Know One's Self

As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme love for one's self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love. In order to gain that happiness, one should know one's self. For that, the inquiry of the form 'Who am I?' is the principal means.

Who am I? The gross body that is composed of the seven dhatus, humours, I am not; the five cognitive sense organs, viz, the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell, which apprehend their respective objects, viz, sound, touch, colour, taste and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sense organs, viz, the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion and procreation, which have as their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting and enjoying, I am not; the five vital such as airs and prana, which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing,... I am not; even the mind that thinks, I am not; the nescience, too, which is endowed only with the residual impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning, I am not.

Then who am I? After negating all of the above, that Awareness which alone remains - that I am. When the world that is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realisation of the Self that is the seer.