This is a curated selection of Nisargadatta Maharaj quotes on free will (personally curated by me on my own lifelong learning journey). This page is intended as a learning resource for educational purposes and only meant to offer an overview/introduction. Short quotes aren’t a substitute for source material, so if this page sparks your interest, explore more deeply by checking out Nisargadatta Maharaj’s books (Amazon).
Page Contents:
25 Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on Free Will, the Doer, & More
Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on Free Will
“In Hinduism the very idea of free will is non-existent, so there is no word for it. Will is commitment, fixation, bondage.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“You have no choice, only the illusion of it.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“There is no question of being responsible for anything that happens in the world. It is only by taking delivery of responsibility that one suffers.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible. One implies the other.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“The universe is full of action, but there is no actor. There are numberless persons small and big and very big, who, through identification, imagine themselves as acting, but it does not change the fact that the world of action is one single whole in which all depends on, and affects all.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on the Doer
“As long as you have the idea of influencing events, liberation is not for you: the very notion of doership, of being a cause, is bondage.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Just understand that it is not your personal action or choice. Do not get involved as the doer.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Activities are going on naturally, spontaneously, in the same way that there is no author or doer of your dream world.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Let the actions happen through you. Don’t take yourself to be the doer. There will be actions through you; don’t say that these actions are good and those are bad. It is not your responsibility. The one who thinks he is the doer is a slave to mind-inclinations, mind-conditions.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“The deed is a fact, the doer a mere concept. Your very language shows that while the deed is certain, the doer is dubious; shifting responsibility is a game peculiarly human. Considering the endless list of factors required for anything to happen, one can only admit that everything is responsible for everything, however remote. Doership is a myth born from the illusion of ‘me’ and ‘the mine’.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on Happening
“Everything is just happening, and that false ‘I’ is taking the credit for doing things. You are the knower, not the doer.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“All this happens spontaneously. There is no author or doership there.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Things happen as they happen; blame or praise are apportioned later, after the sense of doership appearing.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Do what you like; just know that you are not the doer, it is just happening. The destiny that has come into existence on the first day of conception is unfolding itself. There is nothing that you can claim the doership of. Once you know who you are, that destiny does not bind you.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Carry out all the activities in the objective world, but do not claim authorship for what is being done. As you begin to realize that all the activities are happening through you and that you are not doing anything, then gradually all your desires like the attachment for husband or wife, or greed for money, etc. will dwindle. All of that will go away once the sense of ‘doership’ disappears, because at that stage there will be no personality left to take credit for anything.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on the Witness
“Once you realise that all happens by itself, (call it destiny, or the will of God or mere accident), you remain as witness only, understanding and enjoying, but not perturbed.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Why do you talk of action? Are you acting ever? Some unknown power acts and you imagine that you are acting. You are merely watching what happens, without being able to influence it in any way.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“The witness is that which says ‘I know’. The person says ‘I do’. Now, to say ‘I know’ is not untrue — it is merely limited. But to say ‘I do’ is altogether false, because there is nobody who does; all happens by itself, including the idea of being a doer.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“While dreaming, you observe the dream don’t you? At that time, the whole dream world is in front of you. You simultaneously watch what is happening while also taking part in the dream world as one of the characters, one of the actors. But here, you are purely a Witness. You are not acting but are merely a Witness, whereas there you also participate in the dream.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“The Jnani witnesses the consciousness acting; he has no involvement in the actions of the consciousness … Both God and the jnani know themselves to be the immovable centre of the movable, the eternal witness of the transient. The centre is a point of void and the witness a point of pure awareness; they know themselves to be as nothing, therefore nothing can resist them.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj Quotes on God
“God is the All-Doer, the jnani is a non-doer. God himself does not say: ‘I am doing all.’ To Him things happen by their own nature. To the jnani all is done by God. He sees no difference between God and nature.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“As life flows, go on doing what has to be done. However much you run around, without God’s Will there is nothing. Whether it is your dreams or your visions, whatever you see is nothing but God’s appearance. It is the Source, or Consciousness, which is appearing in so many forms.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“After understanding this you can go, and whatever you do doesn’t matter; it’s all God’s doing. You are not the doer anymore, you never were.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Just realise the One Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do not hesitate, or cheat, this is the shortest way to reality. Stand without desire and fear, relinquishing all control and all responsibility … There is a universal power which is in control and is responsible.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
“When you discover that Self which has no colour, image, or design, you will no longer require freedom or be conditioned by freedom. You will be beyond freedom.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
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