* * * Grația Guru-ului e tot ce am nevoie * * *
La întrebările ce le punea de obicei Maharaj, vizitatorul din Calcutta a dat câteva informații relevante despre el însuși. A zis că a fost interesat de cunoașterea de sine de foarte mulți ani. A întâlnit aproape toți sfinții foarte cunoscuți din nordul Indiei și mulți alții nu așa de bine cunoscuți (Maharaj a zâmbit când i s-au tradus aceste cuvinte). Apoi omul a adăugat că a studiat toate Upanishadele principale, și tot felul de comentarii ale Bhagavad Gita-ei în engleză și bengaleză, scrise de mari învățați. Era destul de versat și în limba sanscrită și astfel a studiat și scrierile sacre în variantele originale. Și simțea acum că tot ce e necesar este grația unui Guru. A mai zis de asemeni că a citit Eu Sunt Acela și că a fost foarte impresionat de aceasta și așa l-a ales pe Maharaj ca Guru-ul său ultim și că nu va părăsi Bombay-ul fără a primi grația sa. De asemeni, că el are un timp limită în care Maharaj trebuie să îi ofere grația pentru că el va pleca la cutare dată și deja și-a cumpărat bilete de întoarcere la Calcutta la acea dată! Deja Maharaj nu își putea stăpâni un zâmbet foarte larg.
Maharaj: Vreau să te întreb ceva.
Vizitatorul: Da, domnule. (Și-a împins pieptul în față și a vorbit cu încrederea unui candidat bine pregătit înaintea unei probe orale)
Maharaj: Ai citit multe cărți și ai întâlnit mulți Jnani; deci până acum înseamnă că ți-ai aflat deja adevărata identitate. Spune-mi, care este adevărata ta identitate în ceea ce te privește?
Vizitatorul: Domnule, eu sunt un căutător umil care caută iluminarea și am venit la tine cu speranța plină de încredere că nu vei refuza să îmi acorzi grația ta.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: Mai ai câteva zile de ședere aici, deci e destul timp pentru grație sau iluminare! Hai să aflăm cine e cel care vrea iluminarea. Să găsim într-adevăr dacă chiar există măcar vreo nevoie de iluminare sau eliberare, sau Moksha, sau orice ar fi.
Acum dă-mi răspunsul la întrebare:
Ai descoperit adevărata ta identitate? Uită în acest moment de lume și de Guru și de Dumnezeu.
Vizitatorul: Aceasta e o întrebare tare ciudată, domnule. Tot ce vreau este grația Guru-ului, fără de care ușa nu se va deschide pentru mine.
Maharaj: Dar nu ar trebui mai întâi să aflăm dacă chiar există o ușă care îți blochează intrarea?
Să intri unde? Tot vorbești de Guru. Care e ideea ta despre Guru?
Vezi tu, dacă întrebările de bază nu sunt răspunse spre satisfacția ta, atunci cum putem începe? De aceea repet: După atât de mulți ani de studiu, ai fost capabil să afli adevărata ta identitate; acest "tu" care caută grația Guru-ului ca astfel să atingă iluminarea?
Vizitatorul: Domnule, îmi pare rău să zic că mă faceți tare confuz. Tot ce pot zice ca răspuns la întrebarea dumneavoastră e: nu știu.
Maharaj: Aha! acum ajungem undeva—"Nu știu." Nimeni nu a spus cuvinte mai adevărate ca acestea. Într-adevăr acesta e singurul adevăr și orice altceva este fals.
Visitor: Domnule, m-aș fi gândit că vă bateți joc de mine. Dar chipul dumneavoastră îmi sugerează că nu ați putea fi mai serios de atât.
Maharaj: Acum, te rog, încearcă să înțelegi. Ai citit destule deci ar trebui să fii capabil să înțelegi ceea ce spun. Încearcă, și pentru o clipă uită tot ce ai acumulat pe calea cunoașterii, și pricepe cu o minte goală ceea ce îți zic - amintește-ți, o minte goală, goală dar ascuțită; nu doar vidă și inertă.
Oricare este starea în care noi nu știm nimic, aceea este starea noastră adevărată, aceea e Realitatea.
În acea stare, noi nu știam nici măcar de propria noastră existență.
Apoi, spontan, a apărut mesajul sau gândul, sau cunoașterea "Eu Sunt".
