maya
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: in self-realisation there is no perception of a body, mind or world | Ajata | Advaita Vedanta | Maya and illusion
The following quotes are all from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (NM), taken from the book ‘I Am That’ by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
NM gave many different teachings, depending on the level of the seeker and the context. The ego-mind often clings to the lower teachings for safety and security – here only the higher teachings are included, so please only read the following if you have a deep and sincere interest in liberation.
If you read carefully, you will see the following themes stated and expounded by NM:
- The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of having a body.
- The self-realised jnani has no consciousness of a world or phenomena arising.
- The apparent consciousness of the world is only due to ignorance, also known as the ‘I thought’ or the ‘I am the body sense’. This ignorance is also known as ‘imagination’, ‘illusion’, ‘ego’ or ‘the mind’.
- Ignorance of what you truly are projects the (false) appearance of a world, which includes the appearance of the body-mind and world. These do not appear to a jnani.
- All conversation, teachings, words and thoughts are in illusion only, as are all teachers. Similarly, birth and death only (appear to) exist for the ignorant.
These are of course the Ajata teachings, and you can read about them here in this article and also in the introductory articles on the tomdas.com homepage.
Some may say that this notion of liberation is not appealing at all (for the ego-mind), but of course it is actually everything you are looking for and more. It is the treasure found within, this is the ‘kingdom of God’ within us. Anything less and the seeking, the doubts and the sense of ego will not end, and so suffering and duality will continue; hence the value of these teachings in reminding us to continue to go further with our sadhana until all objective phenomena have dissolved rather than stop prematurely.
Many of these quotes below are also found in the wonderful book The Seven Steps to Awakening, one of the best books ever written on self-realisation and liberation. This book goes much further than this article and clearly describes other aspects of the teaching including the method by which self-realisation can be attained.
Here are the quotes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:
The body and mind are only symptoms of ignorance, of misapprehension.
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He who knows the state in which there is neither the world nor the thought of it, he is the Supreme Teacher.
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What do you know of me, when even my talk with you is in your world only?
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NM: The body appears in your mind; in my mind nothing is.
Q: Do you mean to say you are quite unconscious of having a body?
NM: On the contrary, I am conscious of not having a body.
Q: I see you smoking!
NM: Exactly so. You see me smoking. Find out for yourself how did you come to see me smoking, and you will easily realize that it is your ‘I am the body’ state of mind that is responsible for this ‘I see you smoking’ idea.
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Nothing dies. The body is just imagined. There is no such thing.
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In my world nothing happens
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Without imagination there is no world.
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If you seek real happiness, unassailable and unchangeable, you must leave the world with its pains and pleasures behind you.
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You are neither the body nor in the body – there is no such thing as body
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NM: My world is real, while yours is made of dreams
Q: Yet we are talking.
NM: The talk is in your world. In mine – there is eternal silence. My silence sings, my emptiness is full, I lack nothing. You cannot know my world until you are there.
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It is not at all as you imagine and I am not bound by your imaginings.
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Q. If all that passes has no being, then the universe has no being either
NM: Who ever denies it? Of course the universe has no being.
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In reality, nothing ever happens.
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No doubt imagination is richly creative. Universe within universe are built on it. Yet they are all in space and time, past and future, which just do not exist.
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In pure consciousness nothing ever happens
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The moment you allow your imagination to spin, it at once spins out a universe.
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There is no body, nor a world to contain it; there is only a mental condition, a dreamlike state, easy to dispel by questioning its reality.
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All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me.
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To take appearance for reality is a grievous sin and the cause of all calamities
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It is by your consent that the world exists. Withdraw your belief in its reality and it will dissolve like a dream.
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What is real is nameless and formless.
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Do understand that what you think to be the world is your own mind
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I take my stand where no difference exists, where things are not, nor the minds that create them. There I am at home.
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All thinking is in duality. In identity [Tom: ie. self realisation] no thought surives
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Now go within, into a state in which you may compare to a state of waking sleep, in which you are aware of yourself, but not of the world. In that state you will know, without the least trace of doubt, that at the root of your being you are free and happy.
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To know yourself, turn your attention away from the world and turn it within.
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The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time; cease thinking of it and it will dissolve into thin mist.
