Nisargadatta_M

1

2023-01-31T20:59:00.001-05:00

If you think that Buddha, Christ or Krishnamurti speak to the person, you are mistaken. They know well that the vyakti, the outer self, is but a shadow of the vyakta, the inner self, and they address and admonish the vyakta only. They tell him to give attention to the outer self, to guide and help it, to feel responsible for it; in short, to be fully aware of it. Awareness comes from the Supreme and pervades the inner self; the so-called outer self is only that part of one's being of which one is not aware. One may be conscious, for every being is conscious, but one is not aware. What is included in awareness becomes the inner and partakes of the inner. You may put it differently: the body defines the outer self, consciousness the inner, and in pure awareness the Supreme is contacted.

PtC: July 26, 1980. consciousness is useless.

2017-08-16T12:11:00.001-04:00

M. All this conceptualizing, all this articulation, has been taking place only after the original concept arose that you are. What was the position before this concept arose? At that time did you have any concepts, any needs?

Q. Like deep sleep?

M. This concept that it is like deep sleep is not incorrect, but it is still a concept, and the original state is beyond concepts.

Q. What is the fact now?

M. That you are awake is itself a concept at this moment. Let this sink in.

Q. It's a movie.

M. Go back to the source: before this concept of beingness, "I Am," arose, what was your state?

Q. I don't know.

M. That which you don't know, that is the right state. Everything that comes after this consciousness is attained, is like a dose of salts - it is useless, consciousness is useless.

Q. So the search, all aspects of it, belongs to the same?

M. Throw away every thought, every experience, everything that happens after this consciousness has come. Other than throwing it away as useless, there is nothing to be done beyond this firm understanding in which you become more and more absorbed.

PtC: July 23, 1980. only recognize.

2017-08-16T12:08:00.000-04:00

Q. My tendency is to look outward, rather than inward.

M. That is the quality of your "I Amness," not of you, the Absolute. You have embraced the body as your Self. That also is superficial, you don't know what is happening inside the body either.

Q. Correct. I don't know what's happening in my organs or how they act.

M. All the actions happening in this wide world, the samples of all those, are also happening in the body.

Q. That which is, does not know Itself.

M. In that state you do not know you are. With the tool, or aid, of beingness you know you are.

Q. With the tool we try to go beyond?

M. Don't try to go beyond consciousness, only recognize, understand, what the beingness is, that does the trick. The proof that consciousness was not lies with you only. You, the Absolute, are the proof of that. Spontaneously, uncalled for, this beingness has come and this beingness is being witnessed by you, the Absolute.

PtC: July 22, 1980. suffer this beingness

2017-08-02T13:04:00.002-04:00

Q. Even beingness is an imperfect temporary phase?

M. That consciousness is a product of the food essence body; the body is the fuel on which "I Amness" is sustained. Do you not observe what the body is? Is it not a morsel of food and water? Presently you are embroiled in this "I Amness," but you - the Absolute - are not this "I Amness."

Q What you are saying is, even the "I Amness," the way you recognize it in the mind, that is not the way it is actually?

M. Take it like this: this is as good or as bad an experience as having a tummy ache or a pain in the neck. In my perfect state I never had a pain, but when the "I Amness" was there, suddenly I felt the pain. That "I Amness" will merge, will disappear, I am the perfect state when "I Amness" was not. I definitely know that "I Amness" was not. Just as I have to suffer a chronic ailment I suffer this beingness. Just understand at what level I am talking, to what level I am leading you.

Just imagine the flight to which this spiritual talk has gone. The normal spiritual approach everywhere is to worship this consciousness with so many titles, but to me it is a pain and I want to get rid of that.

PtC: July 21, 1980. observer of the seed

2017-07-13T21:58:00.000-04:00

Q: First I hadn't any form, isn't that so?

M. Yes, even now you don't have any form. It is not your shape, it is the shape of the seed.

Q Isn't it the nature of the seed that it grows, like a tree grows out of a seed?

M. It is its nature.

Q: So, I am not to blame. The seed must be foolish.

M. Because the seed is foolish it has come like this. The seed is the original foolish state, yet what big titles are given to that seed. The seed is transient, and the whole world is full of the seeds. All the five elements, all the objective world, is in that seed. You are not the seed - you are the observer of the seed.

For many centuries the Western people were not interested in spiritual matters, but now they have realized that, in spite of all their riches, they cannot get real peace, so they are searching for the truth now. The nearer you get to the truth, the more you lose interest in worldly affairs. Such a one will not have any particular interest in the world, but will act like an ordinary person.