Această cunoaștere "Eu Sunt" a început simțământul de dualitate - subiect și obiect, păcat și virtute, și întreaga gamă de opuși inter-conectați. Orice a fost înainte de cunoașterea "Eu Sunt" este adevărat; orice este după cunoașterea, sau conștiința lui "Eu Sunt", este fals.
Înțelege acest lucru de bază. Eu Sunt-ul, simțământul prezenței a primit tot felul de nume mărețe ca Maya, Prakriti, Ishwara, etc., dar totuși el este o iluzie, ignoranță pură.
Prakriti e cea care, cu cooperarea lui Purusha conceptual (ambii constituind principiile parentale) a creat lumea și a populat-o cu nenumărate forme fizice.
Maya e cea care prin acțiunea sa face conștiința (cea care dă simțământul de ființă simțitoare) să creadă în mod eronat că ea însăși este o formă anume. Conștiința astfel își asumă identitatea unei anumite forme, și își uită adevărata sa natură. Mă urmărești până acum? Ceva întrebări?
Vizitatorul: Domnule, vă urmăresc foarte focalizat. Nu am întrebări.
Maharaj: Bun. Până acum în acest proces, ai observat, nu se pune problema vreunei "entități" care să aibă o existență independentă. Tu ești acela, care este dinainte de apariția Eu Sunt-ului.
Ceea ce a apărut peste natura ta adevărată e ca o boală (n.t. distorsiune, perturbare), sau ca o eclipsă
pentru o anumită durată, la sfârșitul căreia forma fizică va "muri" și va fi îngropată sau arsă și apoi se va amesteca cu cele cinci elemente din care a fost creată. Suflul forței vieții va dispărea și se va amesteca cu aerul din afara trupului; conștiința va fi eliberată de limitările corpului și ale celor trei guna-e. Cu alte cuvinte, procesul va ajunge la finalul ce i-a fost alocat.
Acum să revenim la problema noastră: Cine este cel care are nevoie de grația Guru-ului pentru ca astfel să atingă "eliberarea"? Și eliberare din ce "înlănțuire"?
Vizitatorul: Maharaj, ați întors problema la 180 de grade. Ați redus toată strădania mea de patruzeci de ani la zero și ați anulat chiar existența mea. M-ați lichidat! Ce pot să spun? Singurul lucru e că prin lichidarea mea, de asemeni l-ați lichidat pe Guru!
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: Nu chiar, deși aceasta nu e o reacție rea.
Acum ascultă mai departe. Problema este că tu te privești ca o entitate individuală cu o formă fizică; și de asemeni te uiți la Guru ca la o altă entitate individuală cu o altă formă, doar cu ceva în capul lui sau inima lui sau undeva, ceea ce îl face pe el o persoană "iluminată", dar totuși tot o "persoană". Aceasta e greșeala reală.
Guru-ul însă a realizat că el e Realitatea Ultimă; el vede fiecare ființă așa cum se vede pe el însuși, nu ca o "persoană", nu ca doar "formă", sau "lucru". Altă greșeală e că cel care caută, discipolul, ca o entitate, se așteaptă să învețe sau să înțeleagă "ceva". Dar cum poate un obiect conceptual să înțeleagă ceva? Individualitatea căutătorului dispare gradat, dar, în acest proces, grația Guru-ului, care este mereu prezentă ca soarele strălucind, devine una cu conștiința.
Cu cât mai repede identificarea cu corpul ca entitate separată este pierdută, cu atât mai repede grația Guru-ului înflorește în conștiința discipolului. Și atunci el va realiza că Guru-ul nu e altul decât conștiința dinlăuntru, și conștiința e cea care, mulțumită de credința și iubirea discipolului, va acționa ca Sadguru (Guru-ul interior) și va desfășura toată cunoașterea ce este necesară. Însă, nu va exista niciun progres (deși "progres" e și el un concept greșit) dacă tu continui să te vezi ca o entitate și să aștepți ca Guru-ul, ca o altă entitate, să îți dea ceva teme de făcut pentru acasă, și când le-ai făcut cum se cuvine, să te recompenseze cu un fel de diplomă, sau ceva, pe o tavă ca "eliberare". Acest întreg concept este greșit înțeles.
Trebuie să realizezi adevărata semnificație a Guru-ului și a grației sale înainte ca grația omniprezentă a Guru-ului să poată curge lin și natural spre tine.
Vizitatorul a stat năucit pentru câteva momente.
Când și-a putut găsi cuvintele, a zis: "Domnule, mi-ai deschis ochii și m-ai făcut să văd falsitatea și inutilitatea a ceea ce am considerat eu ca fiind cunoaștere și Sadhana. Nu am cuvinte prin care să îmi exprim recunoștința față de dumneavoastră."
