
Except you nobody can answer it for you
excerpt
series:
The White Lotus
Chapter 4
Nov 3, 1979 Buddha Hall

066



The second question:
Bhagwan [Osho], Who am I?
How am I to know? How can I answer this question? Except you, nobody can answer it for you. I cannot answer it on your behalf. I know who I am, but how can I say who you are? You will have to dive deep within your own self.
And the people who have been answering on your behalf are your enemies, because you will start collecting, accumulating their answers. You will become knowledgeable, and to become knowledgeable is to prevent wisdom from arising.
Yes, thousands of answers are available. I can also answer you very easily: that you are a soul, eternal, deathless. Amritasya putrah: that you are sons of god, sons of immortality. I can say to you all these beautiful things that have been said down the ages, but they are not going to help. If you cling to them, I have not helped you, I have hindered you. I have not been a master to you but an enemy, not a friend.
I cannot answer it for you. It is not a question that can be answered by anybody other than yourself. You have to go into your own self. You have to search. You have to ask and inquire, “Who am I?” It is a very private, absolutely private question, and only you are capable of knowing the answer. And not through scriptures, remember, but through a deep inquiry into your own being. That very inquiry is meditation.
Ramana Maharshi used to give only one meditation to his disciples: sit silently and go on inquiring within yourself, “Who am I?” First verbally, and then slowly, slowly let the words disappear and let the question become a feeling. “Who am I?” – just a feeling, just a question mark deep down in your heart. And go on asking. One day even that feeling disappears. There is no question; suddenly you are questionless.
The question “Who am I?” will help you to destroy all other questions, and then finally it commits suicide. You are left with no question. And that is the moment of the answer arising in you. And even if you know, you will not be able to communicate it to anybody else. It is incommunicable.
You ask me, “Who am I?”
You are Sanjaya; this is your name. You are a man; you have a body of a man. You are an educated person; you have a medical degree. These things can be answered by anybody, but these are not you. You are a Hindu; you have lived the life of a so-called Hindu religious man. You know the Gita. You have read it so many times that you can simply repeat it by memory. And in the Gita, Krishna has answered so many times, “Who are you?” so you must be knowing those answers too.
Beware of people who answer such deep questions of yours. Only superficial questions can be answered by others.
If somebody starts telling you about your deepest core, stop him immediately. It is none of his business and he is going to make a mess of you.
The White Lotus
Chapter 4