Background
Nisargadatta was born in a devout Hindu couple Shivrampant Kambli and Parvatibai in Bombay.
philosopher spiritual leader Guru
Nisargadatta was born in a devout Hindu couple Shivrampant Kambli and Parvatibai in Bombay.
In 1915 after his father passed away and in 1920, Maruti moved to Bombay to support his family, following his elder brother. Initially he worked as a junior clerk at an office but quickly he opened a small goods store, mainly selling bidis – hand-made cigarettes, and soon owned a string of eight retail shops.
In 1937 he left Mumbai and traveled across India, eventually returned to his family in Mumbai in 1938. His business had been virtually wiped out, but eventually succeeded in opening a tiny street-shop beside his apartment as an income source for his family. Between 1942-1948 he suffered two personal losses, first the death of his wife, Sumatibai, followed by the death of his daughter.
According to Nisargadatta the purpose of spirituality is to know who you are, a viewpoint he expounded in the talks he gave at his humble flat in Khetwadi, Mumbai, where a mezzanine room was created for him to receive disciples and visitors. This room was also used for daily chantings, bhajans (devotional songs), meditation sessions, and discourses.
He talked about the "direct way" of knowing the Final Reality, in which one becomes aware of one's original nature through mental discrimination, a method which is common to the teachers of the Navnath Sampradaya. This mental discrimination or the Bird's way ('Vihangam Marg') was also presented by Nisargadatta's co-disciple, Ranjit Maharaj; wherein Self-Knowledge is gained just as a bird flying in the sky goes easily from branch to branch, instead of slowly crawling its way up the tree like an ant, as in the 'Pipilika Marg'. Here the disciple reaches straight to truth, without wasting time in long drawn out practices that would take him to the 'fruit' no doubt, only slowly. He proposed to use one's mental faculty to break from the unreal to the real, and the mind's false identification with the ego, simply by listening to and constantly thinking over what the master has said, and knowing that "You are already That".
Nisargadatta's teachings are grounded in the Advaita Vedanta interpretation of the Advaita idea Tat Tvam Asi, literally "That Thou Art", (Tat = "Divinity", Tvam = "You", Asi = "are") meaning You are (actually) Divinity (who thinks otherwise). He also had a strong devotional zeal towards his own guru and suggested the path of devotion, Bhakti yoga, to some of his visitors, as he believed the path of knowledge, Jnana yoga was not for everyone.
According to Nisargadatta our true nature is perpetually free peaceful awareness, in Hinduism referred to as Brahman. 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, in Hinduism referred to as Atman.
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophyand religious practice, giving "a unifying interpretation of the whole body of Upanishads".
Quotations:
"Discover all that you are not — body, feelings thoughts, time, space, this or that — nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive."
"All you can teach is understanding. The rest comes on its own."
"My advice to you is very simple – just remember yourself, ‘I am’, it is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond, just have some trust. I don’t mislead you. Why should I? Do I want anything from you? I wish you well – such is my nature. Why should I mislead you? Common sense too will tell you that to fulfill a desire you must keep your mind on it. If you want to know your true nature, you must have yourself in mind all the time, until the secret of your being stands revealed."
"When I see I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I see I am everything, that is love. My life is a movement between these two."