Nisargadatta Maharaj - Quotes about 'Awareness' - from the book 'I AM THAT'

If you trust me, believe when I tell you 
that you are the pure awareness that illumines consciousness 
and its infinite content.  Realize this and live accordingly. 
If you do not believe me, then go within, 
enquiring 'What am I'?  Or, focus your mind on 'I am',
which is pure and simple being.


I am beyond the mind, whatever its state, pure or impure. 
Awareness is my nature; 
ultimately I am beyond being and non-being


The witness is not a person.
The person comes into being when there is a basis for it, an organism, a body. 
In it the absolute is reflected as awareness.
Pure awareness becomes self-awareness.

Awareness becomes consciousness when it has an object.
The object changes all the time.  In consciousness there is movement; 
awareness by itself is motionless and timeless, here and now.


I am not my body, nor do I need it. 
I am the witness only.  I have no shape of my own.
You are so accustomed to think of yourselves as bodies having consciousness 
that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. 
Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state 
of mind, a movement in consciousness, 
that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, 
and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, 
you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether.


I am conscious and unconscious, 
both conscious and unconscious, 
neither conscious nor unconscious 
- to all this I am witness - but really there is no witness, 
because there is nothing to be a witness to. 
I am perfectly empty of all mental formations, 
void of mind - yet fully aware. 
This I try to express by saying that I am beyond the mind.

Be aware of being conscious  
and seek the source of consciousness. 
That is all. 
Very little can be conveyed in words. 
It is the doing as I tell you that will bring light, not my telling you. 
The means do not matter much; 
it is the desire, the urge, the earnestness that count.


Whatever happens, points to your existence as a perceiving center. 
Disregard the pointers and be aware of what they are pointing to. 
It is quite simple, but it needs be done. 
What matters is the persistence 
with which you keep on returning to yourself.

The mind must learn that beyond the moving mind there is
the background of awareness, which does not change. 
The mind must come to know the true self and respect it 
and cease covering it up, 
like the moon which obscures the sun during solar eclipse. 
Just realize that nothing observable or experienceable is you, or binds you. 
Take no notice of what is not yourself.

To be aware is to be awake.  Unaware means asleep. 
You are aware anyhow, you need not try to be. 
What you need is to be aware of being aware. 
Be aware deliberately and consciously, 
broaden and deepen the field of awareness. 
You are always conscious of the mind, 
but you are not aware of yourself as being conscious.


Awareness is primordial;  it is the original state, beginningless, endless, 
uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change. 
Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. 
There can be no consciousness without awareness, 
but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep.

Since it is awareness that makes consciousness possible, 
there is awareness in every state of consciousness.  
Therefore, the very consciousness of being conscious 
is already a movement in awareness. 
Interest in your stream of consciousness
takes you to awareness.  It is not a new state. 
It is at once recognized as the original, basic existence, 
which is life itself, and also love and joy.


Awareness is not limited to consciousness.  
It is of all that is.  Consciousness is of duality.  
There is no duality in awareness;  it is one single block of pure cognition.


You can start only from where you are. 
You are here and now,  you cannot get out of here and now.
You can be aware of your being - here and now.
That is all.  There is nothing more to it.


Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. 
People come and go; you register without response. 


As long as the mind is busy with its contortions, 
it does not perceive its own source. 
The Guru comes and turns your attention to the spark within. 
By its very nature  the mind is outward turned;  it always 
tends to seek for the source of things among the things themselves.
To be told to look for the source within, is, in a way, the 
beginning of a new life;  awareness takes the place of consciousness. 
In consciousness  there is the 'I', who is conscious,
while awareness is undivided;  awareness is aware of itself. 
The 'I am' is a thought, while awareness is not a thought; 
there is no 'I am aware' in awareness. 
Consciousness is an attribute  while awareness is not; 
one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness. 
God is the totality of consciousness,
but awareness is beyond all - being as well as not-being.


Watch yourself closely and you will see that whatever be the content 
of consciousness, the witnessing of it does not depend on the content.
Awareness is itself and does not change with the event.  The event may 
be pleasant or unpleasant, minor or important, awareness is the same.  
Take note of the peculiar nature of pure awareness, 
its natural self-identity, without the least trace of self-consciousness, 
and go to the root of it  
and you will soon realize that awareness is your true nature  
and nothing you may be aware of, you can call your own.


You need not worry about your worries.  Just be.
Do not try to be quiet;  do not make 'being quiet' into a task to be performed.
Don't be restless about 'being quiet', or miserable about 'being happy'. 
Just be aware that you are  and remain aware 
- don't say: 'yes, I am; what next?'  There is no 'next' in 'I am'. 
It is a timeless state.


Try to *be*,  only to *be*.  The all-important word is 'try'. 
Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly and trying, just trying, 
to go beyond the personality, with its addictions and obsessions.
Don't ask how, it cannot be explained. 
You just keep on trying until you succeed. 
If you persevere, there can be no failure.
What matters supremely is sincerity, earnestness; 
you must really have had enough of being the person you are, 
now see the urgent need of being free of this unnecessary self-identification
with a bundle of memories and habits. This steady resistance
against the unnecessary is the secret of success.
After all, you are what you are every moment of your life, but
you are never conscious of it, except, maybe, at the point at
awakening from sleep.  All you need is to be aware of being, 
not as a verbal statement, but as an ever-present fact. 
The awareness that you are  will open your eyes to what you are. 
It is all very simple.  First of all, establish a constant contact with your self, 
be with yourself all the time.  Into self-awareness all blessings flow. 
Begin as a center of observation, deliberate cognizance, 
and grow into a center of love in action.  'I am' is a tiny seed 
which will grow into a mighty tree - quite naturally, 
without a trace of effort.


When the mind is quiet, we come to know ourselves as the pure witness. 
We withdraw from the experience and its experiencer 
and stand apart in pure awareness, which is between and beyond the two. 
The personality, based on self-identification, on imagining 
oneself to be something:  'I am this, I am that',  continues, 
but only as a part of the objective world. 
Its identification with the witness snaps.


Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper and yet not of paper, 
so is the Supreme state in the very center of consciousness, 
and yet beyond consciousness. 
It is as if an opening in the mind
through which the mind is flooded with light. 
The opening is not even the light.  It is just an opening.
From the mind's point of view, it is but an opening for 
the light of awareness to enter the mental space. 
By itself  the light can only be compared to a solid, dense, rocklike, 
homogeneous and changeless mass of pure awareness, 
free from the mental patterns of name and shape.


Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of 'I am'.  
This is the beginning and also the end of all endeavor.


The source of consciousness cannot be an object in consciousness. 
To know the source is to be the source. 
When you realize that you are not the person, 
but the pure and calm witness, 
and that fearless awareness is your very being, 
you are the being.