What am I?
Life is a deity. It appears to be ordinary due to layers of paucities it is been enveloped in. But what lies deep inside is a pure conscious- eager to interact, eager to guide us to the righteous path, eager to uncover itself and blossom; something beyond our ordinary imagination. The essence of life lies in Exploring, Encountering and Experiencing it. It is human to ignore things which are too close to us. We live life without understanding its glory, its divinity, its purity. All our life, we spend in fulfilling our natural instincts of food, shelter, clothing, earning livelihood, establishing family and a lot more; all this at the cost of the beauty of our inner self. We are expected to maintain the beauty of this garden called life like a Gardner. The self is neither born nor does it die. We can’t stay with the breathless (dead) body of our most beloved person for even one single day. So, what is that we love? It’s not simple breathe. It is beyond that, which had created LIFE, which has just evaporated away and what has been left behind is the sheath, called body, which will be degenerated by following certain rituals. So the question remains is that what is more important? The sheath or the Vitality which ensured the body and remained it ALIVE?
Ask a person to express about her/himself and everything she/ he expresses from her/ his name, family background, caste, creed, community, occupation, life style to pseudo set of principles of life revolves around the worldliness. Everything we know about ourselves is related to our body, life itself is missing! The answer to the question WHAT AM I is – I am the SOUL. Body is the just the temple the soul is lying in. Humankind realizing that we are mere bodies spends most of its time in fulfilling the bodily needs and hence living in a vicious circle yielding more pain for self and others. Those who have even an iota of belief that they are more than body, feels the difference in their lives; they hear a sound from within before taking the next step forward, and whenever they ignore the voice of this True Self, they feel negatively different; and this difference is expressed in the body through an increased heartbeat, shaking legs, nervousness, etc. See it in an innocent child who lives more close to her/ his self. The moment a kid tells lie, observe the body language. Any deviation from the true self is signaled and warned. The DGM- Divine Guiding Mechanism works. Those who succeed in developing this inner sight by sticking to the basics do not get distracted by small shake ups and face the turmoil of life with dignity and distinction. A cub nurtured among lambs behaves like a lamb. It’s the way it is nurtured. We nurture our SELF like a lamb, and fail to enhance its capabilities to convert it into a lion. The more we dwell deeper and ask ourselves this basic question, the more life reveals it’s secretes to us and blossoms to its fullest.
The celebrated affirmation of Indian scriptures - Ishwar Jeev Ansh Avinashi, deserves emphasis here. Our SELF is a small fraction of the WHOLE, and it’s immortal, ever-lasting, never dying. But to be like the whole, to inculcate it’s qualities, we need to be connected with it, the frequency should be matched, the wavelength should tally; and once it is done, the energy starts flowing, the Universe starts conspiring, nothing falls apart, all pieces start coming together and the picture gets more clearer, the riddle finds the clues, and we start radiating something beyond ordinary, something very precious and that’s called LIFE.
Dwelling deeper to this question, takes us to another level, where the answer is- We are neither body, nor SELF, we are that; SOHAM- I am that. Indeed I am that, whom the Almighty has incarnated in human form. I am a devotee whom the almighty has given the opportunity to refine. Why should any prescribed task be difficult for me? At this level of exploration the inner guide becomes more prominent and the established connection moulds us spiritually. If I am that, nothing is impossible; if I am that, I am empowered to Generate new, Operate the existing and Destroy the Unwanted. This transformation is a big leap forward.
Further efforts alleviate one to deeper levels; viz SHIVOHAM- I am the akin of Shiva. Shiva means auspicious. I am essentially a blessed person. So how can there be any place for evil in my thoughts, feelings or actions? If any appropriate trait has become fixed, it is due to bad company and surroundings. It is foreign to my nature. Why should I have any difficulty in removing it? SATCHITANANDAM- I am the Ultimate being, thought and bliss. Why should I be affected by falsehood? Why should I strive for something which will not last forever? I am true bliss. Why should I wonder searching for material gains? Why not enjoy what is the best? AYAMATMA BRAHMA- this very soul is Brahma. As the ocean is water, so also a drop is water. Every ray of the sun has the virtue of the sun. How so ever small the sun be, it has the capability of uniting with Brahma. And after union who is small or big? Both tap and tank are capable of giving water. So, why should I remain small and miserable? Why not become all-powerful? TATVAMASI- You are That. Whatever is great in this life, in this world, all of that is You (Supreme Soul). Everything is nothing but light, so why wander searching for greatness? Why become a slave of material things? Why not search for greatness in God.
It should be remembered that the meaning of "Soham", "Tatvamasi" the words "I", "You" don’t refer to this body or mind, they corresponds to the soul. Thus ‘SOAHAM’ is a divine message which reminds that the soul is a part of the Brahma. The spiritual scholars of all times have described the unity of the soul with the Brahma as that of a wave with the ocean, light with the Sun, an atom with the Universe, a spark with the fire.
Our body is made of physical elements, but the soul is subtle in nature. Oil drops in water always float up; a wooden piece will never sink in water, how much ever we try. This is because the molecules of oil and wood are lighter than that of water. Law of gravity or atmospheric pressure can’t stop it. Soul is lighter than body, and hence, in-spite of being associated with the body, it never mixes up and always tends to move upwards. This is like the soul desires for something lost, something with which it wants to in communion with. The difficulty however is that the intensity of self oblivion and the darkness of ignorance cover this reality. In darkness, a simple rope appears to be a snake; but when there is light, the truth appears, as it is. Atma Bodh (Self Knowledge) is the advent of that light in which man gets the glimpse of his real form. Then no more time is taken in searching the right path. The cub now knows the reality, and it no more behaves like a puny lamb, it roars at the top of its voice. This is LIBERATION. A spider weaves web, gets entangled in it and becomes restless; but when it determines, it winds up the web and swallows it itself. Worthless, insignificant life is a man’s on creation, his own web in which he remains entangled for long. To experience Liberation, one needs to cut away this web, which can only be done through Atma Bodh.
Fruits, flowers do not fall on the tree from the sky. Trees grow and bear fruits and flowers when their roots suck juice from the earth. Roots are within us and influence our entire persona, which ultimately leads us to magnificence. One gets nothing by begging and entreating. Spiritual inward path needs to be travelled on your own. A Spiritual Master, ‘GURU’, surely guides and leads us as a mentor, but the steps to self refinement and self purification needs to be taken by us. This is the greatest and ultimate object of human pursuit. Those who have understood this ultimate truth, have realized the secret behind the Spiritual Knowledge.