WHAT IS THIS ‘I’?+

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

WHAT IS THIS ‘I’?

The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the Self. which is present in the form of consciousness.

The earliest ancient sages used the word ‘I’ to the witness of the three states, not to the ego as moderns use it, and think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self.

The seeker has to understand that the ‘I’ is not the Self, but the Self is the witness of the ‘I’, which comes and goes.

That's why in Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "I," if you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

The ‘I’ disappears in deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is impermanent and illusory.

There is no ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. And the mind is in the form of the universe. The universe appears as the waking or the dream. The ‘I’ (duality) disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

Thus, one that appears as ‘I’ is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness and it disappears as deep sleep is also consciousness. In deep sleep, the invisible Soul remains in its own awareness.

The invisible Soul witnesses the coming and going of the ‘I’. From the standpoint of the invisible Soul, the witness and the witnessed are one, in essence.

The universe is a reality on the base of individuality, and the universe is unreal on the base of the invisible Soul, the Self.

The seeker will gradually grasp and realize the unreal nature of the universe. Individuality is illusory because the Self is not an individual, because the Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, pervades everything and everywhere in all three states. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar