It is foolish to say I AM FORMLESS or I AM BRAHMAN because you cease to exist without the form. The Self is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The unborn Soul, the Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The invisible Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. Those who say I AM THIS or I AM THAT are still in the grip of ignorance.
Remember:~
Make sure the Self is not ‘I’. If the Self is not ‘I’ then whatever you have seen, known, believed, and experienced as an individual is bound to be a falsehood.
If the Self is not ‘I’ then there is no other ‘I’ because the ‘I’ exists only in the domain of the duality. The Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The nature of the Soul is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The ‘I’ is the illusory nature of the Self, which appears and disappears. Thus, holding the Self as ‘I’ and trying to assimilate Advaitic truth is like trying to drain the ocean drop by drop.
The ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. Only when the mind is present then the universe is present. without the mind, the universe ceases to exist.
The universe appears as a waking or dream(duality) and disappears as the Soul in deep sleep (nonduality).
If the ‘I’ is an illusion, then it is no use in inquiring ‘Who Am I? Till one holds the Self as the ‘I’ the Soul, the Self is caught up in the prison of the dualistic illusion or Maya.
Bhagvad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16
Sage Sankara: ~ VC~.63- "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.
Deeper self-search reveals that by inquiring Who Am I? - Advaitic wisdom will not dawn. Who Am I?- inquiry is only for beginners and it is inadequate and useless in the later stages.
That is why Sage Sankara: ~ VC~.61~ For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?
VC- v6~ Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together.
That is why in Bhagvad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient I comes and goes. (2.18)
Until one gets convinced that the Self is not ‘I’ but the Self is the Soul, he will remain in ignorance of the truth hidden by the ‘I’.
If the Self is a formless Soul then the experience of birth, life, death, and the world is bound to be an illusion. Therefore, it is necessary to know and realize the fact that, the Self is not the form, but it is formless before indulging in the inner (mental) journey.
Self-inquiry is not the set of questions but clearing all the doubts and confusion through deeper reasoning on his own.
There is no scope for arguments in pursuit of truth because it is a personal journey that starts within the illusion (waking) and ends in realizing the truth hidden by ignorance.
Question and questioner and argument and arguer belong to the dualistic illusion or Maya (I).
Who am I? - is not Self-inquiry. The ‘Self-inquiry’ is finding out the ‘Self’ which is hidden by the ‘I’. The ‘I’ itself is ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of the dualistic illusion or Maya or the universe.
By inquiring ‘Who am I?’- ignorance will not vanish. Without getting rid of ignorance, the Advaitic wisdom will not dawn.
Without the Advaitic wisdom, it is not possible to realize the truth, which is hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya.
That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya can be reached by getting rid of ignorance.
The ‘I’ is the universe. Without the ‘I’ the universe ceases to exist. The Soul, the ‘Self’, and the universe are one in essence, because, the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.
This universe is only the veil of ignorance on the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The Self is not you but the Soul, which is hidden by the universe (I). The Soul is hidden by the universe because the universe is merely a dualistic illusion or Maya created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.
When you finally realize the Self is not you but the Self is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.
Sage Sankara says:~ VC- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.
All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.
Till you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward ignorance will prevail as a reality.
Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as a reality. Until the universe prevails as a reality the religion thrives. :~Santthosh Kumaa
Sage Sankara introduced Who AM I? -inquiry 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
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