The sum and substance of spirituality is nothing but to come to a decision, make a judgment, about the Self, God and the world - what is it? You must first dispose of this question.

PtC: July 20, 1980. this is a process

2017-07-08T09:49:00.001-04:00

Questioner: What is mind?

M: Mind is the language of the vital breath. That mind-language will talk only about the impressions it has collected. The knowledge "I Am" is not a thought but observes the thoughts.

Out of prana, the pranava, the beginning of sound, in the sound is the love to be. The innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing principle "I Am, I Am," without words, by which you know you are. It has no form or image, it is only beingness, the love to be.

Para shakti is the beingness or love to be. The next stage of the Para shakti is Para shunti, the formation but not yet perceptible. The next stage is mind formation: the language is formed in the mind, next is the explosion of words, vocal words. In this where are you? This is a process happening.

For you I am expounding very secret knowledge about your own beingness, how it came about - that is what I am talking about.

This play is just happening; you are not playing a part. When you are ignorant, you think you are playing a part in this manifest world. There is no one working deliberately - it is happening spontaneously. You cannot claim anything in this process. When you are thoroughly knowledgeable you will come to the conclusion that this beingness is also an illusion.

Q. Who recognizes that it is illusion or ignorance?

M. Only that one recognizes or witnesses all that as ignorance. That one cannot understand That one, he can witness and understand only the ignorance. The one who recognizes all this as ignorance, that one is knowledgeable.

PtC: July 19, 1980. all this is unreal

2017-06-20T22:33:00.001-04:00

Most essential is that knowledge "I Am." Claim it, appropriate it as your own. If that is not there, nothing is. Knowledge of all the stages will be obtained only with the aid of this knowledge "I Am."

From the Absolute no-knowing state, spontaneously, this consciousness "I Am" has appeared - there is no reason, no cause. Spontaneously it has come, with the waking state, deep sleep, the five elemental play, three Gunas, and Prakriti and Purusha. Then it embraces the body as its self and therefore identifies as a male or a female. This "I Amness" has its own love to be: it wants to remain, to perpetuate itself, but it is not eternal.

This passing show may be likened to the following situation: suppose I was well all along, then suddenly I was sick and the doctor gave me medicine. After three days my fever was gone. So this stage of fever for three days is the "I Am" consciousness. Exactly like that - a passing show, a time-bound state. This principle loves to be, and one must not belittle it - it is a very Godly principle. This "I Amness" contains the entire cosmos.

It is said that all this is unreal. When is it certified as unreal? Only when one understands this temporary phase. And in the process of understanding one is in the Absolute and from there recognizes this as a temporary, unreal state.

PtC: July 9, 1980. understand that point

2017-06-10T22:29:00.000-04:00

I do not believe that anybody did exist prior to me. When my beingness appeared, then everything appeared. Prior to my beingness, nothing was. Originally I am without any stigma, uncovered by anything.

The Paramatman is the core Self, the highest Self. Its identity is without any stigma, it is subtler than space.

Why are you dying? Understand the first moment, when you understood that you are. Due to what? How?

Once you understand this, you are the highest of the Gods – the point at which everything rises; the source and the end is the same point.

Once you understand that point, you are released from that point. Nobody tries to understand this happening of the "I Amness." I, the Absolute am not this "I Amness."

PtC: July 1, 1980. established in beingness

2017-06-06T20:56:00.000-04:00

Q. Then how do I elevate it to a higher level?

M. Leave it alone! There is no question of elevating to a higher level. Here it is only a question of understanding.

Iswara is the manifestation of the five elements and the universe, the "I Amness." To the Absolute, the witnessing of that "I Amness" occurs. This is the Absolute standpoint, siddha. This understanding should not be claimed by you, who are a sadhaka. Sadhaka means the process of getting established in the Iswara principle, the consciousness.

Q. Last night "there was an experience of very great vibration in the body. In fact there was no body, just vibration, no form, and very intense.

M. Whatever that vibration, that is the product of the five elements.

Q. It is not a taste of "I Amness"?

M. If you want to express it that way, you may. These are the five elements, three gunas, prakriti and purusha, ten elements. These are the expressions of your beingness.

Q. So when Maharaj says to stay firm in the consciousness of not being the body-mind, how does that relate to these ten elements?

