Week 51 · eastern

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nisargadatta Maharaj ran a small tobacco shop in Mumbai. He had an eighth-grade education. He dressed simply and spoke in Marathi to whoever showed up at his apartment for evening talks. When his conversations were translated and published as I Am That, the book became one of the most important texts in non-dual spirituality. Seekers flew from around the world to sit in a tiny room above a tobacco shop and have their assumptions destroyed.

“"The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it." A tobacco shop owner from Mumbai, with an eighth-grade education, pointed millions of people toward the simplest truth. You already are what you're looking for.”