Hier volgt nog wat interessante info over Maharaj, verzameld door
Cathy Boucher:
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was born on Hanuman’s birthday, in March 1897, He was given the name, Maruti, in honor of Hanuman. His father worked as a servant and then later bought some land and became small time farmer. After Maruti’s father died, in 1915, Maruti followed his oldest brother to Bombay. In 1924 he married Sumatibai and with her became the parents of three daughters and a son. He started out as a clerk in an office but that did not suit him tempermentally and he soon took to petty trading. He opened a bidi shop (shop for hand rolled coarse cigarettes) and began selling them. He became prosperous. (I Am That, Part I, p.xxvii)
He had a friend named Yashwantrao Bagkar, an intellegent seeker of truth. They would have discussions and one day his friend brought him to meet his Sadguru, Sri Siddharameshwar. Although Maruti was moved by Sri Siddharameshwar, he felt the teaching was beyond him (p.xxvii). Maruti was given a mantra initiation, which is totally in keeping with the Navnath tradition, and instructions on how to meditate. His practice really started to take off between 1933-1936 (p.xxvii).
Sri Siddharameshwar died in 1936 and evoked in Maruti a strong feeling of renunciation which he acted upon. He abandoned his family and bidi businesses and took off for the Himalayas.(pxxviii) Srikant Gogte and P.T. Phadol , in the introduction of I am That say of this, “On his way to the Himalayas, where he was planning to spend the rest of his life, he met a brother-dsciple, who convinced him about the shortcomings of a totally unworldly life and the greater spiritual fruitfulness of dispassion in action..” (p.xxviii) When he returned he found that out of six shops only one remained, but that was enough for the sustenance of his family, Maruti became Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, devoting all his free time to meditation on his guru’s instruction. He actually explained how the name came to him in Consciousness and the Absolute: the final talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, edited by Jean Dunn:
Q. How did Maharaj get the name Nisargadatta?
M. At one time I was composing poems. Poems used to flow out of me and, in this flow, I just added Nisargadatta. I was revelling in coposing poems until my Guru cautioned me, “You are enjoying composing these poems too mcuh; give them up!”
What was he driving at? His objective was for me to merge in the Absolute state insteadof revelling in my beingness.
This was the way I realized knowledge, not through mental manipulation. My Guru said, “this is so,” and for me, it was finished! (p.7-8)
So, after a relatively short time he Awoke to the truth. People would line up at the shop to ask spiritual questions and later, his son took over the business and he began to hold Satsang (association with the truth.).
After Sri Nisargadatta became sick in the late 1970’s, his transmission continued but he lost all patience with spiritual imagery and intellectual fencing. His later discourses are piercing and diamond-like in their ability to dismiss the disengenuous and dillitante questioner. Most of all, he truly wanted us to awaken as he had. In Consciousness and the Absolute, edited by Jean Dunn, in one of his last talks, Maharaj said:
I do not want meek and humble disciples, I want them to be powerful as I am. I do not make disciples, I make Gurus. (1994: P100)
These powerful words are a reminder of the true purpose of the Navnath Sampraday. Perhaps, the Navnath Sampraday will take root here in the United States and Europe, amongst those who are quietly inquiring amidst their busy daily lives.
Cathy Boucher:
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was born on Hanuman’s birthday, in March 1897, He was given the name, Maruti, in honor of Hanuman. His father worked as a servant and then later bought some land and became small time farmer. After Maruti’s father died, in 1915, Maruti followed his oldest brother to Bombay. In 1924 he married Sumatibai and with her became the parents of three daughters and a son. He started out as a clerk in an office but that did not suit him tempermentally and he soon took to petty trading. He opened a bidi shop (shop for hand rolled coarse cigarettes) and began selling them. He became prosperous. (I Am That, Part I, p.xxvii)
He had a friend named Yashwantrao Bagkar, an intellegent seeker of truth. They would have discussions and one day his friend brought him to meet his Sadguru, Sri Siddharameshwar. Although Maruti was moved by Sri Siddharameshwar, he felt the teaching was beyond him (p.xxvii). Maruti was given a mantra initiation, which is totally in keeping with the Navnath tradition, and instructions on how to meditate. His practice really started to take off between 1933-1936 (p.xxvii).
