If you’re finding yourself asking, “Who am I?”, Sadhguru explains, don’t be quick to conclude – just seek.

Full Transcript:

Questioner: Namaskaram. I have a very simple question. This is regarding, ‘I am not this body, I am not this mind,’ we are supposed to chant. So that means if I am not this body, I am not this mind and if this body is not there, mind is not there, I will still be there. Is it so? Secondly, related to this is, if it is so then it is very difficult to believe, thus, whatever is there without the body and mind is a result of some kind of cosmic accident or some kind of evolutionary accident? So I want to know about this.

Sadhguru: This is his idea of a simple question. (Laughter) Very simple question, isn't it? (Laughs) Now, when you say or when you ask if I am not the body, if I am not the mind, you’re making it hypothetical. I am asking you, is it a fact that you gathered this body? Is it a fact? Is it a fact all the content of your mind was gathered from outside? Yes? So what you gather cannot be you. So there is no anything hypothetical about it, it is definitely not you, isn’t it? But do you still exist? So what am I to say about it?

Now, so what you’re asking is ‘Who am I?’ Don’t ask me, why do you ask me ‘Who am I?’ (Laughs) This happened in the Cincinnati airport, you know in Ohio in United States. People will… people had lined up to check in at the airline counter. And one man came in a big rush, jumped the line came straight to the counter thrust his ticket like this and he wants to check him. The lady at the counter said, ‘Sir, there is a line, please go stand in the line.’ He said, ‘No, I’m in a hurry.’ She said, ‘Well, everybody’s in a hurry. You please stand in the line.’ Then he said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ An official like you (Laughter)… so she promptly picked up the microphone and said, ‘There is a man here who doesn’t know who he is, can somebody help him?’ (Laughter)

Now you come and ask me who am I? What am I to tell you? Whatever I tell you will be just a nice… if I tell you, ‘You are an embodiment of the Divine.’ (Laughter) If you go and act out your Divine nature at home, your wife will leave you (Laughter), if you act too godly at home. If you try this in your office, you’ll get fired for sure, or if you… if I tell you, ‘You are a no good nothing’ you won’t believe me. If I tell you, ‘You are a drop of divinity that fell off Shiva’s lap and here you are.’ (Laughter) Tell me what kind of story do you want? A pleasant story, an unpleasant story, I can tell you both. I’m good at both. (Laughter) If I tell you an unpleasant story you will not want to believe it, if I tell you a pleasant story you’ll become fanciful and lose all your sense. But if you know it, then it’s a different level of sense. So, right now don’t bother, don’t try to drop into a conclusion. When you ask this question what you’re trying to do is, you want to arrive at a conclusion. Don’t arrive at a conclusion. Just seek, what is not you let’s keep it aside. If you keep all that is not you, what is you must remain, isn’t it? Hmm? Yes or no? What is not you, if it is removed, what is you must remain, isn’t it, where will it go? That is, if you exist. Suppose you don’t exist, suppose you really do not exist, at least that we must find out, isn’t it, that I don’t exist.

Suppose you’re a Vedantin and you believe you’re all maya, at least that you must discover, not believe what somebody said, isn’t it? If you do not exist, is it not very, very, very important that you find out that you do not exist? Ah? And if you do not even exist, what the hell are you going through? Why all the pain? Why all the nonsense, why all the rubbish of life, when you don’t even exist. Not worthwhile if you do not even exist, isn’t it? Yes? At least if you are in existence and you’re getting somewhere, little pain on the way it doesn’t matter. Yes? You’re climbing the hill. You’re going to reach the top of the hill, on the way your knees are hurting, it’s okay, but I’m gonna get there. You’re not going to get anywhere just legs are paining, you don’t want that, isn’t it? And you don’t even exist but legs are paining, do you want that? For sure, you don’t want that. So you must find out.
So this simple Isha Kriya is about keeping aside whatever you are not. What you are, I will not talk about it. I don’t want to make a statement about you. What you’re not, we want to remove. What you are, let’s find out what you are.