Pradeep Apte - The Nisargadatta Gita

100. You have to understand that the ‘I
am’ is even before the arising of any
words, thoughts or feelings.
The importance of the knowledge ‘I am’ as the first
or primordial principle should never be forgotten.
For this conviction to grow stronger, reversion to
that moment when you first came to know that ‘you
are’ or ‘I am’ is essential. When you do so, the
purity of the ‘I am’ becomes very clear to you. You
can also very clearly see that whichever way it
happened the ‘I am’ is the first and the last thing
that brought you into this world and now can take
you out of it. Before anything else - words,
thoughts or feelings – could be, the ‘I am’ had to
be there.
101. The indwelling principle ‘I am’ is
common to all and has no attributes; it is
the principle of the whole functioning.
The knowledge ‘I am’ that has dawned on you is
indeed the indwelling principle through which you
function. Just ponder: can anything be if ‘you’ are
not there? Your ‘being’ is of great importance for
everything else to be. Prior to the arrival of this
knowledge ‘I am’ did you know anything? Or
during deep sleep, when the ‘I am’ is held in