, the numberless waves of the phenomenal worlds arise and subside beginninglessly and endlessly. As consciousness, they are all me. As events, they are all mine. There is a mysterious power that looks after them. That power is awareness, Self, Life, God, whatever name you give it. It is the foundation, the ultimate support of all that is, just like gold is the basis for all gold jewelry. And it is so intimately ours! Abstract the name and shape from the jewelry, and the gold becomes obvious. Be free of name and form and of the desires and fears they create, then what remains?"

What might he have meant by saying, "There is a mysterious power that looks after them"? In the Christian Bible, there is a passage that states, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care." Do these statements convey a similar meaning?

ChatGPT: Nisargadatta's statement about the "mysterious power that looks after them" can be interpreted as a recognition of a fundamental, unifying consciousness or awareness that underlies all existence. This power is not merely an abstract idea but a living essence that connects and sustains all forms of life and phenomena. By referring to it as awareness, Self, Life, or God, Nisargadatta emphasizes the multifaceted nature of this reality, suggesting that it transcends specific labels or forms, just as gold is the essence of jewelry regardless of its shape or design.

In the context of the biblical passage, there is indeed a resonance between the two statements. The verse highlights the notion of divine care and attention to even the smallest of creatures (sparrows), underscoring the idea that nothing is beyond the watchful eye of a higher power. Both passages convey a sense of interconnectedness and the assurance that all beings and events are enveloped in a greater, nurturing consciousness.

Nisargadatta's exploration of this "mysterious power" may suggest that, although the phenomenal world is filled with dualities, desires, and fears, there is an underlying support system that maintains balance and order. Just as the Bible assures that every sparrow is cared for, Nisargadatta implies that every wave in the ocean of consciousness is attended to by this awareness, ultimately leading to a sense of freedom from the transient concerns of life.

Thus, both perspectives invite reflection on the nature of existence, suggesting that beyond our individual experiences and perceptions lies a deeper reality that is inherently caring and supportive, encouraging us to look beyond the surface of our experiences to recognize this underlying unity.