I Am That | The Nihilistic ideas of Sri Nisargadatta
What is a nihilistic view of knowledge? Is Nisargadatta Maharaj enlightened?
The publication in 1973 of I Am That, an English translation of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj talks in Marathi brought Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj worldwide recognition and followers. So why do I say that Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s ideas are nihilistic.
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse towards self-centric behavior.
Hello, and welcome to the Ancient wisdom modern mind blog and today I am going to discuss why Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s ideas are nihilistic, and I will also show how Sri Nisargadatta’s lack of personal power is the reason for his failure to realize enlightenment.
And before I start this podcast I want to say that if you are a follower of Sri Nisargadatta, understand that this is not intended as a personal attack, my only intent is to save you time by pointing out philosophies or gurus that will trip you up. I respect your valuable time, your valuable awareness and my only intent is to point out the potholes in the road on your journey.
So keep an open mind and if you are feeling triggered, then pause the podcast and take a few deep breaths, and remind yourself that we all have one common enemy “which is our selves” and then listen until the end of the podcast before you pass judgment
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli from 1897 to 1981, was an Indian guru of nondualism, belonging to the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of teachers from the Navnath Sampradaya and Lingayat Shaivism. ~ Source wikipedia
The publication in 1973 of I Am That, an English translation of his talks in Marathi by Maurice Frydman, brought him worldwide recognition and followers, especially from North America and Europe.
So why do I say that Sri Nisargadatta ideas are nihilistic; because we just heard Wikipedia call him a nondualist philosopher. Is it because he did nothing, besides meditate and smoke himself to death, eventually dying of cancer.
In short I don’t believe this is the only reason, but I think this is a factor in Sri Nisargadatta’s failure to achieve Atman awareness, and in Carlos Castaneda’s terminology this failure would be classified as a defeat by the third enemy “Clarity”.
And as a quick explanation of the different stages of enlightenment, self-realization is classified as the highest human stage of understanding, whereas Atman awareness is the first stage of enlightenment. So self-realization is equivalent to the third enemy “clarity” in the works of Carlos Castaneda.
So why would I call Sri Nisargadatta a nihilistic guru, and it’s not because of his talks, although there is a nihilistic tone there, but really most philosophies have a nihilistic tone, it’s really how you interpret what is said that adds the context.
Why I say that Sri Nisargadatta was Nihilistic is because of his followers, just stop and listen to how Sri Nisargadatta’s words effect his followers, how it turns them self-centric. They start to believe that the world spins around them.
Now this is not to say that they are ego-centric or self-centered, because the self-centric person is not full of themselves, but they do start to believe that everything in the world has to do with them.
If you listen carefully to how his followers interpret his words, you will see that their takeaway is to do nothing, and that there is nothing you can do, because of phrases like “I Am That, which creates and manifests the universe”. Does that sound like nihilism. Nihilism says; that nothing can be known or communicated, that all is pointless and why bother, why try, and Sri Nisargadatta’s followers make this a personal pointlessness.
So when wikipedia calls Sri Nisargadatta a dualist, is this simple ignorance or are they only expressing his connection with the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. In the west most people are very naïve about Indian spirituality, but in India everybody believes in the greatness of the yogi because their lives are intricately bound up in the social hierarchy of the caste system, that fosters the belief in their eventual ascension through the karmic layers to greatness, and this is what gives them hope. Sri Nisargadatta gave the poor hope, much like a born again Christian is given hope by their preacher with a promise of forgiveness and ascension into heaven without any effort.
In fact this whole idea of being saved and going to heaven and or the idea of karmic progression are basically self-centric concepts that dissolve the believer of responsibility. It is what a warrior would call our first enemy “fear”, or you could call this fear of self’s death
Sri Nisargadatta sat and meditated, but so what. Millions do that and some, if that is their nature will become nihilistic and others will be overcome with arrogance, and others will become inspired to strive for enlightenment and yet others will simply give it a try and move on. But no one would ever say that by meditation alone you would become enlightened accept maybe a few nihilistic gurus and fraudsters. But this is a common assumption that Sri Nisargadatta’s followers seem to take away from his talks.
Now this is not to say that Sri Nisargadatta is a fraud, far from it. But what I will say is that Sri Nisargadatta never reached enlightenment because he was caught in the self-realization trap. He failed because of his own self-realization.
You could say that Sri Nisargadatta looked into the mirror of self just one to many times and became trapped in his own despair, his own self-pity.
This self-realization trap effects each person that achieves the level of “The Enlightened Self-deceit” differently, but at the root of this trap, is that your blue pilled ideals have fallen away, and you must face self in its emptiness.
