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Lightnings. Ramana Maharshi. Who am I?

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I am pleased to include here the opening excerpt from Ramana Maharshi's Nan Yar (Who Am I?). Ramana, along with Nisargadatta and Aurobindo, are the greatest representatives of Advaita Vedanta in the 20th century.


 

 Who Am I?
(Nan Yar?)

As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme love for one’s self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to gain that happiness which is one’s nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep
where there is no mind, one should know one’s self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry of the form “Who am I?”, is the principal means.


1. Who am I ?
The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitive sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their respective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sense-
organs, viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have as their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five vital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing, etc., I am not; even the mind which thinks, I am not; the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.


2. If I am none of these, then who am I?
After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, (neti, neti)that Awareness which alone remains - that I am.


3. What is the nature of Awareness?
The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss (Satchitananda)

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Em said…
Beautiful, thank you Oscar. I am awareness wearing many masks.
March 21, 2024 at 1:58 PM
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