Question:

Ekta didi,

If we are doing our sadhana and meditation which then what is the need for knowledge? Is sadhana alone not sufficient for attaining moksha? Please guide me, I am stuck in this.

Answer:

Let me explain how a Spiritual teacher teaches and what he is looking for in a spiritual seeker.

Patrata [Ability to absorb and hold the Knowledge]:

In the YouTube documentary called ‘Rays of the Absolute’, Nisargadatta Maharaj has said that ‘Spiritual Knowledge is sufficient to find the true nature of yourself and attain Moksha’.

But not everyone has the capacity to absorb and hold the highest wisdom [patrata] for e.g:

• • If an intellectually feeble mind has a hard time understanding his nature of Consciousness in simple words or
  • If someone has not attained the natural maturity that instills dispassion towards the external material/spiritual world or
  • If one has not developed the yearning to know one’s true Self.

Then, he must be given a mantra, a breath technique, a sadhana etc. That technique will keep him busy until he either becomes intellectually capable or dispassionately mature or develops a strong yearning to find his own true self.

Gauging a disciple’s patrata: 

Nisargadatta Maharaj usually started with speaking the Knowledge with everyone who visited him without any discrimination. If they didn’t get it then,

• • The uneducated people were given sadhana techniques like a mantra.
  • But all intellectual and thinking people were directly given the highest knowledge of the Self in words which propelled them to look within and figure out the witness consciousness in a single instant.

Even Saint Kabir says that one can reach God [ Ik pal ki talaash mein] in a one second’s search.

Sri Ramana Maharshi also started every disciple’s journey with a Silent sitting.

• • If one did not get it through Silence, then he would teach him the ‘Nature of the Self’.
  • If he still did not get it, then he would recommend the technique of ‘Self-Inquiry’.
  • If he still could not get it, then mantra ‘japa’ was advised.

So, in short, it can be said that every True Guru gauges the disciple individually and gives the knowledge/technique per the disciple’s ability. 

Warning for the true seeker:

Nisargadatta Maharaj has warned in the book – ‘Shower of Grace’ page 13, that:
‘This simple and direct knowledge about the Nature of oneself was made to appear complicated by ‘owners of spiritual shops’ who could not afford to lose their audience by telling the Truth’.

Please recognize how this affects the seeker’s mind:

• • The constant repetition by spiritual shops that the ‘Knowledge is complicated and will take many lifetimes to attain it’ makes a strong impression in the minds of seekers who frequently visit the shops.
  • The repetition creates mental conditioning that the Truth is hard to understand and I am not worthy of it.
  • That conditioning creates a block in the mind of the seeker.
  • Because of the block, he remains lost in the material/spiritual world techniques for a long time. This profits the spiritual shops.
  • The seeker keeps assuming that he is not yet ready to absorb the Truth, so he keeps playing in the material/spiritual worlds.
  • The seeker loses out on precious time in his life.
  • Some manage to escape this spiritual political game; some remain stuck there for their entire lifetime.

Please understand that nobody is to be blamed here. Because there are people who are seeking temporary relaxation techniques versus finding the truth about themselves, that is why spiritual vendors are born. As is the demand, so is the supply.

The people looking for the ‘Highest and Simplest Truth’ are few. They always find a way to dodge the temptation of the spiritual vendor and seek a true spiritual mentor.

How to find a true spiritual Guru? 
Just like Nisargadatta Maharaj always says, ‘Your true Guru is within. Turn within, rest in the sense of ‘I am’. You will find him’.

A truly spiritual Guru will help point inwards and take your attention away from him. He will constantly say that ‘I am not your Guru, your Guru is within’. Reference – Ramana Maharshi’s teachings from the book ‘Be as you are’ – ‘Guru’ chapter.

A truly spiritual Guru will not care for publicity and commercially marketing himself. Nisargadatta Maharaj said that ‘Truth does not need publicity. That which needs publicity is not the Truth’. [Rays of the Absolute documentary on YouTube].

Please recognize that it is the truly enlightened humans [who do not claim to be special or God-like] that have enabled this highest Truth from withering away. Seek the truly Enlightened Master’s Knowledge like Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Adishankaracharya, Gaudapada, Buddha, Guru Nanak dev and Saint Kabir. If you spend some time reading and listening to their words, you WILL DEFINITELY recognize that IT IS SO EASY TO FIND. You were only ignoring it so far. It is RIGHT IN FRONT of your eyes.

May everyone attain the highest and the easiest TRUTH in this very lifetime without wasting a single precious moment!