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To see what Sri Ramana Maharshi thought of the same Ajata teachings please see this article here.
This article here also goes into what Shankara wrote on these Ajata teachings.
Shankara: the body and mind are symptoms of ignorance | Advaita Vedanta | Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sri Shankara, both in his commentaries and in his shorter works, often writes that the body and mind are symptoms (or effects) of ignorance, and when ignorance goes, the symptoms or effects of ignorance also go.
He also writes that the body, mind and world can never have any connection whatsoever with What You Truly Are, the Self, Pure Consciousness – and that only through ignorance can a connection between the two appear to be there.
eg. In Vivekachudamani Shankara writes:
195. But for delusion there can be no connection of the Self – which is unattached, beyond activity and formless – with the objective world, as in the case of blueness etc., with reference to the sky.
196. The Jivahood of the Atman, the Witness, which is beyond qualities and beyond activity, and which is realised within as Knowledge and Bliss Absolute – has been superimposed by the delusion of the Buddhi, and is not real. And because it is by nature an unreality, it ceases to exist when the delusion is gone.
197. It exists only so long as the delusion lasts, being caused by indiscrimination due to an illusion. The rope is supposed to be the snake only so long as the mistake lasts, and there is no more snake when the illusion has vanished. Similar is the case here.
198-199. Avidya or Nescience and its effects are likewise considered as beginningless. But with the rise of Vidya or realisation, the entire effects of Avidya, even though beginningless, are destroyed together with their root – like dreams on waking up from sleep. It is clear that the phenomenal universe, even though without beginning, is not eternal – like previous non-existence.
200-201. Previous non-existence, even though beginningless, is observed to have an end. So the Jivahood which is imagined to be in the Atman through its relation with superimposed attributes such as the Buddhi, is not real; whereas the other (the Atman) is essentially different from it. The relation between the Atman and the Buddhi is due to a false knowledge.
202. The cessation of that superimposition takes place through perfect knowledge, and by no other means. Perfect knowledge, according to the Shrutis, consists in the realisation of the identity of the individual soul and Brahman.
205. When the unreal ceases to exist, this very individual soul is definitely realised as the eternal Self. Therefore one must make it a point completely to remove things like egoism from the eternal Self.
Here Sri Nisargadatta also says the same:
Why has God created the world? | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana
Questioner: Why has God created the world? I want to know why.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Did God come and tell you that He has created the world?
Q.: I see creation around me. There must be some reason for creation.
B.: You say “I see.”; if you see that seer, all your doubts will be resolved.
Q.: I do not understand.
B.: Is there anything to be seen in sleep?
Q.: No.
B.: Continue to remain in the state where there is nothing to be seen.
Q.: Should I always be sleeping?
B.: Not seeing anything while remaining AWARE is Realisation. That is God and that is everything.
Q.: Awareness of what?
B.: Being.
The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 17th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.
You also are a Jnani; only, you think otherwise! | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana
Questioner: For Jnanis it is different; what of the common man?
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: You also are a Jnani; only, you think otherwise!
Q.: How could that be?
B.: The option of turning inwards and quietly allowing the mind to plunge and dissolve in the Self is equally available for all. It is not the fiefdom of a select few. All are verily only the Self.
Q.: That does not satisfy me. I am unable to Realise it for myself.
B.: So long as worldly attachments are present the mind cannot be succesfully turned inwards.
Q.: How to eliminate worldly attchment?
B.: By turning the mind inwards.
Q.: Really!
B.: The more you hold on to the Self or retain the mind in its native state of subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-and-volitionlessly, the more the mental tendancies and worldly attachments wither off; the lesser the mental tendancies and worldly attachments, the easier does become retention of the mind in its native state of subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-andvolitionlessly.
Q.: Which comes first?
B.: The sadhaka [Tom: seeker] recognises and reflects upon the ephemeral nature of the objective world and the transient nature of his own body. He gets fed up with material pleasures, because they eventually lead only to sorrow, when their enjoyment becomes, for any reason, impossible. He asks himself if a more permanent experience of life might not be possible.
Then he discovers the Ajata-advaita doctrine. Initially he is not convinced, and argues that if it were a dream there would be no possibility of corroboration, but that here his relatives and friends are able to confirm the evidence provided by his senses; he also asks why the same dream should be repeated everyday, were it all only a dream – according to him, here he sees the same sun, moon and earth everyday, whereas in his dreams he finds himself in new worlds moment to moment.
