Who Am I?

Continuing our look into the Bhagavad Gita’s description of the 4 paths of yoga.

Now that we’ve seen something of raja yoga, the royal path of meditation, let’s look at jnana yoga, the path of wisdom. “Oh good, wisdom,” you think, “I’ve got some wisdom, that’s easier than finding time to meditate.” NAH! Sorry, wrong answer. While raja yoga focuses more on advanced meditative stages and techniques than the others, ALL the paths are understood to involve meditation as a necessary part of the practice of being a connected, grounded, spiritual human being. So be ready to plant your behind right back on that floor/cushion/chair, no matter what path calls to you.

Jnana yoga, though, uses the conscious mind to move toward the divine, rather than overcoming or moving through it as we seek to do in meditation.

With your mind intent on me, Arjuna, discipline yourself with the practice of yoga…Listen, and I will dispel all your doubts; you will come to know me fully and be united with me. I will give you both jnana [wisdom] and vijnana [knowledge and understanding].  

Chapter 7.1-2

The most basic question that jnanis ask is “Who am I?” Sounds simple, right? But just try to hold onto an answer for

very long and you realize that it’s like building a sandcastle with the tide rolling in. Maybe you start with relationships, something like, “I’m a mother/father.” Okay, what if you didn’t have children? There would still be something you intended to call “I”, right? So that is not “I”, at least not all of it. Moving merrily along to what you do, you might try, “I’m an architect/accountant/aerospace engineer.” What if you could no longer design, add, or build anything? Would there still be an “I”?

So these nouns, titles really, aren’t working; maybe we can try adjectives. “I am creative and passionate;” “I am careful and steady;” “I am loving and kind.” Great, this seems to be getting closer to the you-ness of who you are. But then, the same old question comes slinking in: are you still you when you are not these things? Even the most creative and passionate person has times when she’s kind of boring; even a very steady person might get a wild hair; and even someone who is loving and kind can be mean and hurtful on occasion. But that person is still “I”, right? So who is the “I”?

Alright, nouns are out, adjectives don’t work, and you’re getting the sinking suspicion that going for verbs and what you do is gonna get you exactly nowhere. Maybe the answer isn’t grammatical at all. Who am I, if I strip away everything that I do, every title that I can give myself, every characteristic that I can think of – who am I then?

Now we’re talkin’ some jnana yoga serious-level kickass thinking. The kind that’s going to twist your brain, not your body, into pretzel poses, that’s going to lead you deeper and deeper into questions of spiritual knowledge until the mind breaks through its own barriers and moves into true spiritual wisdom. And then goes beyond that wisdom into oneness with the divine.

 

Unwavering in devotion, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others. To them I am the dearest beloved, and they are very dear to me. All those who follow the spiritual path are blessed. But the wise who are always established in union, for whom there is no higher goal than me, may be regarded as my very Self.

Chapter 7, 17-18

 

Quotations taken from The Bhagavad Gita, trans. Eknath Easwaran

Image found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sand_castle,_Cannon_Beach.jpg