A person asks Maharaj where the world comes from when they wake up. Maharaj responds that before anything can exist, there must be someone for it to exist for. All experiences of appearance and disappearance occur against a changeless background.
The person then questions their unconsciousness during sleep, to which Maharaj explains that even in unconsciousness, there is still experience and existence, just a lapse in memory. They also explain that the first thing that arises on waking up is the sense of “I am” and that this sense cannot exist without being someone or something.
The person then expresses that they are always someone with their memories and habits. Maharaj challenges this by asking if there is something preventing them from knowing anything else.
The person states that they seek knowledge through instruction, to which Maharaj asks if it is important for them to know if they are just a body or something else. Maharaj explains that all problems are related to the body and that these problems lose their meaning when one realizes they may not be just a body.
The person then asks what benefit there is in knowing they are not the body, to which Maharaj explains that even saying “you are not the body” is not completely true, as in a way, one is all bodies, hearts, minds, and more.
The key is to go deep into the sense of “I am” to find the answer. Maharaj explains that this sense is always with you, but it is attached to things such as the body, feelings, thoughts, and possessions.
Finally, the person asks what they are, to which Maharaj replies that it is enough to know what one is not, and that self-knowledge cannot be described except through negation. Maharaj also explains that each experience has its own experiencer, but the sense of identity is due to a common factor at the root of all experiencer-experience relationships.
The root of all experiences is an undivided and indivisible awareness, which is the essence, foundation, and possibility of all experiences. To reach this essence, one simply needs to let go of attachment to the unreal, and the real will swiftly take its place.
