Biography
Nisargadatta Maharaj was an Indian spiritual teacher who lived and taught in the bustling city of Mumbai. A simple shopkeeper who sold bidis (Indian cigarettes), he received initiation from his guru Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj and attained realization within three years of dedicated practice.
Unlike many teachers who withdrew from worldly life, Nisargadatta continued running his small shop while receiving seekers in his modest apartment. His teachings were recorded in the book "I Am That," which has become one of the most influential spiritual texts of the modern era, introducing countless Western seekers to non-dual wisdom.
His teaching style was direct and uncompromising, often challenging students' assumptions and pointing relentlessly to that which exists prior to consciousness itself. He emphasized the importance of staying with the sense "I Am" as the gateway to recognizing one's true nature beyond all states and experiences.
Teaching and methods
Abidance in "I Am": Nisargadatta taught seekers to hold onto the pure sense of being—the feeling "I Am" before it becomes "I am this" or "I am that." Through sustained attention to this primal sense of existence, one eventually recognizes what lies beyond even this sense. He emphasized understanding over practice, urging students to investigate their assumptions about reality and identity until the truth becomes self-evident.
Selected quotes
“ All your identities at the body-mind level have been changing continuously, and none of them has been constant and faithful to you. Why then are you attracted to any of these identities by stating 'I am like this' or 'I am like that?' ”
“ When the mind is kept away from its preoccupations, it becomes quiet. If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; and yet you recognise it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision; but it is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained; until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present. ”
“ Once you have grasped the truth that the world is full of suffering, that to be born is a calamity, you will find the urge and the energy to go beyond. Pleasure puts you to sleep and pain wakes you up. If you do not want to suffer, don't go to sleep. You cannot know yourself through bliss alone, for bliss is your very nature. You must face the opposite, what you are not, to find enlightenment. ”