What you think is not who you are. And yet, you believe in what you think. Although, these thoughts are constantly changing you still place total belief in these thoughts. Strange, isn't it? Any one who has given any attention to the analysis of who they are, is sure to be surprised with the answer.
Let us suppose you are currently this body that you think you are, since you are absolutely convinced about it. When this body was "born", you had no such claim. In fact, you had no such claim for about 18 months or longer into your infancy. Then, because of your parents repeatedly addressing you as the body, you began to understand that your parents mean the body when they address you by a name. You were therefore "born" nameless and without identity. Then an identity with the body was established by your parents. You, who had no name and yet were existing, were given a name. You got the knowledge, ' I am so and so'. Armed with this knowledge, you established that since you were this "I" (the first person), everyone else was separate from you and different and therefore called "him, her, them" (second, third persons). Armed with this knowledge, you labeled everyone else also with names and gave them an identity based on their form or body. This gradually got ingrained into you to the point that you gave this full credibility. You believed in being a body with a name, separate from others and the rest of the world.
Add to this, as the days became years and encounters with the society increased, you were given even more information about your identity. Not only did you now have a name and a body, but also multiple identities depending on what one was talking about. For instance, if there was a discussion on religion, and if someone asked you "what are you?', you immediately replied " I am a Christian" or " I am a Hindu" or what ever you were TOLD you were by your parents and society. If the discussion was about your job, your answer could be " I am an engineer" or " I am a businessman" or what ever identity you assumed relative to your job. To some you are the 'Manager' or the 'Engineer' and to others you may be 'Dad' or 'Mom' and yet to others you may be 'Son' or 'Daughter'. Your current identity is always relative to the others and it keeps on changing. You get the gist of where this is going. So, depending on how long this mental conditioning has been going on, and the older you are the more the mental conditioning, you would have assumed multiples of identities. The more knowledge you accumulated, the more complex became the maze of identities. YOU ARE LOST! You are confused. You are insecure in your maze of identities. You don't know who you really, really are. You are unable to pinpoint one single identity as being your self.
All this while, you FORGOT your original identity, which was just being you, without a name or an identity. How happy, innocent and contented you looked when you were in that state of just Being! If you ever doubt what is being said here, just look at the face of a one month old infant and you will realize what is being pointed you.
You perhaps came to this website or blog thinking you will be given even more knowledge about spirituality or some such stuff. Of what use is more knowledge if you don't know who you are? Is it not important to know on what foundation a building is standing before building on more floors or stories on top of the building? Do you know your foundation? And can you see the foundation without removing the existing floors? Why not remove or discard all existing knowledge of yourself and settle down to what you started with?
Don't just assume identities based on what your were told. LOOK and SEE what you were at the beginning. REALIZE that you are formless and nameless to begin with and always. Do not get carried away by the added layers of knowledge. Go back to what you always have been. DON'T BE THIS OR THAT. JUST BE.
