If I Am Not I, Then Who Am I? - 19th July 2016

You are not the body. That is fine. It may be different also. It could, yeah. So just because you are not the body, does it imply that you don't exist? Now, you exist only as the body? But which body? Many bodies you experience. Not humanly, yes. If you go to sleep tonight, you have a dream. In the dream also you have a body. Now, body is there. It experiences pleasure and pain. It experiences all that is there, you see. Time, space, the sensation of the body—all are experienced, you see. So the one that is aware of this experience of this so-called waking state, and the one that is aware of that experience which was the so-called dream state, who is that one? Body changed, isn't it? But the witness of these two experiences—was it a different one or was it the same?

Same. It's appealing. The question is making sense. It's appealing.

Yeah. Who is the witness of the dream and the witness of this waking state?

I am. Then I can... I who have that feeling, huh.

So this 'I' is not the body because the body changed. You can have any other body in the dream, isn't it? So which is this 'I' which remains constant through the dropping and picking up of even these bodies? That is what the exploration is about. So very good. You already say that 'I' cannot just be this body. Now, some have had this as an insight and some know this just intuitively also, saying that 'How can I just be made up of this food and liquid that I have consumed?' You see, there must be something more than that. There must be something here that is prior to the sense of this body. That which Bhagwan called the 'I-I' and Maharaj called the 'I Am,' you see, is a beautiful contemplation to look at. So when I say, 'Can you stop being now?'

Oh, yeah.

What do you say? When I say, 'Can you stop being?' Can you? Can you? Further question: can we not be?

So this sense of being is here, isn't it?

Sense of being is here. So this sense of being, you are witnessing even this, isn't it? So this witness, what does this witness look like? The mind cannot solve it. No knowledge can help here. It is only when we check for ourselves: who is this that is aware even of being? So this is what Bhagwan is pointing to. Now, some of us are inclined to this inquiry. Some are inclined to this inquiry. Some, you ask the question 'Who am I?' and they want to run from the room, which is also fine. Yeah, you don't have to come into any peer pressure to do the inquiry, you see. If the inquiry makes you run, then find a place where you find some peace, some joy, some space. You can just be happy naturally without any reason. So you find that in the presence of one, you find this peace, this joy, this space. Life doesn't seem to have so many problems, you see. You find yourself naturally smiling like that. If you find such a one, then hand over your existence to this one. You don't have to inquire. Don't have to do anything. It can be that after being in the presence of such a one, then automatically something starts opening up to the inquiry. You must not force the inquiry down somebody's throat. So it is only when I find that just some simple mental blocks are getting in the way, then I will say, 'No, no, let's look now. Let's look together.' But just come to a place where you find some peace, you find some space. If you... this simple test: if you find yourself naturally smiling around someone without any reason, you see, then you can be there for some time and you find that something will open up in you. You find that all these questions which seemed like 'What's the point? What is all this?' will start to become very natural and simple.

Thank you. You have used the word 'peace,' you know. Say again, peace. Your word... you used the word 'peace.' It is very simple and very small word also, but to attain its peak, then it's not a simple word. It's not a simple word.

Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That it will not be anywhere that you go, that naturally you will find this peace, you see. So in the presence of one where you naturally find this peace, then you must not leave that one because it's rare. Just like you are saying, the one in whose physical presence itself you find yourself naturally at peace, naturally smiling, then you stick on to that like superglue. Don't leave that. They will make everything simple for you.