Who am I

Who am I

The thought and search for 'Who am I' started with the Upanishads which are known as Vedanta or the final part of the Veda (knowledge).

Rightly so, That thought of What and Why we are, would come only after rational & scientific pursuit of knowledge.

Let us examine ourselves scientifically.

There is this body that is a beautiful system by itself - with most of it being self assisted and sustained. The component & process of birth and death happens in every molecule within the body, each element though having a different time span or Kaala.

This body is essentially a universe unto itself; a habitat of lots of other vegetation and not vegetation. Many viruses and bacterial clusters are populated and multiply regularly in this body. Blood corpuscles of different nature, red and white, provide security from succumbing to external influences.  Many energies flow in and out as 'bhootas' (called rightly so because they soon become a thing of past); Air, Water, Fire and Matter gets created & destroyed quickly. 

Such being the system, let us consider another subtle aspect called the mind. Mind is result of various chemical and electrical changes that happen inside the brain. They function as responses to the sense organs. (The karmaendriyas and jnaanaendriyas).

The feeling of I and Me is thus inflicted upon the brain through the ceremonies conducted by the indriyas. So we think that it is:  my hand, my leg, my eye etc.   However, when the brain also receives impulses from external elements like mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, son daughter, relatives, boss, subordinate, pet, etc. The feeling of I and mine gradually extends to encompass and encircles those elements as well. For each individual, that Circle is different and therefore, the feeling of responsibility and ownership is limited to only as much.

Anything outside of that Circle is considered yours or theirs.

The concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam comes when that Circle grows to infinity thereby engulfing the entire universe.

Whenever that Circle is achieved, the Adwaita sets in. This is absolute knowledge.

Where the level expands to finiteness, there Dwaita sets in.

Dwaita is in individuality. Adwaita is in beyond individuality.

Due to the individual nature of Dwaita, the concept of God is necessary. Otherwise, it is not possible to explain existence.  As the Circle for each human is different in say radius, each one has a different concept of God and therefore, each human being in this universe follows a different God, however similar one might think them to be.  Only that the radius starts from zero to infinity.

Whereas in Advaita, the concept of God itself may not be necessary and therefore if at all it is required, it is one with the I or the Me.

The Upanishads highlight that Oneness thru various stories.  The Vedas say: That cannot be known by anyone. Who knows? even That might not know Itself.

Naasadiya Sukta (ná ásat - not non-existent), also known as the Hymn of Creation : (129th hymn of the tenth Mandala of the RgVeda (10:129) talks thus about cosmology and the origin of the universe:-

इयं विसृष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न |
यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन्सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा न वेद ॥७॥

Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows - or maybe even he does not know.

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