Great Throughts Treasury

"I want to take you to that ‘I am’ concept which is the last outpost of illusion and get rid of it. Understand the quality of these concepts."

"I was always listening to that sacred recitation (Japa, also know as Ajapajapa - ‘So hum’) which was constantly happening inside me. The primary cause of this Japa is the knowledge that you have of ‘I am’"

"I was taught to give attention to my sense of ‘I am’ and I found it supremely effective. Therefore, I can speak of it with full confidence. But often people come with bodies, brains and minds so mishandled, perverted and weak that the state of formless attention is beyond them. In such cases some simpler token of earnestness (like repeating a ‘mantra’) is appropriate. After all it is the earnestness that is indispensable, the crucial factor. ‘Sadhana’ is only a vessel and it must be filled to be brim with earnestness, which is but love in action. For nothing can be done without love."

"If in the state of witnessing you ask yourself, 'Who am I?', the answer comes at once, though it is wordless and silent."

"If one obtains and relishes the nectar of the Lord’s feet, the ‘charan-amrita’, the mind can be conquered. This is called ‘manojaya’ – victory over the mind. However, only a true devotee, a ‘bhakta’, a god, can obtain the ‘charan-amrita’. But what is its relationship with all beings? It dwells in the core of all beings as the knowledge ‘I am’, the love ‘to be’, the ‘charan-amrita’."

"If petty worldly knowledge has no form, then can the knowledge ‘I am’ or Ishwara state have any form? If you accept this, then accept it and go and don’t go elsewhere, just dwell there. Let any activity happen through your knowledge ‘I am’, which has no form, but is its witness only. The knowledge ‘you are’ has no form, so also for other knowledge. ‘You are’ is the primary knowledge."

"If the seeker is earnest, the light can be given. The light is for all and always there, but the seekers are few, and among those few, those who are ready are very few, and among those few, those who are ready are very rare. Ripeness of heart and mind is indispensable."

"If this is ignorance, then where is my beingness? My beingness is in a town which is no-town, in a place which is no-place. How did this come about? Because of the knowledge ‘I am’, which is ignorance. Maya, which came about suddenly, without my asking. Once having come about, this Maya liked what it had created and it wanted that beingness to last for all time. Maya embraced it with such fierceness, that, at any cost, it wants to prolong the existence of that beingness as long as it can."

"If you are able to establish yourself in the vital breath as you are, you become manifest. The vital breath, when it is conditioned by the body, you call it personality. But as matter the vital breath is spread all over, it is manifest; it is universal. If you establish in the vital breath as ‘I am’, that in itself will get you there. Don’t be dishonest to your vital breath, worship it, and when you do so, it can lead you anywhere, to any heights – this is the quintessence of my talks. In such simplified fashion, nobody has expounded this profound teaching."

"If you could only keep quiet, clear of memories and expectations, you would be able to discern the beautiful pattern of events. It’s your restlessness that causes chaos."

"If you do not have the knowledge ‘I am’ who is going to seek? You must be, only then the search can begin. Remember the knowledge ‘I am’ – that alone pervades everything – be only that and give up the rest."

"If you have regard for me remember my words. The knowledge ‘I am’ is the greatest God, the Guru, be one with that, be intimate with it. That itself will bless you with all the knowledge relevant for you in the proliferation of that knowledge, it will lead you to the state which is eternal."

"If you identify yourself as the body, such an identity must be let go off, sacrificed. Your real identity has no body and no thought. And that self, the spontaneous knowledge ‘I am’ is what you are. Since the self is not the body, the self is neither male nor female. You must fulfill the vow that you are not the body but solely the indwelling principle ‘I am’."

"If you imagine yourself as separate from the world, the world will appear as separate from you and you will experience desire and fear. I do not see the world as separate from me and so there is nothing for me to desire, or fear."

"If you just try to keep quiet, all will come - the work, the strength for work, the right motive. Must you know everything beforehand? Don't be anxious about your future - be quiet now and all will fall into place."

