Yogendra Pathak

Your mind is an instrument, after all, and you should know how to use it. As you are taught the uses of your body, so you should know how to use your mind. Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", ch.86, pp.425-426

Don't we need a milestone? Yes and no. Yes, if we are certain; no, if we know our way. Once we are certain in ourselves, the Guru is no longer needed, except in a technical sense. Nisargadatta Maharaj

Visitor: "You seem to give no importance to the Guru. He is merely an incident among others. Everybody sings the glories of the Guru, while you compare him to a milestone. Don't we need a Guru? What do I gain by learning to use my mind?"

The very question shows that you have not yet found one [the Guru]. As long as you have not realized, you will move from Guru to Guru, but when you have found yourself, the search will end. Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", ch.86, p.425

Man is the unconscious, conscious and the super-conscious, but you are not the man. Yours is the cinema screen, the light as well as the seeing power, but the picture is not you. Nisargadatta Maharaj

Visitor: "As I am here, looking at you, I cannot locate the event in space and time. There is something eternal and universal about the transmission of wisdom that is taking place. Ten thousand years earlier, or later, make no difference -- the event itself is timeless. ..

Real surrender means doing nothing, unless prompted by the Guru. You step, so to say, aside and let your Guru live your life. You merely watch and wonder how easily he solves the problems which to you seemed insoluble. Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", ch.86, pp.424-425

If you watch your daily life, you will see that you have surrendered nothing. You have merely added the word 'surrender' to your vocabulary and made your Guru into a peg to hang your problems on. Nisargadatta Maharaj

Visitor: "There was a time when I was most displeased with myself. Now I have met my Guru and I am at peace, after having surrendered myself to him completely. As I sit here, I see the room, the people. I see you too. How does it look at your end? What do you see?"

Freedom from the ego-self is the fruit of self-enquiry. Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", ch.86, pp.423-424

When there is no 'I', the world is free of a mighty nuisance -- good for everybody. It is like a rope stretched across the street; it snarls up traffic. Roll it up, it is there, as mere identity, useful when needed. Nisargadatta Maharaj

Visitor: "When you sleep, are you conscious or unconscious? I find I have no more questions to ask. When there is no 'I', who is free?"

.. a world of truth and fearless love. Nisargadatta Maharaj, 'I Am That', ch.86, p.423

If you stay with the idea that you are not the body nor the mind, not even their witness, but altogether beyond, your mind will grow in clarity, your desires -- in purity, your actions -- in charity and that inner distillation will take you to another world, ..

Visitor: 'Is it not 'karma' that causes rebirth?' You may change the name, but the fact remains. What is the drug which you call 'karma' or destiny? It made you believe yourself to be what you are not. What is it, and can you be free of it? Nisargadatta Maharaj