Great Throughts Treasury

"That state in which you were before you acquired this knowledge ‘I am’ is the real state. Only after you got this knowledge you identified with the body-mind. Whatever you have acquired, including the body-mind, that will go, and it is useless, and that is that. But your original state, before you acquired the body, is the Truth, is the Real state, and it will remain."

"That state of being is common to all, which is the message ‘I am’ without words. Change is only in the mind-flow. All the studies you are doing are in the realm of mind-flow. The sense of ‘I am’ is present because of your birth, through which you encounter many thoughts and concepts, always changing. Presently the message ‘I am’ is constant."

"That ultimate state is known as ‘vishranti’, which means total rest, complete relaxation, utter quietude etc. The other meaning, by splitting the word, would be, ‘vishara (visra)-anti’ – forget yourself in the end. That means in the ultimate state, ‘you-areness’ is totally forgotten. Whether ‘I am’ or ‘I am not’ both are forgotten. This is the highest type of rest – ‘parama-vishranti’."

"That which does not exist cannot have a cause. There is no such thing as a separate person....How does the personality come into being? By memory. By identifying the present with the past and projecting it into the future. Think of yourself as momentary, without past and future and your personality dissolves."

"That which makes you think you are human is not human. It is but a dimensionless point of consciousness, a conscious nothing; all you can say about yourself is: 'I am'. You are pure being, awareness, bliss. To realize that is the end of all seeking. You come to it when you see all you think yourself to be as mere imagination and stand aloof in pure awareness of the transient as transient, imaginary as imaginary, unreal as unreal."

"That which you like most – is the ‘I am’, the conscious presence – but that is not going to last forever. When the body drops off and the consciousness is extinguished, you need to do nothing. With this understanding do what you like in the world."

"That you exist (as a personality, the feeling or consciousness of ‘I am’) is an illusion, therefore whatever is seen through this illusion cannot be real. All of what I am saying – this whole discussion is illusion, beyond that you must proceed yourself."

"The ‘I am’ and the Absolute are not two. In the Absolute the ‘I amness’ comes and then the experience takes place. Whatever is happening, from the Absolute standpoint, without the knowledge ‘I am’, is very profound, unlimited, and expansive"

"The ‘I am’ connotes the three states, waking, dream and deep sleep. ‘I am’ means that you are these three states, when these are gone the memory is also gone."

"The ‘I am’ consciousness in its pristine purity is the Guru or God – Once you have respect for this, it will reveal all the necessary knowledge to you and you will then understand that You are beyond this ‘I’ consciousness."

"The ‘I am’ consciousness is the advertisement of The Absolute. The Absolute is unknown, what you call Ishwara, Brahma and so forth are hoardings of The Absolute."

"The ‘I am’ in a child is dormant, it does not know itself, but it is there, in due course it knows itself and as a one knows ‘I am’. Go to the root, the beginning of the child, when you understand that you are not consciousness, stabilize there; understand and get out."

"The ‘I am’ in body form can reach the highest state, if you accept it and dwell there you escape birth and death. Just be in that principle, there are no disciplines for this. If you do penance it is because you have sinned in previous births, but if you really come across a sage he shows you your true nature."

"The ‘I am’ is a thought, while awareness is not a thought; there is no ‘I am aware’ in awareness. Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not, one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness. God is the totality of consciousness, but awareness is beyond all – being as well as non-being."

"The ‘I am’ is a useful pointer; it shows where to seek, but not what to seek. Just have a good look at it. Once you are convinced that you cannot say truthfully about yourself anything except ‘I am’, and that nothing can be pointed at, can be your self, the need for the ‘I am’ is over- you are no longer intent on verbalizing what you are. All definitions apply to your body only and to its expressions. Once this obsession with the body goes, you will revert to your natural state. We discover the natural state by being earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery."

"The ‘I am’ is absent only in the state of ‘samadhi’, when the self merges in the Self. Otherwise it will be there. In the state of a realized person the ‘I am’ is there, he just doesn’t give much importance to it. A ‘jnani’ is not guided by a concept."

"The ‘I am’ is all, the God, just know that the ‘I am’ is God, this is the first step, the knowledge ‘I am’ is yourself. All other activities will follow; you just get established in the knowledge. ‘I am’, it is the sun, and all other activities are rays"

"The ‘I am’ is at the root of all appearance and the permanent link in the succession of events that we call life; but I am beyond the ‘I am’."

