What is the exact meaning of the two words "I am" that Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj refer

Originally Posted by losnosuy

What is the exact meaning of the two words "I am" that Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj refers to?
Is it the "sense of me" or the "sense of presence, being, existance"?
I am a sincere seeker. I very hope to understand that!

According to Mooji it's a simple acknowledgement that you, as consciousness, exists, nothing more than that. "I" - consciousness "am" - exists.

To provide a little 'contrast' and context......

The Sanskrit word 'Ahamkara' is often known as "The I of invented things," Aham means 'I' and a kara is a 'thing' of perceptual reality, not absolute reality. Meaning no disrespect you perceive yourself as a "Seeker" and if you delve into your head you'll realise that it's an image of yourself that you have created - you as a seeker is an 'invented thing' because 'seeker' is not you, consciousness is you.

If I asked you to describe yourself, everything after "I am" is your perceptual reality/an invented thing. The only absolute is that you exist, and if you no longer think of yourself as a seeker sometime in the future, you will still exist. How you perceive yourself right now won't. You'll still be here to say "I am...."

[Volman]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Hi Volman, welcome to the gang!

Hi miss H! Thanks for the welcome, I've been a member a number of times here over the last 10 years usually when my journey has taken a turn. You've always been here so it's nice to hear a familiar voice and you always have something positive to say

Cheers ��

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Greenslade

...The Sanskrit word 'Ahamkara' is often known as "The I of invented things," Aham means 'I' and a kara is a 'thing' of perceptual reality, not absolute reality....

That's funny I don't know too much about Sanskrit...but I do know, (and you will love this), God changed Abram's name to Abraham.
Coincidence? I think not..LOL
JASG should love this, too.
And we all probably know the sound of aham, aum, --all imitations of the unspeakable name, word, sound that is the Sat Nam or
Holy Name of God that should be 'hallowed'.
Whisper Yahweh..and Aaaahamm - same thing. All attempts, in our way, to try to say it..
my favorite Hashem...say that in a breathy whispering way. Haaa- sshemm.
So hum, Hamsa, So hung...and so on.

Sweet attempts. :)

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

There is no such thing a an exact meaning for that which is beyond, there are only pointers that point one to that which IS, pointers are like a boat we use to cross the river to get to the other side, when we are on the other side we drop the pointers, we don't carry them as we don't carry the boat that we used to get to the other side.......unless of course you want to get back to where you started, as most do.

I love this post ... especially the part about "we don't carry them as we don't carry the boat that we used to get to the other side.......unless of course you want to get back to where you started, as most do."

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 11 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by Greenslade

If I asked you to describe yourself, everything after "I am" is your perceptual reality/an invented thing.

Excellent point !

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 8 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by iamthat

'I am' is surely not referring to the small personal self, but rather to the limitless impersonal Self, omnipresent Being. The difficulty is the use of the word "I", which suggests a separate identity. Yet the omnipresent impersonal Self is our true nature, so this is the real "I".

That post is right on !

That is precisely why some Christians have difficulty with the quote attributed to Jesus: "I AM the way, the Truth, and the Light". Some interpret that statement as a reference to the separate identity of the man Jesus while others interpret it, as you do, as "the limitless impersonal Self, omnipresent Being".

[iamthat]

I found this following story from Nisargadatta in my emails this morning, which I will edit for brevity and hope it is allowed:

My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. ... Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am'. My Guru told me: ‘...Go back to that state of pure being, where the ‘I am’ is still in its purity before it got contaminated with ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’ ... I simply followed his instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being, "I am," and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the "I am" in my mind and soon the peace and joy and deep all-embracing love became my normal state... in it all disappeared—myself, my guru, the life I lived, the world around me; only peace remained, and unfathomable silence.

Peace

[Miss Hepburn]

It seems if someone sits in stillness and silence repeating inwardly I Am..they must be coming from a place as if --
'another' is saying I am...God, the Higher Self -the Super consciousness?...until they realize they themselves are this 'other One'?
In other words, they are not the small self, the individualized soul?

I'm asking. This is what I'm gathering. Trying to understand this I Am meditation better. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Trying to understand this I Am meditation better.

Have to get past even the thought of "I Am". It's what witnesses the "I Am" thought or the "Space" within which the "I Am" thought arises and it's not the mind because mind also arises within that "Space".

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Have to get past even the thought of "I Am". It's what witnesses the "I Am" thought or the "Space" within which the "I Am" thought arises and it's not the mind because mind also arises within that "Space".

For ME - that was as clear as mud...but I ddn't sleep at any Marriott last night, probably the reason.