WHO AM I?
Sri Ramana Maharshi held that everyone needs to ask himself or herself, "Who am I?" "Who am I really," in other words.
In his lecture on The Crest Jewel of Discrimination, Swami Prabhavananda gets to the heart of this. He explains that the "I" referred to here is not the physical body, not the emotions, not the egoic self, indeed, is nothing that is in flux, is transient, is changing. Things that change exist in relative reality only. Things that do not change exist in ultimate reality. The Atman is the subjective aspect of Brahman and does not change. This is the real "I" in the question "Who am I?"
Swami Vivekananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, used to say that when he spoke the word "I" he was referring to his Atman. He always spoke as his Atman.
Prabhavananda added that when Jesus said, "I and my father are one," he was referring to this same Atman/Brahman phenomenon, only in different terms.
In his lecture on The Crest Jewel of Discrimination, Swami Prabhavananda gets to the heart of this. He explains that the "I" referred to here is not the physical body, not the emotions, not the egoic self, indeed, is nothing that is in flux, is transient, is changing. Things that change exist in relative reality only. Things that do not change exist in ultimate reality. The Atman is the subjective aspect of Brahman and does not change. This is the real "I" in the question "Who am I?"
Swami Vivekananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, used to say that when he spoke the word "I" he was referring to his Atman. He always spoke as his Atman.
Prabhavananda added that when Jesus said, "I and my father are one," he was referring to this same Atman/Brahman phenomenon, only in different terms.
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