My True Identity is No Identity

The problem with most seekers is that they eagerly jump from one identity to another. As the thoughts flow, so do the identities. Even on somehow arriving at the pointers to the Truth, they get fooled into thinking that they are now unique in their thinking process and so must be different from the other persons. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that you are no different from any other person. All is ONE and ONE is All.  All that appears different is just that- an appearance. When one turns one's attention to one's own self, the appearance disappears immediately. An appearance cannot be without the one to whom it appears.  The substratum is the same regardless of the appearance. The problem is that almost everyone is interested in the appearance and therefore forgets one's own self. You may say one ignores one's own self. Hence the confusion with various identities that one adopts or imposes upon one self.

When one truly turns the attention of the mind away from the objects, which are nothing but appearances, and LOOKS at one's own Source, then it becomes clear that one cannot identify with any thing.  Zero (shoonya). Upon careful inquiry, all identities dissolve into nothingness. One is left empty.   And yet, even saying emptiness or nothingness is not true since that in itself would create a mental concept and thus create another identity in itself.  All concepts are based on opposites. Emptiness versus fullness. Nothingness versus somethingness.  But your True Identity transcends all concepts.  The best way to perhaps describe THAT which is beyond any description would be to say that your True Identity is No Identity. THAT is who you really are. All else is an appearance - basically, nothing-just an illusion.

The End Of Spirituality

It is indeed amazing that we take for granted that we are an entity- an entity with a name and form. One rarely if ever questions the source or the origin of this entity. In the meantime, one is busy gathering more and more knowledge from various sources to enhance their self worth, whether it be in the field of arts and sciences, material wealth, religious knowledge or spiritual knowledge. Based on this gathered knowledge, one begins to feel important or great about themselves. Often the one who has gained knowledge of scriptures and spiritual knowledge feels superior to others who are ignorant of this knowledge. The spiritualist feels that he or she can somehow save the world and solve its problems.

Sadly, such a spiritualist has obviously not found out the truth about his/her own True Identity. Such a one has failed to question the source of the knowledge "I am". One has failed to question and find out the source of beingness, the taste of beingness, and the nature of beingness. Why and how has this beingness appeared? What makes the beingness what it is? In the absence of this body, would there be any knowledge of beingness and to whom?  No one seems to be interested in getting to the bottom of these questions. One is more interested in the branches of the tree rather than the roots. Understandably, the branches are more easily seen but it is the roots that you are really after.

All knowledge is in the realm of consciousness. But have you ever wondered what exactly is this consciousness and is it really the Truth? Is this consciousness not the source of this grand illusion, that we call the world and the universe. Without consciousness, would there be a 'you' or a 'me'? Is it not true that because of this consciousness, you have come to know that you are? What happens to all this knowledge of spirituality you have collected, if there is no 'you'? Who is it that claims ownership of spirituality?

When the Truth dawns on 'you', 'you' disappear and merge into the Truth. With your disappearance, there is the end of spirituality. THAT is beyond knowledge and ignorance. THAT is who you really, really ARE. Don't get fooled by the illusion of beingness. Step backwards and beyond this illusion to submerge into the Truth. The problem with most seekers is that they are unwilling to take this step.

Are You Ready to Lose Yourself?

Right now you are immersed in your identity with this body and mind. Based on years of conditioning of the mind, you have established yourself to be the body and the mind.  A body with a name. You believe yourself to be an entity, a body-mind entity with a name.  The name could be John, Josh, Arjun, Akbar or whatever else your parents told you. On asking about who you are, you have no hesitation in pointing to this body and saying "this is who I am".  You look at yourself in the mirror and take pride in saying " my body". Yet, you have never given careful thought about your own TRUE IDENTITY. If inquired into, you will realize that you are neither this body nor this mind. But, before you come to this realization, you may have abundant questions. Questions about non-duality, about why the world is like this or that, about religion, about various rituals and religious practices, or about which practice or sadhana you must follow in order to attain this Realization. Questions, questions and more questions.  Never ending questions. Why? Only to add to your already existing base of knowledge.  Often, armed with this added knowledge you may want to impress your friends and show them how spiritually advanced you have become. By throwing this jargon of words around, you no doubt impress some people.  But all along you very well know within yourself that all of this is just a facade. You are still trapped with the strong conviction of being this body and mind and the story that comes along with it. All this knowledge from the wrongly directed questions will have only resulted in the strengthening of your identity of a form with a name, you ego.

