Hello,
There can be no self-realization as long as you are deeply convinced that- I am… XYZ. You are standing here believing ‘this’ to be your real identity, and you are asking, “What is my real identity?” As long as you hold on to ‘this’ set of identities, how can you know whether there is anything called ‘real identity’? I am deeply convinced that my religion is the best religion, will I be able to hear or understand anything?
To know my real identity, I do not have to begin by asking, “What is real?” I have to begin by asking, “I am already holding on to a few things. How real are they?” Because you do not exist in vacuum. Your mind is already full of identities. Do not ask, “What is my real identity?” Ask, “Are my present identities real?” D
Do not ask for a new identity because you already have innumerable identities. I asked you to write twenty statements beginning with ‘I am’. You can even write two-hundred if you want. So do not ask, “What is my real identity?” Ask, “All these identities that I already have, how real are they?” And how do you ask that? By looking at them.
You see, identity is the substance of your mind. Identity is your thoughts and your behavior. Let us do a ‘thought experiment’. Observe your behavior when you are alone in this room, and observe your behavior when there are hundred people in this room. Your behavior will change as the number of people sitting in this room changes.
What you are is always changing, depending on others. When an intelligent mind looks at this, observes this, he says, “This cannot be my real identity, because it is so dependent on others. I cannot be this. I cannot be this.” The intelligent mind then observes the other things that are there in his mind and he takes them as ‘real’. Things like ideology, religion, ideas about career and work, money.
He then asks himself honestly and intelligently, “From where have I obtained these identities? Was there any discretion when they were deeply embedded in me, or did they just keep coming to me from all kinds of external sources and I kept absorbing them like a sponge. How did I get my religion? How did I come to know that this is what is called ‘a good life’? How did I come to know that this kind of money must be earned? How did I come to know that these kinds of interests must be there? I love cricket, would have I loved cricket if I were born in Brazil? Where is all this coming from?” That’s what an intelligent mind questions, everyday, from morning till evening.
I am not talking of some new identity as ‘real’ identity. I am talking about your existing set of identities. When you look at your existing set of identities, with vigor, with honesty, you laugh. You say, “All my life I have been dictated from somewhere else, by an unknown master, by unknown masters (stressing on the word ‘masters’). I don’t know how many of them are there.”
To get more clarity on this kindly click on these links: http://prashantadvait.com/2015/04/19/whe...
Q&A: https://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20150603195421AATs4J5
No comments:
Post a Comment