I am
without location,
placeless,
beyond space and time,
beyond the world,
beyond words and thoughts,
I am
(Nisargadatta Maharaj)
Named Maruti Shivrampant Kambliwas at birth, Nisargadatta was a spiritual teacher who followed school of non-duality or advaita vedanta. Maharaj was famous and admired for his direct and informal teachings to people of various backgrounds. His most famous book is the spiritual classic “I Am That“.
Nisargadatta claims that our true nature is perpetually free peaceful awareness. Awareness is the source of, but different from, the personal, individual consciousness, which is related to the body. The mind and memory are responsible for association with a particular body; awareness exists prior to both mind and memory. It is only the idea that we are the body that keeps us from living what he calls our “original essence”, the True Self.
Nisargadata Maharaj describes this essence as pure, free, and unaffected by anything that occurs. He likens it to a silent witness that watches through the body’s senses, yet is not moved, either to happiness or sadness, based on what it sees.
