RIDDLE OF I AMNESS...C&A 1-31-81

[Guest guest]

From " Consciousness and the Absolute "

 

 

Maharaj:

I deal only with two things.

 

What is your identity.

 

And what is your conviction

about what you are?

 

 

 

These questions can not be

discussed with everyone.

 

I can speak of them only with

those of you who are in earnest.

 

 

 

There are those who have a lot

of wisdom, but have not solved

the riddle of, I Amness.

 

 

 

 

 

Questioner:

Scientists have discovered in the last ten years,

that if they don't observe the reactions of the

atomic particles, the reactions remain as they are.

If they do observe those reactions, there is a

change. The very act of observing causes a change

in that which is observed.

 

 

Maharaj:

The observer is also changing.

 

 

What is being observed brings about

a change in the observer,

 

and unless that change is brought

about in the observer, the observer

cannot observe the object;

 

therefore, one can never get the

depth of spirituality.

 

 

 

 

When you are cognizing something

as an individual, where do you place

yourself?

 

Consciousness is that which is

cognizing, the cognition, and that

which is being cognized.

 

 

 

You are only scratching the surface.

 

It can't do you any good at all.

 

What you hear must enter like an arrow,

and hit something deep within you.

 

There must be an internal reaction.

 

Without the reaction, what you hear

won't do you any good.

 

You should know it when the arrow

reaches its mark.

 

 

..

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta, elizabethwells2001 wrote:

> These questions can not be

> discussed with everyone.

>

> I can speak of them only with

> those of you who are in earnest.

 

This is one thing I've always *truly* liked about Nisargadatta... he

didn't spend any time discussing with people who were not 'in

earnest' about knowing what they are, and willing to keep 'beginner's

mind' about it.

 

God knows how much time I have spent talking with such people, who

merely want to argue and have their opinion validated, who want only

such truth as agrees with their world view, which keeps them in a

comfort zone. Eegads.

 

> Consciousness is that which is

> cognizing, the cognition, and that

> which is being cognized.

 

A beautiful insight... definitely 'not three', although

the 'cognizer' and 'that which is being cognized' are (in a sense)

reconciled through cognition...

 

A favorite saying of mine... I am knowing.. and the knowing is the

object known.

 

This can be experienced. Look at something and know yourself to be

*the looking itself*, not the looker. And know *the looking itself*

to actually *be* that which is looked at. This tends to destroy

perception of duality.

 

Namaste,

 

Tim