Who are you?

By Reverend Ryugen Watanabe, Osho

Each one of us inhabits three bodies: a physical body (material), an astral body (emotions) and a causal body (wisdom).

The astral body is considered to be higher (more evolved) than the physical body and the mental body higher than the astral.

"You" use your physical body to exist on the physical plane, but at the same time you also exist in an astral body on the astral plane and in a mental plane.

Most people are only aware of the material body and the material plane which is also the lowest, the crudest and most complicated level of existence. The material body that "you" have, is just "your" body, but it would be a mistake to think that it is "you".

The same thing is true for the astral body and the mental body - they are not "you", but merely "yours". Many yoga and meditation practitioners have experienced how their astral body leaves the physical body and they have become aware of how their astral body acts and exists on the astral plane. They are in the same danger as people who believe that they are their physical body, when they start to think that they are their astral body.

Since the three bodies are merely bodies which "you" have, there must be a "you" somewhere. Who are "you"? All religions which exist on the planet basically teach who "you" are. Some religions call "you": "soul", Buddhists: "Buddha nature", and Christians: "the God within".

These religions, in some way or other, teach that you are God. They all talk about the same thing even though they use different words and language. People who get too attached to words and language make a mistake, because their attachment leads to disharmony and conflict. People kill and harm each other because of misunderstandings based on language.

The question can be asked whose fault this is. I was once asked by a student who the people are who end up in hell. My answer was: it is the priests who go to hell. It is important to understand this because many people today in America feel drawn to religion and yet they still want to fight within religion.