Nisargadatta

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Nisargadatta Maharaj

"There is only one mistake you are making: you take the inner for the outer and the outer for the inner. What is in you, you take to be outside you and what is outside, you take to be in you. The mind and feelings are external, but you take them to be intimate. You believe the world to be objective, while it is entirely a projection of your psyche." - Nisargadatta, I Am That, Ch. 51

Nisargadatta Maharaj: wikipedia; Last Days of Nisargadatta Maharaj; About Nisargadatta - Accounts From Students of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj^; 10th Lane Khetwadi Mumbai, 7/30/11; Monuments of Nisargadatta Maharaj; I Am Unborn^; On Meditation; On Teaching; video on bottom of page; Awaken to the Eternal; I Am Meditation^; Song of I Am; Song of Beyond I Am; Core of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's Teaching^; Experience of Nothingness^; Life & Teachings; Discovering Nisargadatta Maharaj; Nisargadatta Maharaj; Nisargadatta Maharaj lived here; Nisargadatta Maharaj and Bhagawan Nityananda, 4/15/7; Talk with Nisargadatta Maharaj, 4/15/7; Abide in Self, 7/24/9; Arriving to the Area, 8/1/9; Inside his House, 8/1/9; Some Last Words, 8/1/9; Lost Satsang, 4/5/10; Experiential Meditation, 4/12/10; I Am only the Self, Pt.1, 4/23/10; I Am only the Self, Pt.2, 4/23/10; I Am only the Self, Pt.3, 4/23/10; Awaken to the Eternal 6, 7/7/10; Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 9/30/10; Legacy of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 7/3/11

I Am That: I Am That^; Indian cover; Message, Quotes & I am That; audio chapters: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 027, 028, 029, 030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, 039, 040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048, 049, 050, 051, 052, 053, 054, 055, 056, 057, 058, 059, 060, 061, 062, 063, 064, 065, 066, 067, 068, 069, 070, 071, 072, 073, 074, 075, 076, 077, 078, 079, 080, 081, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087, 088, 089, 090, 091, 092, 093, 094, 095, 096, 097, 098, 099, 100, 101

Navnath Sampradaya: wikipedia; 3 Lineages: The Navnath Sampradaya and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj; Lineage of Nine Gurus: The Navnath Sampradaya and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj - A study by Cathy Boucher; Nisargadatta Maharaj lineage; Digital Blackboard: A variety of selections of the teachings from Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, Shri Ranjit Maharaj, Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Saint Shri Samartha Ramdas

Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj: wikipedia
Golden Day is the only book written by Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj himself and is a basic introduction to his teachings.
Master Key to Self-Realization presents the core foundation of the teaching of Siddharameshwar Maharaj in a methodical step-by-step manner which is representative of the way in which the teaching of this great Sampradaya is traditionally presented by the Sadguru.
Master of Self-Realization: An Ultimate Understanding is the English translation of Adhyatmadnyanacha Yogeshwar Vols I & II, comprising the 130 talks of Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, which were transcribed, edited and published by Nisargadatta Maharaj. This includes a newly revised edition of Master Key to Self-Realization. amazon
Amrut Laya: The Stateless State and Amrut Laya Volume II are a compilation of several of his disciples handwritten notes. Amrut Laya II^
Samarth Ramdas: wikipedia; Dasbodh; again

Ranjit Maharaj: interview; You Are He - Teachings of Shri Ranjit Maharaj^; Way of the Bird^; Andrew Vernon: You are He^; Meeting Siddharameshwar

'Sailor' Bob Adamson: Non-conceptual, Self-knowing Awareness; spiritualteachers.org; End of Seeking; Only That extract
James Braha: Non Duality
Randall Friend: You Are Dreaming
Gilbert Schultz: Essence of the 1st Instant^; Everything Is Clear & Obvious^; Shining through the Mind
Stephen Wingate: Living in Peace: Natural State

Ramesh Balsekar: Consciousness Is All There Is; Pointers^; Uniquely Programmed Individual; What is Free Will?; Essence of Enlightenment, 3/14/11
Wayne Liquorman: Advaita Fellowship; Introduction to the Teaching