"The ‘I am’ is in a dormant condition in the womb, it is an ignorant condition. How could it know itself? At three years or so the knowledge ‘I am’ comes spontaneously with the formation of body. Around middle age it is at a climax, while in old age the quality of ‘I amness’ is diminished. Then finally the ‘I am’ disappears, and identity too is gone."

"The ‘I am’ is objective, it is the ‘I am’ that investigates and it is the ‘I am’ that disposes itself off and stabilizes in Eternity. The body is made up of elements; the quintessence or quality (guna) is the ‘I am’. You replenish the food-body or ‘I amness’ with water and food."

"The ‘I am’ is sustained by the food body, that is, our body, which is the food for the ‘I am’. Every creature depends on its food and the ‘I am’ depends upon our body. Will you remember this?"

"The ‘I am’ is the center or the essence of the food body, which is a result of the five elements. Out of spacial activity there is water, vegetation and so forth, so ‘I amness’ is a culmination of the five elemental activity. This ‘I amness’, whenever enjoyed beyond the body is your destiny. When you dwell in destiny as ‘I am’, you realize that it is not your death, but the disappearance of ‘I amness.’ You just dwell in it, and itself it will tell you its own story."

"The ‘I am’ is the only God to be pleased. Whatever you presently know about God is only bargaining. Your very existence or beingness is the proof that God exists. If I am not, God is not. God’s existence is due to the consciousness, the ‘I am’, please it and it will lead you to its source."

"The ‘I am’ is the purest form of attribute (it can be even said to have no attributes). When even this pure attribute goes it is ‘Parabrahman’, ‘Brahman’ (God or ‘I am’) means that ‘the news’ has arrived. When this ‘news’ has gone, it is ‘Parabrahman’. That you exist is the primary knowledge."

"The ‘I am’ is the sum total of everything you perceive. It appears spontaneously and disappears, it has no dwelling place. It is like a dream world. Do not try to be something, even a spiritual person. You are the manifested. The tree is already there in the seed. Such is the ‘I am’. Just see it as it is."

"The ‘I am’ is there throughout his or her life even if a person lives for a hundred years, but the ‘I am’ disappears when the body is gone. This is called death."

"The ‘I am’ means all this spectacle that you are seeing, later, you also see that number of universes are playing in that ‘I am’. When you understand all this verbally, you may become a pseudo-Guru, which is not realization. You must realize that you only observe, and you are not that, you are not that ‘I am’ in which universes are playing."

"The ‘I am’ state has great potency, and from this the manifestation of the universe has taken place. After the ‘I am’ merges in the Pure Awareness, the entire universe vanishes as though it had never existed. The first step is to go to this ‘I am’ state, remain there and then merge and go beyond. Try to sustain this ‘I am’ state, stay unconcerned by thoughts of both good and bad."

"The ‘I amness’ is pulsating ‘I am, I am’. The feeling of ‘I amness’ is there because of the essence of the food body and vital breath, when these are gone the pulsation of ‘I amness’ will not be there. Beingness goes into no-beingness."

"The ‘I amness’ together with the vital breath appear spontaneously when the body is created. The vital breath and food body are necessary to sustain the ‘I amness’. When the food body is dropped by the vital breath the ‘I amness’ disappears. Where does the flame go when it is extinguished? The same thing applies to the ‘I amness’."

"The ‘Linga-deha’ is the seed, the chemical, the product of the five elemental essences which give rise to and sustain the consciousness ‘I am’. Just like the seed of a tree, that seed latently contains all future manifestations and expressions of the tree that will sprout out of the seed. You take a fountain pen and on the paper you put a drop of ink, so that drop is the ‘Linga-deha’. That drop is the moment of conception; its expression is the thought-free state, like space, in the knowingness state. That ‘Linga-deha’, that little drop, and the knowledge ‘I am’ is the same."

"The ‘Maya’ is so powerful that it gets you completely wrapped up in it. ‘Maya’ means ‘I am’, ‘I love to be’, It has no identity except love. That knowledge of ‘I am’ is the greatest foe and the greatest friend. Although it might be your greatest enemy, if you propitiate it properly, it will turn around and lead you to the highest state."

"The ‘mumukshu, is in kindergarten, spiritually inclined, but identifying with the body-mind. The ‘sadhaka’ is one who has dis-identified with the body-mind. A ‘siddha’ is one who has stabilized in the knowledge ‘I am’, and in the process, has transcended it. In this journey you very well know where you are."

