>Happy-trails99 at 18:29, 23 August 2020

2020-08-23T18:29:04Z

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{{Infobox book|
| name = ''I Am That''
| title_orig =
| translator = [[Maurice Frydman]]
| image = I Am That, book cover.jpg
|
|image_size=
| caption = Cover
| author = [[Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj]]
| cover_artist =
| country = India
| language = English
| series =
|subject = [[Shiva Advaita]] philosophy
| publisher = Chetana Publishing
|editor=Sudhakar S. Dikshit
| release_date =1973
| media_type = Print
| pages =
|oclc=63243276
| isbn = 0-89386-022-0
}}

'''''I Am That''''' is a compilation of talks on [[Shiva Advaita]] ([[Nondualism]]) philosophy by [[Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj]], a Hindu spiritual teacher who lived in [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{cite web | title =I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj| work=[[Goodreads]] | url = https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/299869.I_Am_That | accessdate = 2014-08-18 }}</ref><ref name="JonesRyan2006"/><ref name="Zo-Callahan2009">{{cite book|author=Morgan Zo-Callahan|title=Intimate Meanderings: Conversations Close to Our Hearts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpqFEtRpi_gC&pg=PA485|date= 2009|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4401-3659-7|pages=485–6}}</ref><ref name="Kononenko2010">{{cite book|author=Igor Kononenko|title=Teachers of Wisdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tbYHJFej2UC&pg=PA293|date=2010|publisher=Dorrance Publishing|isbn=978-1-4349-5410-7|pages=293–}}</ref><ref>[http://nisargadatta.net/IamThat.html About Nisargadatta Maharaj]</ref> The English translation of the book from the original [[Marathi-language|Marathi]] recordings was done by [[Maurice Frydman]], edited by Sudhakar S. Dixit and first published in 1973 by Chetana Publications.<ref>[http://chetana.com/p.htm Chetana Publications].</ref> The book was revised and reedited in July 1981.<ref name="Tiemersma2012">{{cite book|author=Douwe Tiemersma|title=Non-Quality: The Groundless Openness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9cpAkloBKsC&pg=PA51|date= 2012|publisher=John Hunt Publishing|isbn=978-1-78099-289-1|pages=51–52}}</ref> These publications led to the spread of Nisargadatta's teachings to the West, especially North America and Europe.<ref name="JonesRyan2006">{{cite book|author1=Constance Jones|author2=James D. Ryan|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PA315|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5|pages=315–}}</ref> Excerpts of the book were published in ''[[Yoga Journal]]'' in September 1981, the month Nisargadatta died at age 84.<ref name="Inc.1981">{{cite book|title=I am That: Conversations with Nisargadatta Maharaj (Conversation 98)|work=[[Yoga Journal]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51|date=October 1981|publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc.|pages=50–51|issn=0191-0965}}</ref>

The book is considered the author's masterpiece and a spiritual classic by authors and teachers like [[Eckhart Tolle]],<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8v1X_DezCs Eckhart Tolle on Nisargadatta Maharaj] (video)</ref> [[Wayne Dyer]],<ref name="Dyer2007">{{cite book|author=Wayne W. Dyer|authorlink=Wayne Dyer|title=Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life|url=https://archive.org/details/changeyourthough00dyer_0|url-access=registration|date=2007|publisher=Hay House, Inc|isbn=978-1-4019-2052-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/changeyourthough00dyer_0/page/39 39]–}}</ref> [[Deepak Chopra]]<ref>{{cite web | title = What Spiritual Leaders Read Before Bed|page=2 | url = http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/What-Spiritual-Leaders-Read-Before-Bed |author=Leigh Newman|work =Oprah Book Club|quote="The spiritual classic I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj, which teaches us...|date= 2014-09-24| accessdate = 2014-09-27 }}</ref> Peter Crone and [[Adyashanti]], who called the book a "standout" and "the clearest expression I've ever found."<ref name="Adyashanti2006">{{cite book|author=Adyashanti|title=Emptiness Dancing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qNRZ-K85NQC&pg=PA192|date=1 September 2006|publisher=Sounds True|isbn=978-1-59179-876-7|pages=192–}}</ref> Dyer calls Nisargadatta his teacher, and cites the quotation, "Love says: 'I am everything'. Wisdom says: 'I am nothing'. Between the two my life flows."<ref name="Dyer2007"/> That quotation has also been cited by several other authors in diverse fields, from wellness to cooking.<ref name="Amore2014">{{cite book|author=Maria Amore|title=Cooking with Amore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YFtAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT120|date=17 April 2014|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4918-7007-5|pages=120–}}</ref><ref name="Gallagher2011">{{cite book|author=Jenny Gallagher|title=Yen Path: Taking Steps Towards What You Want in Life|url=https://archive.org/details/yenpathtakingste0000gall|url-access=registration|date=1 April 2011|publisher=Price World Publishing|isbn=978-1-936910-69-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/yenpathtakingste0000gall/page/69 69]–}}</ref> [[Joseph Goldstein (writer)|Joseph Goldstein]] visited Nisargadatta in January 1980 after reading the book, and after several meetings said, "The path that Nisargadatta revealed was not a search, but a find, not a struggle, but an abiding, not a cultivation, but something intrinsic to all".<ref name="Smith2010">{{cite book|author2=Joseph Goldstein|author1= Rodney Smith|authorlink1=Rodney Smith (Buddhist)|title=Stepping Out of Self-deception|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDv9_uD-jt8C&pg=PR15|year=2010|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-0-8348-2296-2|pages=xv}}</ref>

