Unmasking Our Identity

The Vedanta Kesari, p. 326-329, September 2007

The Dichotomy

Sometimes the issue of our identity becomes even more complicated on account of our hidden desires. We, then, are not what we appear to be. What we are, in private, is different from what we appear before others. We might gain a high reputation for being a member of an organisation or for being the alumnus of a reputed institution but our actions and life may not reflect the ideal for which the institution stands. In other words, there may be a big gap between our character and our reputation. There is also this problem of our desire to behave like someone we admire or our desire to prove the credentials we do not possess. This leads to contradiction in our behaviour and actual personality. We might be wanting to appear to be very self-sacrificing or loving but in reality it may be only a case of ego-pampering.

As we wade through the mass of our identities, the question that nags some of us is, 'Who are we?' 'What is our real identity?' 'Is there something in us which is real, which never changes, which is the bedrock of all our other pseudo-identities?' We run into these queries about ourselves either when we are faced with some very challenging situations such as death of a dear one or an instance of great injustice and cruelty. Or, when one faces the threat of a terminal disease like cancer or imminent death, one begins to wonder as to what is life and death and hence wants to know one's real identity.

In Search of Real Identity

According to spiritually illumined persons, to know oneself truly is to unravel the very secret of life and death. What is that which takes birth and dies? And why? This inquiry contains the seeds of self-knowledge in its ultimate sense.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that to try to find our identity is like peeling off an onion. If you take a full-size onion, you first see its dry reddish layer. Once you remove that you see another softer layer, whitish-pink. When you remove this, another layer becomes visible and it continues. And what remains at the end is nothing precious! So is our real identity. It appears that it is hidden beneath the heap of identities that we carry with us but the moment you try to feel its presence, you find it nowhere. Does this mean that at the core of our being, we are empty, non-existent? The great seers of Upanishads say an emphatic 'no' to such an idea.