A Srinivas Rao June 2013
This article was written as a dedication to Sri Ramana Maharshi and was published by Sri Ramanasramam in their quarterly Mountain Path April Jun 2014.
“Since every other thought can occur only after
the rise of the ‘I’-thought and since the mind is nothing but a bundle of
thoughts, it is only through the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ that the mind subsides.”- Sri
Ramana Maharshi “Who Am I”[i]
Contemporary studies on the nature of the self, find significant
convergence about the illusory nature of the self, yet surprisingly they are a
divided house on the nature of consciousness. Despite the materialist
underpinnings of these studies often clubbed under the rubric of ‘consciousness
studies’ that are cross disciplinary and span the neurosciences, psychology
and philosophy, they offer fresh insights
into the ancient question ‘Who am I?’.
Please note that the term ‘self’ as used in the article refers solely to
the individual ego and not the transcendent ‘ground of being’. It would be
appropriate if the term ego is used as synonymous for self in this article.
‘No man ever steps into the same river
twice’ declared the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c 535- c 475 BCE), indicating,
like the Buddha, the constant nature of change.
Plutarch (c 46-c 120 CE), another Greek, in response to this formulated
a paradox called ‘The Ship of Theseus’.
“The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of
Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians
down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old
planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place...”.Plutarch Theseus[ii]
Plutarch’s question, which divides
philosophers up to this day is whether a ship that is totally reconstructed is
still the same ship. Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679), the British philosopher, added his own twist to the paradox of
Theseus. What would happen if the original planks were gathered up after they
were replaced and a second ship constructed?
