Who am I

Everyday we make decisions and take some actions, which guide us through the trail of life. At that moment, we believe that the decision we made was the right decision, which later on may or may not be. But before we make any decision or take any action and start harping about the correctness of the decision or action, we should be able to take a stand ourselves before we give any importance to the decision or action. If the person who is taking the decision, himself is confused as to the purpose of his own existence, how can he be capable of making the right decision.
There is a nice story about the dialog between the sage Narad and Sanatkumar the first born of Brahma the creator. Narad goes to Sanatkumar and tells him that he has no peace of mind. Sanatkumar asks Narad about what he knows already. Narad opens his book of knowledge and tells Sanatkumar that he knows every science and art in the world. He is a master of philosophy, religions and every field possible, but still he has not peace of mind. To this Sanatkumar replies that you are misled by the egoism of learning, and what you know is nothing but a bundle of words with no content inside. Your learning is definitely a bright radiance before you as it were, but you yourself are internally in a muddled condition. And then finally Sanatkumar tells Narad the great sage, the secret of human happiness. He says that in order to be happy, you have to know everything. You cannot know just a part and be happy, you need to know everything including yourself. Knowing everything means to stand in separate from the object you are trying to know. Here Sanatkumar suggests, that a person should first know himself before trying to know anything else in the world, because if the knower himself is not known, then the information about the object which the knower knows will certainly be incorrect.
There is a very nice exercise, each one of us should follow. Go to your room, close the door, keep the telephone down, even remove your clothes and sit in a corner. Consider that nobody wants you, not even your wife, parents, relatives, friends etc. And think for a moment, "What kind of a person am I". If any importance is left in you at this stage, that is your real nature. If nothing is left, then we are in great danger. Important thing to note here is that, we are not a bundle of social relations. History has proved that relations can snap at any time and are unreliable. Then what remains, your body. Body is also unreliable and can be snatched away anytime by the icy hands of death. Then what remains ? You will still realize that bereft of this bodily as well as social relations you still remain as you were with a kind of assertion you exert on your individuality and makes you feel that "YOU ARE". Not the body is, or friends and relation are or wealth is, nothing of that kind can be described as to what you really are. Satchidananda is our true nature. Infinite being, infinite consciousness and infinite bliss. Just that we have moved away from the center and got entangled in this life, and have forgotten our true nature which is of the nature of infinite bliss. Its a state of the great peace, as the Buddha describes, or the state of perfection as per Mahavira. The reason we have taken human birth is to realize this grand truth and great liberated. We can run after our desires, but once you enter the forest of desires it would be very difficult to come out. The desires are compared to a wild tornado in the scriptures, and a person with great discrimination (viveka) can catch hold of his desires. It is said "Give up everything and get everything". The renunciation need not be physical, it can be mental also, if you can practise that kind of renunciation. You can be perfectly involved in every activity in life, but each moment should remind you of the infinite being present within you until you are established in it naturally. You don't need to take sanyas, or any such thing.
We should consider ourselves fortunate that we are born in India, and our bent of mind is different from Americans here. People here have entered the forest of desires so deeply that getting them out is a herculean task. They cannot think above the body. That is the reason, Osho prescribed to them techniques which involved sex and drugs to get them our of this vicious cycle. They had to be taken out through the forest itself. If you are interested, you can read a book by Osho called "From sex to super conscious". Anyways it is not important for us but just of curiosity sake. Now having such a strong background of taking birth in India, why should be try to mimic the westerners and enter the forest of desires, get entangled and forget about our true self which is the Atman of the nature of infinite bliss. One thing to remember is that Finite is Sorrow, Infinite is Bliss. Joy you experience in this world, is nothing but a particle of that infinite bliss radiating from inside. We are not able to experience this infinite bliss, because of the huge cloud of ignorance, we ourselves are made of. Hence let us make an effort to realize this great reality, and become blessed for the rest of our life. It is said "Sukha Dukha Nivrutti, Paramananda prapti" its certainly a covetable state to be attaned. So lets march forward in that direction with an unflinching mind and attain the goal supreme and become liberated.
All what I have written comes from few lectures I have heard and something I have read. Nothing is original, and it cannot be because I am confused as to the reason of my existence, so how can I comment about what has to be done :) From here onwards lets continue our discussion. I have also added Mitesh to this thread so that he can also punch in some of his valuable comments.