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Serious Who am I?

desmondquek

Alfrescian
Loyal
As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there
is observed supreme love for one’s self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to
gain that happiness which is one’s nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep
where there is no mind, one should know one’s self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry
of the form “Who am I?”, is the principal means.

1. Who am I ?

The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitive
sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their
respective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sense organs,
viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have as
their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five
vital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing, etc., I am not;
even the mind which thinks, I am not; the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual
impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.

2. If I am none of these, then who am I?

After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, that Awareness which alone
remains - that I am.

3. What is the nature of Awareness?

The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

4. When will the realization of the Self be gained?


When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self
which is the seer.
 

desmondquek

Alfrescian
Loyal
5. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken as real)?

There will not be.

6. Why?

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope
which is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the
realization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is
real is removed.

7. When will the world which is the object seen be removed?


When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the
world will disappear.

8. What is the nature of the mind?


What is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise.
Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart
from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts,
and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world
also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself,
likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind
comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self
does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one
persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue).
What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in dependence on
something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).

9. What is the path of inquiry for understanding the nature of the mind?

That which rises as ‘I’ in this body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the body the thought
‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it rises in the heart. That is the place of the mind’s origin.
Even if one thinks constantly ‘I’ ‘I’, one will be led to that place. Of all the thoughts that arise in
the mind, the ‘I’ thought is the first. It is only after the rise of this that the other thoughts arise. It is
after the appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal pronouns
appear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the second and third.

10. How will the mind become quiescent?


By the inquiry ‘Who am I?’. The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts, and like the
stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise
Self-realization.

11. What is the means for constantly holding on to the thought ‘Who am I?’

When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them, but should inquire: ‘To whom do they
arise?’ It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquire
with diligence, “To whom has this thought arisen?”. The answer that would emerge would be “To
me”. Thereupon if one inquires “Who am I?”, the mind will go back to its source; and the thought
that arose will become quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the
skill to stay in its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the senseorgans,
the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the names and forms disappear.
Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called “inwardness” (antarmukha).
Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as “externalisation” (bahir-mukha). Thus,
when the mind stays in the Heart, the ‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self
which ever exists will shine. Whatever one does, one should do without the egoity “I”. If one acts
in that way, all will appear as of the nature of Siva (God).
 

kryonlight

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

Even the jhanic mental states are not what you are, for it is as fleeting as a flash of lightning. Contemplate not on dead end questions such as "Who am I?", for it leads to nowhere but frustration. Instead contemplate on the inconstancy of the five aggregates of life: physical form, feelings, perceptions, mental constructions and consciousness. Doing so is much more productive!
 

hofmann

Alfrescian
Loyal
Even the jhanic mental states are not what you are, for it is as fleeting as a flash of lightning. Contemplate not on dead end questions such as "Who am I?", for it leads to nowhere but frustration. Instead contemplate on the inconstancy of the five aggregates of life: physical form, feelings, perceptions, mental constructions and consciousness. Doing so is much more productive!

Squatting.

May I enquire, why is "who am I?" A dead end question? Is it along the same lines as "why am I here?"
 

kryonlight

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
May I enquire, why is "who am I?" A dead end question? Is it along the same lines as "why am I here?"

Because it leads to the question "Am I eternal or not eternal?". There are those who take up the "not eternal" position where they say "after death the body decomposes and that's the final end of me".

Then there are those who take the "eternal" position such as the author of this article - only this Awareness which is existence-consciousness-bliss is me, my eternal self. Or there are those who say "after death my soul will join God in heaven". These are all "eternal" positions.

But if you were to examine carefully, these two ends do not accord with reality. In fact, any in between positions also do not accord with reality.
 
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