You have met many anchorites and ascetics, but a fully realized man conscious of his divinity (swarupa) is hard to find. The saints and Yogis, by immesnse efforts and sacrifices acquire many miraculous powers and can do much good in the way of helping people and inspiring faith, yet it does not make them perfect. It is not a way to reality, but merely an enrichment of the false. All effort leads to more effort; whatever was built up must be maintained, whtever was acquired must be protected against decay or loss. Whatever can be lost is not really one's own; and what is not your own of what use can it be to you? In my world nothing is pushed about, all happens by itself. All existence is in space and time, limited and temporary. He who experiences existence is also limited and temporary. I am not concerned either with 'what exists' or 'who exists'. I take my stand beyond, where I am both and neither.
The persons who, after much effort and penance, have fulfilled their ambitions and secured higher levels of experience and action, are usually acutely conscious of thier standing; they grade people into hierarchies, ranging from the lowest non achiever to the highest achiever. To me all are equal. Differences in appereance and experession are there, but they do not matter. Just as the shape of a gold ornament does not affect the gold, so does man's essence remain unaffected. Where this sense of equality is lacking it means that reality had not been touched.
Mere knowledge is not enough; the knower must be known. The Pandits and the Yogis may know many things, but of what use is mere knowlegde when the self is not known? It will be certainly misused. Without the knowledge of the knower ther can be no peace.
- Nisargadatta, pg 300, I AM THAT