By , on May 3rd, 2014 Yoga

The Illusion of Separateness – The Biggest Illusion of All

“Who am I?” – is a universal and timeless question that every person wonders.

Let me ask you: Do you really know who you are?

If you ask me, I may tell you that “I am Iris”.

“We realize – often quite suddenly – that our sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of our ideas, beliefs and images, is not really who we are. It doesn’t define us, it has no center.”
– Adyashanti: The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment

But who is this Iris?

Is Iris the 5’4” female physical body – a mass of flesh and bones?
Or is Iris the woman who has a Master’s degree in Mindology with all her accumulated educational knowledge and life experiences?

If either of this is Iris, then where was Iris before she came out of her mother’s womb? And where will Iris be when she dies?

You and I know very well that once Iris or any person dies, you really just don’t die away – You still “live” in the hearts and minds of you loved ones and acquaintances.

“Knowing that I am different from the body, I need not neglect the body. It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world. It is the temple which houses the Pure Self within.”
– Adi Sankaracharya

So what is it that continues to live on – perpetually, eternally – even after the physical body is gone? Could that be the real “You”?

And could it be possible that the physical body and mind and material accumulations are all just transient phases through which the eternal “You” just passes through?

And if this were the case, there would really be no difference between You and Me or You and You or You and the Other.

In fact there would be no “other”. We would all be the “One”, which is passing through forms and phases.

Namaste!

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