''I Am That'' has been translated into several languages, including Dutch, Italian and Hebrew.<ref>{{cite web
| title = I Am That talks with sri nisargadatta maharaj' |work=[[WorldCat.org]]| url = http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=i+am+that+talks+with+sri+nisargadatta+maharaj&qt=results_page | accessdate = 2014-08-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nisargadatta.org/pages/translations_of_i_am_that_nisargadatta.html |title=Translation of I AM THAT - the most famous book of Nisargadatta Maharaj into various languages |publisher=Nisargadatta.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518045933/http://nisargadatta.org/pages/translations_of_i_am_that_nisargadatta.html |archive-date=2013-05-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Background and publication history==
[[File:Nisargadatta Maharaj.jpg|thumb|Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897 – 1981)]]

Nisargadatta Maharaj met his guru, [[Siddharameshwar Maharaj]], in 1933. Siddharameshwar died two and half years later, and Nisargadatta continued to practice what his guru had taught him while running a small shop in Khetwadi locality in [[Girgaon]], Mumbai. In 1951, after receiving an inner revelation from his guru, he began to give initiations. He allowed devotees to gather twice a day for satsang, with meditation, bhajan-singing, and the answering of questions, continuing until his death on 8 September 1981, at the age of 84.<ref>{{cite web | title = Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Life and Teachings | url = http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Nisargadatta_Maharaj.html | accessdate = 2014-09-27 }}</ref>

[[Maurice Frydman]], a Jewish refugee from Warsaw, came to India in the late 1930s. Initially, he worked at the State Government Electric Factory in Bangalore. Later, influenced by [[Mahatma Gandhi]], he worked in [[Aundh State]] (the present [[Satara district]]) on the [[Aundh Experiment]] for local self-governance.<ref>Alter, Joseph S. ''Gandhi's Body''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-8122-3556-2}}. ''p. 92''.</ref> Thereafter he took ''[[sannyas]]'' (renunciation). He was associated with Sri [[Ramana Maharshi]] and [[J. Krishnamurti]]. Eventually he became a disciple of [[Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj]] in the early days of Nisargadatta's spiritual work in 1965. Frydman spoke Marathi and so became a translator of Nisargadatta's talks. He recorded and compiled the sessions, leading to the publication of ''I Am That''.<ref name=chapter6/>

Most of the conversations were in Marathi, but for the benefit of Westerners talks were often translated. Frydman:
″Whenever I was present the task would fall to me. Many of the questions put and answers given were so interesting and significant that a tape-recorder was brought in. While most of the tapes were of the regular Marathi-English variety, some were [[Polyglotism|polyglot]] scrambles of several Indian and European languages. Later, each tape was deciphered and translated into English″
.<ref name="AmThat">''I Am That'', Translator´s note</ref>

All the conversations were recorded at Nisargadatta's small tenement and later transcribed and translated by Frydman while the master was still unknown to the Western public. A Marathi version of the talks, verified by Nisargadatta, was published separately.<ref name="AmThat" />

According to Nisargadatta, "Maurice (Frydman) told me, 'Everything that is said here is immediately lost, though it could be of a great benefit for those looking for truth. I would like to translate and publish your words so others might know them. And so, he wrote ''I Am That''".<ref>[http://www.yogaenzaragoza.com/?id=134 Yoga en Zaragoza, Estudios tradicionales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921182933/http://www.yogaenzaragoza.com/?id=134 |date=2011-09-21 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref>

With the book's publication, Nisargadatta became very popular: hundreds of foreigners started flocking to his small tenement, and Nisargadatta once remarked: ″I used to have a quiet life but the book ''I Am That'' by Maurice has turned my house into a railway station platform.″
<ref name=chapter6>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/97304328/6/Chapter-6-With-Nisargadatta-Maharaj |title=Chapter 6 With Nisargadatta Maharaj for Maurice Frydman- a Jnani and a Karma Yogi |year=2012|publisher=Dr Srinivasan Nenmeli|accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref>

''I Am That'' was initially rejected by the major publishers, so Frydman worked with a then small publisher, Chetana Publications. The book was first published in 1973 in two hardcover volumes. The revised and enlarged second edition was published in one volume in 1976. The first paperback was published in 1984. The book is now published in the USA and Canada by The Acorn Press.

==Structure==

The book comprises 101 sections, each corresponding to a particular conversation, averaging four pages each and cast in a question-and-answer format. Most deal with a single issue but some go from one subject to other, always in line with the spiritual quest. The second edition includes an epilogue, ''Nisarga Yoga,'' by Maurice Frydman.

