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"Swamiji, Who Are You?"

By Super

Swami Chinmayananda, Who Am I?
Editor of a famous journal 'WHO' comes to interview Swamiji while He was still in Houston Heart Centre. His answer to the very first question. 'Who are you?' is His talk from the sick bed.

Who are you? is a theme expounded by Ramana, I have nothing new to add to it or subtract from it. He not only talked about it, but lived it. To know who am I is the search for the "subject". Objective search is the function of all material scientists. Scientists, sceptics and atheists are searching the truth in the outer world. It is good. There is nothing wrong in it....... It will take them finally to the subjective path of enquiry.

Just as a modern artist, when he paints ugliness, we may feel repelled by its ugliness, but the artist is always honest. He is expressing his own inner experience honestly and truthfully. Those who have the same mental condition will feel excited and sympathetic with such scratchings of confusions.

In the same way the scientists in their natural mental extroversions search the truth outside. They cannot appreciate or understand the validity of contemplative sages, and their vast infinite experience. From time immemorial, not only in the Indian tradition of the Vedas, even the Greeks had searched for the Self. Plato's declaration "Know Thyself' is not, I feel, a product of the study of the Vedas. Buddha springing from the Hindu tradition, naturally indicated the state of "Nirvana" the same as the Hindu concept of the "One Self Everywhere".

The Hindu Scriptures appear to be most exhaustive in dealing with this subject matter. This cannot be considered a special glory of the Hindu. They happened to turn their genius to this theme of investigation for a long -period of continued search. The West has progressed in technology, not necessarily because of a special grace of the Lord, but their natural genius happened to turn, in revolt against the medieval dark-ages, towards the more rational and scientific, directly observable facts of life.


The outer world by itself has no value and they are almost nonexistent to one who has no experience there. The Niagara Fall is to many of us only a description and some vague ideas gathered from its pictures; but to those who have gone there and stood in front of it and had intellectually and emotionally reacted to its majesty, getting lost in utter wonderment and amazement, to them the Fall Is a real, unforgettable experience, awesome in its might and beauty. Based upon this fact, the Rishis of the Vedic Period declared the fact that the objective world has a validity because of "ME" the subject. They turned their attention in search of the Self - "who am I" and the West turned their attention to know what is the world - how do the phenomenal happenings take place etc. The science that explains and expounds the subjective world became Spirituality - the subjective science. in distinct contrast to the objective sciences of modern times.

About The Author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.