Bhagavad Gita
So how do we answer the question, "What am I?"
I believe we answer with "I am that"
I am what, crazy lady?
I mentioned earlier that when we repeat/think the mantra OM So Hum we are actually saying "I am that. " What exactly is that?
Again...I don't know...yet. :) But there are a lot of possibilities out there that resonate in my core.
"That" according to the writers of the Rudraksha Yoga site is Brahman: the One, the Divine, the Universal Self according to Vedic tradition. There is an amazing translated passage in the Gita that Ram Dass & others have written about. It is worth a read: https://sacredgate.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/bhagavad-gita/
Now I caution when reading translations because words/concepts/ terminology and meaning may differ from translator to translator. For example, I cannot seem to find what chapter that beautiful passage from above comes in when I read the below translation of the Gita. Just saying.
The gist is the "that" is God. We are more God like...a bigger Self than we are little "I's" or selfs.
Even the Tao purports this idea. In the Scriptures of the Yellow court, the body is described as a divine court with inner dwelling places for each God.
How do Christians view the "that" in I am that? Do they see the body as a dwelling place for God?
I love this passage from Corinthians: "Do you know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? " I Corinthians 3: 16 (ESV) . It speaks to the same idea, does it not? God is within us and therefore we are God like. We are born of God and we know God through the amazing act of Love.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. " I John 4:7 (ESV)
God is Love and we therefore are Love too.
What we are Not.
I believe it is important in understanding who we are... to strip away the things we are not. If we want to see the true Self we need to remove the false self that hides it.
We are not our egos; we are not our personalities and false selves. We are not the masks we wear. We are not the opinions of others. We are not our successes or what we feel we have "earned" in terms of prestige, wealth or recognition. We are not what we do or what we own. We are not our thoughts or our minds . And we are not our bodies.
We are often over identified with the little self and its attachments. The little self is focused on body and mind and so often steers us away from the voice of Spirit.
We are something much more than this. We are that which sees and experiences all these things. We can not see that until we step away from the things the little "I" attaches too.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
Hmmm! What does that leave us with?
What we are then ? What is "that"?
"That" is God/ Brahman. We are of God/ Brahman. "That is Love" . We are Love. The Kena Upanishad puts it beautifully.
Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby the eye can see: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which the ear can hear, but that whereby the ear can hear: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which speech can illuminate, but that by which speech can be illuminated: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which the mind can think, but that whereby the mind can think: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore.
Now that resonates in me. What about you? All is well.
References/Sites to Check Out:
" Not That Which the Mind Can Think"-The Kena Upinshad (2013) MoonLightened Way. Retrieved from https://moonlightenedshelves.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/not_that_which_the_mind_can_think/
Open bible: https://www.openbible.info/topics/who_we_are
Religion Library: Taoism (n.d.) Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence. Patheos. Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com/library/taoism/beliefs/human-nature-and-the-purpose-of-existence
Rudraksha Yoga (2013) What is the Meaning of Soham? Rudraksha Yoga. Retrieved from https://rudrakshayoga.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/vagartha-what-is-the-meaning-of-soham/
Sir Edmund Arnold (translated by) (n.d.) The song Celestial. Theosophical University Press on line. Retrieved from http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/ctg/bhaggita.htm
Taylor, Marie (2013) Bhagavad Gita . Remembering the Sacred Self. Retrieved from https://sacredgate.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/bhagavad-gita/
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