Who Am I?

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if a word had only one meaning, and if only one word were used to express a meaning!

But in all our languages, each word usually has multiple meanings, and each idea can often be expressed using many words. So, in any specific context, the actual meaning of a word must be guessed or inferred.

This introduction is to help us explore the meaning of a very commonly used word — the word “I”. When someone says “I”, what exactly do they mean?

When we say “I”, it doesn't refer to you, he, she, it, we, or they. It refers to the person speaking — that is, the word “I” is used to indicate oneself.

However, if we assume that this is the only meaning of the word “I”, we would be mistaken. The 20th-century sage Ramana Maharshi, who lived in Tamil Nadu, had a spiritual awakening because of the question: “Who am I?” The “I” in his question doesn’t merely refer to the person who is speaking.

To understand what he meant, let’s consider an analogy. A human being is like a phone — a small computer made up of hardware and software. We know that the hardware is what can be seen and touched, while the software — like the operating system and apps — cannot be seen or touched.

Yet, even if a phone has both hardware and software, it cannot function unless electricity flows through it. Without electric power, a phone is “dead.”

So, just like a phone needs three components — hardware, software, and electricity — to work, it also needs an internet connection to be truly useful. Only then can we connect with people anywhere in the world and access all kinds of information instantly.

Similarly, a human being is a combination of multiple components: hardware (body) and software (mind). The body is visible and tangible, but the mind is invisible and intangible.

Even if both body and mind are present, a person is not alive unless life-energy (or life force) flows through them. Just like electricity is essential for a phone, life is essential for a human.

And just like a phone becomes fully functional only with internet connectivity, a human being becomes fully alive through consciousness or awareness.

So, when Ramana Maharshi asked, “Who am I?”, he was referring to these four components — body, mind, life, and consciousness — and asking: Which of these is truly “I”?

When we refer to a phone, we usually mean its hardware and software. Likewise, when we say “I”, we usually mean the human person — our body and mind.

But if there is no life within, what remains is a dead body. Since we are aware of this life-force, we acknowledge its presence. Yet, most people are not aware of that fourth vital component: consciousness.

Just as internet connectivity makes a phone most useful, consciousness is what makes a human truly human. That is the answer to Ramana Maharshi’s question “Who am I?” — I am not my body, I am not my mind, I am not even the life-force flowing through me, I am consciousness.

On the level of hardware and software, each phone is different. But the electricity flowing through all phones, and the internet connecting them, are the same. Likewise, on the level of body and mind, each person is different from the other. But on the level of life and consciousness, differences disappear.

That’s because one life animates all humans, and the consciousness present in every human is one and the same.

That a human is not merely body and mind is a profound insight. People with this realization do not fear disease or death. Such people find it easy to see every human as equally human. They don’t judge others based on skin color, beauty, or health. They do not discriminate.

When we greet someone by saying “Namaste,” we are not addressing their body or mind, but rather honoring the consciousness that resides within them: "I bow to that which dwells within you."