Why Sri Nisargadatta failed is debatable, some may say that it was the personal losses, first with the death of his wife, Sumatibai, followed by the death of his daughter. But loss is often the trigger that breaks the social contract and opens self to the falsehood of self, so personally I think it was more likely his guru's instructions to concentrate on the feeling "I Am", while using all his spare time looking at himself in silence, which set the unwitting trap.
This creates a self-centric obsession, a mindful obsession with the self as the center of reality, but you have not yet even found the True Self. So you can see how an obsession with the false self would trap you within the state of self-realization.
The error is that if you have not filled this growing emptiness with the spirit then you will fill this emptiness with the only other possibility, yourself, yourself-realized self.
But as I have said, the effect is different for each person that achieves this level, some suffer a form of Messiah Complex and yet others fall into Nihilism. And really if you tell a self, an ego inflated dualistic being that is trapped in its own world view to just sit and know that 'you are' the 'I am' without words, nothing else has to be done" shortly you will arrive to your natural Absolute state. How are they to understand this statement, definitely not from an enlightened perspective, and not from a perspective outside of self.
And such statements like.
“There is a vastness beyond the farthest reaches of the mind. That vastness is my home; that vastness is myself. And that vastness is also love.” these and others like it are reflections of the self-realized mind, the mirror reflecting back.
In the context of sorcery, Sri Nisargadatta faced clarity and was defeated, and the sad truth is that once a sorcerer or a yogi or any spiritual seeker is defeated by clarity, there is no coming back. They will close themselves off to any more disruption, nothing will shake this clinging to the self.
To quote Sri Nisargadatta again;
“I am’ itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you discover that you are neither the body nor mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one. The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love.”
Spirit is that elusive and mysterious element, and for some; spirit simply never comes to play, it never tantalizes the sorcerer in a game of power. Consequently when they become empty; empty of self and its social contract. There is nothing to fill the void and since self through its meditative practice has achieved such clarity, such self-realization; it fills itself. It stares into the abyss and sees nothing, no spirit only emptiness and thus falls in love with itself.
But why do some fail, I mean this is a monumental achievement. One is standing at the door to the Nagual’s realm, why then do they find only emptiness.
This failure is simply a lack of preparation, a failure to build personal power, and although meditation builds personal power, it is just as easily consumed by the self’s interaction’s within the matrix.
Spirit is attracted to power, spirit is not about receiving a reward because you can meditate. Building personal power is what attracts the spirit, you must become a warrior, and your battle is with whatever is consuming your personal power, your battle is within the matrix and its social contract, your blue pilled values and your personal habits.
A warrior would never be so weak as to have an addiction, such things are the first to be purged. The warrior hunts personal power, and builds his internal awareness (what others call prana or Ki) this awareness is gathered until it reaches the point of attracting spirits attention.
When you think too much, talk too much, work too much, eat too much, sleep too much, and so on, you lose prana. In ancient times, Yogis would measure prana in inches of breath. E.g. if you run too fast, you lose six inches every breath. If you eat too much, you lose eight inches every breath.
And they found that the biggest losses occurred during sexual activity and drug use. Anything that is done in excess, wastes awareness, and that is why yogis practiced pranayama “Yogic breathing”. The regulating of our breath saves awareness, and Taoists practiced sexual energy retention so that they could continue their lineage but still retain their life force.
The warrior does not waste awareness engaging in the doings of the world too much, and bad habits such as over eating junk foods and drug habits, etc. drain your awareness. Remember, anything you overindulge in will drain your awareness.
Think of awareness like money, it compounds just like a good investment compounds. Meditation is your not-doing, it generates awareness and so does any not-doing generate awareness, and vice versa doings consume awareness.
So back to Sri Nisargadatta’s failure, now we don’t know his full list of doings, but we know he had a family, this is a doing, and he had a smoking habit which is also a doing, he ran a small shop, this is also a doing. His life even at the superficial level is full of doings.
If our lives are full of doings, then we will never build the personal power needed to attract spirit, and so when Sri Nisargadatta had cleared his mind through meditation to the point of self-realization, there was nothing but self-realization staring back at self-realization.
So that’s my critique of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and I hope that this post will stimulate your own critical thoughts, and that this also encourages you to explore and learn about yourself and to continue your journey. And if you have the time then let me know in the comments about your understanding of the spiritual path or how your journey has changed your life, and this is important not only to me but also in helping others in their personal journey.
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Related posts:
Atman Awareness | Impeccability of Stalking Awareness | Understanding the Over-Evolved Ego | Where Do Our Thoughts Come From | Zhuangz’s Butterfly Dream is a Red Pill Metaphor | What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping: Zen koan | What is Rational Thinking: Rational Side of Awareness | What is Zen Meditation: Story of The Samurai and The Tea Master | The Truth About Spiritual Enlightenment: Truths, Distortions, Fakes | What is the Hara: How Does Hara Connects to Other Spiritual Ideas
References
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