I am That

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included and the appendices contain some hitherto unpublished valuable material.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
1. The Sense of ‘I am’
Questioner: It is a matter of daily experience that on waking up the world suddenly appears. Where
does it come from?
Maharaj: Before anything can come into being there must be somebody to whom it comes. All
appearance and disappearance presupposes a change against some changeless background.
Q: Before waking up I was unconscious.
M: In what sense? Having forgotten, or not having experienced? Don’t you experience even when
unconscious? Can you exist without knowing? A lapse in memory: is it a proof of non-existence?