We feel that ‘I am the body’. Swami Tadatmanandaji shows this
sense of I, who is the conscious observer, being the body is absurd, as it
based on presence of nerves in the body, which cause sensations that are known –
and even though the sensations belong to the ‘known’ category they cause one to
take the body to be I, who is ever the knower and never the known.
Swamiji gives three hypothetical examples are to demonstrate
the absurdity of taking the I to be the body, when in fact I is ever the conscious
observer the knower:
- Nerves
Growing into Clothing: Swamiji imagines taking a medication that
causes nerves to grow from the skin and into the clothing, such as an
orange cloth. If the nerves pervaded the cloth, touching it would feel
exactly like touching one's arm, making the cloth feel like
"me". The absurdity is that if one identified as
"white" based on skin color before the medication, one would
then have to say, "I am orange," because the orange cloth now
feels like part of the self.
- Numbed
Lip at the Dentist: When Novocaine makes the lip numb, it feels
like a "foreign object attached to your face". This illustrates
that the sense of "I-ness" in the lip is merely due to the
presence of sensation, proving that without nerves, a body part ceases to
feel like "me".
- Arm
Falling Asleep: If you fall asleep on your arm and it becomes
completely numb, upon waking, you touch it and question, "Whose arm
is that?". The body part is physically present but does not feel like
"your arm" because it is totally numb, showing the absurdity of
taking I to be the body merely based on the presence of nerves.
Thus taking I to be the body is
not based on logic, it is purely arbitrary.
