Self - Source and End of All

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: The fact is that I am thinking of myself as the body.

Think of yourself by all means. Only don't bring the idea of a body into the picture. There is only a stream of sensations, perceptions, memories and ideations. The body is an abstraction, created by our tendency to seek unity in diversity - which again is not wrong.

Q: I am being told that to think that 'I am the body' is a blemish in the mind.

Why talk like this? Such expressions create problems. The self is the source of all, and of all - the final destination. Nothing is external.

Q: When the body idea becomes obsessive, is it not altogether wrong?

There is nothing wrong in the idea of a body, nor even in the idea 'I am the body'. But limiting oneself to one body only is a mistake. In reality all existence, every form, is my own, within my consciousness. I cannot tell what I am because words can describe only what I am not. I am, and because I am, all is. But I am beyond consciousness and therefore in consciousness I cannot say what I am. Yet, I am. The question 'Who am I' has no answer. No experience can answer it, for the Self is beyond experience.

Q: Still, the question 'who am I?' must be of some use.

It has no answer in consciousness and therefore helps to go beyond consciousness.

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You have to ask yourself the question, 'Who am I?' This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is beyond the mind. - Sri Ramana Maharshi