I AM HERE
“The Self can remain without the body, but the body cannot exist apart from the Self,” declares Bhagavan.
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The principle, the truth of one’s life, of one being alive, is termed as the Self. One is alive before deep sleep, one is alive during deep sleep and one continues to be alive after waking up from deep sleep. Whereas, the body is missing in deep sleep! It is said that the clue to the mystery of life, and therefore, to the mystery of death, is squarely available, if the deep sleep state is properly understood. For instance, Bhagavan affirms that there is absolutely no difference between the deep sleep state and death. Except for the fact, that in the former we wake up in the same body, and in the latter in a different body. Thus, deep sleep and death are pointers to the truth of our immortality, our true state.
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Why is there so much emphasis on deep sleep? The answer is that it is the only state wherein we can see the truth for ourselves and experience that the body is not there in deep sleep, whereas, life continues to be there. In the waking and dreaming state, the body is positively cognized. In these two states, the superimposition of the ‘I am the body’ idea obstructs us from experiencing the Self, as it ever IS. The deep sleep state helps us to experience the bodylessness. The body is absent, but we are there. We are ever there. It is the body which makes us mortal. Bhagavan teaches us that we are not the body.
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Bhagavan’s death experience revealed to him the Truth that even after the death of his body he was vibrantly alive as Awareness. Light dawned on him that Awareness is the sole existing principle on which the body, mind and world are projected, like moving pictures on a screen. Before the death experience, he saw in a flash that he was Awareness. During the death of body too, he experienced this Awareness. Even after the death experience was completed, he continued to be in this same Awareness for fifty four years. No wonder that, before he dropped the body, when devotees expressed anguish, he clearly assured, “Where could I go? I AM always here!”
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Bhagavan saw the eternal Truth in all its nakedness at the tender age of sixteen, and lived that Truth for fifty four long years, only to prove to us that as Awareness he continues to BE. Hence, he is adored as the Maharshi, meaning, the great seer! As ‘I AM’, Awareness, he is ever here in our Heart!
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Since deep sleep and death are synonymous, Bhagavan’s assurance, “I AM here” is still true. If we only analyse and duly wake up to the truth of deep sleep, we too will be established in Awareness, as Awareness. For eternity.
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