S-a prosternat înaintea lui Maharaj și a plecat - un om mai smerit și mai înțelept.
~ Din cartea: "Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj"
Traducerea: Summairu (2018)
Citește și:
Nisargadatta - Îndrumări de practicat
Nisargadatta - Conversații despre practica spirituală
Nisargadatta - Cunoaște-te pe tine însuți ca fiind oceanul ființei
* * * Guru's Grace is All I Need * * *
To the usual query from Maharaj, the visitor from Calcutta gave the relevant information about himself. He said that he had been interested in self-knowledge for the past many years. He had met
almost every well-known saint in the northern India and many others not so well-known (Maharaj smiled when this was translated to him). He added that he had studied all the principal Upanishads, various commentaries on the Gita in English and Bengali by different scholars. He was quite wellversed in the Sanskrit language also and had studied most of the traditional scriptures in the original. He felt that all he needed now was the Guru's grace. He also said that he had read I Am
That and was so deeply impressed with it that he had selected Maharaj as his final Guru and he would not leave Bombay without receiving his grace. Also, that there was a time limit within which
Maharaj must bestow that grace because his leave would expire on a particular date and he had already booked his return ticket for Calcutta on a certain day! By now Maharaj could not restrain a
very broad smile.
Maharaj: I would like to ask you something.
Visitor: Yes sir. (He pushed out his chest and spoke with the confidence of a well-prepared candidate appearing for aviva voce examination.)
Maharaj: You have read many books and met many Jnanis;
so you must have by now found your own true identity. Tell me, what is your true identity as far as you yourself are concerned?
Visitor: Sir, I am an humble seeker seeking enlightenment and have come to you with the confident hope that you will not refuse me your grace.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: You still have quite a few days here, so there is plenty of time for grace, or enlightenment!
Let us first find out who it is that wants enlightenment. Indeed, let us find out whether there is any need at all for enlightenment or freedom, or Moksha, or whatever.
Now let me have your answer to my question:
Have you come to know your own true identity ? Forget for the moment the world and the Guru and God.
Visitor: This is a very awkward question, sir. All I want is grace of the Guru, without which the door will not open to me.
Maharaj: But should we not find out first whether there is at all a closed door barring your entry?
Entry into what? You keep talking of the Guru. What is your idea of a Guru?
You see, unless these basic questions are first answered to your own satisfaction, how can we proceed? Therefore, I repeat: After so many years of study, have you been able to find out your true indentity; this 'you' who is seeking the Guru's grace in order to attain enlightenment?
Visitor: Sir, I am sorry to say that you are making me very confused. All I can say in answer to your question is: I don't know.
Maharaj: Ah! now we are getting somewhere—"I don't know." No one has ever spoken words truer than these. Indeed that is the only truth and everything else is false.
Visitor: Sir, I would have thought that you were making fun of me. But the look on your face suggests that you could hardly be more serious.
Maharaj: Now, please try to understand. You have done quite a bit of reading and you should be able
to apprehend what I am saying. Try, and for a moment forget all that you have accumulated by way of knowledge, and grasp with an empty mind what I tell you - remember, an empty mind, empty,
but keen; not just void and inert. Whatever the state is when we did not know anything, that is our true state, that is Reality. In that state, we did not even know our own existence.
Then, spontaneously, came the message or thought, or the knowledge 'I am'.
This knowledge 'I am' started the sense of duality - subject and object, sin and merit and the entire gamut of inter-related opposites. Whatever was before the knowledge 'I am' is truth; whatever is subsequent to the knowledge, or consciousness of 'I am', is false.
Understand this basic fact. I-am-ness, the sense of presence has been given various laudatory names like Maya, Prakriti, Ishwara etc., but nevertheless it is an illusion, pure ignorance.
It is Prakriti that, with the co-operation of conceptual Purusha (both constituting the parenthood principle) creates the world and peoples it with innumerable physical forms.
It is Maya in action that makes consciousness (which gives sentience to the sentient being)
mistakenly believe that it is the particular form itself. Consciousness thus assumes the identity of the particular form, and forgets its true nature. Are you with me so far? Any questions?
Visitor: Sir, I am following you single-mindedly. No questions.
Maharaj: Good. So far in this process, you will have noticed, there is no question of an 'entity'
with independent existence. You are that, which is prior to the arrival of I-am-ness.
