Sunday Times 2
I think therefore I am not
The classic statement “I think therefore I am” is based on the assumption that in order to think there must be a thinker.
I would like to present an alternate view point which shows that the classic statement has an inherent contradiction.
We take that the external world has an independent external existence. This view has, to my knowledge, never been disputed until Ramana Maharishi appeared on the scene about 100 years ago in Tiruvannamalei, South India.
The generally accepted view is that the signal is sent to the brain of an external object via the five senses. The brain intercepts and indentify the image as a man, woman, table etc. Maharishi says the reality is the exact opposite. The thought comes first, say a man. The eyes obeying this thought projects an image of a man as an external independent reality. A beautiful example of this idea is illustrated when a foreign lady saw Maharishi and said “I am now in India”. Maharishi smiled and asked “Are you in India or is India in you?”!!
The repercussions of this view point are mind boggling and if correct has serious consequences to our lives as I shall try to explain.
Let us take for example the question of physical pain which all of us are only too familiar with. If my friend over there says he is suffering from a terrible pain in his arm, I don’t feel any pain. Why is that? It is because I do not identify his body as mine. Whenever something happens to something which I call “my body” I cry in pain. So, does it not prove that the whole question of physical pain rests on one single assumption (it is an assumption) that “I am this body”. If for argument’s sake let us say that I know that I am not this body with the same conviction that I know that body is not me then I will be free from the suffering from physical pain.
This question “Am I this body?” is so crucial as I have shown above, it has been generalised in to the inquiry “Who am I?” which is the basis of the meditation called Self Inquiry – Atma Vichara.
In the quoted statement “I am” is the Universal Reality which never changes (Be Still and Know That I am). Thoughts come from It, without It changing and creates an illusion of an individual which unfortunately we take as reality with disastrous consequences as I have stated above.
This is not a theoretical discussion which in my opinion is totally useless but is of vital practical importance with special reference to the question of physical pain.
Ramana Maharishi demonstrated in his unbelievable life (his life is documented almost on a day to day basis and can be accessed via the archives at his ashram in Tiruvannamalei) what it means to live a life in reality. I shall quote one incident to prove this. Apparently, He had cancer in his late life and a swelling developed in his right arm. He said “People are saying there is a swelling on my right arm and then I looked and yes, they are right”! Can you believe that he had a swelling which caused unbearable pain and he did not even know there was a swelling! Yes, the crucial difference between him and us is that he does not suffer from the illusion of “I am the body”.
I wish I could state the unbelievable experiences I have had and I am having in following the meditation of Self Inquiry.
I will only state one such experience to give you an idea. If I ask you how you know without looking that you are seated, you will say that it is because you feel the pressure of the chair on your bottom. What if you did not? That is the situation I am in when I am seated in meditation with my eyes closed. I am unable to say whether I am seated on the ground or in levitated position. You may not believe this but when I am in meditation and sometimes when I want to scratch my nose I can’t do it at once because my fingers don’t know where my nose is! Yes, Maharishi is right. The body and with it the external world is only a creation of thoughts and if the thoughts stop, the body and with it the projection of external world will vanish and only the ultimate reality, the Universal Consciousness, Kingdom of Heaven, Sat-Chit-Ananda will remain.
For practical purposes that day you will be free from the suffering of all physical pain as Maharishi proved in his remarkable life.
Dr. Asoka Thenuwara
Colombo