Who am I?
நான் யார் ? (nAn yAr) – “who am I?”. Try describing yourself. In 2 lines, in 10 lines, a page. It’s not easy to describe ourselves, as after all we are product of our vasanas (conditionings) and prakriti (material makeup, chemicals, etc.), together which determine our gunas (tendencies) – which are all in constant flux. In fact it is a profound question put forth by Hindu sages abound in India. And they took it pretty seriously – who am I? – leading to their direct realization of something which is beneath and beyond all that conditioning, which is untainted, pure, infinite, eternal, which they called as the Atman or Brahman. It is what you find when you peel away all your layers of conditionings and material makeup that you think is “you”, through the science of yoga (Sanskrit, means “union with” [God/Atman/Self]).
சும்மா இரு (summA iru) – “just be”. That was the notoriously simple response Lord Murugan gave to sage Sri Arunagirinathar’s crying out to Him, for pretty much the same question as above. It is one of those so simple and yet profound sayings that are so difficult to translate. It can be translated as just be, or simply be, or simply just be, or to sit in meditation. Similar in context are the Sanskrit expressions such as तत् त्वं असि (tat tvam asi) – “thou art that”, and ॐ तत् सत् (Om tat sat) – “all is Om”.