Sri Siddharameshwar died in 1936 and evoked in Maruti a strong feeling of renunciation which he acted upon. He abandoned his family and bidi businesses and took off for the Himalayas.(pxxviii) Srikant Gogte and P.T. Phadol , in the introduction of I am That say of this, “On his way to the Himalayas, where he was planning to spend the rest of his life, he met a brother-dsciple, who convinced him about the shortcomings of a totally unworldly life and the greater spiritual fruitfulness of dispassion in action..” (p.xxviii) When he returned he found that out of six shops only one remained, but that was enough for the sustenance of his family, Maruti became Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, devoting all his free time to meditation on his guru’s instruction. He actually explained how the name came to him in Consciousness and the Absolute: the final talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, edited by Jean Dunn:
Q. How did Maharaj get the name Nisargadatta?
M. At one time I was composing poems. Poems used to flow out of me and, in this flow, I just added Nisargadatta. I was revelling in coposing poems until my Guru cautioned me, “You are enjoying composing these poems too mcuh; give them up!”
What was he driving at? His objective was for me to merge in the Absolute state insteadof revelling in my beingness.
This was the way I realized knowledge, not through mental manipulation. My Guru said, “this is so,” and for me, it was finished! (p.7-8)
So, after a relatively short time he Awoke to the truth. People would line up at the shop to ask spiritual questions and later, his son took over the business and he began to hold Satsang (association with the truth.).
After Sri Nisargadatta became sick in the late 1970’s, his transmission continued but he lost all patience with spiritual imagery and intellectual fencing. His later discourses are piercing and diamond-like in their ability to dismiss the disengenuous and dillitante questioner. Most of all, he truly wanted us to awaken as he had. In Consciousness and the Absolute, edited by Jean Dunn, in one of his last talks, Maharaj said:
I do not want meek and humble disciples, I want them to be powerful as I am. I do not make disciples, I make Gurus. (1994: P100)
These powerful words are a reminder of the true purpose of the Navnath Sampraday. Perhaps, the Navnath Sampraday will take root here in the United States and Europe, amongst those who are quietly inquiring amidst their busy daily lives.
Randolph's traditie:
Randolph: "Mijn leermeesters Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj en Alexander Smit maakten deel uit
van een eeuwenoude traditie die de Navnath
Sampradaya werd genoemd. Meestal spreekt
men over de lineage van 9 leermeesters, maar
in werkelijkheid waren dat er veel meer.
Ik zal een stukje weergeven waarin Nisargadatta
over zijn lineage spreekt (I Am That, Pagina 271
Deel II, hoofdstuk 97):
Question: I see here picture of several saints and I am told that they are your spiritual ancestors. Who are they and how did it all begin?
Maharaj: We are called collectively the “Nine Masters”. The legend says that our first teacher was the Rishi Dattatreya, the great incarnation of the trinity of Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva. Even the ‘Nine Masters” are mythological.
Question: What is the peculiarity of their teaching?
Maharaj: Its simplicity, both in theory and in practice..
Question: How does one become a Navnath? By initiation or by succession?
Maharaj: Neither. the Nine Masters’ tradition (Navnath Parampara) is like a river—it flows into the ocean of reality and whoever enters it is carried along.
Question: Does it imply acceptance by a living master belonging to the same tradition?
Maharaj: Those who practice the sadhana of focusing their minds on “I am” may feel related to others who have followed the same sadhana and succeeded. they may decided to verbalize their sense of kinship by calling themselves Navnaths, It gives them the pleasure of belonging to an established lineage.
Question: Do they in anyway benefit by joining?
Maharaj: The circle of satsang, the company of saints expands as time passes.
Question: Do they get hold thereby a source of power and grace from which they would have been barred otherwise?
Maharaj: Power and Grace are for all and for the asking. Giving oneself a particular name does not help. Call yourself by any name—as long as you are intensely mindful of yourself, the accumulated obstacles to self-knowledge are bound to be swept away.
Question: If I like your teaching and accept your guidance, can I call myself a Navnath?