==Style of teaching in ''I Am That''==
[[File:Iamthat goethean.jpg|180px|thumb|Hindi edition of the book.]]
Nisargadatta's teachings are grounded in the Advaita Vedanta interpretation of the Advaita idea [[Tat Tvam Asi]], literally "That Thou Art", (Tat = "Absolute", Tvam = "You", Asi = "are") meaning "You are (actually) Absolute" (who think otherwise). Nisargadatta also had a strong devotion to his own guru, and suggested the path of devotion, [[Bhakti yoga]], to some of his visitors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nisargadatta.org/pages/teaching_style_nisargadatta_maharaj.html |title=The Style of Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj |publisher=Nisargadatta.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518034431/http://nisargadatta.org/pages/teaching_style_nisargadatta_maharaj.html |archive-date=2013-05-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Nisargadatta deviated from the formal [[Navnath Sampradaya]] lineage style of teaching by giving informal discourses for the benefit of Western devotees who did not have access to [[Dasbodh]] or other texts, and who were not familiar with Indian traditions and customs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inner-quest.org/Ranjit_Interview.htm |title=RANJIT MAHARAJ | meeting siddharameshwar |publisher=Inner-quest.org |date=2013-07-13 |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref>

It has been said that Nisargadatta´s style was direct, and even at times aggressive.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.davidgodman.org/interviews/nis1.shtml |title=Remembering Nisargadatta Maharaj |publisher=Davidgodman.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref> He very rarely mentioned scriptures or quoted spiritual books. His teachings came from his own experience.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hur Guler |url=http://nisargadatta.net/Navnath_Sampradaya.html |title=Nisargadatta Maharaj |publisher=Nisargadatta.net |date=1971-09-05 |accessdate=2013-07-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127101611/http://www.nisargadatta.net/Navnath_Sampradaya.html |archivedate=January 27, 2016 }}</ref>

== Nisarga Yoga ==
Nisargadatta taught what has been called ''Nisarga Yoga'' (Nisarga can be translated as “the natural state”). In ''I Am That'', Nisarga Yoga is defined as living life with “harmlessness,” “friendliness,” and “interest,” abiding in “spontaneous awareness” while being “conscious of effortless living.”<ref>{{Cite book|title=Living the life that you are : finding wholeness when you feel lost, isolated, and afraid|last=Nic|first=Higham|isbn=9781684030859|location=Oakland, CA|oclc=994000117|year = 2018}}</ref> The practice of this form of [[Yoga]] involves meditating on one’s sense of "I am" or "being" with the aim of reaching its ultimate source, which Nisargadatta called the Self.

<u>The Seven Principles of Nisarga Yoga (As identified by Nic Higham, 2018)</u> <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nisargayoga.org/|title=Nisarga Yoga|website=nisargayoga.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-24}}</ref>

# Non-identification and right understanding
# Interest and earnestness
# Spontaneity and effortlessness
# Attentiveness to being
# Right action
# Going within to go beyond
# Awareness of Self

==See also==
*[[Samarth Ramdas]]
*[[Advaita vedanta]]
*[[Navnath Sampradaya]]
*[[Siddharameshwar Maharaj]]

==References==

{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=I Am That I Am: A Tribute to Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj|author=Stephen H. Wolinsky|publisher=Quantum Inst|year=2000|isbn=0967036259}}
* {{cite book|author=Nisargadatta Maharaj|author2=Jean Dunn |title=Prior to Consciousness: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HiZ3ngEACAAJ|date= 1990|publisher=Acorn Press|isbn=978-0-89386-024-0}}
* {{cite book|author1=Nisargadatta Maharaj|author2=Robert Powell|title=The Ultimate Medicine: Dialogues with a Realized Master|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIH3FPOcvKEC|date= 2006|publisher=North Atlantic Books|isbn=978-1-55643-633-8}}
* {{cite book|author1=Nisargadatta Maharaj|author2=Vasistha|title=The Seven Steps to Awakening|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9g5bwAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Freedom Religion Press|isbn=978-0-9797267-6-7}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Nisargadatta Maharaj}}
* [http://sankaracharya.org/i_am_that.php I AM THAT - By Nisargadatta Maharaj]
* [http://www.nisargadatta.net nisargadatta.net]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gbysx6d8aYQRRp8uWC5oLRbd5epvYJJAz77HvYnnIxc/edit?ts=5af2a5d2#heading=h.yqqhguihz27n Farsi Translation of the book]

[[Category:Hindu texts]]
[[Category:Nondualism]]
[[Category:Philosophical literature]]
[[Category:1973 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Indian non-fiction books]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian books]]
[[Category:Hinduism studies books]]
[[Category:Books about spirituality]]
[[Category:Advaita Vedanta]]
[[Category:English-language books]]

I Am That - Revision history

>Happy-trails99 at 18:29, 23 August 2020