Questioner
You keep saying I am not the person, but I very much feel like a person. I have a name, a history, relationships, desires. How can all this not be real?
Maharaj
I did not say the person is not real in its own sphere. The person exists as a concept, an appearance, a role being played. But you are not that.
The actor is not the character. When the play is over, the character disappears, but the actor remains. Similarly, when the body-mind dies, the person disappears, but you remain.
Questioner
But what am I if not this person?
Maharaj
You are the consciousness in which the person appears. Just as space contains all objects but is not contained by any object, you contain the person but are not limited to it.
The person has a birthday—you were never born. The person has a history—you are timeless. The person has problems—you are untouched.
Questioner
This is very abstract. Can you give me something more concrete?
Maharaj
Right now, are you aware?
Questioner: Yes.
Maharaj: This awareness—is it personal? Does it have a name? Does it have an age? Is it male or female?
Questioner: No, awareness itself has none of these qualities.
Maharaj: Exactly. Awareness is impersonal, infinite, universal. The sense “I Am” is universal. It is the same in the saint and the sinner, in the king and the beggar.
What makes you think you are a particular person is identification with a particular body-mind. But this identification is optional, not necessary. In deep sleep, you drop this identification effortlessly, and yet you don’t cease to exist.
Questioner
So the practice is to stop identifying?
Maharaj
Not exactly. The practice is to see clearly that you are already not the person. The identification is only a thought, and thoughts have no power except the power you give them.
When the thought “I am the body” arises, simply notice it. Don’t fight it, don’t try to change it. Just see it clearly. In the seeing, the hold of the thought weakens.
Questioner
And then?
Maharaj
Then you realize you are the seeing itself—pure awareness. The person continues to function, but you know yourself as that which is beyond the person, the unchanging witness of all change.
Freedom is not about destroying the person or getting rid of the ego. It is about knowing what you are beyond the person and the ego. This knowing transforms everything.
Key Teaching
Personal identity is a mental construct, a collection of thoughts and memories that create the sense of being a separate individual. But you are the awareness in which this construct appears. By seeing through the false identification with the person, you recognize your true nature as infinite, impersonal consciousness.