Pradeep Apte: Nisargadatta Gita^; Complete I Am Quotes of Nisargadatta^
Timothy Conway: My Recollections^; This is All a Dream^
Al Drucker: Nisargadatta teachings^
Jean Dunn: Consciousness and the Absolute^; Prior to Consciousness^; Seeds of Consciousness^; Self Knowledge & Self Realization^
Maurice Frydman:
Robert Powell: Nectar of Immortality; excerpt; Quintessence of My Teaching excerpt; Ultimate Medicine^
Mark West: Gleanings from Nisargadatta^
Stephen Wolinsky:

Osho

quotes; Oshoworld; Osho World eBooks; Sannyas Wiki; Sannyas names^; Oregon Experience; Free eBooks; 1981; Osho 1931-1990, pt.1; pt.2; pt.3; Osho Tree; 2002 Jokes of Mulla Nasruddin^; A Bird On the Wing^; A Cup of Tea^; A Sudden Clash of Thunder^; again; Ah, This!^; Ancient Music In the Pines^; And the Flowers Showered^; again; And Now, And Here^; Art of Dying^; Be Still & Know^; Beginning of the Beginning^; Beloved, v1^; v2^; Beloved of My Heart^; Beware of Socialism^; Beyond Enlightenment^; Beyond Psychology^; Bodhidharma the Greatest Zen Master^; Book of Secrets^; Book of Wisdom^; Books I Have Loved^; Buddha the Emptiness of the Heart^; Christianity the Deadliest Poison^; Come Come Yet Again Come^; Come Follow to You, v1^; v2^; v3^; v4^; Communism and Zen Fire^; Dance Your Way to God^; Dang Dang Doko Dang^; Death is Divine^; again; Dhammapada, v1^, v2^; v3^; v4^; v5^; v6^; v7^; v8^; v9^; v10^; v11^; v12^; Diamond Sutra^; again; again; Dimensions Beyond the Known^; Discipline of Transcendence, v1^; v2^; v3^; v4^; Divine Melody^; again; Dogen the Zenmaster^; Early Talks^; Earthen Lamps^; Ecstasy the Forgotten Language^; Empty Boat^; Eternal Message^; Eternal Quest^; Finger Pointing to the Moon^; First Principle^; Fish in the Sea is not Thirsty^; For Maturity^; From Bondage to Freedom^; From Darkness to Light^; From Death to Deathlessness^; From the False to the Truth^; From Ignorance To Innocence^; From Misery to Enlightenment^; From Personality To Individuality^; From Sex To Superconsciousness^; From Unconsciousness to Consciousness^; Gateless Gate^; Glimpses of a Golden Childhood^; osho

