Consciousness and the Absolute: The Final Talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Do not let size of this tiny 114 page fool you! It is a Powerhouse of Truth. Although Maharaj continued teaching until the time he made made his Mahasamadhi and dropping the body, these are his last recorded teachings in book form and edited by his devoted disciple, Jean Dunn.From May 1, 1980 to June 30,1981, Sri Nisargadatta gave some of his most potent teachings driving the point home we are the Absolute, not the I Am Consciousness nor the "food body" as he referred to the mindbody apparatus. These teachings were meant for those students that had done their "homework".He no longer had any patience for casual seekers. Had I not read and absorbed his masterpiece, "I AM THAT" and in turn been absorbed by THAT, I do not feel this book would have had the impact it did. The Truth in this small book can tear apart any concept you may have ever entertained about "reality" or yourself. In the absence of concepts and body identification what is left? The importance of becoming fully stablized in one's I AM Consciousness or "I AM-ness" can not be overstated. It must be fully absorbed through deep abidance before it can be transcended and the Ultimate Reality, the Absolute, be fully known free of identification with either the mindbody organism or the I AM awareness arising out of the "food body". At this point subject and object fully merge into One and there remains simply radical Subjectivity. No self, No mind, No thing. Consciousness without an object beyond the beyond. This is the Essence of Maharaj's teaching. As a pointer to that Supreme Reality beyond words, beyond thoughts, beyond Form, it is unsurpassed. Truly a Transmission of Maharaj's Grace and Awakened Mind! OM Namah Shivaya!

If the choice will be given to me, to give up all books except one, Consciousness and the Absolute will be choosen without eyewink. I love Sri Nisargadatta's astounding simplicity and straightness. Thanks to Jean Dunn for this and another books (Prior to Consciousness & Seeds of Consciousness), for Her love. In books edited by Mrs Dunn you will find Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's final talks as She directly & without alterations transcribed it from tapes to manuscript.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is one of those rarest of individuals who had truly undergone a radical transformation, and everybody knew it. He was a poor shopkeeper in India, who listened to the words of a guru, and utterly trusted and believed in his words. In the course of three years it transformed him and he became "realized". With little education, and no self promotion, people from around the world began to seek him out, because of the profound presence they felt around him. His realization was that we are not the body, nor the brain, nor memories, or emotions, but pure consciousness/beingness - the "I Am" with nothing added. That this was our true state and everything else we "struggle" with, such as our "problems" are just a dreamlike play acted out in consciousness and not reality. In this, his last book (to get a really good background understanding, read the classic Nisargadatta book "I Am That" listed above) Maharaj hammers away at the need to let go of our attachment to our "food bodies" as ourselves. He demonstrates again and again that we are more than the food we have consumed throughout our lives and the mental concepts we have collected along the way. He challenges listeners to think it through to the beginning and realize we have always been, and that we appeared in consciousness only because of our body. That in fact, we have no beginning and no end. That we are beyond our bodies, beyond consciousness and that our true place belongs in "the Absolute". This is very advanced teachings he shared with his closest followers near the time of his death from throat cancer. So he went straight to the core of his teachings- no time to mince words. This would not be a good text for someone just wanting to seek peace and harmony. That would be "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. This are very straight forward, knock-you-upside-the-head talks about cutting through the mental clutter we believe about ourselves and getting to the reality of who we are. I read this with an open mind and it will still take a good while for this to fully sink in- if ever. They say getting from the head to the heart is the longest distance in the universe. I'm totally convinced he got it. I'm not so sure others can follow to the degree he attained. At least the vast majority. It's a good read if you are up to the challenge of unvarnished truth from a modern master. Read it and trust the seeds will eventually spring up.

A great book into understanding your True Nature as the Unborn. Nisargadatta Maharaj takes us step by step, through the discourses and questions and answers given in this book, to dismanteling the false self that we think we are. He teaches us to thoroughly understand and dwell in consciousness (I am-ness or beingness)until we can apperceive that we are not the body. He very masterfully teaches us what conclusion we come to when we dis-identify from the body/mind and just come back to our I-am-ness. The pure, unconditioned I am-ness that awakens us to Universal Consciousness and reveals to us how we are the very Absolute Reality. These are very profound teachings for those seekers that are interested in knowing the Self. There are is no flowery language here, or fancy complicated spiritual practices recommended. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was more of a direct type of teacher that preferred to keep the focus on directing you to your true nature as the Absolute Reality over poetic or flowery language, so you wont find much of that here. Just a very intense and uncompromising teacher that keeps pointing seekers back to their true nature. Nisargadatta Maharaj teachings are among the most direct teachings in print. Maharaj's teaching are in the style of confronting and dismanteling all the concepts we carry around. He didn't just want to talk of bliss and joy and give seekers a stereotypical image enlightenment or some other concept to get lost in. Instead he wanted you to continue to dig and dig until you come to the Truth. Not just walk around with more concepts of how you should be able to go into blissed out states after meditations etc. because we are still a body/mind ego in a transitory state identified with the body. Instead Nisargadatta Maharaj wants you to understand the Ultimate Truth and then wake up to that reality without any gimmicks and concepts. Once that can be deeply apperceived true Self-Knowledge can occur.

I started off zipping through this book. While I was covering many pages fast, and feeding my ego as to how wonderfully fast I can read, I wasn't getting it. I soon got tired of this book and put it away. A week or two later, I put it in the bathroom, and while I did my business in there, started to read it in small doses (one page, two at most). That is when I began to realize how wonderful this book is. So, since then, I've moved it back to my bed stand, and now just enjoy the conversations, line by line often times. Rereading some parts 3 or 4 times, to remind myself. It's no magic bullet to read this, or any book, or to DO anything for that matter. So, I read it, as a nice adjunct to my playing life.