Then, we have to consider another equipment of man - the Prana or the vital air. Let us consider whether we can nominate it as the 'I'? During deep sleep, man is not conscious that he is breathing and that the 'vital airs' are alert! Of the three states - the waking (Jagrat), the dreaming (Swapna) and the sleeping (Sushupti), though the prana is existent in all, the man is not aware of the experiences of the waking state while dreaming, nor of the experiences of the dreaming state while in the wakeful state. During sleep, the Pranas do not activate the intellect or the memory. They appear to be quiescent. When the boss is active, the dependents cannot keep quiet. Since thy are not uniformly active always, Pranas or the Prana principle cannot be considered as the 'I' or Atma.
Now about the Ego. There are two fields in which it operates and so, it has two meanings:
- Self-love, Ahamkara, the 'Dehatma', Body-consciousness, the Exterior I and
- the Inner 'I', the Pratyag-Atma.
Persons who do not know this distinction confuse themselves and assert that 'I' is applicable to the Dehatma. But, this is wrong. The body as we have seen is a tool, it is an object; it is the seen and not the see-er. How can the Ego, identified with it, be the Atma? This Ego also is of the 'seen' category. It is absent in sleep and plays false in dreams. Truth has to persist unaffected, in the past, present and future. That which is absent in two states, how can it be true?
As a result of this inquiry, it has become plain that the senses, the mind, the intellect, the vital airs - not one of these can be accepted as Atma and accorded that validity. Therefore, the question arises: What else, who else, is Atma?
It has no entry or exit, no hands and feet, no organs and limbs, no blot or blemish. It is the minutest among the minute, the hugest among the huge. Like space, it is everywhere. It is all and so it is free from 'I' and 'mine'. It is consciousness, as fire is heat, and the sun is light - it has no affinity with distress or delusion; it is supreme everlasting ecstasy, Param-ananda. It is the core, the heart of all beings; it is the awareness in all. It is the see-er of everything 'seen'; it sees all objects seen. Everyone, whatever his nature or stature, who declares, after being served by the senses, "I see", "I hear", "I taste" etc., is really only talking of lamps, of tools and not of the Atma. The Atma is not a part-see-er, a series-see-er, a non-see-er or a pseudo-see-er.
