Who Am I
Who am I? What am I? Am I the body, mind or something more? These are age old questions that every philosopher throughout the ages has tried to grasp and understand. After all, how will you know what to do in life if you do not even know who or what you are? The ancient Vedic scriptures of India, namely the Bhagavad-Gita provides the clearest answers to these questions.
Everyone is thinking or labelling himself or herself as, "I am Indian", "I am Chinese" or "I am American", which is acceptable from a practical point of view but in reality these designations are temporary. All these are identifications of the body in relation to the surrounding environment and society, all of which are only temporary. If we analyze our body obviously we would not say, "I body". Generally we would say, "This is my body". Just like we refer to other objects, for example, "this is my car" or "this is my hand phone" similarly the body is also a separate material object just like our hand phones or cars.
So the question is, what are we? Are we something more than the body, perhaps the mind? But even the mind does not belong to us. Everyone says, "my mind is killing me", "my mind is thinking about something", "my mind this" and "my mind that". We also refer to other objects as "my house", "my country", etc.
Our real nature is spirit soul and we are currently trapped in our current body for a limited time period. The real me or the person "I" is actually the spirit soul which resides within the region of the heart. It is this particle, which makes our heart pump, and provides consciousness throughout the whole body. This is where the soul or the real we resides.
The soul is the cause of life in the sense that it makes the gross body appear alive. Actually the soul is the life force. The body on the other hand is never alive; the body is just like a machine. In other words the body is like a car, and the soul, its driver. An ignorant person may see a car from a distance and think it is moving on its own strength. But a knowledgeable person understands that without a driver, it cannot move. Matter by nature is lifeless and requires a spirit; just like a machine cannot function without an operator. The body consists of chemicals and does not move without the presence of the soul. The best evidence of this is when a person dies. At the time of death all bodily functions stop. Once the soul is gone, the chemicals start to disintegrate, and no scientist can stop this process. Therefore the difference between a dead body and a living body is the presence of the soul. Actually death means the changing of body; the soul accepts a new body thus giving up its old and useless one.
"As a person puts on new garments, giving up the old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."
The soul by nature is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. It is fully spirit and is distinct from matter; it was never created "nor" can it be destroyed. It is the soul, which is the life force and that which moves inert matter. Matter on the other hand is dead. It cannot act on its own and it subject to creation and destruction. The body, which we dwell upon, is just a combination of material elements. One who has realized the self (soul) within identifies with the soul distinct from the outer material body. But such people are very rare in today's world. There are so many wars today because people identify themselves as Indians, Chinese, Americans, Europeans, or belonging to this group or that group. All of them are falsely identifying with the outer material body as the self and not with the real self, the spirit soul. Real bliss and happiness come to a person who identifies with the spirit soul. Frustration, envy, lust, greed and hatred are all symptoms of misidentification with the material body.
If a person wants to be happy then he should address the needs of the soul within the body, not just the outer material body that most often brings about anxiety. Some people may be externally happy but internally they are always disturbed. A person who realizes he is not the body but a spirit soul within the body is always peaceful and happy. Here is an interesting story to illustrate this. A man bought an expensive cage for his bird. He spent most of his time cleaning and polishing the cage but he failed to feed the bird within. One fine day due to starvation the bird died. The cage refers to our body and the bird refers to the soul within. We are suffering spiritual starvation.
Nobody is truly happy in this world. One should address the needs of the soul to experience a blissful life. One can begin to address the needs of the soul by chanting the Maha Mantra and begin to experience real happiness.
Maha Mantra
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hara
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
For more information on addressing the needs of the soul, please contact:
Devakinandan Dasa 90606870
Pushpa Gopala Dasa 93682060