Hi, my name is Abhay Bairagi. I am confused about ‘who am I?’

Am I this body? Wait… but if I am this body, then my body is not the same as the one that was born 22 years ago. No, I am not this body; otherwise, this question of my existence would not come to my mind. I am no longer that person. I merely came for a while, and soon every cell in my body will change, and then I will be a different person.

Hey, unconsciously I said ‘my body,’ ‘then I was a different person.’ Very funny… he was a different person, so why am I saying I was a different person?

Maybe I am my mind… Ohh, again I said my mind. Okay, now I will be careful with my language. Let’s consider I am this mind. But if I am this mind, then why is it very difficult to control this mind, and why does the mind go against me most of the time? Ahhhh… again I said ‘I was not able to control’… now I am sure I am not this mind. How can I be this mind? Many times I feel it is my biggest enemy — okay, okay, many times it behaves as my friend; it helps me in solving math and so on…

Okay, wait… Maybe I am this consciousness… Consciousness? Really… Okay, let’s dive deep into this subject… So I think of my consciousness. I can classify it in three ways:

• My waking state consciousness where I experience this world
• The one which was there while I dream, where I experience the inner self
• Or the one which is there when I was in deep sleep, which means nothingness; I experience nothingness in deep sleep.

WAIT…

Again unconsciously I said ‘I experience’ all these…

Who am I? Or What am I?

In next Article we will see what Bhagwat gita and Mandukya upnishad says about this…
(See Shruti Serenity for next part as next part will be the part of upnishad)