M. That talk - to transcend the body-mind and establish in your beingness, is for the kindergarten spiritual seeker, the lowest level. But now I am talking to a sadhaka who is getting established in beingness; that first lesson is over now.

Q. Oh!

M. Your world, your universe, is the expression of your beingness. The second step, the sadhaka gets established in beingness, Iswara principle, manifestation. A sadhaka is manifestation.

PtC: June 29, 1980. a temporary condition

2017-06-01T21:54:00.000-04:00

Maharaj: Whatever concept you have about yourself cannot be true. The "I Amness" is the prime concept, and it has to be satisfied by letting it do its normal work in the world. The important thing is the realization of the fact that it is a concept.

Questioner: In the world this concept is always trying to be at the top. Even to the children we say, "You must be first in the examination. "Is it wrong to push your personality and individuality on others?

M. What is wrong is that you consider yourself to be limited to this body and shape. What knowledge I try to give is given to the knowledge "I Am" in each of you, which is the same. If you try to get that knowledge as an individual you will never get it.

Q. If “I Am" is a concept and it disappears, how is one to know that that concept has disappeared?

M. That "I Am" is a concept is to be understood while the concept is there. Once it merges in the original state, who (or what) is there who wants to know? The illusory entity has disappeared.

Q. I am convinced that this `I Am" is a concept and it will end, but why should I take it that it is a false concept?

M. How and when did this very thought come? Did this thought not come merely as a movement in that concept itself? If the consciousness were not there, the thought would not be there.

Consciousness is a temporary condition which has come upon the total, timeless, spaceless, changeless state. It is a happening which has come and which will disappear.

PtC: June 27, 1980. only conceptual

2017-05-31T22:56:00.000-04:00

What was conceived has grown physically, and some of the expressions of this knowledge "I Am" have achieved tremendous things. Some have became avatars, some have achieved success in various fields. At the end of the time span the magnificent personalities, and whatever they have achieved - both have disappeared. It may have been for many years; this "I Amness" may have remained existent for hundreds of years in particular cases; still, however long the time, there is an end to it.

Some of these avatars and jnanis have understood what the "I Amness" is, that it needs a body before it can manifest itself, and the body can only come out of sexual intercourse. Having understood it, instead of remaining in that knowledge apart from manifestation, and merely observing manifestation, they started giving advice to that which is only conceptual; all manifestation is conceptual. They said, "Let there not be sexual relations." Many of these avatars and jnanis have given this advice. Has it happened? Has the rain stopped? Has the production of population stopped? No. Nature will take its course. It is only to be understood, nothing is to be done.

PtC: May 11, 1980. correct perspective

2017-05-26T23:18:00.000-04:00

The consciousness in the body cannot have any blemish at all - that is the quality. But when you identify with the body, then, conceptually you might pollute it, but by nature it is very pure. Vital breath is very pure, and this beingness is purer than that. I am talking about Atman, the Self. This knowledge is likely to create a great sense of frustration in one who doesn't have the right perspective. The intention is to see the state of things in their correct perspective. Having seen it, live your life in the world to the best of your ability.

Immortality is beyond time and space; in that timeless, spaceless existence there is no entry for the five elements, for light or darkness, for the sun or the moon. Timeless, spaceless existence doesn't know that it is. That is reality, That is the truth.

In any amount of meditation, etc., you do not remain in your real state; it is only by firm conviction that you are the highest that you stabilize in the Ultimate.

Normally a common spiritual seeker will not understand what I am driving at because he is seeking something which he can enjoy. What is your ambition in being a spiritual seeker? You are looking for advantage in the world, to take care of your daily life - that is the maximum you expect out of spirituality. The so-called sages, who are following a spiritual pursuit, focus their ambition on seeing that their daily life goes on comfortably. Why in hell did I happen to be? Nobody enquires about that. Only that person will visit this place whose virtue and sin have come to an end. So long as there is that stigma of the memory that you are a body-mind you will not understand.

PtC: May 8, 1980. enamored

2017-05-22T09:40:00.000-04:00

Suppose the so-called death happens to me, actually what is happening? There is the setting of the five elements, but I shall prevail always. I have stabilized prior to this beingness and the world. Whatever happens to the world, nothing happens to me.

The mind which was accepting that I was born is dead now. I cannot be measured by birth or mind.

There are so many so-called jnanis, but they are thirsty for worldly knowledge. Do you understand what I am driving at? You have craving for worldly knowledge.

