Inquiry

by Nissargadatta Maharj
Edited by Jean Dunn
Intro by Ed Muzika
First published on the Internet by Edward Muzika, August 22, 2005.

Introduction

Below is small book written by Nisargadatta. As indicated by Jean in her editor’s notes, it was published in 1963. There were 100 copies of this book printed by her. She gave 20 or so copies to friends and students and one to me. For some reason she decided not to give any more out. It has never been published in the West. Therefore, you are among the first to see it. Jean was never able to find anyone who claimed ownership of the copyrights.

Concerning copyrights, I am still amazed by the battles that have surrounded the writings/teachings of all the well-known spiritual teachers even while they were alive let alone after they were dead. Therefore, I have been scrupulous in only posting stuff on this site that I had long ago copyrighted, was written by me, was already in the public domain such as the Heart Sutra, or which is included by permission, such as the Ashtavakra Gita.

Jean told me it is hard to recognize the later Nisargadatta in this book as the style is so devotional and traditional Indian. True. But Maharaj is there.This book is copied exactly as printed with all the absent commas and spellings as found in the original.

Yen Hui, the favorite disciple of Confucius, came to take leave of his Master.

“Tell me,” said Yen Hui, “what is fasting of the heart?”

Confucius replied. “The goal of fasting is inner unity. This means hearing, but not with the ear; hearing, but not with the understanding; hearing with the spirit, with your whole being. The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind. Fasting of the heart empties the faculties, frees you from limitation and from preoccupation. Fasting of the heart begets unity and freedom.”

“I see,” said Yen Hui. “What was standing in my way was my own self-awareness. If I can begin this fasting of the heart, self-awareness will vanish. Then I will be free from limitation and preoccupation! Is that what you mean?”

A few excerpts from “Neither Wolf nor Dog. On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder” by Kent Nerburn

On Promises

The tobacco is like our church. It goes up to God. When we offer it, we are telling our God that we are speaking the truth. Whenever there’s tobacco offered, everything is wakan —sacred or filled with power.

That’s a lot of why we Indians got into trouble with the white man’s ways early on. When we make a promise, it’s a promise to the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka. Nothing is going to change that promise. We made all these promises with the white man, and we thought the white man was making promises to us. But he wasn’t. He was making deals.

We could never figure out how the white man could break every promise, especially when all the priests and holy men —those men we called the black robes— were involved. We can’t break promises. We never could.

A lot of them were private —we didn’t needa priest to make them happen. But they were real. They were promises to the Creator to do something. So we thought we were seeing the same thing from the white man. Especially when he swore on the Bible or used the name of God to make a promise. But I guess it was a lot like their church. It was only important on some days. The rest of the time it didn’t matter.

QUESTION: “What is the nature of the mind?”

Sri Ramana Maharshi: “What is called mind is a wonderous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thought, there is no independent entity called the world.

In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself.

When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines), the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self. What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists always only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (embodied soul or jiva).”

The Dissolution of the Order of the Star
by J Krishnamurti

[The Order of the Star in the East was founded in 1911 to proclaim the coming of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti was made Head of the Order. On August 2, 1929, the opening day of the annual Star Camp at Ommen, Holland, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order before 3000 members. Below is the full text of the talk he gave on that occasion.]

We are going to discuss this morning the dissolution of the Order of the Star. Many people will be delighted, and others will be rather sad. It is a question neither for rejoicing nor for sadness, because it is inevitable, as I am going to explain.

You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of Truth,” said the devil. “That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to let him organize it.”

20th July, 1936

D.: How to know the Self?

Maharshi: Are there two ‘I’s? How do you know your own existence? Do you see yourself with these eyes? Question yourself. How does this question arise? Do I remain to ask it or not? Can I find my Self as in a mirror?

Because your outlook has been outward bent, it has lost sight of the Self and your vision is external. the Self is not found in external objects. Turn your look within and plunge down; you will be the Self.

D.: Is discovery of the Self dependent on the observance of caste rules? Or should we flout them?

M.: Not in the beginning. Observe them to start with. Caste-rules serve as a check on the vagaries of the mind. It is thus purified.

30th January, 1935

20. Mr. Evan-Wentz: Is solitude necessary for a jnani?

Maharshi: Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a detached man is always in solitude.

D.: So then, one might be engaged in work and be free from desire and keep up solitude. Is it so?

M.: Yes. Work performed with attachment is a shackle, whereas work performed with detachment does not affect the doer. He is, even while working, in solitude.

Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

1. What is the method of practice?

As the Self of a person who tries to attain Self-realization is not different from him and as there is nothing other than or superior to him to be attained by him, Self-realization being only the realization of one’s own nature, the seeker of Liberation realizes, without doubts or misconceptions, his real nature by distinguishing the eternal from the transient, and never swerves from his natural state. This is known as the practice of knowledge. This is the enquiry leading to Self-realization.

2. Can this path of enquiry be followed by all aspirants?

This is suitable only for the ripe souls. the rest should follow different methods according to the state of their minds.

…

Source: Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

4th May, 1938

…

490. The English lady desired to have a private talk with Sri Bhagavan. She began, “I am returning to England. I leave this place this evening. I want to have the happiness of Self-Realization in my home. Of course it is not easy in the West. But I shall strive for it. What is the way to do it?”

