Sage Sankara introduced Who AM I? for the beginners. As the seeker progresses in his quest for the truth he has to discard and go deeper to reach the ultimate realization. +

Sage Sankara introduced Who AM I? for beginners. As the seeker progresses in his quest for the truth he has to discard and go deeper to reach the ultimate realization.

WHO AM ‘I’? AND ‘I AM THAT’ is only for a lower stage where one gives up externally to expose the false nature of the ego, which is not the full truth. To get ultimate truth one has to inquire into the nature of the mind, which is in the form of the universe.

Inquiring into the nature of the mind or the universe is higher. Thus, the ‘WHO AM ‘I’? or ‘I AM THAT’ is not complete wisdom, and the journey is incomplete.

The ‘WHO AM ‘I’?’ inquiry is good at the starting point of the pursuit of truth but in later stages, it created lots of confusion. When the self is genderless then it is not He/She. Therefore, using the word ‘I AM’ for the ‘Self’ is erroneous.

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the self is not the ‘I’, therefore ‘WHO AM I? will not help to unfold the truth beyond form, time, and space.

Not by listening to the sermons of the pundits, nor by the study of the scriptures, not by meritorious deeds, nor by any other means can one attain Self-awareness, which is attainable only through association with the Gnanis and the clear quest of the Self.

People from all over the world come to India to get guidance from Gurus and their teaching and get stuck up emotionally with their chosen Guru and end up glorifying the Gurus and their teaching. So they forget their quest for truth. So their quest is incomplete hanging to the Gurus and their teaching.

After studying their Guru's teaching many become Gurus and start propagating what they know as the ultimate truth.

Many write books on Advaita. But such books are based on the borrowed knowledge from here and there. Such knowledge is not self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

All accumulated knowledge is of no use in the path of wisdom. Without realizing “What is the truth, it is impossible to realize “What is untruth?”

Without realizing what is truth and what is the untruth, it is impossible to assimilate the Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Thus, one must know with full and firm conviction what truth is.

Fortunate are the ones who do not lose themselves in the ‘I-centric’ Gurus and their teachings. Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in glorifying and worshipping Gurus and personal Gods but goes straight to the source from where the ‘I’ arises.

First, one has to mentally detach the ‘I’ from the Soul, the Self. The Soul is the formless witness and is unaffected by the coming and going, of the ‘I’. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar