I Am, Before Anything Else - Nisargadatta

There’s something radical about how Nisargadatta Maharaj taught.

No soft build-up. No mystical metaphors. No labyrinth of words.

He just pointed.

Straight.

To that single, undeniable fact:

You are.

Before enlightenment.

Before identification.

Before the world, God, or thought appears...

You are.

And so often, I return to this.

Not to the teaching — but to that very simplicity.

In the middle of mental noise, emotional swirl, or the subtle itch to seek something more "spiritual"… I stop.

I remember.

I AM.

That’s it.

That’s the invitation.

That’s the doorway Nisargadatta left open.

And no matter how advanced or lost or pure or messy we think we are…

We’re never far from it. Because it is us.

He said:

“The feeling ‘I am’ is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the ‘I am,’ without moving, you enter a state which cannot be verbalized but can be experienced.”

It’s not poetic.

It’s not a mantra.

It’s not even a practice.

It’s a coming home to the root of all experience.

The one fact that doesn’t need proof.

Before you become a seeker,

before you become a body,

before you become Sukhdev or anyone else…

You are.

That sense, that bare presence — not the thought "I am," but the knowing — is the lamp you never switch off.

And yet, the ego loves ornaments.

So we add decorations around it.

“I am awakened.”

“I am unworthy.”

“I am confused.”

“I am the Self.”

“I am close to realization.”

All lies.

Even the spiritual ones.

Even the Advaitic ones.

Because the moment you add to “I am,” you lose the essence.

You slip back into becoming.

But “I am,” in its purest state, is a flame that doesn’t flicker.

Nisargadatta never wanted followers.

He never softened the blow.

You’d walk into his little Mumbai apartment with a head full of concepts and walk out with your world crumbling. Not from despair — but because what you thought you were couldn’t survive in his presence.

He didn’t speak to the person.

He spoke as the Absolute.

And pointed you back to the I AM before the person arises.

Not as an idea.

Not as a philosophy.

But as a felt truth that’s always humming beneath your thoughts.

The more I deepen into this pathless path,

the more I see how simple it really is.

Not easy, maybe.

Because the mind will resist.

The ego will negotiate.

The seeker will want “more.”

But the truth?

It never moved.

It was here when you were 5.

It was here when you were seeking.

It’s here now.

And it’ll be here when the body is gone.

The “I am” is not personal.

It’s not Sukhdev’s.

It’s not yours.

It’s just the raw light of Being.

Sit with it.

Be it.

Don’t try to become it.

Sometimes when I feel a bit cloudy —

not lost, just mentally stirred —

I’ll sit quietly and ask nothing of myself.

I won’t try to meditate.

I won’t try to stop thinking.

I won’t try to feel blissful.

I’ll just notice:

I am.

Not “I am spiritual.”

Not “I am seeking presence.”

Just… I am.

And in that quiet settling, something unexplainable opens.

No angels.

No fireworks.

No sudden samadhi.

Just the scent of truth.

The resting in what doesn’t move.

Nisargadatta’s words aren’t a map.

They’re more like a matchstick.

You strike it — and let the flame consume the false.

So today, if you’re feeling a little scattered,

or even if you’re not…

Just pause.

Drop every label.

Every thought about awakening.

Every hope to become something or nothing.

And feel into what’s always been here:

The I AM.

Bare.

Still.

Unshakeable.

That is the doorway.

That is the teacher.

That… is You.

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