What Nisargadatta Maharaj & Ramana Maharishi Knew About Reality
Fascination with the Universe
When I was young in school, I was fascinated by the universe. I had a very scientific mind, and one question which used to bother me a lot, or which I used to think about a lot, was: does space ever end?
And if it ends, what’s behind space? Say you say space ends here, but there has to be something across that. So where does it end? Where does it begin?
One day I was in Kolkata. My sister stays in Kolkata, and I was walking through a bookstore. I was a voracious reader. I read hundreds of books, and a particular book caught my attention. It was called The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Fritjof Capra. It’s a very famous book.
That was my introduction to quantum physics.
So it was amazing for a young mind to read all the theories of relativity and Einstein — that you can stop time, there is retrocausality, you can bend space and time. Since then I have read, or been closely in touch with, quantum physics and neuroscience.
Of course, I did read Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj — that was my path — but another part of me was also very much interested in science because I think most of the people here who follow Advaita have this logical mind, this scientific inquiry mind. So they like going into that part.
So I read a lot of quantum physics, and the most surprising or interesting part is that a lot of things in quantum physics, on the surface, match up with what Nisargadatta and Ramana Maharshi say.
So today we’ll go a bit deeper. It’s like a journey. We’ll go to the end of time, the end of space, the end of the universe, and we’ll see what’s there.
The Double Slit Experiment
Before I start, does everyone or most of you know about the double slit experiment in quantum physics?
Most of you know? OK, so I’ll start with this, which is a very basic foundation. I’ll do it very quickly because this field is so big I could talk for hours, but I’ll try to condense it.
We understand reality, or Newtonian physics understands reality, in discrete forms. Like this is solid. This has a property. I can see it, and this does not change if I don’t see it. The pillar remains as it is. I see it or I don’t see it — it is independent of my observation.
Now an experiment broke that model of reality, completely shattered it. It’s called the double slit experiment.
What that means is when you pass a photon — a photon is the smallest part of light — through two slits, it behaves like a wave. Now a wave is a disturbance; it’s not a thing. You have to understand that. A particle is like a tennis ball.
So what they saw was that the photon behaves like a wave, but the moment they measured or observed one of the particles from that disturbance, it suddenly became a particle.
So this is called wave-particle duality. I’m not choosing this word “duality.” See — non-duality, duality — wave-particle duality. That’s the exact word for this.
Why duality?
This was discovered in the 1900s or even before that. Till now, there is no consensus as to why this happens. There are hundreds of theories — Everett’s many-worlds theory, Podolsky’s theories, string theory — endless theories. But no one knows why one thing is both at the same time.
So imagine I give you a tennis ball and I say this tennis ball is solid, but at the same time this is nothing. Nothing — just a disturbance. But the moment you look at it, it becomes a tennis ball. The moment you look away, it becomes a wave function again.
That is what wave-particle duality means. A particle is both at the same time, and it takes a particular form when you observe it.
So observation is required to turn that wave-particle duality into a particle. If I don’t observe, it remains all forms.
Superposition and the Observer
Another very interesting concept of quantum physics which blew my mind at that time was superposition.
Superposition means that in the waveform, that particle is everywhere at one time. We say this particle is here, right? Not in quantum physics.
Superposition means that particle is occupying all this space at once. It’s everywhere, but the moment I observe it, it collapses and becomes here. But till then, it’s a waveform.
Of course, the classical way we logically think about the world is very different from how these particles were behaving.
And this created the entire branch of quantum physics which went deeper into time, space, and consciousness, and then ended up with some insights very similar to what Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, or Vedanta have been talking about.
So we learned about wave-particle duality, and they said this is just on a microscopic level, right? It does not apply to humans. It’s just particles.
So there was this guy called de Broglie in 1927. He came up with his own theorem. He said that if there is waveform uncertainty — things existing as both wave and particle on a microscopic level — then even on a macroscopic level that is applicable.
