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Tell me who I am. Discovering who you really are can change your life. Back in 1902, the great sage Ramana Maharshi suggested that his pupil should delve into the question "Who am I" to reach an "enduringly happy state, where there is no mind." That objective sounds a little vague, but it has profound meaning.
The Maharshi said the path was direct. Repeatedly ask yourself the question “Who am I?” Focus on the answer and do not allow your mind to wander. When the question is first asked, many “I” thoughts may rise in your mind.
But, if the question is persistently pursued, all other thoughts will get destroyed and finally, the “I” thought itself will vanish, leaving a non-dual Self. The Maharshi felt that all other disciplines, such as breath control and meditations were only supporting practices, which helped the mind to remain focused on this key question.
A devotee once went to Ramana Maharshi and said, “I’ve been with you for twenty-five years, asking 'Who am I?' and nothing has happened yet.” The Maharshi is reported to have replied, ‘Try it for another twenty-five and see what happens.” But, it is not that difficult. You just need to understand why the approach works.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Can Your Mind Answer Your Questions?
Your
mind has a built-in ability to answer questions. The association
regions of your cortex recognize objects based on your sensory
perceptions. The somesthetic association region processes the
pressure stimuli on your fingers and grants you your knowledge that
you are touching a pair of scissors. If that brain region is injured,
you will not be able to recognize the object by touch, with your eyes
closed. You will still be able to feel the scissors, but you will not
know what it is. Similarly, an olfactory system enables you to
recognize an object by its smell.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Will Your Mind Answer The "Who Am I?" Question?
Your
mind receives a vast array of sensory signals, including light,
touch, sound, smell and taste. It separates these overlapping
patterns of the universe and informs you of millions of objects. Your
mind recognizes those patterns and will respond to your questions.
Ask yourself “Did I have dinner last night?” Did you? You become
aware of a reply. It will also answer your question “Who am I?”
and identify you as a separate living entity. Initially, it will
merely inform you that you exist as a distinct individual among
millions of other human beings.
Tell
Me Who I Am
How Do You Become Aware Of An Answer?
Billions
of neurons fire in the nervous system, without your being conscious
of their activities. They support millions of internal processes,
without your awareness. This very moment, while you become aware of
the significance of the words you read, you have no awareness of the
complex multi-stage process, which converted the black pixels on this
page into a meaningful concept.
Imagine a neural organ, which
acts as a conductor of the inputs to consciousness. While the
impulses of one hundred billion neurons power the nervous system,
current research points to a single organ, the claustrum, which acts
as a “conductor,” which coordinates the highest cortical levels
of the system. Thoughts"emerge into subjective experience"
from the combinatorial firing patterns on the claustrum screen. The
activity of this "screen" generates your conscious
awareness. Just as the control panel of a power station grants you
awareness of the essential workings of its major subsystems, imagine
the claustrum to be the screen, which creates your awareness.
Tell
Me Who I Am
What Happens With Repeated "Who Am I?" Questions?
Ask yourself "Who am I?" At
the first level of recognition, your mind replies that you are your
body and mind. Your thoughts may often wander. But, as you keep
asking and listening, the process will substantially increase your
awareness. As you watch, you become aware of the warmth of the air
and the hardness of your chair. You become more aware that you are an
entity, which receives internal information of sensory inputs, as
well as of your physical activities, like breathing and body
movements.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Are You Just A Shifting Vehicle For You Emotions?
There
is evidently a “ghost,” who receives all this data. You vaguely
sense that you are more the entity, which observes the universe
outside and the world within. More questions reveal your propensity
to be often overwhelmed by anger and despair, or sadness and joy.
Most people stop the questioning process here, concluding that they
are just vulnerable ghosts occupying creaky bodies.
The
next series of the “Who am I?” questions lead to some confusion.
You cannot identify a whole personality within. Emotions transport
you into vast conflicting worlds. Your viewpoints erratically shift
between enthusiasm, anxiety and utter despair. Even the width and
depth of your wisdom appears to vary. While anger makes you focus on
a narrow vision, love appears to open up a world of kindly memories.
Are you the angry person, or the loving person? Shifting between
conflicting worlds, you appear to have no clear identity at all! But,
even then, a developing awareness of your emotions carries you ever
deeper into your mind.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Have You Sensed The Physical Symptoms Of Emotions?
It
is a stage in your journey of discovery, where, sadly, you could get
stuck for 25 years. But, you could be lucky. You may note,
incidentally that each emotion you feel is accompanied by a physical
symptom. With your attention constantly
focused on internal discovery, you may note that your emotion
vanishes, whenever you observe its physical symptom. Eugene
Gendlin would
call this a “felt bodily sense.” This could happen a few times.
Each time, strangely, the related emotion would just disappear. As
you keep on “learning about yourself,” more emotions would
disappear. You would come to occupy an increasingly still space in
your mind.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Is Your PFR Your Final Discovery?
A
long practice of such observation of your mind leads to a situation,
where your mind becomes more and more quiet. When you lie down
quietly in the dark with a still mind, worries of tomorrow, or guilt
about yesterday's outburst do not disturb you. You ignore your
awareness of your bed and the feedback your body sends you about your
posture in bed. You ask yourself “Who am I?” and there is only
silence. At this moment, you could have a sudden insight. You
discover a presence, watching, waiting for an answer. All your powers
of recognition are focused on a deadly silence. You are like a closed
circuit camera, with a powerful capacity to recognize all inputs,
staring into the darkness. That is PFR, your prefrontal regions, your rational brain, free from
manipulation by emotions, watching and waiting.
Tell
Me Who I Am
How Does Your PFR Function?
Every
time you ask “Who am I?” you are activating PFR, the prefrontal
intelligence - the investigative part of the brain, occupying the
apex of your triune
brain.
Evolved over millions of years, the prefrontal brain competes with
the powerful feelings and emotions of your coexisting mammalian and
reptilian brains.
The
constant search within enables this superior brain to comprehend the
wily foibles of its primitive colleagues. Its superior wisdom
silences them and guides your life. After you discover this entity,
it helps you to know the scale and power of its wisdom.
Tell
Me Who I Am
How Much Wisdom Does Your PFR Hold?
Your understanding improves when you imagine 4 things. You will realize that your mind carries unimaginably large stores of inherited and acquired
wisdom. As an example, the DNA codes in your body contain codes,
which instruct your living cells to build your eyelid, or your
fingernail. Scientists reported that if those codes were packed into
500 page books, those books will fill the 450 kilometer long Grand
Canyon fifty times over! From millions of years of evolution and from
a lifetime of experiences, your system has acquired an immense trove
of knowledge. Similarly, massive stores of inherited wisdom within
your nerve cells manage your life. When not blinkered by the
restraints of your emotions, your PFR can flow with this wisdom to
manage your life.
Tell
Me Who I Am
Is This The Question That Frees You?
The
deep insight of Sri Ramana Maharshi was that his repetition of the
words "I am, I am, I am, ...", led to his discovery of the
truth that "I am not." He emerged into a state of
consciousness without any I or self at all, a state of pure
consciousness. In a mystic insight, he discovered an awareness,
backed by an enormous wisdom, which could perceive the unity of the
universe. He discovered the power of untrammeled consciousness. Such
journeys into the highest worlds of the mind may not be accessible to
the common man. Even if they discover their PFR, ordinary people may still remain
troubled by the passions and interruptions of their lower level
brains. But, they too can achieve a modicum of peace by following the
simple question “Who am I?” with persistence and
understanding.