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The present edition of I AM THAT is a
revised and re-edited version of the 101 talks that appeared in two volumes in
earlier editions. Not only the matter has now been re-set in a more readable
typeface and with chapter headings, but new pictures of Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj have been included and the appendices contain some hitherto unpublished
valuable material.
I draw special attention to the reader to
the contribution entitled ‘Nisarga Yoga’, in which my esteemed friend, the late
Maurice Frydman, has succinctly presented the teaching of Maharaj. Simplicity
and humility are the keynotes of his teachings, as Maurice observes. The Master
does not propound any intellectual concept or doctrine. He does not put forward
any pre-conditions before the seekers and is happy with them as they are. In
fact Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is peculiarly free from all disparagement and
condemnation; the sinner and the saint are merely exchanging notes; the saint
has sinned, the sinner can be sanctified. It is time that divides them; it is
time that will bring them together. The teacher does not evaluate; his sole
concern is with ‘suffering and the ending of suffering’. He knows from his
personal and abiding experience that the roots of sorrow are in the mind and it
is the mind that must be freed from its distorting and destructive habits. Of
these the identification of the self with its projections is most fatal. By
precept and example Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj shows a short-cut, a-logical but
empirically sound. It operates, when understood.
Revising and editing of I AM THAT has
been for me a pilgrimage to my inner self -- at once ennobling and enlightening.
I have done my work in a spirit of dedication, with great earnestness. I have
treated the questions of every questioner as mine own questions and have
imbibed the answers of the Master with a mind emptied of all it knew. However,
in this process of what may be called a two-voiced meditation, it is possible
that at places I may have failed in the cold-blooded punctiliousness about the
syntax and punctuation, expected of an editor. For such lapses, if any, I seek
forgiveness of the reader.
Before closing, I wish to express my
heart-felt thanks to Professor Douwe Tiemersma of the Philosophical Faculty
Erasmus, Universieit, Rottendam, Holland for contributing a new Foreword to
this edition. That he acceeded to my request promptly makes me feel all the more
grateful.
Sudhakar S. Dikshit
Editor
Bombay,
July 1981
