Om Who am I ?

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I have read with great pleasure the small pamphlet of His Holiness Swami Shri Shankar Purushottam Tirthaji Maharaj of Siddha-yogashram, entitled "Who am 17 or Self-realization". In very simple words Swamiji has shown the importance of the 'I' or the Self as the central principle of the whole universe, in terms of which the value of everything else is to be judged, somewhat in the manner in which the sage Yajnavalkya has emphasised he centrality of the Self in that famous passage in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad beginning with the words, "It is not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self is the husband dear". The question however, is: What is this 'T' which is the central principle by which everything else is to be judged? Is it the body, is it the mind, is it my individual ego which is sometimes elated, sometimes depressed, sometimes smiling, sometimes angry? The first instruction here takes the negative form 'Neti, neti', 'It is not this, it is not that'. Our author, therefore, in very clear terms states: "As I, the seer is quite different from the seen or the visible things, so the body, mind, intellect, etc., are different from the Self, the seer I". Having indicated what the Self is not, our author next goes on to tell us what it is. As no description of it in terms of language is possible, for, as a famous mantra of the Taittiriya Upanishad says, it is that "from which words come back with an unsatisfied mind", he asks to contemplate it in the language of the svetasvatara Upanishad as "sakshi, cheta, kevalo nirgunascha". This is, in fact, all that we can say of it positively: It is the Witness, it is the Conscious Principle, it is the Alone, it is that which is without any quality. Such a Self, however, is nothing else than the Absolute, the Sachchidananda Brahma. Our author, therefore, says, 'From what I have discussed so far it is clear that the Self whom we call 'I' is the Absolute, the Sachchidananda Brahma or Atma". The rest of the pamphlet is devoted to giving practical directions for the realisation of the Sachchidananda Brahma.

The pamphlet is well-written and is eminently suited to the requirements of those who do not have the time of the necessary training to read the original texts and want a handy guide, giving the essence of our Arya Dharma and also practical directions for the realization of the life of the Spirit.

In 1946 my revered Guru Deva was in Darjeeling. At that time His Holiness' blood- pressure suddenly rose very high and he often thought that Soul is not the three sets of bodies viz. Sthula, Sukshma and Karana: so really there is not any kind of disease in Soul. Agreeably to that thought, he began to write "Who am I". Soon after his return to Banaras, he intended to complete the book and dictated what he had to say to his disciple, Ganesh Chandra Datta. One day Shree Shree Guru Deva's medical adviser came to him and told him that with that high blood-pressure it was not advisable to read, write or dictate. So he had to conclude the book abruptly in spite of his desire to say much on this intricate subject.