Reflections

"It is not your real being that is restless, but it's reflection in the mind appears restless because the mind is restless. It is just like the reflection of the moon in the water stirred by the wind. The wind of desire stirs the mind and the 'me', which is but a reflection of the Self in the mind, appears changeful. But these ideas of movement, of restlessness, of pleasure and pain are all in the mind. The Self stands beyond the mind, aware, but unconcerned."

~~Nisargadatta~~

Happiness

"True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away. Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness comes from the self and can be found in the self only. Find your real self and all else will come with it."

~~Nisargadatta~~

The Real World

What begins and ends is mere appearance. The world can be said to appear, but not to be. The appearance may last very long on some scale of time, and be very short on another, but ultimately it comes to the same. Whatever is time-bound is momentary and has no reality.

~~~Nisargadatta~~~

What is Born Must Die

What was born must die. Only the unborn is deathless. Find what is it that never sleeps and never wakes, and whose pale reflection is our sense of "I".

~~Nisargadatta~~

Who You Are

You are the ultimate potentiality of which the all-embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression.

~~Nisargadatta~~

Diverse in Appearance, One in Being

To me all [persons] are equal. Differences in appearance and expression are there, but they do not matter. Just as the shape of a gold ornament does not affect the gold, so does man's essence remain unaffected.

~~Nisargadatta~~

You Are It: The Source and Heart of All

Let go of your attachment to the unreal and the real will swiftly and smoothly step into its own. Stop imagining yourself being or doing this or that and the realization that you are the source and heart of all will dawn upon you. With this will come great love which is not choice or predilection, nor attachment, but a power which makes all things love-worthy and lovable.

~~~Nisargadatta~~~

Self Knowledge

....As long as knowledge means description in terms of what is already known, perceptual, or conceptual, there can be no such thing as self-knowledge, for what you are cannot be described, except as total negation....

~~Nisargadatta~~

Are You a Mere Body?

Is it not important to you to know whether you are a mere body, or something else? Or, maybe nothing at all?

Don't you see that your problems are your body's problems --- food, clothing, shelter, family, friends, name, fame, security, survival --- all these lose their meaning the moment you realize that you may not be a mere body.

~~Nisargadatta~~

Understanding Human Affairs

"It is no easy task to gain some understanding of human affairs. In some respects, the task is harder than in the natural sciences. Mother Nature doesn't provide the answers on a silver platter, but at least she does not go out of her way to set up barriers to understanding. In human affairs, such barriers are the norm. It is necessary to dismantle the structures of deception erected by doctrinal systems, which adopt a range of devices that flow very naturally from the ways in which power is concentrated."

----Noam Chomsky----