I discovered the teacher, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, while studying the concept of sudden awakening or enlightenment. He is best known for the book, ‘I Am That’. This is a collection of his interactions with seekers who came to his humble abode in Mumbai, India.
As a Christian mystic, I spent multiple years in developing my own mystical approaches. This was all a part of my own growth. As I studied, I encountered truths within other religions and mysticisms, but how to understand them within the context of my own faith? It was clear, I was no longer an exclusivist, but neither was I a New Age syncretist, mixing all beliefs together into one big ‘Mr. Potato Head’ god.
Nevertheless, in my research I discovered the direct path to enlightenment or mystical awakening, as taught by various teachers. Foremost of these masters was Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. His teachings on Advaita Vedanta (non-duality) and the practice of Nisarga Yoga (the Natural Yoga) spoke the most to me.
Background and Awakening
Nisargadatta was born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli on April 17, 1897 in Bombay, India. He had two brothers, four sisters, and deeply religious parents. In sharing Hanuman’s birthday, He was named Maruti after the Hindu god. His parents were Vaishnavite devotees.
Maruti was introduced by his friend to his guru, Siddharameshwar Maharaj in 1933. He was the head of the Ichegiri branch of the Navnath Sampradaya (the lineage of the Nine Gurus). He gave Maruti simple instructions on attaining awakening. In Nisargadatta’s own words,
“My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense ‘I am’ and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense ‘I am’. It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!” – I Am That, ch. 75, pg. 375.
And again,
“I simply followed his instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being, ‘I am’, and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the ‘I am’ in my mind and soon the peace and joy and deep all-embracing love became my normal state. It all disappeared-myself, my guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained, and unfathomable silence.” – I Am That, Dialogue 51.
He states elsewhere that this took him about 3 years of practice, which included him working a job to support his family. His guru passed away after only a 2 and a half year relationship. Maruti then changed his name to Nisargadatta, which means the one who dwells in the natural state.
His Teachings
He enjoyed his awakening as a householder until the death of his wife and daughter between the years of 1942 and 1948. Then Nisargadatta began to give initiations in 1951 at the behest of his guru, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, which he received as an inner revelation. He retired from his shop in 1966, and received visitors into his home for teachings twice a day. In 1972 he was introduced to a wider audience of aspirants from all over the world due to publications that mentioned him. The famous book, ‘I Am That’ was published in 1973. He continued to teach, albeit traveling dropped off due to health and advanced age by the late 70’s. But he received visitors almost all the way to his passing on September 8, 1981 at the age of 84 from throat cancer.
His method of teaching was through talks he would give, devotional songs they would sing, and a question-and-answer type of forum that is widely covered in his most famous book.
Agreement with Christian Mysticism
As a Christian mystic, I found such a power and relevancy in his teachings. At heart, nisarga yoga is compatible with what Christ taught concerning mystical knowledge of the Father. Through Christ we have a personal relationship with God, but in terms of theosis (the mystic aim of becoming God), it is through the I Am of Christ (see John 14:6).
Foremost, I Am is a divine name:
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. – Exodus 3:14.
The Holy Name of Yahweh is derived from this divine revelation to Moses at the burning bush. And Jesus Christ, as God incarnate (God become man), identified Himself as the I Am (John 8:58). Furthermore, Jesus stated that He is one with the Father (10:30), and the Jews knew exactly what this meant (v.v. 21-33). Christianity teaches the Trinity, that God is One, and yet He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So that Jesus is God is not surprising to orthodox Christians. But, that Christ prayed for and secured our own deification, that we can become God, that would be surprising to most believers. And yet Christ prayed,
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one – John 17:21-22.
Of course the oneness for which Christ prays here is not ecumenicism. Rather, He prayed for us to have the same Oneness shared between the Son and the Father. Moreover, Christ gives us the very same glory which the Father gave Him, so that we may be one. This glory is His very own Self (v.5). This Self is the I Am which we focus on, and thereby participate in the divine nature (2Peter 1:4).
I am not saying that Sri Nisargadatta would have said or agreed with anything written above, as again, his was a Hindu lineage. Nor am I saying that this is the only way to apply nisarga yoga, but simply how I see it as a believer. But I did find it very interesting, enough so that I now practice nisarga yoga. I’m simply focusing on the divine name, and entering into the very Being God shares with us all (Acts 17:28). If you wish to learn more on how I practice nisarga yoga, which I teach as a course called Self-Reflexive Awareness, click here.
Conclusion
Those I read most and learn from I deem my teachers, whether they’re alive or dead, Christian or other. And Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj has become this for me. Certainly, this awakened sage is one who emulates the gnosis of an enlightened master.
The practice of nisarga yoga, what I’ve also dubbed ‘self-reflexive awareness’, is what should headline a true Christian mysticism. This is so because I am is the divine name. The divine nature is pure being, and all that exists has a share in that ontologically. When we focus on our own existence, our own ‘I am-ness’ we are tapping into the Absolute Subject that undergirds all things, bringing them into existence.
Self-negation is part of this practice. So in denying and losing our false egoic selves, we’re reminded of that death Christ exemplified on the cross. Again, Self knowledge reminds us of His glorious resurrection from the dead.
Suggested Reading
Here are a couple of books that I also have in my own collection:
This is the book that put Nisargadatta ‘on the map’ as it were. It is a veritable handbook on nisarga yoga, and waking up to the true nature.
These talks were more toward the end of Sri Nisargadatta’s life, and are more intensive in their scope toward his inquirers.