Maharshi: If Realization be something outside you a way can be shown consistent with the safety of the individual, his capacity, etc. Then the question if it is realisable and, if so, in what time - will also arise. But here, Realization is of the Self. You cannot remain without the Self. The Self is always realized. But only you do not recognise the fact. The Realization is now obscured by the present world-idea. The world is now seen outside you and the idea associated with it obscures your real nature. All that is needed is to overcome this ignorance and then the Self stands revealed. No special effort is necessary to realize the Self. All efforts are for eliminating the present obscuration of the Truth.

Some tell us that the body is the self. Others say that the mind is the self. Both agree in asserting that the world is real, and that the self is an individual, one of a vast multitude of selves. Some there are who admit that the self is neither the body, nor the mind as we know it, but imagine that there is a superior kind of mind which is the real Self. All these views agree in making it out that the Self is finite. But finiteness is the cause of bondage. If, as these philosophers say, the Self is really finite - finite in its very nature - then we must bid good-bye to all hope of becoming free. Thus there is no vital difference among these views. These philosophies cannot at all help us in getting rid of our primary ignorance.

He that would philosophise aright must avoid the mistakes of these philosophers. He must choose his evidence aright. He must seek and find evidence of experience which is not the outcome of the ignorance.

Reliable evidence, therefore, is not the experience of ignorant men, but that of the Sages, who are wholly free from this ignorance. Only on the basis of their experience can we build up a philosophy that would relax the grip that this ignorance now has on us, and thus make it possible for us to start on the Quest and pursue it to the very end, so that we may win similar experience for ourselves.

19th November, 1935

Devotee: How to control the mind?

Maharshi: What is mind? Whose is the mind?

D: Mind always wanders. I cannot control it.

M: It is the nature of the mind to wander. You are not the mind. The mind springs up and sinks down. It is impermanent, transitory, whereas you are eternal. There is nothing but the Self. To inhere in the Self is the thing. Never mind the mind. If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.

D: So one need not seek to control the mind?

M: There is no mind to control if you realise the Self. The mind vanishing, the Self shines forth. In the realised man the mind may be active or inactive, the Self alone remains for him. For the mind, the body and the world are not separate from the Self. They rise and sink into the Self. they do not remain apart from the Self. Can they be different from the Self? Only be aware of the Self. Why worry about these shadows? How do they affect the Self?

21-7-46

In the afternoon the following two questions were put by Mr. Bhargava, an elderly visitor from Jhansi inn U.P.:

(1) How am I to search for the ‘I’ from start to finish?

(2) When I meditate I reach a stage where there is a vacuum or void. How should I procede from there?

Bhagavan: Never mind whether there are visions or sounds or anything else or whether there is a void. Are you present during all this or are you not? You must have been there even during the void to be able to say that you experienced a void. To be fixed in that ‘you’ is the quest for the ‘I’ from start to finish. In all books on Vedanta you will find this question of a void or of nothing being left, raised by the disciple and answered by the Guru. It is the mind that sees objects and has experiences and that finds a void when it ceases to see and experience, but that is not ‘you’. You are the constant illumination that lights up both the experiences and the void. It is like the theatre light that enables you to see the theatre, the actors and the play while the play is going on but also remains alight and enables you to say that there is no play on when it is all finished. Or there is another illustration. We see objects all around us, but in complete darkness we do not see them and we say, “I see nothing.”; even then the eyes are there to say that they see nothing. In the same way, you are there even in the void you mention.

8th September, 1936

245. Misses Gulbai and Shirinbai Byramjee, two Parsi ladies, were asking questions round one central point. All their questions amounted to one.

“I understand that the Self is beyond the ego. My knowledge is theoretical and not practical. How shall I gain practical realisation of the Self?”

M: Realisation is nothing to be got afresh. It is already there. All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought: “I have not realised.”

D: Then one need not attempt it.

M: No. Stillness of mind or peace is realisation. There is no moment when the Self is not.

So long as there is doubt or the feeling of non-realisation, attempt must be made to rid oneself of these thoughts.

From Paul Brunton’s A Search in Secret India, published by Rider & Co., London:

Q: What exactly is this Self of which you speak? If what you say is true there must be another self in man.

Sri Ramana: Can a man be possessed of two identities, two selves? To understand this matter it is first necessary for a man to analyse himself. Because it has long been his habit to think as others think, he has never faced his ‘I’ in the true manner. He has not a correct picture of himself: he has too long identified himself with the body and the brain. Therefore I tell you to pursue this enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ You ask me to describe this true Self to you. What can be said? It is That out of which the sense of the personal ‘I’ arises and into which it will have to disappear.

Q: Disappear? How can one lose the feeling of one’s personality?

Q: What Is The Nature Of The Mind?

A: The mind is nothing other than the ‘I’-thought. The mind and the ego are one and the same. The other mental faculties such as the intellect and the memory are only this. Mind, intellect, the storehouse of mental tendencies, and ego; all these are only the one mind itself. This is like different names being given to a man according to his different functions. The individual soul is nothing but this soul or ego.