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

353
What exactly is born? What is born are three states: the waking
state, the sleep state, and the knowledge ‘I am’, this consciousness.
The body and the vital breath would not be able to function if this
consciousness were not present. These three states work through
the three attributes (‘gunas’). I very clearly see that which has been
born. And I also know that I am not that which is born. And that is
why I am totally fearless. So this knowledge ‘I am’, this
consciousness, this feeling or sense of being, is the quintessence of
the body. And if that body essence is gone, this feeling, the sense
of being, will also have gone.
354
Once the body and the sense of being(‘I am’) goes what remains is
the Original, which is unconditioned, without attributes, and
without identity; that on which this temporary state of the
consciousness and the three states and the three ‘gunas’ have come
and gone. It is called ‘Parabrahman’, the Absolute.
355
In that ‘Parabrahman’, which unconditioned, without attributes,
without identity – the identity comes only when there is the
knowledge ‘I am’ – so if that itself is not there, who is there to ask?
This is to be understood not by ‘someone’ (with a body-mind
identity), but it must be experienced, and in such a manner that the
experiencer and experience are one.
356
When the truth came out, it was found that in a certain atom the
entire Universe is contained. And what is that atom? It is the