I Am That

I have read this book more than a dozen times (when I reach the last word, I start again at the beginning) and I learn something new and valuable every time I go through it.To paraphrase Maharaj, "true freedom is escaping the self-made prison of false ideas" and it must be dismantled stone by stone.The most pernicious error is thinking you are the body with a mind living in an inimical external world. This false identification is the source of all our pain and suffering. The only remedy is to recognize the false as false.My paperback copy is getting worn so I purchased the Kindle format version, which I just finished reading. On we go!

If you are even remotely interested in the Hindu path of nondualism (Advaita Vedanta), I cannot recommend it enough. It will not be easy: it is a fairly long compendium of conversation between seekers and the master which can sometimes seem repetitive. But to understand is to achieve liberation. It is the most important book I have thus far read.Quite simply, you are not that, which you believe yourself to be. That person is nothing but threads of memories and habits, vague, constantly changing, prisoner to fear and desire, born to suffer and to die. But you are not that. What you are is beyond words, though Maharaj does try a few: pure awareness, limitless being, the ultimate potentiality, the inexhaustible source, love, harmony, peace, bliss, all-pervading and all-containing, unapproachable, unassailable, invulnerable, the Supreme, etc. Just remember “I am,” and watch yourself constantly. The “I am” is the bridge between the person and the Supreme. “When you stand motionless, only watching, you discover yourself as the light behind the watcher.” “The “I am” is the door. Stay at it until it opens.”Surrender is part of it too: “To be free in the world, you must die to the world. Empty yourself completely. The finite is the price of the infinite, as death is the price of immortality.” “The giving up is the first step. But the real giving up is in realizing that there is nothing to give up, for nothing is your own.” “Stay without ambition, without the least desire - exposed, vulnerable, unprotected, uncertain and alone, completely open to and welcoming life as it happens, without the selfish conviction that all must yield you pleasure or profit, material or so-called spiritual. Abandon every attempt, just be; don’t strive, don’t struggle; let go of every support, hold on to the blind sense of being, brushing off all else.”With understanding comes liberation. “The person merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness into pure being, yet identity is not lost, only its limitations are lost. It is transfigured and becomes the real Self, the sadguru, the eternal friend and guide.” “When the world does not hold and bind you, it becomes an abode of joy and beauty.” “Life becomes what it was meant to be … pure intensity, inexhaustible energy, the ecstasy of giving from a perennial source.”Nisargadatta Maharaj was born as Maruti Shivrampant Kambli in Bombay (now Mumbai), in 1897. He was a simple man, a householder and petty storekeeper, when he was introduced to a guru of the Navnath Sampradaya at the age of 36. He followed his guru’s instruction to “focus the mind on pure being, “I am,” and stay in it.” Just two years later, his guru died. Maharaj left his family and business to pilgrimage across India to the Himalayas where he intended to spend the rest of his life pursuing eternal life. But along the way, he realized he already had it. “The peace and joy and deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared - myself, my guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained, and unfathomable silence.” Maharaj returned to his family and his business. When he was 54, he began accepting visitors and initiates into his humble home to answer spiritual questions. By all accounts, he was an extremely warm-hearted and compassionate man, a truth which comes through clearly in this book. He eventually attracted seekers from all around the globe, and he continued to offer discourses twice daily until his death from throat cancer in 1981, at the age of 84.

I love this book. I was fortunate to come across it at such a young age, I'm only 21 but have read through the conversations in "I Am That" many times on PDF files available here and there on the web for about two years before I now decided to buy this book. Many thanks to Amazon for sending a great book in great condition to Sweden from the US in such a short timespan. I had to pay an extra amount for getting the book in only three days but to me it felt like it was worth it!Nisargadatta encourages us in the conversations in this book to look at what IS and identify with the motionless bakground of everything that happens, he is telling us to just BE. Though suspicious words like "universal consciousness" might be mentioned in a way that might suggest that Nisargadatta lives off on certain metaphysical presuppositions... Might be more correct to see them as "pointers" to what it "feels" like to just BE. Anyway, there is no need of adopting any system of thought here as if following a book of rules, it's more of a discardment of concepts, concepts derived from an attachment to the unreal (which is the ego). Everyone strives for harmony but ignorance on what IS makes people do wrong. Evil is simply a symptom of ignorance. But ignorance is not to be hated on, it is simply a part of this spontaneous dance of actions where the innocent desire for harmony is the cause of everything. Everything acts in love towards itself.This is an afterconstruction though, there is no real cause of anything but here I look at it from the superficial point of view closest to the truth that can't be defined in words. So this concept of "love" is compared to many other concepts I think built on an axiom of truth. That truth is built on being itself, or we can call it "awareness". When awareness shines bright without mental entanglements comes the realisation that there is absolutely nothing in life worth taking personally, because there are no people, only one complex dance of reactions where the strive for harmony or unity (love) makes systems without the right knowledge create unnecessary suffering for themselves.Why this is is a pointless question. It is enough to see that there is actually nothing wrong with the state of the world, life is love and love is life. Seeing things as they are is to in the point of view of the human being (that which I am not) the realisation of that evil is simply ignorance, an ignorance ironically coming from the innocent desire of love.In the world of concepts, there are certain concepts that are more bound to work than others and this is one of them because it seems to be closer to the truth than many other popular notions of good and evil. Concepts that are closer to the truth are more constructive and therefor also worth "adopting". In this case though, there is no question of "adopting" anything, not from an absolute (awareness or "real self") perspective at least. This type of concept (though worded differently depending on individual) is what the human mind spontaneously translates from the definitionless truth that resides in being.This is really hard for me to explain without sounding like a contradictionary fool :( The truth is very simple though when seeing it for what it is. You are being itself and nothing else needs to be known from the first experiential point of view, the rest will happen by itself.I would recommend philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris books named "Free Will" and "Waking Up - A guide to spirituality without religion" as a secular view on this phenomena of enlightenment and what paying attention to the present moment really can reveal about reality. This might be (for some) a good compliment to "I Am That".

I bought this as a used copy and when it came it looked brand new never read no markings on it and it is a timeless book full of wonderful wisdom and insight to living a life of peace and a quiet mind

This book can be read over and over and you will gain greater insight with every read! We are all truly “One!” Read and believe the truth, “I Am.”