You have the consciousness and you are trying to understand everything in this life. Can you control the consciousness? Can you keep it with you always? No, it can go at any time, and you have no authority that you can say this is my consciousness and I will hold on to it for such and such a time.

You are very fond of your dwelling-place in this world, this body. You would not like to go to a state which is beyond this, prior to this. You are enamored of this beingness state.

PtC: May 4, 1980. the primary illusion

2017-05-17T07:53:00.000-04:00

This touch of "I Amness" is in each being; this beingness has that touch of love for the Absolute and it is a representation of the Absolute. When you got yourself separated from the Absolute with this identity "I Am," you felt fragmented, isolated, and that is why your demands started. In the Absolute there are no needs. Only the Absolute prevails. The truth is total Brahman only, nothing else but Brahman. In a total Brahman state the touch of beingness, "I Am," and with that, separation started, otherness has come. But this "I Amness" is not just a small principle, that itself is the mula-maya, the primary illusion. What I am expounding is not meant for the common people, because they have not reached the stature to understand what I am saying. Therefore I tell them to do bhajans, japa, meditation. After doing that, when the purifying takes place, they will be worthy enough to receive my talks.

PtC: April 30, 1980. this attachment

2017-05-15T20:29:00.000-04:00

All of you are like beggars; you have got a begging bowl and you want to collect God in that.

Take it that this "I Amness" of yours is the unadulterated form of Godlihood; the pure Iswara state is your beingness.

It is quite proper and praiseworthy that you are listening to the talks. Nevertheless, you are not getting rid of this attachment to the body- mind. You are constantly surrounded by relations or intimacies connected with your body-mind. Have full faith in your beingness and allow it to grow into the manifest Iswara principle. It is all powerful - meditate on that. It is very simple, yet at the same time, very profound. The consciousness is the seed of Godliness. If we give it its true importance and pray to it, then it will flower into Godliness. If we don't give it any importance, it will not flower into Godliness.

PtC: April 23, 1980. in the illusion

2017-05-11T12:01:00.000-04:00

When I talk to you, don't try to understand from the body-mind identity. Your true state is always there; it has not gone anywhere. Although you did not know it was there, and now you know it is there, you have done nothing. It is always there.

On my true, whole, homogeneous state just a small ripple appeared, the news came, "I Am." That news made all the difference, and I started knowing this; but now I have known my true state, so I understand my true state first, and then I understand that this ripple is coming and going on my true state. While, in your case, you take interest in the ripple and don't take interest in your true state.

Out of my existence as the Noumenon has come this state of the phenomenal. The homogeneous understands the play of the attributes, the projection of the mind, but the play, the projection of the mind, cannot understand the homogeneous. The moment it tries to understand It, it becomes one with It. Everybody is trying to understand the meaning of all this. You are not understanding because you have all the swaddling clothes of "I-am-this-or-that." Remove them.

The ultimate point of view is that there is nothing to understand, so when we try to understand, we are only indulging in acrobatics of the mind.

Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion; all your activities, material and spiritual, are in this illusion. All this is happening in the objective world, all is dishonesty, there is no truth in this fraud.

PtC: April 19, 1980. you, the Absolute

2017-05-08T21:32:00.001-04:00

You must come to a firm decision. You must forget the thought that you are a body and be only the knowledge "I Am," which has no form, no name. Just be. When you stabilize in that beingness it will give all the knowledge and all the secrets to you, and when the secrets are given to you, you transcend the beingness, and you, the Absolute, will know that you are also not the consciousness. Having gained all this knowledge, having understood what is what, a kind of quietude prevails, a tranquility. Beingness is transcended, but beingness is available.

PtC: April 14, 1980. the seed

2017-05-06T10:07:00.000-04:00

This consciousness is a tree, but there was a seed - go to the seed. The consciousness you have now is the same as the child consciousness; hold on to that, that is enough. So long as the consciousness is there everything is so important to you, but if that vanishes, then what is the worth of this whole world to you? Who is the knower of the seed? Give attention to how this "I Amness" has appeared - then you will know. Accept this identification only: that you are this manifest pure beingness, the very soul of the universe, of this life that you observe, and presently you are just wearing this bodily attire. Make a note of it; you have taken down so many things in life, just for fun, why don't you take this down also and see what happens? See what happens when you look at the moon and know that the moon is there provided you are there; because you are the moon is. This grand concept, this joy, you directly experience and enjoy.

