Unmasking Our Identity (The Phenomenon of Multiple Identities)

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Our identities influence our life by the way we respond to things of the world. When a person acquires something, for example, he wants to make it known to others, to affirm that he now 'possesses' it. To create an identity means identification with something, gross or abstract. When we identify ourselves as Mr or Mrs so and so, with this or that it makes us different from others. This separateness makes us respond in good or bad manner.

In fact, it is the mind which plays the central role in the whole process. Besides this, our company too influences our identity. Says Sri Ramakrishna:'It is all a question of the mind. Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone. The mind will take the colour you dye it with. It is like white clothes just returned from the laundry. . . They will take only the colour you dip them in, whatever it may be. Haven't you noticed that, if you read a little English, you at once begin to utter English words: Foot fut it mit? Then you put on boots and whistle a tune, and so on. It all goes together. . . If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think like your companions. On the other hand, when you are in the company of devotees, you will think and talk only of God.'

Our identification with body-mind is the basis of all our other (false) identities. There is an interesting story which illustrates this fact: A man with a number of medals pinned on his coat came on a visit to a village. Looking at his imposing stature and manners, medals at that, many people received him with great respect and honoured him. As he was leaving the place, someone asked him how he had obtained so many medals. He replied while pointing to one big medal, 'Someone gave me this medal by mistake, and others followed!'

The first medal, given by mistake, is our identification with body-mind. Why we get that first 'medal', whether by mistake or otherwise, no one knows. In fact, what is the purpose of this creation either, no one knows.

In his famous Paper on Hinduism, presented at Chicago Parliament of Religions, Swami Vivekananda remarked: 'It is a fact in everybody's consciousness that one thinks of oneself as the body. The Hindu does not attempt to explain why one thinks one is body. The answer that it is the will of God is no explanation. This is nothing more than what the Hindu says, "I do not know."'

When this identification begins to loosen its grip on us, we try to wriggle out of the cocoon called our little personality and then our true 'personality' begins to emerge, the personality based our real nature. Then all our selfishness begins to melt down. All our cruelty and crookedness begins to lose its meaning, and we begin to see the need to be established in our true nature which is pure and divine. Experiencing the Divine within is the end of all sorrow and unhappiness. It is then that we discover our undying inner worth and our real potential begins to manifest—the real identity that stands behind all other identities that we otherwise cling to.
The more we emphasise this inner truth of our being, the greater the chances of lasting happiness and peace in life. But then what about our sins, our mistakes lying hidden in our sub-conscious mind? Look at how Swamiji allays our fears: 'If a man stands up and says, "I am a sinner," he makes an untrue statement because he does not know himself. He is the most ignorant of men; of himself he knows only one part, because his knowledge covers only a part of the ground he is on.'

To dwell on one's weaknesses is to affirm our body-mind limitation. When we think of the divine centre within, we rise above our littleness and get connected to the reservoir of infinite possibilities of joy and strength.

To Be Continued

About the author

Swami Atmashraddananda

Swami Atmashraddhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and editor of The Vedanta Kesari from the year 2004 .