God is Dead, Now Zen^; Golden Future^; Goose is Out^; again; Grass Grows by Itself^; Great Challenge^; Great Path^; Great Pilgimage from Here to Here^; Great Secret^; Great Transcendence^; Great Zen Master TaHui^; Guest^; Guida Spirituale^; Hari Om Tat Sat^; Heartbeat of the Absolute^; Heart Sutra^; Hidden Harmony^; Hidden Mysteries^; Hidden Splendor^; Hsin Hsin Ming the Book of Nothing^; Hyakujo the Everest of Zen^; I Am the Gate^; I Am That^; I Celebrate Myself^; I Say Unto You, v1^; v2^; In Search of the Miraculous, v1^; v2^; ^; Inner Journey^; Intimacy^; Invitation^; Isan No Footprints in the Blue Sky^; again; Joshu the Lion's Roar^; Just Like That^; Krishna Man & His Philosophy^; Kyozan - A True Man Of Zen^; Language of Existence^; Last Testament, v1^; v2^; v3^; v4^; v5^; v6^; Lead Kindly Light^; Letters^; Light On the Path^; Live Zen^; Long and Short of it All^; LSD: A Shortcut to False Samadhi^; Ma Tzu the Empty Mirror^; Madman’s Guide to Enlightenment^; Mahageeta, v1^; Meditation: Art of Ecstasy^; Meditations^; Meet Mulla Nasruddin^; Messiah, v1^; v2^; Miracle^; Mustard Seed^; again; My Way, the Way of the White Clouds; Nansen the Point of Departure^; New Alchemy to Turn You On^; New Dawn^; Nirvana the Last Nightmare^; No Mind the Flowers Of Eternity^; No Water No Moon^; Notes of a Mad Man^; Nowhere to Go But In; again; Old Pond, Plop^; Om Mani Padme Hum^; On Rumi^; Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih^; One Seed Makes the Whole Earth Green^; Only A Ripe Fruit Falls^; Open Door; Orange Book^; Original Man^; Osho Upanishad^; Path of Love^; again; Path of the Mystic^; Perennial Path^; Perfect Master, v1^; v2^; Perfect Way^; Philosophia Perennis 1^; again; v2^; Philosophia Ultima; again; Philosophy of Non-Violence^; Psychology of the Esoteric^; Razor's Edge^; Rebel^; Rebellious Spirit^; Returning To The Source^; Revolution^; Revolution in Education^; Rinzai Master of the Irrational^; Sat Chit Anand^; Satyam Shivam Sundram^; Search^; Secret^; Secret of Secrets, v1^; v2^; Sermons in Stones^; Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness^; Silent Period^; Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries^; Sufis - People of the Path, v1^; v2^; Sun of Consciousness^; Sun Rises in the Evening^; Supreme Doctrine^; Sword and the Lotus^; Take It Easy, v1^; v2^; Tantra Experience^; Tantra the Supreme Understanding^; Tantra Vision, v1^; v2^; Tao the Golden Gate, v1^; v2^; Tao the Pathless Path, v1^, v2^; Tao the Three Treasures, v1^; v2^; v3^; v4^; Tears of the Mystic Rose^; That Art Thou^; Theologia Mystica^; This, This, a Thousand Times This^; This Very Body the Buddha^; Thus Spoke Mulla Nasruddin^; Transmission of the Lamp^; True Name, v1^; v2^; True Sage^; Turning In^; Ultimate Alchemy, v1^; v2^; Unio Mystica, v1^; v2^; Until You Die^; Vedanta Seven Steps to Samadhi^; Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, v1^; v2^; Vital Balance^; Walk Without Feet^; Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen^; Way of Tao^; Way of Tao, v1^; v2^; What is Rebellion?^; When the Shoe Fits^; Where are the Gandhians?^; White Lotus^; Wild Geese and the Water^; Wings of Love and Random Thought^; Wisdom of Folly^; Wisdom of the Sands, v1^; v2^; Yakusan Straight to the Point of Enlightenment^; Yoga: the Alpha & the Omega v1^; v2^; v3^; v4^; v5^; v6^; v7^; v8^; v9^; v10^; Zarathustra a God that can Dance^; Zarathustra the Laughing Prophet^; Zen the Diamond Thinderbolt^; Zen Manifesto^; Zen the Mystery^; Zen the Path of Paradox, v1^; v2^; v3^; Zen the Quantum Leap^; energydarshan

Zen the Solitary Bird^; Zen the Special Transmission^; Zen Zest Zip Zap and Zing^; various Darshan Diaries^; Sw. Prem Arpana - Introduction to Osho for Gay Men & Lesbians^; Sam - Life of Osho^; One of the most interesting words in the English language today, 8/11/6; again; Beloved Master, What is Existence? Is it something like what people call God?

Dolano: Friends of Dolano; Download Tapes; Enlightenment is Your Nature, 7/30/7; Last Satsang; End of the Path, 8/5/7; True Meditation, 8/10/7; How Enlightenment Happened 1, 8/14/7; How Enlightenment Happened 2, 8/15/7; There is No Reason, 11/5/7; When YOU are no more, Then you are, 11/6/7; What is afraid to Die 1, 3/27/11; What is Afraid to Die 2, 3/28/11; On Sexuality, 4/1/11; Wake up Call -- When Everything Stops!, 4/24/11; How can I be Sure?, 8/28/11

A Personal Report

Submitted from Mumbai, February 22, 2012

So far, for me, 2012 is all about going through the heartbreak of my wife and step-daughter and cat leaving me and me coming to India on a three month ticket, almost without rationale other than that I needed a paradigm shift. My agenda started forming only after I'd paid for my ticket and ordered my visa.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since I left Oregon, after putting most of my stuff in storage and arranging whatever I could think of to be arranged.

