Nisargadatta on Ambition - AwakebyKatie Blog by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Causes and results are infinite in number and variety. Everything affects everything. In this universe, when one thing changes, everything changes. Hence the great power of man in changing the world by changing himself.

For this [seeking Reality], you need a well-ordered and quiet life, peace of mind and immense earnestness. At every moment whatever comes to you unasked, comes from God and will surely help you, if you make the fullest use of it. It is only what you strive for, out of your own imagination and desire, that gives you trouble.

Accept life as it comes and you will find it a blessing.

You are convinced of the reality of your circumstances, of the world in which you live. Trace the world to its source and you will find that before the world was, you were and when the world is no longer, you remain. Find your timeless being and your action will bear it testimony.

This is the most urgent task. You cannot see yourself as independent of everything unless you drop everything and remain unsupported and undefined. Once you know yourself, it is immaterial what you do, but to realize your independence, you must test it by letting go all you were dependent on. 

The realized man lives on the level of the absolutes; his wisdom, love and courage are complete, there is nothing relative about him. 

Keep quiet, undisturbed, and the wisdom and power will come on their own. You need not hanker. Wait in silence of heart and mind. It is very easy to be quiet, but willingness is rare.

You people want to become supermen overnight. Stay without ambition, without the least desire, exposed, vulnerable, unprotected, uncertain and alone, completely open to and welcoming life as it happens, without the selfish conviction that all must yield you pleasure or profit, material or so-called spiritual.

Abandon every attempt, just be; don't strive, don't struggle, let go every support, hold on to the blind sense of being, brushing off all else. This is enough.

Refuse attention [to what comes to the surface], let things come and go. Desires and thoughts are also things. Disregard them. Since time immemorial the dust of events was covering the clear mirror of your mind, so you could see only memories. Brush off the dust before it has time to settle; this will lay bare the old layers until the true nature of your mind is discovered. It is all very simple and comparatively easy; be earnest and patient, that is all.

Dispassion, detachment, awareness - free from memory and expectation - this is the state of mind to which discovery can happen. After all, liberation is but the freedom to discover.

Excerpted from Chapter 95 "Accept Life as it Comes," I Am That, Nisargadatta

Photo Credit: Timothy Conway, www.enlightened-spirituality.org

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org