PtC: April 8, 1980. witnessing

2017-05-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

M. The Self is the world. You are talking about removing the identity between the Self and the world, aren't you? First of all, dispose of the Self, understand what the Self is. Get to know the Self first, then get to know what the world is. The reason the world appeared is that you came to know that you are.

Q. How can one, in the waking state, lose the sensation of the world altogether and just be the Self?

M. You will have to consult the sun. Ask him, "How do you get rid,of your light?" . . . light is the manifestation of the sun. Can you separate the light from the sun or the sun from the light? Because of the sun, the light is; because you are your world is. Because the witnessing state happens, hence you are; because you are, witnessing is palpably felt; because the sun is, light is. If there is no witnessing, where is the witness? Dwell there.

PtC: April 4, 1980. universal consciousness

2017-05-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

Maharaj: It is the intensity of the faith you have in the guru's words that is most important; once that is there, the grace flows automatically. The faith in the guru is based on the consciousness within, faith in one's Self. The love for the beingness I am trying to direct to a higher level. What is lasting is this love for the Self, on which temples have been built. This Christ consciousness is existing; is it faith in a man? As a man, Christ was crucified, but that universal consciousness which was his lives today.

Q: Is there a means of releasing or elevating this love?

M: That is a vritti (mental modification), that is part of the process. There are various actions, practices, etc. Even in daily life you have certain procedures; are they not the puja (worship) for this consciousness?

Q. Maharaj is talking about the kind of love that transcends consciousness itself?

M: The breeze that comes out of the universal consciousness is what keeps other kinds of love alive. Most people limit their love to an individual.

Q How does one expand into universal love?

M: Understand the false as false, that's all you can do; you cannot turn one thing into another.

Nisargadatta on The Witness

2014-12-09T08:40:00.002-05:00

Q: Can we talk of witnessing the real?

M: How can we? We can talk only of the unreal, the illusory, the transient, the conditioned. To go beyond, we must pass through total negation of everything as having independent existence. All things depend.

Q: On what do they depend?

M: On consciousness. And consciousness depends on the witness.

Q: And the witness depends on the real?

M: The witness is the reflection of the real in all its purity. It depends on the condition of the mind. Where clarity and detachment predominate, the witness-consciousness comes into being. It is just like saying that where the water is clear and quiet, the image of the moon appears. Or like daylight that appears as sparkle in the diamond.

Q: Can there be consciousness without the witness?

M: Without the witness it becomes unconsciousness, just living. The witness is latent in every state of consciousness, just like light in every color. There can be no knowledge without the knower and no knower without his witness. Not only you know, but you know that you know.

Focusing Chapter 18

2014-01-25T08:55:00.002-05:00

Q: Where do we begin?

M: All I know is that whatever depends, is not real. The real is truly independent. Since the existence of the person depends on the existence of the world and it is circumscribed and defined by the world, it cannot be real.

Q: It cannot be a dream, surely.

M: Even a dream has existence, when it is cognized and enjoyed, or endured. Whatever you think and feel has being. But it may not be what you take it to be. What you think to be a person may be something quite different.

Q: I am what I know myself to be.

M: You cannot possibly say that you are what you think yourself to be! Your ideas about yourself change from day to day and from moment to moment. Your self-image is the most changeful thing you have. It is utterly vulnerable, at the mercy of a passer by. A bereavement, the loss of a job, an insult, and your image of yourself, which you call your person, changes deeply. To know what you are you must first investigate and know what you are not. And to know what you are not you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not necessarily go with the basic fact: 'I am'. The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my parents and now I am so-and-so, living at, married to, father of, employed by, and so on, are not inherent in the sense 'I am'. Our usual attitude is of 'I am this'. Separate consistently and perseveringly the 'I am' from 'this' or 'that', and try to feel what it means to be, just to be, without being 'this' or 'that'. All our habits go against it and the task of fighting them is long and hard sometimes, but clear understanding helps a lot. The clearer you understand that on the level of the mind you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker you will come to the end of your search and realize your limitless being.

Focusing Chapter 17

2014-01-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

Questioner: I need a response to life, not only intelligent, but also very quick. It cannot be quick unless it is perfectly spontaneous. How can I achieve such spontaneity?

Maharaj: The mirror can do nothing to attract the sun. It can only keep bright. As soon as the mind is ready, the sun shines in it.

Q: The light is of the Self, or of the mind?