Three times, for a total of about a year, I had been in India before, but it's been 27 years since the last time. In 1980 and '81, I was in Pune at the Rajneesh (now Osho) ashram. In 1985, I traveled to Bangkok, then Delhi and Khajuraho and Agra and Kathmundu for a couple of months.

This time, inspired by rereading most of Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram in January, the most concrete item on my still very much forming itinerary, is to hang out in and get to know Mumbai a little bit.

Later, I definitely plan to do a clean out panchakarma retreat at one of the famous ayurvedic resorts in Kerala. At some point, I will go to Tiruvannamalai and visit the Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram; also, the intention is strong to be in Jabalpur on March 21st, at the tree under which Osho got enlightened on March 21, 1953.
[Synchronistically, I was born on Osho's 22nd birthday; in December of '53 and the arithmetic indicates that I must have been conceived back in that March.]
Osho has been my main life teacher and, after all these years, I will still say I am an Osho sannyasin, if asked.

There are looser ideas to visit Ammachi and her Amritapuri Ashram in Kerala, before she leaves there in Mid-March; may see Nithyananda in Bangalore; Dolano in Pune; Asaram Bapu, at his Sant Shri Asaramji Ashram in Ahmedabad; Shree SurajBani in Jamshedpur; Anandmurti Gurumaa, and Rishi Chaitanya Ashram in Rishikesh; a friend emailed me of an "India Holy Retreat" with Babaji Baldev Singh, which I haven't yet checked out much; also, perhaps, Goa, Chennai, Auroville, Varanasi and whatever else presents itself along the way.

My dilemma with Ammachi is I would have to there earlier than I want to be in Kerala. My Vimshottari entered Mercury-Ketu-Jupiter on the day before my trip; it goes into Mercury-Ketu-Saturn on March 27th; then it enters Mercury-Ketu-Mercury a week and a half after I'm scheduled to be back home (wherever that is). Though not an expert in vedic astrology, I have been amazed for decades how life shifts coincide with the dasas & bhuktis; this trip neatly divided between a Jupiter emphasized first half and a Saturnian second. Just seems that my retreat time should be after March 27th.

Also, I'm not a Bhakti type and Ammachi seems too caught up in being the Divine Mother for all her many children for my tastes. Nithyananda is cute, but he brags about himself all the time, and, though he talks a lot, the pearls of wisdom are few.

Dolano, at the Osho ashram in Pune, actually seems like she may be enlightened. In the lines of Bhagwan and Papaji, an intelligent German woman, I think, and from the youtube videos, she seems to have a no bullshit approach, speaking lucidly from her own experience.

Of course, I have been thinking of going to Pune; curious what it has become; also, it would obviously be a good place to connect with people. My dilemma there is, after checking out the ashram website, it all seems so expensive and regimented and high security, which turns me off.

The other gurus, above, are still virtually unknown to me.

It's not that I feel a need to find someone who is enlightened, but it would seem surely to be a plus.

Meantime, I pay homage to my dead spiritual heroes...

The two places I for sure wanted to visit here in Mumbai are the Woodlands apartments where Osho lived between 1970 and 1974, before he went to Pune; and the flat where Nisargadatta lived the final years of his life, in Khetwadi. A week ago, I got to the Woodlands and made my first try at finding Nisargadatta's house.

On Peddar Road, the Woodlands are three modern, sterile high rises in a very wealthy locality which reminded me of downtown Beverly Hills. Prior to his stay at the Woodlands, Osho had been mostly referred to as Acharya Rajneesh for many years. It is at the Woodlands where he first started being called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and it's also when and where he began initiating people into Sannyas.

I just stared at the apartments and the surrounding shops and imagined Bhagwan living there; walking around there. It is not how I had ever visualized it; but almost nothing ever is. There did not seem much else to do, so after a few minutes my driver and I were off to Khetwadi.

Traveling the few miles from Peddar Rd. to Khetwadi, (for not at all the first time) I was struck by how many completely different worlds (100s) exist in this huge city and how quickly they change from one to another.

