Stripped Away
— What’s left? —
I am not the name that’s given to me
nor am I a number
I’m not confined to what you see
I don’t play parts you favour
I’m not a tale of artistry
or long-lost soul who slumbered
a pre-conceived identity
that’s sold to me in squalor
I’m not a human, not a beast
And don’t think I’m an item
I’m not the fruits produced of labour
or any odd word in language
I’m not here to prove your wrongs
and definitely not here to right them
I’m not here for desperation
or to carry any baggage
…not tucked away inside my brain
and not the physical senses
I’m not the pleasure, not the pain
or any of my fences
The only fact I know I am,
among the lies and fear,
the only thing I can conceive
is really that I’m here.
“To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not. And to know what you are not, you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not go with the basic fact: I am.”
— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
