Credit: DH Illustration
We have dreams and when we wake up, we find that the dreams we had were not rooted in reality. We find ourselves in a different state altogether – the waking state.
The great sage, Janaka Maharaj, once had a dream in which he was a beggar. In the morning, he found himself in the palace, a King. So he asked his Guru, Yagnavalkya, the famous question, “ Sir, tell me the truth – am I a beggar or a king? Which is the real me?”
What is our true identity? What are we searching for?
The Upanishads explain your true identity: a state which continues through all three states - the waking, dream and deep sleep states. A state that witnesses all three states, but is unaffected by any of them.
The Keno Upanishad has a wonderful name. Kena means ‘By who?’ In it a question is asked. “ Who is behind all this activity that goes on within the personality, I?
The great Raman Maharshi reduced the whole of Vedanta into a simple sentence. ‘Deham naaham, koham soham’ (If I am not the body, then who am I?) I am That! That Supreme Brahman which cannot be touched by life or death.
There is a beautiful kirtan in Malyalam, written by a famous poet. This kirtan roughly means, ‘That, which is the eye of the eye,’ which means, That which sees from behind the eye, is the mind. The mind is the eye of the eye. But there is something which sees the mind too, which can witness the mind.
This Being, says the Upanishad, cannot be grasped by the mind or even touched by the intellect. Here, the Rishi is talking about ‘something which is beyond the senses as well. Even to begin to understand this, one must gradually loosen the grip of the senses, the mind and the intellect as they keep us tied down and bound.
The path of Bhakti is not only the singing of bhajans and acts of devotion. Bhakti is essentially an attitude by which a person begins to understand the limitations of the mind and the intellect.
When the intellect begins to understand how limited its reach is, it cuts itself out. When fancy can no longer unfurl its wings, when it settles down, then what remains is the experience of the Supreme Self.
That means the little ‘I’ has to go.