Awareness.....
There is a saying which goes something like this, "the best things life comes free", one such thing is 'Nothing'(ness), it is literally Everything and far beyond what one's mind can comprehend or even at the least experience, because to experience it - you have to step out of our mind.
On similar lines there are several things which are a part of us, and go unnoticed because they are yet to fall into the circle of one's awareness. Now that I have used this word 'Awareness' here, let us speak a few words about it before we proceed further. Sometimes have you observed, when there is someone staring at you you happen turn your face in their direction, or sometimes when there is someone right behind you(not necessarily because you heard their footsteps), you notice it even without having to turn, there is a small territory around oneself, as soon as someone steps in or leaves it you are notified about it, if you wish you can call it your circle of awareness. It has been believed told by all the mystics in this world that this circle can be expanded, just like one's ego which has no bounds one's awareness is infinite.
Have you asked at times, who are you? If you are not able to point out who you are, atleast we can try to find 'who you are not?' isn't it, so atleast we can arrive at something in between 'who you are not' and 'who you are', or even better if we can arrive at 'who you are'. So let's try to answer first 'who you are not'. We have all been taught since our childhood, 'proof of the pudding lies in the pudding' right, so 'what you see is what you believe'. So the answer is 'I am this body', and anything that lies outside this body is not me. So that is a good starting point, to know who I am ...! So if am this body, what happens if were to chop my little finger and place it on the table in front of me, am I this little finger, or the rest of this body. So, ok, I am not this little finger on the table, I am rest of my body. For sake of argument, if I were to chop the bottom half of my body and place it on the table, am I this bottom half which lies on the table, or is it this upper half. Answer comes back as, the upper half. Even with 50% of body gone(lower half), how is it that answer of who I am still lie in the upper half?, if were to remove both my hands and place it on the table, that is like more than 50%(say 60%) already on the table, answer comes back as the portion that is still with me. So my orginal assumption that the body is Me, doesn't seem to be doing any good, because the more I subtract my body doesn't seem to affect this factor, 'who I am'.., since 'body' isn't helping me arrive at the answer, so atleast can I say for the time being, 'I am not this body' ...
to be continued...
