I was driving my car yesterday when I came very close to hitting the roadside curb. For a fraction of a second I was very scared. Maybe I got distracted for a bit and was lucky to escape without any damage. In any case, I told myself “Be careful next time!” and moved on. But then the idea struck me. For that moment I thought “I” was going to get hit. But “I” was never going to get hit, was I? It was my car that would have suffered, not “Me”. “I” was driving my car, the car was not “Me”, was it?
But generally when we drive the car, we feel like the whole car is “Me”. It is something all drivers do consciously or subconsciously. For a good driver, you will have to think of the car as part of your body in order to drive safely. Obviously the car is not “Me”, I am not the car. Maybe the car becomes part of “Me” when I drive it, but then we are separated once I park my car and get out. The car is no longer Me, I am obviously not the car. Once we have lived our current life, we will simply leave this body and take a new one, just like you will buy a new car once your existing car becomes too old.
But then the question comes, Who is this “Me”? Is it my hand that is Me, or maybe the head? Ok is the whole body is Me? Am I my body? My Mind? No! I am my soul or Atma. My atma is me, it drives my mind, my mind drives my body. Just like “I” was driving my car while traveling, The soul is driving my mind and my body during this lifetime. Once my life is over, “I” will leave my body, leave my mind. So the body is “Mine”, but the body is not “Me”. We are so immersed in our lives that we do not understand the difference anymore. We feel like the body is “Me”, so we are too worried about old age or dying.
One of the prime aspects of meditation or Dhyana is to be able to understand the existence of your soul. To understand the fact that the body is not me, even the mind is not me. What is the real “Me” is far deeper and far superior than my body. Just like a good driver takes care of his car, a good human being should take care of his body but not get too bogged down by it. That is why it is important to remind yourself every now and then, “I am not the body, not the mind”. This will help us remember our true self is the atma that is indestructible, atma will live forever.
Just like the car is mine, but I am not the car. Always remember “The body is yours, but you are not the body”. Om Tat Sat??
Reference: “Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny”, Sadhguru, 2021
Sujit'z World 