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Nisargadatta Meditation (2) ________________________
" I Am That" - Talks with Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj - Translated by Maurice Frydman - The Acorn Press - page 412
Meditation
is a deliberate attempt to pierce into the higher states of
consciousness and finally go beyond it. The art of meditation is the art
of shifting the focus of attention to ever subtler levels, without
losing one's grip on the levels left behind. In a way it is like having
death under control. One begins with the lowest levels: social
circumstances, customs and habits; physical surroundings, the posture
and the breathing of the body, the senses, their sensations and
perceptions; the mind, its thoughts and feelings; until the entire
mechanism of personality is grasped and firmly held. The final stage of
meditation is reached when the sense of identity goes beyond the
'I-am-so-and-so', beyond 'so-l-am', beyond 'I-am-the-witness-only',
beyond 'there-is', beyond all ideas into the impersonally personal pure
being. But you must be energetic when you take to meditation. It is
definitely not a part-time occupation. Limit your interests and
activities to what is needed for you and your dependents' barest needs.
Save all your energies and time for breaking the wall your mind had
built around you. Believe me, you will not regret.
At the end of your
meditation all is known directly, no proofs whatsoever are required.
Just as every drop of the ocean carries the taste of the ocean, so does
every moment carry the taste of eternity. Definitions and descriptions
have their place as useful incentives for further search, but you must
go beyond them into what is indefinable and indescribable, except in
negative terms. After all, even universality and eternity are mere
concepts, the opposites of being place and time-bound. Reality is not a
concept, nor the manifestation of a concept. It has nothing to do with
concepts. Concern yourself with your mind, remove its distortions and
impurities. Once you had the taste of your own self, you will find it
everywhere and at all times. Therefore, it is so important that you
should come to it. Once you know it, you will never lose it. But you
must give yourself the opportunity through intensive, even arduous
meditation.