If you happen to be in such a situation, do not get dejected. It is an all too common scenario and you just have to look around in the world of spirituality to see how many people fall into this situation. The main question you must ask yourself at this stage is whether you are really, really willing to get to the bottom of this quest or is this quest just to boost your ego and self worth. If you are really, really willing to get to the bottom of this quest for knowing your True Identity, in that case you must be willing to lose everything that you have gained so far.  You must be willing to plunge yourself whole heartedly into this venture. You must be ready to lose yourself completely. You must be willing to give up your current identity and surrender it at the feet of the Guru. You must be completely humble and not take credit for anything or any action. When you have thus left the load of your identity and the suffering associated with this identity to be carried by the Guru, you immediately become free. All problems and suffering is directly associated with an identity to the body and mind. You suffer only because of problems related to the body or thoughts (the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts).

Now, if you do not identify yourself with the body or the mind, what questions can you have? All questions arise only when you identity with form and a name.  No identity of form and name = no questions = silence or absence of thoughts.  This thought-less state is the state of Just Being.

You are truly formless and without any identity but you are suffering only because you have falsely taken upon yourself this identity with the body and the mind(thoughts).  Don't waste any more time in acquiring more outside knowledge. All the knowledge you want is within your own self.  Just inquire as to who you really, really are.  That is all that is needed.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Are we all not familiar with the statement ' Don't worry, be happy'?  Yet, are you really, really happy? And then, what exactly is happiness you may say.  Obviously, to each individual the definition of happiness will be different and vary with the conditions and multiple factors. In short, the underlying equation can be summed up as happiness is present when the wants of a person are met. However, in your observation of the world around you, would you agree that when the wants of a person are met there is happiness? Obviously, not.  For when a particular want has been satisfied, there is soon another want or need.  Suppose, you want a really nice big house and you recently won the lottery and actually end up buying a nice big house of your choice, would that be the end of your suffering? Maybe so, for a short period of time. Thereafter, you are back to square one. Which is wanting something else and still suffering as a result thereof.  It soon becomes obvious that searching for permanent or unchanging happiness in this world of changing objects and conditions and environment is futile, since one has no control whatsoever over these changing world. Next, the wants and needs are infinite, including wanting happiness (which in itself is a need and want). Yes, you may portray an image of happiness and contentment, and on asking some people may actually say that they are happy. What they mean is that they are happy at present but cannot testify to that fact at a later time or date. For the one who says he is happy today may have a major tragedy befall him and there goes his state of happiness.


It becomes obvious that no state is permanent or eternal. All states including the state of happiness are transient. So, that brings us back to the question of what exactly do you mean by 'Don't worry, be happy'?  It depends on how you interpret it. The statement itself would have to be split up into two separate statements.

First, let us discuss the statement 'Don't worry' since it seems to precede the next statement of 'be happy'.  Perhaps, not worrying may be a prerequisite to being happy?!! Can you ever be eternally worry free? Not likely. At the least even a very happy person will eventually worry about his pending death and the pain and suffering associated with death. So, how can you be free of worry?  Firstly, worry is nothing but a thought.  A thought that arises spontaneously.  And since you identify yourself with the thoughts you take ownership of the thoughts (worries included). There is no way anyone can be free of worry as long as there is association of one's identity with the body and the mind. In the mind, the thoughts are endless and constantly welling up one after the other. Even if one meditates, there is no question that as soon as one finishes the session of meditation and returns to the surrounding environment, there will be multiple thoughts and as a result worries of some nature or the other.  Anyone who has practiced meditation and yoga would testify to the extreme difficulty and virtual impossibility of permanently controlling thoughts. And that is because thoughts will continue to arise based on vasanas (the only English word that comes close to describing this is "impressions"). To avoid diversion, we will not go into the discussion of vasanas for now. The only way out is for one to inquire into 'who is worrying?'. That brings us back to establishing your real identity. Once it becomes clear that the thoughts are not who you are, then the question of worry does not arise. Since, worries are nothing but thoughts, as soon as one realizes that he or she is not thoughts but one who is aware of thoughts, the worries automatically cease. Therefore, Knowledge remains your only hope. Knowledge of who you really, really are. Once established in this Knowledge of your True Identity, although thoughts may arise, there is no association with them, leaving you to revel in the peaceful oneness with your own self.



Now, we will discuss the other half of the statement "be happy". Actually, when the first part of the statement is clarified and one becomes established in one's own True Nature, the second part is automatic.  Once you stop worrying, where is the question of worrying about being happy?  There is no question of one being eternally happy. One is automatically happy being one's own self. Just Being is being happy. As soon as you be someone, then there are all sorts of states of mind to which you are attached. That is because, being this or that or someone involves being associated with the thoughts or the mind. Happiness is your True Nature. There is no question of a "me" being eternally happy. As soon as there is a "me" (an entity with a name and form, a someone), there are all sorts of emotions that this "me" can attach itself to and hence the happiness is also transient.  Remember, being me is unhappiness. Just being is happiness.