WHO AM I ?

If you are one of those people who have lost their way and have started traversing the so called 'spiritual path', " Who am I ? " is one question you cant escape. And if you happen to be in the eastern part the world then there is 100 % chance that you must have been asked this question. Be it Hinduism, Buddhism or Jainism, all these religions are obsessed with just one question "WHO AM I ?". In this blog I will not try to answer the question but to discuss the question itself and understand its implications.

"I" happens to be the most loaded one letter word in the English dictionary. If you ask a layman in spiritual ways, he would probably start with his name then his job, address, family and maybe even his hobbies. A CV or a resume is probably a good one page description of you. But is it ? For one it is more of a statement of what you want to project to your employer rather than what you actually are.

On the other hand if you ask a student of spirituality this question he would describe the nature of consciousness and say "I am that". For one consciousness is a pretty difficult word to understand. For ages the scientists and spiritualists have been fighting over its very existence. It is funny that we don't have consensus on even the very thing that makes us human never mind the fact that we have been humans for quite some time now. But more importantly how can we be something so subtle that we hardly know what it is ?

Spiritualists have long argued that you are not only your body. Your body changes continuously and now even the scientists agree that each and every cell of our body is replaced every 4 or 7 years. They also disapprove that we are only our minds. To them the mind is even more fickle than the body and can change the very next moment. The very basic assumption that the spiritualists are making is that we cannot be something which changes regularly or in other words we are not the same if we have undergone change. Will we call our house same if two stories were added to it ? Yes it is in the same location but in a three dimensional space structure the house has changed. No more do we have to fight over privacy of separate rooms so not only has the structure changed but so has its utility. In fact Ship of Theseus is one conundrum which asks everybody if all the parts of a ship have been replaced will it be the same ship ?

The spiritualists, it so seems, believe to answer in yes. No matter whether you grow beard or muscles there is something which makes YOU... YOU because there is something which doesn't change and lo behold they ask you to find that invisible unknown entity to answer all your life problems. Until unless you find your true nature, you will never get answers to some of the deepest questions about yourself. No matter how much knowledge you acquire but it is only direct experience of the Self that can bring any sanity to your life. What are the chances of finding it ? Pretty dim if you agree with people who have found it. Why ? Because there is nothing that can be done to find it. You realize IT only when you are ready. Till then enjoy your petty miserable life and keep changing.