Who am I ? This is the question mankind has been asking from times immemmorial.
Am I the body-mind-intellect complex ? Have I any reality beyond the senses five ? Is there a God ? Is there a God outside ? Or is He inside ?
And what is this Bhakti or devotion ? The best definition of Devotion comes from Sankara, who defined it as Self Enquiry. ( Swa Swaroopasya Anusandhanam Bhakthiriti Abhidheeyate ).
In the Upanishads Reality is defined by a series of negatives because the negative is less limiting than the Positive. To arrive at Reality, the Upanishadic Rishies prescribed the Method of Negation !
The Upanishadic Method of Negation is Neti Neti, meaning that this is Finite, that is Finite, whereas Reality in Infinite. When everything is denied, there is one thing which no man can deny – ” I “, ” Self ” or Consciousness.
Thade Kova Shishtah ( that which remains after Negation )
Sivah Kevaloham ( I am Consciousness Bliss ).
I am neither the mind nor the senses
The Fourfold Veds nor Sacred Places,
I am not the the Elements Fivefold
The Concentric Sheaths Five
The Tissue Elements Sevenfold
Neither Time nor Space
Exist in Me !
Nor the Four Goals of Life
The Fourfold Yog or Tantra great
I have neither pleasure or pain
I am pure Being
By whom all things be !
Neither Ego nor any sense of Mineness
Integral Consciousness am I
Neither father nor mother am I
Of the nature of Transcendence
That which remains after Negation
That Sole Consciousness am I !