"If you need time to achieve something, it must be false. The real is always with you, you need not wait to be what you are."

"If you really want to help a person, keep away. If you are emotionally committed to helping, you will fail to help....A man is really helped when he is no longer in need of help. All else is just futility."

"If you seek reality you must set yourself free of all backgrounds, of all cultures, of all patterns of thinking and feeling. Even the idea of being man or woman, or even human, should be discarded. The ocean of life contains all, not only humans. So, first of all abandon all self-identification, stop thinking of yourself as such-and-such, so-and-so, this or that. Abandon all self-concern, worry not about your welfare, material or spiritual, abandon every desire, gross or subtle, stop thinking of achievement of any kind. You are complete here and now, you need absolutely nothing. It does not mean that you must be brainless and foolhardy, improvident or indifferent: only the basic anxiety for oneself must go. You need some food, clothing and shelter for you and yours, but this will not create problems as long as greed is not taken for a need. Live in tune with things as they are and not as they are imagined."

"If you sit here quietly, being one with the knowledge ‘I am’, then you are not concerned with the world or what goes on in the world. It is only when the consciousness starts operating and there are various movements in the consciousness that the behavior in the world takes place. When I am not conscious of the existence of the body, experiences are not registered."

"If you understand the basis thoroughly, it will lead you very far, deep into spirituality."

"If you want to remember this visit, if you have love for me, remember this ‘I am’ principle and without the command or direction of this principle, do nothing."

"Immortality is freedom from the feeling: ‘I am’. Yet it is not extinction. On the contrary, it is a state infinitely more real, aware and happy than you can possibly think of. Only self-consciousness is no more. Who would remain even to say ‘I am the witness’? When there is no ‘I am’, where is the witness? In the timeless state there no self to take refuge in."

"In deep sleep, consciousness was in a dormant condition, there were no bodies, no concepts, and no encumbrances. Upon the arrival of this apparently wakeful state, with the arrival of the concept ‘I am’, the love of ‘I am’ woke up. That itself is ‘Maya’, illusion."

"In dream you love some and not others. On waking up you find you are love itself, embracing all. Personal love, however intense and genuine, invariably binds; love in freedom is love of all....When you are love itself, you are beyond time and numbers. In loving one you love all, in loving all, you love each. One and all are not exclusive."

"In life nothing can be had without overcoming obstacles. The obstacles to the clear perception of one's true being are desire for pleasure and the fear of pain. It is the pleasure-pain motivation that stands in the way."

"In love there is not the one even, how can there be two? Love is the refusal to separate, to make distinctions. Before you can think of unity, you must first create duality. When you truly love, you do not say: 'I love you; where there is mentation, there is duality."

"In my original true state I have no form and no thoughts. I didn’t know I was, but suddenly another state appeared in which I had a form and thought, ‘I am’. How did this appear? The one who explains how these appearances have come about is the Sat-Guru."

"In my view, everything happens by itself, quite spontaneously. But humans think they would work for a win, towards a purpose."

"In my world nobody is born and nobody dies. Some people go on a journey and come back, some never leave. What difference does it make since they travel in dreamlands, each wrapped up in his own dream. Only the waking up is important. It is enough to know the 'I am' as reality and also love."

"In my world the seeds of suffering, desire and fear are not sown and suffering does not grow."

"In one [person] you desire and fear, in the other [witness] you are unaffected by pleasure and pain and are not ruffled by events. You let them come and go."

"In order to not mistakenly hold on to something as ‘I am’ don’t say I am this, I am that; just hold on to yourself, you are, just be. Just be ‘you are’. Do you follow?"

"In peace and silence the skin of the 'I' dissolves and the inner and the outer become one. The real spiritual practice is effortless."

"In people with devotion, even with limited intellect, the intellect is not making mischief, as it is here. This is the place where the intellect gets annihilated."

