I Am That, by Nisargadattah

I came across this work recently. It’s produced in a conversational Question-and-Answer style. Nisargadatta grew up desperately poor in India around 1900. He met his guru at about age 36, and was a ‘gunpowder student’ — immediately dropping his affairs and throwing his efforts fully into meditation for years. He emerged from his initial meditation into being a profound teacher.

The meditation style and world view of Nisargadattah and his lineage are part of Advaita Vedanta, presented in a simple, earnest, and compelling way. Nisargadatta explains repeatedly that his teaching is very simple:

Q: What benefit is there in knowing that I am not the body?
M: Even to say that you are not the body is not quite true. In a way you are all the bodies,
hearts and minds and much more. Go deep into the sense of ‘I am’ and you will find. How
do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotten? You keep it in your mind until you recall
it. The sense of being, of ‘I am’ is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes, or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the ‘I am’, without moving, you enter a state which cannot be verbalized but can be experienced. All you need to do is try and try again. After all the sense ‘I am’ is always with you, only you have attached all kinds of things to it — body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions etc. All these self-identifications are misleading. Because of them you take yourself to be what you are not.

Nisargadatta

I’m struck by his life story of a profound transformation, and also by the simplicity of his message. We can begin to lead ourselves astray when we name and label That Which is Beyond. Labels are not necessary, the simple experience of naked consciousness, “I Am”, speaks all that is required.

Here’s a copy of the book, courtesy of Nirgun John’s website, well worth a visit in itself.