We go around assuming that we are the body and the mind. Rarely does anyone question if they truly are the body or the mind. Without knowing the truth of who you are, it is pointless to explore any other "Truth". In fact, knowing who you really, really are, is all there is to knowing the Truth, for Truth is all there is. Therefore, let us start with what you believe to be- a body and a mind entity. What exactly is the body? Forget about any philosophical concepts. Let us see what is objectively known to all of us. Let us look at what science has so far shown us. Science has shown us that the body is made up of essentially mostly water (more than 90%) and the mineral elements including carbon, iron, calcium, etc., oxygen or air, and space. These various elements interact uniquely in each body and produce unique characteristics of the body including characteristic shape, size and features. These elements also interact with each other and produce heat. The interaction of the various elements in relation to each other produces heat, which is essential for the survival of the body. The water in the body is H2O. At a molecular level, this water is no different from the water in the surrounding environment including the rain, the streams, the rivers, the lakes and the ocean. The oxygen (or air) in the body is no different in nature than the oxygen outside the body. The space inside the body is no different in nature than the space outside the body. Therefore, one cannot separate the elements in the body from the elements in the surrounding environment or the world around the body. One cannot claim the elements to be personal and unrelated to the elements in the atmosphere and the world. An analogy would be appropriate here.
There is space all around. One then builds four walls in a square formation, then puts a roof over the walls and calls it his/her space or home. Although the walls are creating an impression of separation of space inside the walls from the space outside the walls, it is obvious that one cannot really separate the space. Also, there was just this space initially, in which the walls were built in the first place!! In the same way, the space inside the body cannot be separated from the space outside the body. Space is space and has no attributes.
Now, you are probably reading this post with a firm conviction that you are a body, sitting on a chair and reading this on your computer screen. You are perhaps wondering and thinking about what is written above. Would you say that the body is doing the thinking, reading, seeing and pondering? If so, can the water really think, read, see or ponder? O.K., it is not the water. Then, perhaps it is the calcium, sodium, potassium, iron or is it the magnesium that is doing the seeing of the printed matter, the thinking, and the reading?! Perhaps, it is the oxygen that is doing all the functioning. You say, none of these. Then, can you please tell as to what is doing all the functioning right now and right here? Look and see. Can you find any- THING, that is doing all this functioning or making all this functioning happen? Oh, yes, you say, it is the brain. Is the brain not made up of the same elements as the rest of the body? And, by the way, the brain is located within the body. So, eventually you have to admit that no-thing can be found that is responsible for the functioning of the elements which constitute the body. Yet, undeniably, this functioning is happening, right here and right now.
So, it is this no-thing that is responsible for all this functioning that is obviously going on right here and right now. For us to discuss about this no-thing, we need to label 'it' with a name, just like we like to label every-thing. It is natural to label all things and we have to label even this no-thing! How about we call it the Spirit? No? How about Atman? Too abstact, you say. How about Om? No? How about Brahman? How about Awareness or better still Space like Awareness? With each label the mind builds up an image, a concept about what is being talked about. Again, all these names are giving rise to mental images and concepts about a no-thing. It is supposed to be a no-thing and the mind builds images about things as soon as we label it. Ah-ha, you say, let us call this no-thing, The Functionator!! You get the belabored point! For now, we will call it the no-thing.
Where is this no-thing? Is it anywhere in the body in particular? Is it anywhere outside the body in particular? Is it located only in California or in Wisconsin or perhaps in the mystical land of India? Is it not true, that functioning is going on everywhere and every place at the same time. Omnipresent, as they call it-present everywhere at the same time. Is it not true, that this no-thing is responsible for all the knowledge functioning through various brains all over the universe, at any time or Omniscient, as they call it. If this no-thing can do all this, it is all powerful, since there is no other entity that can accomplish what this no-thing does! Omnipotent- or all powerful, as they call it. Was this no-thing present yesterday but not today or will it be present tomorrow? It always IS. Is it not all pervading? Present both inside and outside the body and yet you cannot locate it. It is subtler than the subtlest. The more subtle the entity, the more pervasive it is. Can you say that the no-thing functioning the body reading this post is different from the no-thing functioning the body writing this post? So, it is not a part but the whole itself, which is responsible for the functioning of "your body there" and "my body here" simultaneously. You say, this no-thing is very complicated and just beyond any concept that the mind can create. The mind has to eventually give up in trying to grasp this no-thing with a concept.
If you are this no-thing, then who is this "individual"- the "me", who claims to be reading this post? So, no-thing is writing and no-thing is reading this post. In fact, all this functioning is happening because of this no-thing. In fact, the entire universe is functioning because of this no-thing. That includes the functioning of the tiny atoms and the subatomic particles including the electrons which are spinning around. It is everywhere and yet nowhere. It is every-thing and yet no-thing.
So, what is wrong with assuming the identity of this no-thing, right here and right now? Who are "you" in all of this?
