The Answer for 'WHO AM 'I' ? is not keeping silence in duality but to trace the source of mind from where it rises and subsides from and into.

Some yogis say:- To the question "Who am I?" the only relevant answer is silence. You need to discard all answers in words, including "I am Nothing" or "I am the Cosmic Self"or "I am the Self" - and just stick to the question "Who am I?". All other answers are just thoughts. Thoughts can never be complete. Only Silence is complete.-  this  is misguided guidance. 

Only by discarding thoughts and words on the physical plane, the the wisdom will not dawn. The thoughts will keep on raising until the false self is considered as true self. How can the false self discard the  thoughts and words it is total impossibility .The thoughts will keep on rising and words are used until one considers the form as self . First, one has to realize, the self is not form but self is formless consciousness,  only than he will be able to understand and assimilate what is truth and what is not truth. 

That is why Sri, Sankara says in VivekaChudamani   :- 

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae) and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman ? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendour of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

People who are yearning for spiritual truth will not find it through intellectual speculation and assumption. Intellectual truth is individual truth. Love implies duality and love is individual feelings within the falsehood. Love is necessary and valuable in the stated of ignorance but it is not the means to acquire wisdom.  Love is religious tool to lead life in practical world.  And Religious truth is individual truth and it is not universal truth because the religion is based on individuality. 

The Answer for 'WHO AM 'I' ? is not keeping silence in duality but to trace the source of mind from where it rises and subsides from and into. By knowing the source of the mind one becomes aware of the fact that, the source is the soul,which is in form of consciousness,which is the innermost  self. The nature of the soul is formless non-dual silence. The WHO AM 'I' ? and I AM THAT are most important stages in pursuit of truth. 


Wisdom will not dawn in these stages. Seeker has to go much deeper in their self search to understand ,assimilate and realize the non dual truth. Seeker by deeper thinking and reasoning  realize the  ultimate truth or  Brahman. Since it is very personal journey one has to drop all the accumulated knowledge and without mental spoon feeding , he has to use his own discrimination and reach the inner core of his true existence. 

That is why Upanishads itself declares:- sarvam khalvidam brahma - all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality [ Chandogya Upanishad].

By adopting WHO AM I and I AM that only half journey is completed,which is only intellectual understanding based on physicality. 

That is why Upanishds say :- They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. [Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada]. 

COMMON people and primitive minds fall into faulty thinking through their inherited conditioning , such faulty thinking and reasoning makes them accept the experience of birth, life and death as reality ; taking what one sees through the senses as real, taking what is apparent obvious and superficial as true because it is less troublesome.

Many People adopt the attitude that what they know is truth. And what others say is false. This attitude makes them not to verify anything other then what they know. One needs to be rational, not merely logical. Logic is has its value only in physical plane.

As one advances towards spiritual plane he sees the logic underlying experience and becomes more rational. His reasoning is two-fold--implicit and explicit.

There is a need of facts of physical proof in scientific invention, whereas in pursuit of truth the proof has to be grasped mentally and realized. Therefore, the truth is realized only by few who take this mental pursuit. “Whatever facts revealed, which is un-contradictable has to be accepted as truth.

The truth based on the formless soul/self is worthwhile; without it, one has something else, not truth. Most people refuse to venture into pursuit of truth; because they do not want to go into the root of things.

Until one gets firm conviction of the ultimate truth he has to constantly reflect on the nature of the true self, till he achieves the equilibrium. Thus renouncing the worldly life is not necessary in order to acquire non-dual wisdom. 

This universe is but a state of ignorance. In reality universe is nothing but illusion created out of consciousness. The existent and non-existent of forms, name and things do not lose their inherent nature. The consciousness self-existing, which knows both existence and non-existence, never ceases to be because it is cause of the illusion and it itself is uncaused. 

The nature of the consciousness, which is the true self, is free from mental contents [three states], effortless, immutable, and spotless is neither far way nor near but ever present in all the three states as their formless substance and witness. When the formless substance and witness are one in essence the three states are mere mirage created out of that formless essence. 

The universe exists because of consciousness. The moment the ignorance vanishes the universe with all its contents becomes unreal. Thus realizing the unreal nature of the universe or waking experience in the midst waking experience leads to self-awareness. Self-awareness frees one from experiencing the waking experience as reality. The non-dual silence is found only in self awareness.

The people in path of yoga think observing silence in waking experience[duality] is the answer for WHO AM I ? . but that answer is erroneous because the waking experience itself is mere mirage from the ultimate standpoint. Thus whatever seen ,known and believed and experienced as a person of the world within the waking experience is bound to be falsehood. the wisdom will not  dawn by mere intellectual speculation or arguments provocation.      by deeper self-search and sound discrimination through reason based on the true self the wisdom dawns.