Moha Mudgara—the hammer stroke on all our delusions and popularly known to us as Bhaja Govindam with the first 12 verses by Sri Adi Shankaracharya—continues with other verses by his disciples. This one is by Shri Yogananda, who gives us a purpose for existence.
Enquire. What should I enquire into? Kaha Twam Ko Aham—who are you and who am I?
These two questions seem to have a simple answer at the very outset. Who are you? Who am I? It is best to keep it quiet in the sanctum sanctorum of our own mind as an open enquiry can brook contempt.
So if I ask myself the question about a close family member as to who he or she is, I will first arrive at the name, the work, the status as a relative—husband, wife, brother, sister, father, mother, daughter, son, aunt, uncle, friend, enemy etc.
That is only a relationship. It is not the person I am trying to enquire about. So, every aspect of the discussion will become nullified and we narrow down to the physical body.
That is made up of five elements, in a certain permutation and combination. Those five elements are gathered from nature at birth and goes back to nature after death. So they are not that person I am enquiring about. Who indeed are you, my dear friend? There is no answer.
Alright. Leave the other person and come to your own self. Who am I? Am I this body? No. It has come from the elements and goes back to the elements. Am I the breath? No, that process begins on my birthday and will end once and forever on my death day.
Am I the mind? Impossible, because the mind is highly unstable. It entertains happy feelings today, excited feelings the next and sorrowful feelings on another day. Am I the intellect that makes decisions? Not at all. Sometimes the decisions are precise and lead me to success. On the other days, the decisions lead to utter failure.
The intellect is not steady and hence not me—the unchanging and steady self.
People say there is joy when I go to sleep. Am I that joyful self who sleeps forgetting the whole world at night, or sometimes even during the day? No to that too. Sleep is not the same. One day it is deep and on another day, it is disturbed. So who am I then? Exasperated, you may ask. Well, that is a question which can be answered only through the effort of a lifetime.
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