What has come upon your true nature is like an illness, or an eclipse for a certain duration, at the end of which the physical form will 'die' and will be buried or cremated and will thereafter mingle with the five elements of which it was made. The life-force of breath will disappear
and mingle with the air outside the body; consciousness will be freed of the limitation of the body
and the three Gunas. In other words, the process will have reached its allotted end.
Now, let us come back to your problem: Who is it that needs the Guru's grace in order to attain 'liberation'? And liberation from which 'bondage'?
Visitor: Maharaj, you have turned the problem around 180 degrees. You have reduced all my labour of forty years to zero and you have nullified my very existence. You have liquidated me! What can I say? The only thing is that in liquidating me you have also liquidated the Guru!
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: Not quite, although that is not a bad reaction.
Now listen further. The trouble is that you look upon yourself as an individual entity with a physical form; and you also look upon the Guru as another individual entity with another form, albeit with something in his head or heart or somewhere, which makes him an 'enlightened' person but nevertheless a 'person' all the same. This is the real mistake.
The Guru however has realized that he is the Ultimate Reality; he sees every being as he sees himself,
i.e. not as a 'person', nor as a mere 'form', or 'thing'. The other mistake is that the seeker, the disciple, as an entity, expects to learn and understand 'something'. But how can a mere conceptual object understand anything? What actually happens is that the understanding, as such, makes the seeker (the Sadhaka) disappear. The individuality of the seeker gradually disappears, but, in the process, the Guru's grace, which is always present like the shining sun, becomes one with consciousness.
The sooner the identification with the body as a separate entity is lost the sooner will the Guru's grace bloom in the consciousness of the disciple. And then he will realize that the Guru is none other than the consciousness within, and it is consciousness which, pleased with the faith and love of the disciple, will act as the Sadguru and unfold all the knowledge that is necessary. However, there cannot be any progress (though 'progress' itself is an erroneous concept) if you continue to regard yourself as an entity and expect the Guru, as another entity, to give you some homework to do, and when that is duly completed, to award you a sort of certificate, or something, on a platter as 'liberation'. This whole concept is misconceived.
You must realize the true significance of the Guru and his grace before the everpresent Guru's grace can smoothly and naturally flow towards you.
The visitor sat dumbfounded for a few moments.
When he could find words, he said: "Sir, you have opened my eyes and made me see the falsity and futility of what I considered to be knowledge and Sadhana. I have no words to express my gratefulness to you." He prostrated before Maharaj and left - an humbler and a wiser man.
~ From the book "Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj"
To the usual query from Maharaj, the visitor from Calcutta gave the relevant information about himself. He said that he had been interested in self-knowledge for the past many years. He had met
almost every well-known saint in the northern India and many others not so well-known (Maharaj smiled when this was translated to him). He added that he had studied all the principal Upanishads, various commentaries on the Gita in English and Bengali by different scholars. He was quite wellversed in the Sanskrit language also and had studied most of the traditional scriptures in the original. He felt that all he needed now was the Guru's grace. He also said that he had read I Am
That and was so deeply impressed with it that he had selected Maharaj as his final Guru and he would not leave Bombay without receiving his grace. Also, that there was a time limit within which
Maharaj must bestow that grace because his leave would expire on a particular date and he had already booked his return ticket for Calcutta on a certain day! By now Maharaj could not restrain a
very broad smile.
Maharaj: I would like to ask you something.
Visitor: Yes sir. (He pushed out his chest and spoke with the confidence of a well-prepared candidate appearing for aviva voce examination.)
Maharaj: You have read many books and met many Jnanis;
so you must have by now found your own true identity. Tell me, what is your true identity as far as you yourself are concerned?
Visitor: Sir, I am an humble seeker seeking enlightenment and have come to you with the confident hope that you will not refuse me your grace.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: You still have quite a few days here, so there is plenty of time for grace, or enlightenment!
Let us first find out who it is that wants enlightenment. Indeed, let us find out whether there is any need at all for enlightenment or freedom, or Moksha, or whatever.
Now let me have your answer to my question:
Have you come to know your own true identity ? Forget for the moment the world and the Guru and God.
Visitor: This is a very awkward question, sir. All I want is grace of the Guru, without which the door will not open to me.
Maharaj: But should we not find out first whether there is at all a closed door barring your entry?
Entry into what? You keep talking of the Guru. What is your idea of a Guru?