And he proved it, and he got a Nobel Prize for it.
So they said the wave function is not only applicable at a microscopic level — it’s applicable at a macroscopic level too.
What this means is: there’s a tree behind me, right? Right now I don’t know what form it is in — wave or tree. It’s indeterminate. The moment I look at it, it becomes a tree. The moment I turn back, again I don’t know what form it is in.
That’s what quantum physics says.
Now the most important bit here is the observer.
Classical physics said this is different, observer is different, they have no relationship. Quantum physics says the observer is an integral part of the system. The observer is required for the wave function to collapse, for things to exist.
Without that observer, things cannot exist. So observer and observed are part of the same system. They’re not independent.
Now let’s go back to J. Krishnamurti: “The observer is the observed.”
Or you go back to Ramana’s teaching or Nisargadatta’s teaching — consciousness. The observer and the observed arise together. They’re not independent.
So that’s the first analogy we can draw from this very simple experimentation.
Cosmology and the Uncaused Universe
Then they started trying to find out how this observer or this universe came into being — this vast universe with thousands of galaxies, hundreds of planets, vast space and time. How did it appear suddenly?
This is called cosmology.
There are a lot of theories on cosmology. I’ll tell you one theory which is very relevant to non-duality.
There’s this guy called Vilenkin. He came up with a theory in 1982, I believe. It’s called the quantum tunneling theory.
Very simply, he says the universe has no prior cause. The universe suddenly appears because the quantum vacuum is unstable, and the universe appears spontaneously from nothingness, without any rhyme or reason.
Now let’s go back to what Nisargadatta used to say again and again. He used to say your consciousness just appeared. There is no cause for it.
He was very clear on this. Again and again people asked him: why is there manifestation? Why enlightenment? Why rebirth? Why suffering?
He said the initial thing is uncaused. There is no cause for it. Since the initial thing is acausal, everything that follows is acausal.
You cannot put a reason as to why it happens. It just happens.
He calls it “the happening.”
Another concept which is pretty prevalent in Advaita is “the play” — the play of consciousness. It just happens. There is no rhyme or reason for it to happen.
When I read quantum tunneling theory, maybe 10 or 15 years back, it really struck me deeply. Here was a scientific person with equations saying everything comes from nothing.
That finality — which we call the unmanifest, Brahman, or reality — does not need a prior cause. It just appears from nothingness and then goes back.
And this is also what Buddha talked about again and again.
Time, Space, and Consciousness
Then they tried to go back and see when it all began.
If you take Einstein’s theory of relativity and trace it backwards, you come to a point 14 billion years ago where everything becomes a singularity. Time and space collapse there.
That’s what they call the Big Bang.
So Hawking and Hartle, in 1987, were not very convinced with the concept of time.
They took time as one of the dimensions — like the X, Y, and Z axis. Time became another dimension. It’s called spacetime.
Once they did that, something amazing emerged — something sages had been saying for thousands of years.
They came to the conclusion, in what’s called the “No Boundary Theory,” that time is created after the universe. Time emerges from the geometry of the singularity. It is not independent.
We think time is independent and then the universe came into it. No. Once the universe comes into being, that’s when time starts.
So there is no way to talk about time prior to that.
Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta both talked again and again about how time and space arise from consciousness.
First there is the unmanifest — no qualities, nothing. Then suddenly there is consciousness, the sense “I Am.” And with this “I Am” comes the world, time, and space.
So logically, I cannot talk about time before consciousness because time itself is missing there.
Consciousness as the Screen
I’ll give you a simple example.
All of you must have played video games, right?
Say you load up a game where there is a character in a jungle or a palace. Before you switched on the video game, where was the character?
Is it possible to know where the character is before switching on the game?
The character is part of the rendering. Once the environment renders, then you can say the character is there.
Before that, the character is just bits in the hard drive.
This is very similar to time.
Think of consciousness as the game screen. Unless the screen is on, you don’t see the character.
