What is life?
Movement, breathing, heartbeat, reproduction, etc. are signs of life but what is life? Is life a series of experiences?
Who matters most to us?
Is it self, family, friends, relatives, neighbors, or someone else? Who ultimately matters most to us?
If you come to know about a fatal disease in a stranger, it is only a piece of news to you.
If your distant acquaintance has it, you may forget about it in a moment.
If it happens to a friend or neighbor, you may feel sad for a little while.
If it happens to someone in your nuclear family, you feel broken but still may forget this now and then.
What if it happens to you? You will feel like the world has come to an end. You will constantly remember this.
So who matters most to us? Is it ourselves?
If I matter most to myself then who am I?
Who am I?
People who ask this question are usually struggling with their identity and want to know themselves from the core.
By not knowing the answer to the question, 'Who am I?', we keep on creating new identities of ourselves, consequently going farther away from our true selves.
When we have to describe ourselves, we usually do it in terms of body, relations, mind, and intellect. We usually say our name, achievements, talents, position, relationship with people around us, degrees, job title, etc.
We see our bodies. Our bodies change over a period of time. It implies that body is not me. I am I. I do not change with change of my body attributes. Body changes, not me.
I am not my name and picture. People may call me by different names but I am one and I am unique.
I am not my picture. Everyone knows that a picture does not represent me.
Emotions change so frequently, so I am not my emotions. I can observe thoughts running in my mind, thoughts may come and go, so I am not my mind. I am an observer who can see the thoughts flowing. My intellect has some qualities but it is not me as with or without intellect, I am I. My strength, weaknesses, talents, handicaps belong to my body, not to me.
So if body, emotions, mind, memories, and intellect are not me, then what is the point of having these? These are the tools given to us to live our lives, fulfill the purpose of our life, and attain the goal of our life.
Am I atma? Atma does not die. It is detached from worldly things. This awareness is the essence of existence and identity.
During transcendence, we realize that we are not the gross body, sense organs, mind, thoughts, etc. After negating all these what is left is pure consciousness or Anand.
This process of finding Anand is called Atma Bodh or Atma Jnanam.
Once we find this Anand, no questions are there. Who am I question has no place in this state.
So, the gross body is made of five elements, the subtle body is made of mind, intellect, emotions, thoughts, etc. but pure consciousness is beyond the gross and subtle body.
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते । पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om, That (Outer World) is Purna (Full with Divine Consciousness); This (Inner World) is also Purna (Full with Divine Consciousness); From Purna is manifested Purna (From the Fullness of Divine Consciousness the World is manifested), taking Purna from Purna, Purna indeed remains (Because Divine Consciousness is Non-Dual and Infinite).
Nirvan Shatkam says that I do not desire Moksha , as I am the Moksha or Nirvan.
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥
न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुः
न वा सप्तधातुः न वा पञ्चकोशः ।
न वाक्पाणिपादं न चोपस्थपायु
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥२॥
न मे द्वेषरागौ न मे लोभमोहौ
मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभावः ।
न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो न मोक्षः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥३॥
न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं
न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा न यज्ञाः ।
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥४॥
न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः
पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्मः ।
न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यं
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥५॥
अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो
विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥६॥
Finding the answer to this question (Who am I) is a journey to discover ourselves and we have to go on this journey alone. Throughout the process of self-discovery, one learns that he could never truly lose himself. This journey(called Yog) of exploring ourselves, our trueself, our inner self helps in our personal evolution and gives an answer to the next question also, which is what is the purpose of my life.
Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?
It is different for different people. For some it is mere eating, sleeping, reproducing, collecting wealth, spending, winning, etc.
Let us explore this further. If you have a full stomach and someone gives you more food to eat, will it give you happiness? If you have abdominal pain, will you like to eat food? Same food does not give you the same happiness all the time. Even if it gives happiness, it is temporary. You need that food again and again to get that happiness.
Money- Even money can not give happiness in all situations. Despite all the money rich people also feel sad when they have some disease or lose their near and dear ones.
Is winning everything? Ravan won against Jatayu when he was abducting Sita but what happened to him and how do people remember him. Jatayu lost in the fight against Ravan but people still remember him and praise him. So, winning does not translate to success.
Higher purpose of life is to do larger good. Good for self, society, universe, etc.
To love and to serve. Make better choices.
To discover our real self
Find real happiness. Real happiness is permanent, everywhere, free, spontaneous, and chaitanya ( hamesha, sarvatra, swatantra, anayas, and chaitan)
Become one with Parmatma.
Panch Kosh Viveka
Q. Inner self is pure bliss and it is me. What about positive emotions? Are those me? What is the difference between positive emotions e.g. love, joy and inner happiness?
A. First of all, emotions are not permanent, these keep changing. Inner bliss is permanent. Sometimes, when we are awestruck, we can feel the bliss but that is very shortlived, our mind starts having multiple thoughts soon after.
Q. People say, live in the present moment. What if the present moment is full of sadness, sorrow, regret, revenge?
A. Accept the moment as it is, like an external thing. However, your inner peace should stay stable and joyful. Your actions in present matter, not the situations. do your best in these situations/moments. This is karm yog. Many times, you can not change the situations but you you can control your actions and attitude towards these.
In 100 years like in 2123 we will all be buried with our relatives and friends. Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today. All our possessions will be unknown and unborn, including the car we spent a fortune on, and will probably be scrap, preferably in the hands of an unknown collector. Our descendants will hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather's father?
After we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone's bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history's oblivion. We won't even be memories.
If we paused one day to analyze these questions, perhaps we would understand how ignorant and weak the dream to achieve it all was.
If we could only think about this, surely our approaches, our thoughts would change, we would be different people. Always having more, no time for what's really valuable in this life.
I'd change all this to live and enjoy the walks I've never taken, these hugs I didn't give, these kisses for our children and our loved ones, these jokes we didn't have time for.
Those would certainly be the most beautiful moments to remember, after all they would fill our lives with joy. And we waste it day after day with greed, more greed and intolerance.
Abhimaan-- I believe that did this or that
Sammaan- People think that you did something good.
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