Self-Enquiry in Bhaja Govindam

[M Suresh]

The popular form of enquiry into  one's true identity leading to the
ultimate,  eternal and only reality is  "Who am I?" as  expounded by
Sri. Ramana Maharishi.

There are variations to this form of enquiry like:

"Am I the body?", "Am I the thoughts?", "Am I the brain?"

"Who is the doubter?" and so on ...

I found  self-enquiry of a  different nature in  verses 8 and  23 of
"Bhaja Govindam".

                      VERSES 8 & 23 IN BHAJA GOVINDAM
                      ===============================

kaate kaantaa kaste putraH
saMsaaro.ayamatiiva vichitraH .
kasya tvaM kaH kuta aayaataH
tattvaM chintaya tadiha bhraataH .. 8..
( Attributed to Shankaracharya )

Who is your wife? Who is your son? Strange is this samsara.  Of whom
are you? From where have you come? Brother, ponder over these truths
here.

kastvaM ko.ahaM kuta aayaataH
kaa me jananii ko me taataH .
iti paribhaavaya sarvamasaaram.h
vishvaM tyaktvaa svapna vichaaram.h .. 23..
( Attributed to one of Shankara's 14 disciples )

Who are you? Who  am I? From where do I come? Who is my mother,  who
is my  father? Ponder  thus,  look at everything as  essenceless and
give up the world as an idle dream.

                                 *****

I feel that While the specifics of the questions raised in the above
verses are  not important,  they serve  as examples  questioning the
concepts and experiences in worldly life.

Once questioned  these concepts and  experiences one holds on  to as
realities are  exposed as  being just  thought vibrations  having no
existence by themselves, thus giving a clue to one's real identity.

The above 2 verses were picked  up from the following link where you
can find the whole of "Bhaja Govindam":

http://calvin.cse.psu.edu/~gargi/poems/Adi.Shanks.html

regards,
Suresh.