You are not who you think you are like a dreamer in a dream thinks himself to be someone who he is not. Nothing you think about you is you! The body changes over time, thoughts come and go, emotions arise and fade, but the feeling of ‘I am’ remains the same. Being a body is just a persistent thought. You don’t experience the body in deep sleep but you are still there, thats how you know when you wake up that you “slept without knowing anything” (this also comes under knowing).
We need to differentiate between the ‘I’ identified with mind as an Ego, the false self of likes & dislikes and the ‘I’ as a pure self, the ‘I am’. When the mind is thinking, there is a sense of self (I) which gets invested into it. This creates a delusion that you are the thinker. The Ego (the false self) is the thinker, the voice in the head is not you, it is the sound of thought processing. You are the one behind it, who is aware of it, the pure self ‘I am’ devoid of all thoughts. You are the feeling realization of ‘I am’.
When you say or think ‘I’, most of the time it’s not you, it’s the egoic false self who is speaking. The way mind hijack you is by pretending that you are the thinker, you have to separate yourself from your mind. Instead of being used by your mind, you need to learn how to efficiently use it. Be the awareness behind your thoughts and emotions, watch them, be always conscious of what’s going on in your head and the mind will loose its power over you. When you watch your thoughts, be also aware not only of the thoughts but also of yourself (I-am) as the witness of the thoughts. This way the thoughts are unable to trick you into identifying with themselves leading to compulsive thinking. It’s akin to watching your thoughts like raindrops.
As the understanding sinks in that you are different from what is yours, that “you” are not “your” body, “you” are not “your” mind which is just a bundle of thoughts & emotions, you start to become indifferent towards pains & pleasures of the world, this way you stop energizing your mind by self identification and your mind gets to calm down. In that stillness & silence you experience yourself as formless consciousness, the peace within.
~ radha krishna das
www.RKYog.org
