NDM

 ## Sunday, June 11, 1978

The more you understand spirituality, the fewer your needs will become. When the *jiva* dies, it means the sense of "I am" ceases. To understand this, one must become stabilized within. Whatever you take yourself to be will come to an end. The "I-am-ness" that you take for granted will not last.

Waking comes from deep sleep, along with the "I am" sensation. When the mind is occupied with daily activities, we chain ourselves to our ways of acting and speaking. Otherwise, beingness itself is independent. Unless we apply names, there is no activity. In reality, no one acts and no action is truly real; nothing is being done.

Brahman is true because it has no sense of "I-am-ness." As long as consciousness is not understood, one must act through the mind. The vast universe arises from the *Brahma-randhra* (the opening at the crown of the head). All knowledge emerges from the infinitesimal Brahma and ultimately merges back into it.

### The Guru and Consciousness

He who considers his own consciousness as the Guru does not need to follow any rituals. Taking the Guru's word as authority, one is not bound by the cycle of karma. This happens spontaneously. All worldly affairs are the act of God. The devotee makes no distinction between himself and the Guru. **Take yourself to be pure consciousness and behave accordingly.** A simple devotee becomes limitless by clinging to the Guru’s word. When the inner God is pleased, the gift of the Guru is granted.

As individuality dissolves, the fear of death vanishes. Any identity you assume will be transitory. The identity given by the Guru remains forever. Realizing consciousness while in the human body is priceless. There is no one as generous as he who offers self-knowledge. If you realize it, there are no differences between you and the Guru. You become immortal.

### The Mirage of Memory and Identity

Even without dying, you fear death. There will never be an actual experience of death as such. Even so, the fear of death exists. You know that you have awakened—does this not mean you were there before awakening? This memory can only exist if one is present before that. The five elements are the characteristics of the "I am" knowledge. They will never be able to see the One who is prior to knowing.

You may believe in God, etc., yet you do not have a continuous existence. You consider yourself to be your "I am" knowledge. There are thousands of memories; are we those memories? Every action is the result of memory, but we are not what is remembered. The nature of memory is forgetfulness.

> Even the knowledge that "I am God" has an end. Discriminate, deliberate on this point, and be free. Rid yourself of the "I am" knowledge. It is only through this knowledge that identification as a man or a woman occurs.

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What does this mean? How was it created? If someone understands this by the grace of the Guru, they will become the eternal Brahman. Do these words belong to a mortal human or an immortal God? If you understand just one proposition of this talk as your own, you become immortal.

— **Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Nirupana #35**