16 / Consciousness and the Absolute
November 21, 1980
Maharaj: Whatever I had thought earlier has now changed. What is happening now is that even the slightest touch of individuality has completely disappeared, and it is consciousness as such which is spontaneously experiencing. The result is total freedom. All the time there was complete conviction that it was consciousness which was experiencing; but that “I” which the consciousness was experiencing was there. Now that has totally disappeared; therefore, whatever happens in the field of consciousness, I, who am there before consciousness, am not concerned in any way. The experience is of consciousness experiencing itself.
Nevertheless, understand what consciousness is, even if consciousness is not an individual. The basis and source of consciousness is in the material. What I say is still in the conceptual world, and you need not accept it as truth. Nothing in the conceptual world is true.
Once the disease was diagnosed, the very name of the disease started various thoughts and concepts. Watching those thoughts and concepts I came to the conclusion that whatever is happening is in the consciousness. I told the consciousness, “It is you who is suffering, not I.” If consciousness wants to continue to suffer, let it remain in the body. If it wants to leave the body, let it. Either way, I am not concerned.
All kinds of things were happening, thoughts and experiences, and they were credited to my account, but once I have seen what it is, all those account books have been burned and I no longer have any account.
How amusing it is to see someone who thinks of himself as an individual, who thinks of himself as a doer or achiever. Whatever is happening, and the experiencing of the
Talks of Nisargadatta Maharaj ! 17
happening, takes place in this consciousness when the “I Am” arises.
November 24, 1980
Questioner: [f there is no difference between what is prior to birth and what is after death there is no difference, is there any reason for attempting to learn who we are now? Isn’t it all the same?
Maharaj: The light coming from the sun and the sun itself - is there any difference?
Q: The only difference is what happens in the middle?
M: Whatever happens between birth and death is also an expression of the consciousness only. Even in the realm of consciousness you pass the time entertaining various concepts; what else are you doing?
Q: Is Maharaj playing with various concepts? M: No. It is the consciousness, it plays by itself.
Q: Does Maharaj’s consciousness play, even though he is detached from it?
M: Consciousness is not private property, it is universal. Q: Though we understand this, sometimes it seems confined to a body.
M: You are trying to understand with the intellect; just be. When I tell you that you are that dynamic, manifest knowledge, you are everything. What else do you want?
Q: I am aware that I came here because Maharaj gives me the mirror, but this time he is showing me that I am my own mirror.