71.
The 'I' is a delusion born of the food-body; you are not that—you are eternal essence. What you know in this moment is merely—"I am." But from whence has this sense of 'I' come? It has arisen from the food-body, composed of five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether) and three qualities (purity, passion, darkness). This body is made of food, sustained by vital force, and within it is born this sense—"I am."
The Upanishads declare: "Annamaya kosha"—the body is a sheath formed of food-substance; there is no self within it—only a covering. This food-body, these elements and qualities—all are temporary, changeable, destructible. Therefore, the sense of 'I' born from within them is also false—for that which changes can never be true. Yet this 'I' is so clever a deceiver that it has convinced you—"This body is me," "This history is me," "This fear, this pain, this hope, this love—all are me."
Now, if you would know the truth, you have but one path—meditate upon this sense of 'I' and gradually recognize it, expose its false nature. The Upanishads teach: "Neti neti"—not this, not that—not body, not quality, not breath, not thought, not even 'I'. You were never this body, this mind, these qualities, this substance. You were never this 'I'—it was only a shadow, a self-created illusion that came, remained for a time, and departed. But you remain, for you existed before it too, and shall exist after—formless, bodiless, eternal essence, the supreme Brahman.
72.
To transcend the 'I'—that is liberation—that unborn being knows no birth, no death, no action. Many say—"I understand that 'I am'"—but understanding and realization are not the same. Verbal comprehension is a play of the mind, while true realization means abandoning the 'I' itself.
The Upanishads declare: "Knowledge is one thing, the knower is another"—knowing and transcending that knowledge are different. Thus the guru says—he who truly realizes the 'I' is no longer the 'I', he is no longer a person; he is that—the unborn. And he who is unborn has no birth, no death, no fruit of action, no rebirth. For action bears fruit only when a doer exists, and rebirth occurs only when I, as a person, cling to reaping its rewards.
The Upanishads teach: "He who sees nothing is untouched by action"—he who does not bind himself to anything remains unattached by deed. Therefore, he who has transcended the 'I' is done with that play. Dharma, rebirth, action, fruit—all remain foreign to him, for he knows—"I was not born, I was not, yet I am"—I am that formless consciousness—the supreme Brahman.
Now understand—merely knowing the sense of 'I' will not suffice; you must transcend that very knowing. Only then will you grasp the truth—you are unborn, undying, actionless, beyond doubt. In that moment all ends, and begins the true state—that which never came, shall never go, merely abides—as formless, silent supreme Brahman.
73.
The 'I' is the primal illusion; liberation lies in transcending it—in the fading of knowledge dawns eternal knowing. This 'I am'—that dwells within you—is the first delusion, for before it arose you existed, yet without notion, without experience. That "I know, I am"—this very knowing brought forth personality, sense of body, self-identity, fear and death.
The Upanishads declare: "What is known contains no truth"—within all that can be known there is no truth. This 'I' is the first maya—a shadow-cast that whispers: "You exist"—but in truth you have already withdrawn from yourself. Thus liberation means not the triumph of 'I' but its vanishing. It returns no more, and you return in an unknown silence—where no experience dwells, where even the sense of consciousness itself is not.
In this state there is neither—not ‘knowing’, not ‘unknowing’, not ‘I am’, not ‘I am not’—only a soundless nothingness, where even experience dissolves, and yet you remain—as consciousness transcendent of all experience.
The Upanishads say: “Ajñātaṃ vijñātāram”—that consciousness is unknowable, for it is itself the source of all knowledge, yet never the object of any experience. Know this then—the first delusion is ‘I’, and liberation means the absence of that sense of ‘I’. When it is finally lost, what remains within you is neither knowledge nor ignorance, but the supreme Brahman beyond unknowingness—which has no story, no metaphor, only a voiceless presence everywhere.
74.
Before you say ‘I’, you already are—remain established in that birthless nature. You say—”I exist”, but how can you say this? Because you existed before that too—you are the ground upon which the sense of ‘I’ has arisen—as clouds come and go above the sky. The Upanishads say: “Ātmā paśyati, na paśyati”—the Self sees, yet cannot be seen; it is itself the witness, beyond all experience. This sense of ‘I’—it is but a later manifestation. Before it, you were yourself, yet you knew nothing, said nothing, desired nothing—and still you were.
That “you”—that alone is real—for it exists without need of any experience, depends on nothing, not even on ‘I’. Now you witness the ‘I’—that is, you are the witness even of ‘I’. And whoever is seeing the ‘I’, that is your true nature. The Upanishads say: “Yaḥ paśyati, na cha paśyate—saḥ paśyati”—whoever sees, yet cannot be seen, that one alone truly sees. You were not born, you are no thought, no feeling, no ‘I’. You are that which came first, formless, silent existence—upon which the ‘I’ comes, and through that ‘I’ experience becomes possible. But when you realize—”I am that, which existed before even this”—then you stand established in the supreme Brahman, where there is no ‘I’, no language, no experience—only consciousness transcendent of experience itself.
75.
The body goes, the ‘I’ is erased—what remains is you. The eternal supreme Brahman: this sense of ‘I’ has come from within the body and mind, composed of five elements and three qualities, and at its root lies hidden—a great illusion, that says “I am”, “I am this.” Yet in the moment the body falls away, this ‘I’ too vanishes silently—just as the dream fades when waking comes.
The Upanishads say: “Dehe naśye ‘ahaṃ’ layaṃ gachhati”—when the body is destroyed, the ‘I’ is destroyed. But do you disappear? No! For you were never this body, never this ‘I’. You are that in whose bosom the body has come, upon whom the ‘I’ has risen, and within whom all dissolves. Now the guru says—”If you establish yourself in this ‘I’ even now, then someday—this ‘I’ itself will melt away, and what remains—you yourself, as the supreme Brahman.” Otherwise, the body will fall away one day in any case, the ‘I’ will depart silently on its own, before you know it—and then your existence will hold no worth, for you will never have understood who you are.
The Upanishads say: “Ahaṃ na mriyate, na jāyate”—the ‘I’ is born and dies, but I—this is not I; I am the unborn, the deathless, the unchanging. Therefore the time is now—stand firm in the ‘I’, but do not cling to it; rather, through steadfast practice, transcend it, so that it dissolves of itself, and you remain in that singular, experience-transcendent, eternal nature of consciousness. Know yourself before death—so that after death there is nothing more to die, for then what remains is only you—who were never born, and therefore shall never die.