What is Self-knowledge?

Although the answer to this question seems to be included in the very word itself, what we seek is a deeper understanding. Knowing oneself, is the key to everything in life. This sounds like some new age corporate jargon. Despite that handicap, it isn’t anything less than the truth. So, why should we know about our Self and how does that hold the key to everything? Just as we tell our children to take stock of their strengths and weaknesses, work to their strengths and to work on their weaknesses, so also in our spiritual quest, we have to know our innate nature, our strengths and our weaknesses arising therein.

There are many ways to attain Self-knowledge. Here we will be exploring the Vedantic way to Self-knowledge. We will discuss in detail about Vedanta and what it is in another post. The premise is that this topic of the Self, its nature and its purpose and so on has been studied in great depth by ancient seers. Seers also called rishis, many millennia ago in ancient India, immersed themselves in deep meditation on this and other related topics. Knowledge is said to have been revealed to them during the course of these meditations and this knowledge is what is condensed into the Vedas. The Vedas are sacred texts, passed down generations, containing this divinely revealed wisdom. The Vedas are the source of most of the tenets that make up Hinduism, one of the oldest religions of the world. So as far back as 5000 B.C.E, holy and learned men have contemplated the question of the Self and have even put together the answer for us. This essence of the Self permeates all traditional science and art forms of India, from the system of medicine called Ayurveda, to Indian classical dance and music.

Self-knowledge is the pursuit of one’s identity. “Who am I?” This is the question that needs to be answered. To what depth do we go when we answer this question? To what depth must we go when we try to answer this question? Is there even a satisfactory answer to this question? For example, I can ask, “Who am I?” and reply, “I am a man/woman. I am a teacher/banker/lawyer/doctor/the CEO of XYZ... I am a father/mother/son…and so on.” After giving your job title and your social title, what next? Who are you after that? Or is that all there is to you?

Another way to think of this question is, which aspect of this neat little world we have built around us, is me? Am I the owner of this business with all its accomplishments, is that me? Or am I the happy home maker who takes care of the family and children, is that me? Or when I walk outside and the world sees a young, powerful, confident man/woman going about their day, is that me? Or am I to say, “all of the above, they are all me.” Let us then think of someone who has none of the above things, what is the answer in their case?

Let us stand in front of the mirror when we are alone at home and ask ourselves the question, “Who am I?” And we will be surprised when we realize that we have no real answer to this question.

We have come up with many surrogate identifiers we use to answer this question, but not the real deal. Answering this question with clarity and confidence is Self-knowledge. Once we know ourselves then knowing everything else is easy. The Self is such a simple yet devious subject that during the course of its study, the seeker would gain enough insight to know everything else in the world with ease. This is why we said at the start that knowing oneself is the key to everything in life.