“I think therefore I am”. This is a famous statement by Descartes. Let’s examine the reality of thought, and the reality of the thinker thereby. We humans pride ourselves on our capacity to think logically, systematically and scientifically. All knowledge, in any given field, that subjectively or objectively applies to human beings is based on thought. Thought power distinguishes the human race as supreme in creation. But does thought know who the thinker is? If there is no knowledge of the thinker, then to whom does every thought relate? Many thoughts are useless, rampant, nonsensical, even purely instinctual. What is the source of these? How do they come and go on their own? What happens to you when in a deep sleep no thought state? Ask Descartes!
You do not exist because of thought, thought exists because of you. The real you.
Each thought is related to the identity: you. This was given a name and form by your parents, unasked. Endlessly asked “what’s your name child?” It was stamped on your memory that you are “Vijay”. But who is Vijay? It is a thought-based identity. When thoughts keep changing as moods, deceptions, personalities, you keep changing roles, from a writer to a father, to a son, a lover, angry, sad, happy, blissful. But who are you? Thought cannot stand on its own. It is propped up and energised by a power which is not its own. There is a huge difference between “that”, which thinks and the “individual” that “thinks” he thinks. Even if you think that you are not the Body, Mind, or Intellect, the thinker of this thought is still You. You may drop all identifications but the one who dropped them remains. If you are still waiting for an answer to who, then, am I? Stop waiting. The one who knows that he is a man and not a dog doesn’t ask.
Prarthna Saran is President, Chinmaya Mission, Delhi.