Maharaj: Please your word-addicted mind ! The name will not change you. At least it may remind you to behave. There is a succession of gurus and their disciples, who in turn train more disciples and thus the line is maintained. But the continuity of tradition is informal and voluntary. It is like a family name, but here the family is spiritual.
Question: Do you have to realize to join the Sampradaya?
Maharaj: The Navnath Sampradaya is only a tradition, a way of teaching an practice. It does not denote a level of consciousness. If you accept a Navnath Sampradaya teacher as your guru, you join his Sampradaya. Usually you receive a token of his grace—a look, a touch or a word, sometimes a vivid dream or a strong remembrance. Sometimes the only sign of grace is a significant and rapid change in character and behaviour.
Question: I know you now for some years and I meet you regularly. The thought of you is never far from my mind. Does it make me belong to your Sampradaya?
Maharaj: Your belonging is a matter of your own feeling and conviction. After all, it is all verbal and formal. In reality there is neither guru nor disciple, neither theory nor practice, neither ignorance nor realization, It all depends on what you take yourself to be. Know your self correctly, There is no substitute to self- knowledge.
Randolph: "Mijn leermeesters Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj en Alexander Smit maakten deel uit
van een eeuwenoude traditie die de Navnath
Sampradaya werd genoemd. Meestal spreekt
men over de lineage van 9 leermeesters, maar
in werkelijkheid waren dat er veel meer.
Ik zal een stukje weergeven waarin Nisargadatta
over zijn lineage spreekt (I Am That, Pagina 271
Deel II, hoofdstuk 97):
Question: I see here picture of several saints and I am told that they are your spiritual ancestors. Who are they and how did it all begin?
Maharaj: We are called collectively the “Nine Masters”. The legend says that our first teacher was the Rishi Dattatreya, the great incarnation of the trinity of Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva. Even the ‘Nine Masters” are mythological.
Question: What is the peculiarity of their teaching?
Maharaj: Its simplicity, both in theory and in practice..
Question: How does one become a Navnath? By initiation or by succession?
Maharaj: Neither. the Nine Masters’ tradition (Navnath Parampara) is like a river—it flows into the ocean of reality and whoever enters it is carried along.
Question: Does it imply acceptance by a living master belonging to the same tradition?
Maharaj: Those who practice the sadhana of focusing their minds on “I am” may feel related to others who have followed the same sadhana and succeeded. they may decided to verbalize their sense of kinship by calling themselves Navnaths, It gives them the pleasure of belonging to an established lineage.
Question: Do they in anyway benefit by joining?
Maharaj: The circle of satsang, the company of saints expands as time passes.
Question: Do they get hold thereby a source of power and grace from which they would have been barred otherwise?
Maharaj: Power and Grace are for all and for the asking. Giving oneself a particular name does not help. Call yourself by any name—as long as you are intensely mindful of yourself, the accumulated obstacles to self-knowledge are bound to be swept away.
Question: If I like your teaching and accept your guidance, can I call myself a Navnath?
Maharaj: Please your word-addicted mind ! The name will not change you. At least it may remind you to behave. There is a succession of gurus and their disciples, who in turn train more disciples and thus the line is maintained. But the continuity of tradition is informal and voluntary. It is like a family name, but here the family is spiritual.
Question: Do you have to realize to join the Sampradaya?
Maharaj: The Navnath Sampradaya is only a tradition, a way of teaching an practice. It does not denote a level of consciousness. If you accept a Navnath Sampradaya teacher as your guru, you join his Sampradaya. Usually you receive a token of his grace—a look, a touch or a word, sometimes a vivid dream or a strong remembrance. Sometimes the only sign of grace is a significant and rapid change in character and behaviour.
Question: I know you now for some years and I meet you regularly. The thought of you is never far from my mind. Does it make me belong to your Sampradaya?
Maharaj: Your belonging is a matter of your own feeling and conviction. After all, it is all verbal and formal. In reality there is neither guru nor disciple, neither theory nor practice, neither ignorance nor realization, It all depends on what you take yourself to be. Know your self correctly, There is no substitute to self- knowledge.
