Here we are in this world of duality- the matrix if you will. All is defined by its opposite. Big-small, high-low, love-hate. Without one there is not the other when we consider this reality we cling to. But what if there exists outside this world we touch,see, hear and smell a world of love? What if outside this physical reality there exists a world of just love? What if bliss is the natural, natal state of our true nature?

Our human design requires that we make meaning of everything around us. The truth of the matter is that our meaning making includes the entirety of human existence and specifically our ancestral lineage. We carry forward all that has been experienced by our ancestors, all the meaning that they have based on the combination of their ancestral inheritance combined with their direct experience. This is the basis for the conflict in our world. Racism, hate, all of it is a direct manifestation of this combined experience. The continual conflict is always rooted in this and there is no escape from the wheel until we step outside of this paradigm and embrace our true nature of divine love. 

Religion has been well meaning in its attempt to do this but by its very nature it is part and parcel a part of this manifestation of the combined meaning making. It has no ability, nor will it ever have this ability or capacity to change the paradigm as it lives and exists within and because of this paradigm. 

Now we turn to the concept of love itself. Love is very much a part of this paradigm as well and can be experienced only in comparison to hate. But if we step outside the dualistic world and encounter love, what is it that is different? What is it that separates divine love from dualistic love? Divine love exists in the absence of comparison, outside the world of one without the other. 

When we step outside the dualistic world we drop into the space of divine love and have a direct experience. We do not see differences in our fellow travelers, we see the true essence of who they really are outside the “matrix”. We are no longer defined by our ethnicity, our religion, our political stance or any other meaning provided by the paradigm. We are free from the shackles of definition and take on the nature of the divine – ineffable, eternal. 

This leads to the inevitable question one asks once exposed to this experience. Who am I? Who am I really?

Adi Shankara, an 8th century Indian philosopher and scholar, when upon first meeting his guru, Sri Govindapada, was asked “Who are you?” he replied with what is now known as the Dasa Slokis or Nirvana dasakam. In it he describes all that he is not and ends each of the ten verses with the simple statement “I am simply Shiva, the self, for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away”. Shiva, in some lines of Hindu philosophy, is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. This writing affected me profoundly when I first heard it and I meditated on this for months on end. I decided to adopt my own version of this line of thought.

So the question remains – “Who am I?”

I am not the earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether, nor any of the organs individually, nor all the elements or organs together as a whole. I am not the dreams nor the dreamer, the self exists by itself only in deep sleep outside the world of the senses. I am simply love, for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

 I am neither societal class nor stage of life, nor do the rules of conduct and duties of the various classes and stages of life apply to me. I have no need for politics nor generational nor societal norms. Since the notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ which are due to identification with the not-self (body, mind and organs) have gone, I am simply love, for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

The religions of the world tell me that each is its own truth, that each is the one true way to God or to divine existence and redemption. I am neither Jew nor Muslim or Christian, nor Hindu or Buddhist. I am beyond the words of man and are not subject to the limitations of their doctrine.  I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am not physics nor biology. I am neither the physical nor the spirit. I am not the combination of any two things. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am not politics nor country. I am not american nor russian, palestinian nor israeli, nor chinese not japanese, nor any other construct of man. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am neither male nor female nor anything not male or female. I am not subject to the labels of physicality. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am not gay or straight nor bisexual nor asexual. I am not subject to the restrictions of the labels assigned by the vessel in which I experience this world. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I have no such thing as upper or lower parts, no direction inside and outside, no middle or any across, and no eastern or western direction, because I am all-pervading like space but pervade space also. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am not white, nor black, nor red, nor yellow, nor tiny nor big. I am neither short nor long. I am not knowable since I am the very nature of the divine. I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.

I am not one so how can I be two – this essence of non-duality. I am that I am,  I am simply love for this remains even in sleep when everything else is taken away.