10th is a short side lane in the Grant Road area of Khetwadi. It is like one of the many non-tourist, non-slum, variations of a 'typical', Indian village. It, and the two bigger lanes at 90 degrees to it on either side, look the same as the do in the youtube videos taken there near the end of Nisargadatta's life in the late '70s. The best hints I had as to which actual flat he lived in were phrases from two different websites about him that said "On the loft's south end was a fairly large window overlooking 10th Lane" and " The landmark for the building is a public toilet opposite to it.". Couldn't find the public toilet, so, I couldn't be certain which of the few flats, mostly above shops, was his, but I got a good idea as there were few to choose from. For a while, I walked around; tried asking several people about him and which flat was his, but:
  1. He died in 1981, which is a long time ago;
  2. Not one Indian I could find there spoke a word of English, as helpful as all of them would like to have been; and
  3. Even repeating 'Nisargadatta Maharaj' over and over produced not a glimmer of recognition in anyone.

Had a nice meal just as the Sun was setting on the day; then returned to my hotel in the P.D. Mello Road section of Mumbai, north of Colaba.

Over the last week, with my dissatisfaction at not definitively locating Nisargadatta's flat nagging at me more and more, I did a few creative, further internet searches and acquired a few additional hints to work with, including a photo of the front of the "Vanamali Bhavan" building as it apparently was named; also, a photo of the public restroom, the most mentioned landmark across the street.

Yesterday, I had success! Sometime before 11am, I went to Khetwadi again, this time with the intention of combing the area until I for sure found Nisargadatta's residence.

As I said, 10th Lane is very short. So, I found myself walking up and down it several times once again; asking questions of more people who could respond to my English only with apologetic blank stares. Still no public toilet and no single flat that exactly matched the photo I had seen.

Finally, a man who spoke a smidgeon of my language, who had been informed by someone else I had inquired of that I was looking for something on 10th Lane, came up to me and indicated that there was another small section of the lane, after a slight hitch, on the other side of what I thought was the defining cross street.

Seconds later, I found myself in front of Nisargadatta's flat, it looking just like the photo; and yes, just across the narrow dirt lane, there was the public toilet facility, with no stripes, but otherwise exactly like its photo.

The downstairs entry door was wide open, appearing dark inside in contrast with the bright sun of the day, and I walked in. After hesitating a moment, in front of the stairs - entry to what looked like a small dark room on the right - I started to ascend and almost immediately, an older woman appeared ahead of me. She didn't appear too alarmed that a gora was walking up her stairs. She kindly listened to me repeating Nisargadatta Maharaj with a question mark, motioned for me to wait here and went back up the stairs. A moment later, a younger woman came down who spoke enough English for us to communicate.

She led me up the stairs, into the small kitchen, 8 feet (?) square with a ceiling barely a foot above my head with an unprotected ceiling fan hanging down that I had to make sure that I didn't walk into, where a small Indian man sat. He was introduced to me as the father-in-law of the charming younger woman; the nephew of Nisargadatta. They indicated that I could go into the adjoining main room; again, smaller appearing than in the interior videos and photos I'd seen, but here it was - the actual room where Nisargadatta used to receive and address people who came to him. There's a small photo of him on the wall above where he used to sit.

Such a treasured moment for me. I surveyed the dingy, nearly bare room; walked over and looked out the window on to 10th Lane; came back and looked at the picture of Nisargadatta on the wall to the right of the entry back into the kitchen, again, for a moment, and then thanked them and excused myself and left.

To me, the greatest book of wisdom ever written in the history of mankind is Nisargadatta's I Am That. It is beyond my imagination to conceive of anything more succinct and profound.

How is it that this author's final residence for many years has not turned into a celebrated, well known, holy shrine?; instead, revealing no memory, not even in the form of a single, simple sign?

How is it that two of the very few enlightened people I know about lived here in southern Bombay, just a few miles from one another, while now, in the age of the internet, I have yet to discover for sure, an alive one in all of India; and maybe, other than possibly Eckhart Tolle, Gilbert Schultz, Master Ni, Mooji and a small handful of others, in the entire world?

What comes to mind; something Osho said many years ago; that life is not a problem to be solved; it is a mystery merely to be lived. It's just so danged interesting, is all.

Nisargadatta & Osho

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Osho

A Personal Report