M: Both. It is uncaused and unvarying by itself and colored by the mind, as it moves and changes. It is very much like a cinema. The light is not in the film, but the film colors the light and makes it appear to move by intercepting it.

Q: Are you now in the perfect state?

M: Perfection is a state of the mind, when it is pure. I am beyond the mind, whatever its state, pure or impure. Awareness is my nature; ultimately I am beyond being and non-being.

Q: Will meditation help me to reach your state?

M: Meditation will help you to find your bonds, loosen them, untie them and cast your moorings. When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.

Q: By whom?

M: By the same power that brought you so far, that prompted your heart to desire truth and your mind to seek it. It is the same power that keeps you alive. You may call it Life or the Supreme.

Q: The same power kills me in due course.

M: Were you not present at your birth? Will you not be present at your death? Find him who is always present and your problem of spontaneous and perfect response will be solved.

Focusing Chapter 16

2014-01-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Q: I am studying Sanskrit under a professor, but really I am only reading scriptures. I am in search of self-realisation and I came to get the needed guidance. Kindly tell me what am I to do?

M: Since you have read the scriptures, why do you ask me?

Q: The scriptures show the general directions but the individual needs personal instructions.

M: Your own self is your ultimate teacher (sadguru). The outer teacher (Guru) is merely a milestone. It is only your inner teacher, that will walk with you to the goal, for he is the goal.

Q: The inner teacher is not easily reached.

M: Since he is in you and with you, the difficulty cannot be serious. Look within, and you will find him.

Q: When I look within, I find sensations and perceptions, thoughts and feelings, desires and fears, memories and expectations. I am immersed in this cloud and see nothing else.

M: That which sees all this, and the nothing too, is the inner teacher. He alone is, all else only appears to be. He is your own self (swarupa), your hope and assurance of freedom; find him and cling to him and you will be saved and safe.

Q: I do believe you, but when it comes to the actual finding of this inner self, I find it escapes me.

M: The idea 'it escapes me', where does it arise?

Q: In the mind.

M: And who knows the mind.

Q: The witness of the mind knows the mind.

M: Did anybody come to you and say: 'I am the witness of your mind'?

Q: Of course not. He would have been just another idea in the mind.

M: Then who is the witness?

Q: I am.

M: So, you know the witness because you are the witness. You need not see the witness in front of you. Here again, to be is to know.

Q: Yes, I see that I am the witness, the awareness itself. But in which way does it profit me?

M: What a question! What kind of profit do you expect? To know what you are, is it not good enough?

Q: What are the uses of self-knowledge?

M: It helps you to understand what you are not and keeps you free from false ideas, desires and actions.

Q: If I am the witness only, what do right and wrong matter?

M: What helps you to know yourself is right. What prevents, is wrong. To know one's real self is bliss, to forget—is sorrow.

Focusing Chapter 15

2014-01-03T11:59:00.000-05:00

Questioner: Is there no God apart from you?

Maharaj: How can there be? 'I am' is the root, God is the tree. Whom am I to worship, and what for?

Q: Are you the devotee or the object of devotion?

M: I am neither, I am devotion itself.

Q: There is not enough devotion in the world.

M: You are always after the improvement of the world. Do you really believe that the world is waiting for you to be saved?

Q: I just do not know how much I can do for the world. All I can do, is to try. Is there anything else you would like me to do?

M: Without you is there a world? You know all about the world, but about yourself you know nothing. You yourself are the tools of your work, you have no other tools. Why don't you take care of the tools before you think of the work?

Q: I can wait, while the world cannot.

M: By not enquiring you keep the world waiting.

Q: Waiting for what?

M: For somebody who can save it.

Q: God runs the world, God will save it.

M: That's what you say! Did God come and tell you that the world is His creation and concern and not yours?

Q: Why should it be my sole concern?

M: Consider. The world in which you live, who else knows about it?

Q: You know. Everybody knows.

M: Did anybody come from outside of your world to tell you? Myself and everybody else appear and disappear in your world. We are all at your mercy.

Q: It cannot be so bad! I exist in your world as you exist in mine.

M: You have no evidence of my world. You are completely wrapped up in the world of your own making.

Q: I see. Completely, but—hopelessly?

M: Within the prison of your world appears a man who tells you that the world of painful contradictions, which you have created, is neither continuous nor permanent and is based on a misapprehension. He pleads with you to get out of it, by the same way by which you got into it. You got into it by forgetting what you are and you will get out of it by knowing yourself as you are.