Similarly, once consciousness comes in, time and space come in. But if there is no consciousness, you cannot speak about time and space.
That is why they talk about the final reality as beyond descriptions, beyond attributes, beyond time itself.
Stephen Hawking, through his calculations, came to the point where he said time completely breaks down, and beyond that is something beyond time itself.
Nisargadatta would call it timelessness. Ramana calls it timelessness.
Participatory Universe
Then they tried to understand more about the observer and consciousness.
A scientist named John Wheeler came up with something called the participatory universe theory.
His understanding was that the universe is participatory. You need consciousness and an observer for the universe to exist.
Before I read Nisargadatta, my understanding of reality was: there is a universe, and I was born into it.
But when Maharaj says, “No, it’s the opposite way — you were not born into the universe; the universe is born into you,” it completely changes the relationship between yourself and the universe.
Classically, I’m born in the universe. In Advaita — and strangely in quantum physics too — the universe appears in you.
This is called drishti-srishti in Advaita.
Creation happens when it is observed.
What Maharaj said again and again, and what has also been my experience, is that the universe and the “I” arise together in a flash.
There cannot be a universe without the “I,” and when the “I” sets, the universe sets too.
Because once you go, who will certify that there is still a universe left?
Prior to Consciousness
There are levels of dissolution. First the “I” dissolves. Then the witness dissolves. Finally consciousness itself dissolves.
This is where Nisargadatta’s teaching becomes extremely subtle and penetrating.
He went deeply into the question: what remains prior to consciousness?
He even wrote a book called Prior to Consciousness.
What does “prior to consciousness” mean?
It means a state like the video game before anything is booted up. The “I” is not there. Consciousness is not there.
Then what remains?
We think everything ends, but Nisargadatta says something remains — though it cannot be explained.
You cannot describe it because all descriptions belong to consciousness itself.
Quantum physics reaches a similar point at the singularity where all equations break down. Time breaks down. Space breaks down.
But the sages point beyond even that.
First Memory and the Miracle of Being
Nisargadatta used to ask: since when do you exist?
If you think logically, your existence begins from your first memory.
My first memory is riding a small bicycle as a young boy. That’s when I came into existence for myself.
Before that — nothing.
A year before that — nothing.
A billion years before that — nothing.
Then suddenly I’m here.
And with me, the world is here too.
The moment you open your eyes, the world appears.
That transition from nothingness to beingness — Nisargadatta called that the first miracle.
I have become self-aware. I exist.
And quantum physics has a theory called “something from nothing.”
The quantum vacuum appears empty, but it is full of potential particles. Things arise from it and dissolve back into it for no reason.
Very similar to how suddenly you are here without effort.
The Ground of Being
Ramana Maharshi approached this through the inquiry “Who am I?”
As you go inward, it takes you back to the source.
And there is this vast field of consciousness — immense, total, full of probability.
Quantum physics calls it the quantum field.
Vedanta calls it Brahman.
The first time I experienced this ground of being, I was near a bridge in my hometown. Suddenly there was this huge field of being, and I could see everything arising from it and dissolving back into it.
An eternal play.
And yet that field itself remained untouched.
In quantum physics they call it the quantum field. In Vedanta we call it Brahman — the potentiality from which everything happens.
Holographic Universe and the Final Mystery
There is another theory called the holographic theory.
It says our universe is a projection from a black hole — a three-dimensional projection from a higher dimension.
Mark the word “projection.”
This word appears again and again in Advaita too.
What is a black hole? You cannot describe it. Time breaks down there. Space breaks down there.
Very similar to the description of Parabrahman.
So physicists tried to answer the eternal questions:
Who am I?
Where am I from?
Where is this universe from?
And they converge to equations which say this universe is uncaused. It comes from nothingness.
This is exactly what the Vedas and Upanishads point to again and again — that the final reality is unknowable.
Unknowable not because it does not exist, but because the moment you define it, you lose it.