"In reality only the Ultimate is. The rest is a matter of name and form. And as long as you cling to the idea that only what has name and shape exists, the Supreme will appear to you non-existing. When you understand that names and shapes are hollow shells without any content whatsoever, and what is real is nameless and formless, pure energy of life and light of consciousness, you will be at peace -- immersed in the deep silence of reality."

"In reality there are no others, and by helping yourself you help everybody else."

"In reality you were never born and never shall die... In fact, there is no body, nor a world to contain it; there is only a mental condition, a dream-like state, easy to dispel by questioning its reality."

"In that ‘Parabrahman’, which unconditioned, without attributes, without identity – the identity comes only when there is the knowledge ‘I am’ – so if that itself is not there, who is there to ask? This is to be understood not by ‘someone’ (with a body-mind identity), but it must be experienced, and in such a manner that the experiencer and experience are one."

"In that body the ‘I am’ is ticking – that is the Guru. You worship that ‘I am’ principle and surrender to that Guru and that Guru will give all the grace. What you call ‘I am’ and birth, you are not that, it is material. The Ultimate knowledge does not have any knowledge. This knowledge ‘I am’ has appeared spontaneously, as a result of the body. See it as it is, understand it as it is."

"In that non-subjective state, the subject started. In the infinite state, the ‘I am’ state is temporary; don’t give up your true standpoint otherwise you will be fooled. To whatever extent you would conduct your search, it would still be in the realm of ‘I amness’. Don’t retain it (‘I am’) in memory, then you will be happy."

"In the absence of beingness, when you did not know about your existence? Nothing was of any value to you. This memory ‘I am’ is neither true nor false; it is without these two attributes. That memory of beingness only appears to exist."

"In the body the indwelling principle is the consciousness. Abiding in the consciousness, it became all manifestation. Now transcendence of the consciousness has also occurred. With the appearance of consciousness, the Absolute knows it is, ‘I am’. This is the experience. There are other experiences now, in this time factor, but experiences are gradually dropping off, including this primary experience ‘I am’. It is only the consciousness that is going to disappear; the Absolute is always there."

"In the body there is already that self-accomplished principle ‘I am’ which is witnessing mind and body, it is neither mind, body nor the vital breath. It has to be gradually realized that this principle has no form; it is subtler than the mind. By mistake the ‘I am’ accepts the body as itself, it is an exclusive principle apart from the body, mind and vital breath."

"In the case of a devotee (‘Bhakta’), initially the devotee does not want to leave God. Later on, even if the devotee asks God to go, God will not leave him. God means the knowledge ‘I am’. The knowledge ‘I am’ is God (‘Bhagwan’)."

"In the first few years the primary concept ‘I am’ was there, but in a dormant condition. Later on it started knowing itself. The ‘jnani’ state is like the child, when the child did not know itself. The apparatus through which that knowingness expresses itself is now quite different, but the principle is the same."

"In the immensity of consciousness a light appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like a pen writing on paper. And the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are that tiny point and by your movement the world is ever re-created. Stop moving and there will be no world. Look within and you will find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body as the sense ‘I am’. There is only light all else appears."

"In the light of calm and steady self-awareness inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part."

"In the light of consciousness all sorts of things happen and one need not give special importance to any. The sight of a flower is as marvelous as the vision of God. Let them be. Why remember them and then make memory into a problem? Be bland about them; do not divide them into high and low, inner and outer, lasting and transient. Go beyond, go back to the source, go to the self that is the same whatever happens. Your weakness is due to your conviction that you were born into the world. In reality the world is ever recreated in you and by you. See everything as emanating from the light which is the source of your own being."

"In the traditional view Brahman is supposed to have created the world, Vishnu to maintain it and Shiva to destroy it. Is not this Brahman who creates the world the same as the Brahma-randhra out of which the sense of ‘I am’ comes? Who is this Brahman other than the ‘I amness’."

"In the very beginning I was giving some attention and time to the sense 'I am', but only in the beginning."