Eventually it dawns upon him that everything he thinks he knows, including an understanding of the apparent permanency of the world he believes himself to live in, is only thought or imagination. Then at the intellectual level he understands the truth – that the names and forms constituting the world are fictitious. This sparks a search for the substratum said to be underlying them, which alone is said to be Real by the wise.
He hears the teaching that the source of the mind, Beingness, is the gateway to the Real Self. Then he begins the practice of quietening the mind by vichara or any other method, tackling various distractions as and when they arise, by withdrawing attention from them and fixing it on Beingness or the Self. The beginning is only becoming fed-up with the evanescent nature of the world and the fugacious attractions it has to offer.
Q.: The boubts Bhagavan mentioned – they are my doubts also. Why is everyone witnessing the same dream? The sun, moon, etc. are seen by all.
B.: In turn those “all” are seen by you only. In deep slumber when there is no mind, nothing is available to be seen, but your existence is a constant.
Q.: Why do I dream the same dream everyday? For instance yesterday I came to the ashram and had darshan of Bhagawan; he was sitting on the same sofa in exactly the same manner. Today I am seeing Bhagawan and tomorrow also it is going to be the same Bhagawan.
B.: The future is a mere mental projection. The past is a mere memory. Have you not had dreams where the places you visit look extremely familiar?
Q.: At least is the present real?
B.: Anything seen cannot be Real. What is seen is not Pratyaksha. It is not self-evident, because there is a subject-object relationship involved. It is merely sensory information that is fed into the mind by the strength of its own evil faculty of avidya maya. That alone is Real which shines by its own light.
You are asking about the objects of the world. Can such objects exist without a YOU, a perceiver? When there is no perceiver, as in swoon or deep slumber, is there anything to be perceived? No. What is the inference? The objects owe the appearance of their apparent existence to you only. They are merely mental creations. The appearance of this enormous cosmos around you is merely a mental information. The mind is fiction. Therefore the ‘objects’ manufactured by it are also fictitious. Have not the least doubt about it.
Q.: If everything is unreal, can we conclude that bondage and liberation are also unreal?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Then why should I try to obtain Liberation? Let me remain as I am.
B.: Exactly!
Q.: I do not understand.
B.: Remaining as you are is the loftiest Sadhana.
Q.: How can remaining in ignorance be sadhana?
B.: You think that you are in ignorance. When you do not think at all, what remains is only wisdom. Removal of the screen of thought is all that is required for Reality to be revealed. Since you want a sadhana by means of which you may reach this thought-free state, vichara is suggested. Actually there is no need for any sadhana for one who has mastered the art of remaining as he is – the art of Being. That is the import of the advice Summa Iru. People generally misunderstand it. It does not mean keeping the body idle. It means keeping the mind still or free from thought. Remain perpetually absorbed in the thought-free I-Current. This will automatically lead you to the Sahaja-stithi [Tom: the natural state] without requirement for further effort.
Q.: Is even desire for Liberation an obstacle to Liberation?
B.: Yes.
The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 17th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.
What is the best attitude for a seeker to take regarding the body, the mind and the world (ie. Maya)?
What is the best attitude to take regarding Maya (the body, the mind and the world) when we are seeking?
Thoughts, feelings and experiences are unreal | Advaita & Non-Duality
Is this world real or an illusion? | Verses from Guru Vachaka Kovai | Ramana Maharshi
What is the nature of Maya? | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Upadesa Manjari (Spiritual Instruction)
Question 5. What is the nature of maya?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Maya is that which makes us regard as nonexistent the Self, the Reality, which is always and everywhere present, all-pervasive and Self-luminous, and as existent the individual soul (jiva), the world (jagat), and God (para) which have beenconclusively proved to be nonexistent at all times and places.
~Sri Ramana Maharishi, Upadesa Manjari (Spiritual Instruction)
Tom’s comments:
ie. Maya is that which makes you think there is no Self or Ultimate Reality, but makes you think there are individual persons (jivas), there is a world (jagat), and there is a force that governs these…When in fact the opposite is true.
Tom Das 