You see, unless these basic questions are first answered to your own satisfaction, how can we proceed? Therefore, I repeat: After so many years of study, have you been able to find out your true indentity; this 'you' who is seeking the Guru's grace in order to attain enlightenment?
Visitor: Sir, I am sorry to say that you are making me very confused. All I can say in answer to your question is: I don't know.
Maharaj: Ah! now we are getting somewhere—"I don't know." No one has ever spoken words truer than these. Indeed that is the only truth and everything else is false.
Visitor: Sir, I would have thought that you were making fun of me. But the look on your face suggests that you could hardly be more serious.
Maharaj: Now, please try to understand. You have done quite a bit of reading and you should be able
to apprehend what I am saying. Try, and for a moment forget all that you have accumulated by way of knowledge, and grasp with an empty mind what I tell you - remember, an empty mind, empty,
but keen; not just void and inert. Whatever the state is when we did not know anything, that is our true state, that is Reality. In that state, we did not even know our own existence.
Then, spontaneously, came the message or thought, or the knowledge 'I am'.
This knowledge 'I am' started the sense of duality - subject and object, sin and merit and the entire gamut of inter-related opposites. Whatever was before the knowledge 'I am' is truth; whatever is subsequent to the knowledge, or consciousness of 'I am', is false.
Understand this basic fact. I-am-ness, the sense of presence has been given various laudatory names like Maya, Prakriti, Ishwara etc., but nevertheless it is an illusion, pure ignorance.
It is Prakriti that, with the co-operation of conceptual Purusha (both constituting the parenthood principle) creates the world and peoples it with innumerable physical forms.
It is Maya in action that makes consciousness (which gives sentience to the sentient being)
mistakenly believe that it is the particular form itself. Consciousness thus assumes the identity of the particular form, and forgets its true nature. Are you with me so far? Any questions?
Visitor: Sir, I am following you single-mindedly. No questions.
Maharaj: Good. So far in this process, you will have noticed, there is no question of an 'entity'
with independent existence. You are that, which is prior to the arrival of I-am-ness.
What has come upon your true nature is like an illness, or an eclipse for a certain duration, at the end of which the physical form will 'die' and will be buried or cremated and will thereafter mingle with the five elements of which it was made. The life-force of breath will disappear
and mingle with the air outside the body; consciousness will be freed of the limitation of the body
and the three Gunas. In other words, the process will have reached its allotted end.
Now, let us come back to your problem: Who is it that needs the Guru's grace in order to attain 'liberation'? And liberation from which 'bondage'?
Visitor: Maharaj, you have turned the problem around 180 degrees. You have reduced all my labour of forty years to zero and you have nullified my very existence. You have liquidated me! What can I say? The only thing is that in liquidating me you have also liquidated the Guru!
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: Not quite, although that is not a bad reaction.
Now listen further. The trouble is that you look upon yourself as an individual entity with a physical form; and you also look upon the Guru as another individual entity with another form, albeit with something in his head or heart or somewhere, which makes him an 'enlightened' person but nevertheless a 'person' all the same. This is the real mistake.
The Guru however has realized that he is the Ultimate Reality; he sees every being as he sees himself,
i.e. not as a 'person', nor as a mere 'form', or 'thing'. The other mistake is that the seeker, the disciple, as an entity, expects to learn and understand 'something'. But how can a mere conceptual object understand anything? What actually happens is that the understanding, as such, makes the seeker (the Sadhaka) disappear. The individuality of the seeker gradually disappears, but, in the process, the Guru's grace, which is always present like the shining sun, becomes one with consciousness.
The sooner the identification with the body as a separate entity is lost the sooner will the Guru's grace bloom in the consciousness of the disciple. And then he will realize that the Guru is none other than the consciousness within, and it is consciousness which, pleased with the faith and love of the disciple, will act as the Sadguru and unfold all the knowledge that is necessary. However, there cannot be any progress (though 'progress' itself is an erroneous concept) if you continue to regard yourself as an entity and expect the Guru, as another entity, to give you some homework to do, and when that is duly completed, to award you a sort of certificate, or something, on a platter as 'liberation'. This whole concept is misconceived.
You must realize the true significance of the Guru and his grace before the everpresent Guru's grace can smoothly and naturally flow towards you.
The visitor sat dumbfounded for a few moments.
When he could find words, he said: "Sir, you have opened my eyes and made me see the falsity and futility of what I considered to be knowledge and Sadhana. I have no words to express my gratefulness to you." He prostrated before Maharaj and left - an humbler and a wiser man.
~ From the book "Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj"
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