E-Book Overview
The Ultimate Medicine is not for those who like their spirituality watered down, but for serious students searching for awareness. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) lived and taught in a small apartment in the slums of Bombay. A realized master of the Tantric Nath lineage, he supported himself and his family by selling cheap goods in a small booth on the streets outside his tenement for many years. His life exemplified the concept of absolute nonduality of being. In this volume, Maharaj shares the highest truth of nonduality in his own unique way. His teaching style is abrupt, provocative, and immensely profound, cutting to the core and wasting little effort on inessentials. His terse but potent sayings are known for their ability to trigger shifts in consciousness, just by hearing or reading them."The point is that man freed from his fetters is morality personified. Such a man therefore does not need any moralistic injunctions in order to live righteously. Free a man from his bondage and thereafter everything else will take care of itself. On the other hand, man in his unredeemed state cannot possibly live morally, no matter what moral teaching he is given. It is an intrinsic impossibility, for his very foundation is immorality. That is, he lives a lie, a basic contradiction: functioning in all his relationships as the separate entity he believes himself to be, whereas in reality no such separation exists. His every action therefore does violence to other 'selves' and other 'creatures,' which are only manifestations of the unitary consciousness. So Society had to invent some restraints in order to protect itself from its own worst excesses and thereby maintain some kind of status quo. The resulting arbitrary rules, which vary with place and time and therefore are purely relative, it calls 'morality,' and by upholding this man-invented 'idea' as the highest good–oftentimes sanctioned by religious 'revelation' and scriptures–society has provided man with one more excuse to disregard the quest for liberation or relegate it to a fairly low priority in his scheme of things."
E-Book Content
Spirituality/Re ligion ISBN 1-884997-09-0 $14.95 "In The Ultimate Medicine, Nisargadatta , like the great sages of old India, elucidates the nature of Ultimate Reality dearly and simply. He makes the highest Self-realization a matter of common understanding so that any sincere seeker can grasp the essence of it." - David Frawley, O.M.D. author of Beyond theMind, Tantric Yoga, and Aywwdic Healing "Dr. Powell is one of the world's most inspired writers on Ad"aita philosophy.... You will find great gems in his books. " - Deepak Chopra author of The Path of Love and The SevenSpiritual Lawsof Success (18 97 -198 1), one of the mo st important spiritual preceptors of the twentieth century, lived and ta ught in a small apartment in t he slum s of Bombay, India . A rea lized master of the Tantric Nath lineage , Maharaj had a wife and four children. For many .;;;;;;;;;;;;= _ years, he supported himself and his fam ily by selling cheap good s in a small booth on the streets outside his tenement. His life was a telling parable of the absolute no nduality of Being. The profound yet simple words of this extraordinary teacher are designed to jolt us into awareness of our origi na l nature. Like the Zen ma sters of old, N isargadatta 's sty le is abrupt , pro vocative , an d immensely profound-cutt ing to the co re and wast ing little effort on ine ssent ials. His terse b ut potent sayi ngs are know n for t heir ab ility to trigger shifts in consciousne ss, just by hea ring, or even read ing them. A steady st ream of Ind ians and Westerner s, those fort un ate enough to d iscover Maharaj durin g his lifet ime , came to sit at his feet in the small loft where he received visitors . In the tra dition of the sa