The complete 'I am' quotes of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Pradeep Apte

am’. Even without words you know that ‘you are’. Do not say or
even think that ‘you are’, just be aware of the presence without
thinking about it.
406
Who says that he is alive? Find out, who is the Witness who
‘knows’ that he is alive? This is awareness of one’s existence, ‘I
am’ prior to thought. Who says ‘I am alive’, who says ‘I am not
alive’, what is that? ‘I am’ is not something that can be put into
words; it is the knowledge, the Awareness before thought. You
have to just ‘Be’.
407
Becoming established in the Awareness ‘I am’ is all that is
important. Later on you also transcend the ‘I amness’. Just as a
storm is a form created by nature, similarly this ‘I am’, this
chemical, was also created. Forget about what I have told you,
because that is also a mechanical thing, a chemical. Just be Aware,
and then it won’t matter if you die a hundred times.
408
The child has been given an idea who its parents are, but is just a
concept. Similarly the ‘I am’ is just a concept. The child has been
given the idea that ‘He is’. First you must investigate ‘Who is’ and
what this ‘I amness’ is.You want to know what the support is for
the ‘I am’? My parents supported me! When do these two people,
the husband and the wife become parents? It’s when a child is
born, is that not true? Where are the parents before the birth of the
child? And what is the child? The child is the root of parents; the
child is also the father of the parents. Because of the child the
parents are. This shows how completely hollow our egos are.