I AM

Swami Vivekananda

Dear All,

I AM !!

or 

I AM I!!

Author does not recall the title of a book in Sai literature but he remembers distinctly the initial  page in that book where Swami asks a muslim person, " WHO ARE YOU", to which the visitor says some answer but Swami corrects him and says, " YOU ARE YOU"!

What does this mean?

In the context of today's post on creation, we have seen a table giving a table starting from Body and ending at last in " beyond awareness".

That Beyond awareness or at least, in ints penultimate state, " in awareness of awareness or pure awareness, you exist as some thing which is the pure existence referred by the sage in the above quote which He says " I AM".

Let us see this wonderful quote/ poem by Swami Rama Tirtha

"I have no scruple of change, nor fear of death,
Nor was I ever born,
Nor had I parents.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I cause no misery, nor am I miserable;
I have no enemy, nor am I enemy.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am without form, without limit,
Beyond space, beyond time,
I am in everything, everything is in me.
I am the bliss of the universe,
Everywhere am I.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am without body or change of the body,
I am neither senses, nor object of the senses,
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That,

I am neither sin, nor virtue,
Nor temple, nor worship,
Nor pilgrimage, nor books.
I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute,
I am That, I am That."

The above poem echoes the same essence of Nirvana Shatakam by Adi Sankara, of which at least you will all remember the line" chidananda roopa: Shivoham Shivoham" because by most loving brother Dr. Anil Tiwari ji would have sang these lines at least 500 times in his study circle conducted for 16 years+ in sadan.

In the above poem, if we focus on many lines which say  I AM not this, I am neither this, nor this and then I am this, I am that etc, you will know that the expressions/ the qualities stated as not there or there, in these lines , keep on changing but the 2 words remain constant - I AM .

What do we understand by this?

When we start our spiritual sadhana/ journey, we have 1000s of impressions about ourselves which echo in our mind " I am this", " I am not this", " I like this", " I hate this"!!.

All the lines that follow/ that are attached with I or I AM in the above impressions are our own impressions manifesting into  attachment " I like this", hatred " I  hate this"  or fear " I am afraid of this" etc.

In your life, at appropriate time, God or Guru walks in and takes over.

Your impressions and the manifestation of your impressions ( the 5 kleshas learnt in MBCA)  gets attuned, weekened day by day.

At the end of the journey, on the chosen day, you get free from all your impressions, all vasanas, even from the asmita and avidya, the ignorance of your real nature and then attain perfect vidya/ wisdom that you were not what all you thought yourself to be all these years and alll this birth and earlier births but you are pure, divine EXISTENCE ( sat  referred in sat-chit-ananda).

To echo the truth, even in our own gross existence with impressions and with all kleshas, we say " I AM "and then suffix the I AM with your own impressions about yourself, for e.g., " I AM a professor, I am fair, I am tall, I am thin, I am week minded, I am full lust, I am egotistic, I am a Sai devotee, I am a volunteer..... so on and so forth.

In all these above impressions or belief that you carry about yourself, the words " I AM" which stand as permanent, irrespective of your various qualities expressed  by yourself, is THE PURE EXISTENCE   which Swami vivekanada has referred in his quote, which Rama tirtha has referred in his poem, which author refers in all most all his posts as the final attainment in spiritual journey.

When you EXIST as pure essence, there can be no thoughts about yourself, about the world and at this state, as vivekananda roars, there is  nothing else but this PURE ESSENCE, PURE EXISTENCE everywhere!!!!

Hope at least we are very clear conceptually  on " I AM " or " I AM I", after taking in this post!!

Love