"The ‘sadhana’, the discipline, is only this: The knowledge which is dwelling in this body, the quintessence of these three ‘gunas’ – the knowledge ‘I am’, ‘I am that’ – this is the initial step. You must be one with it; you must abide in that only. You have to think ‘I am not the body but I am that formless, nameless knowledge indwelling in this body’; that (is) ‘I am’. When you abide sufficiently long in this state, whatever doubts you may have, that knowledge ‘I am’ itself will sprout out with life and meaning for you, intended for you only, and everything will become clear. No external knowledge will be necessary."

"The ‘So Hum’ Japa is incessantly going on in your pulse, indicating ‘I am’ get in tune with it by recitation. That ‘So Hum’ energy without words is the raw material of incarnations and the incarnations are the hoardings of the primary principle. The primordial principle is ‘Parabrahman’; its advertisement is done by movement, the stirrings of ‘So Hum’. By its movement it is praising the primordial principle, that advertising material is the ‘Moolmaya’ (Primary Illusion). That incarnating principle – the ‘Moolmaya’– gives knowledge to the incarnated."

"The Absolute alone prevails. There is nothing but the Absolute. The un-manifest manifested itself, that manifest state is Guru and it is universal."

"The Absolute is watching this ‘I amness’ that is sustained by the food body. Is it clear? After some time passes in the waking state, rest is required, so the ‘I amness’ goes into oblivion. It goes to rest and forgets itself. You may not comprehend exactly what it means now, but as you get established in the Beingness you will understand how."

"The Absolute state does not know itself, but the Absolute is offered and opportunity to understand itself through the food product, the ‘I am’. The very core of all atoms is permeated by that knowledge ‘I am’. Embrace all the atoms of the universe with the feeling that all of them have come inside us in the form of the knowledge ‘I am’."

"The active part is called Maya, and is due to the mind. The inactive part is called ‘I amness’ or Purusha, which is just watching. Only when you identify with that which is stationary, the Purusha, can you become the watcher of the ‘I amness’ and all of its activities."

"The aim is to awaken yourself to the faith in the self, ‘I am’. That is the entire purpose. So whatever is inductive to that development, you may accept. Suppose you have faith in a living guru, then, accept a living guru. If you have faith in a guru who has left his body, accept that guru."

"The appearance of the primary concept ‘I am’ is the beginning of duality. I started counting with myself, before this counting starts. That has no number. That is the Absolute. With that little movement ‘I am’ this counting started."

"The Atman has no birth, this touch of ‘I am’ is a hoarding of the Absolute, and only the advertisement disappears. The ‘I am’ is an illusion, temporary; the one who knows this knows the eternal principle. Whatever experiences you enjoy are an imperfect state. You involve yourself in practices, because the mind does not let you be quiet."

"The atomic consciousness contains the whole Universe, but yet he (the ‘jnani’) knows that he is not that consciousness. So in that case what pride can he have? He is the Absolute state, in which the ‘I am’ consciousness is absent. If you meet any ‘jnanis, you will find it easy to recognize them, for they will not have any pride in their Self-knowledge, since they have transcended that knowledge also. They say ‘I am not this knowledge or this consciousness’."

"The Awareness of Pure Existence got the feeling ‘I am’, and from this seed this entire world or universe was born."

"The beginning and the end of this understanding is the knowledge ‘I am’. The beginning of concepts started with the primary concept ‘I am’. Having wandered through all the concepts, and rejected them, you have to get rid of this last or the first concept."

"The beingness, the ‘I am’, is merely an instrument, it is not you. It is an instrument of knowledge, and that great instrument of knowledge is called God, which is the quality of the food essence. Out of that alone you will be able to see everything else."

"The best is the simple feeling ‘I am’. Dwell on it patiently. Here patience is wisdom; don’t think of failure. There can be no failure in this undertaking."

"The Bhagavad-Gita says that we have five senses of knowledge; these are very subtle. More subtle than the senses is the mind, subtler than the mind is the intelligence, and subtler than these is the vital breath. And yet more subtle is ‘He’, the beingness, the ‘I am’."

"The body dies. This means what? It means only the thought ‘I am’, that concept, has disappeared. Nothing has happened to the knower of the whole happening. So long as the basic concept ‘I am’ is there, the conceptual element cannot disappear. It is the concept itself that has given various names to itself, but it is still the same concept. Before this concept of ‘I am’ came on you, were you happy or unhappy? Was there even any feeling of happiness or unhappiness or any of the dualities? In the absence of the basic concept ‘I am’, there is no thought, no awareness, and no consciousness of one’s existence."

"The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering."