These are mere classifications… I am eternal and beyond.
I am not pure or impure…I am not good or bad.
I am not hot or cold…I am not moral or immoral. I am not realized or unrealized…
These are mere dualities. I am eternal and beyond.
I am not bound or free… I am not hated or loved.
I am not happy or unhappy… I am not foolish or intelligent. I am neither successful nor a loser…
These are mere perspectives. I am eternal and beyond.
I am not weak or strong… I am not restless or lazy.
I am not tired or fresh… I am not healthy or unhealthy. I am not my past…
These are temporary states. I am eternal and beyond.
I cannot die, I cannot be sick, I cannot be hurt, I cannot be grieved.
I know no sorrow, I know no pain, I know no grief, I know no hurt.
I know no sickness, I lack nothing.
I am beyond the good and bad, beyond praise and criticism, beyond everything that can be thought or written, everything that can be heard or said, for, I am the indestructible, indivisible, infinite, eternal, supreme soul – the highest realization, the purest consciousness.
I am beyond birth and death, I have existed before the universe, I am an independent unit but part of a complete phenomenon. I am complete.
You could also do the aforesaid meditation in an interactive manner. That involves asking yourself the question and answering it. For example, you may say: “Am I the body?” And then answer it by saying, “No, I’m not the body.” You can do this for all of the above declarations and more.
When you do this regularly, something miraculous happens in your life after a while: you stop feeling bad and stop reacting to what others say or think about you. You no longer crave for things the world’s going crazy about because you don’t see yourself as a helpless body, or a man or a woman craving for love, prestige or respect, you don’t see yourself a tiny person in a vast universe anymore. Instead, you find that you are a universe yourself – complete, eternal, indestructible. These are not mere words or phrases, but simple truths that’ll empower you. One of the most powerful moments in anyone’s life is when you wake up to your own immensity.
After eliminative contemplation, you can go for the more detailed affirmative contemplation which expands the way you see, understand and treat yourself.
Starting with eliminative contemplation first helps to remove the layers of temporary labels off you. When you feel incredibly light after doing that, you can work on affirmations or contemplation by acceptance.
Affirmative Contemplation
After you have negated what you are not, reinforce what you are. Affirmative contemplation is the reinforcement of your true identity and it is this reinforcement – this knowledge – that will help you stay calm and blissful while operating the world. As an instance, when people criticize you or hurt you, at that moment you have to visualize who you really are, that they are merely saying things to your body and that you are beyond the body.
I have adapted the affirmations below from three Upanishads, the sacred texts expounding on the metaphysical and esoteric aspects of Vedic knowledge. You can pick and choose what you like. They are merely there to guide you. The goal is to contemplate on all eternal elements as you.
How to do it right
Sit in a comfortable position. Any comfortable position will do. You don’t have to be seated in a yogic posture.
Take a few deep breaths.
Start the process of contemplation by affirmation, that is, keep recalling what you are.
Here are the prompts:
I am I (the Self). I am That. I am Brahman. I am the Source. I am of all the worlds. I am He. I am Siddha. I am the Pure.
I am the Supreme. I am. I am always He. I am the Eternal. I am stainless.
I am Vijnana. I am the Excellent. I am Soma. I am the All. I am beyond honor or dishonor. I am beyond the dualities.
I am neither existence nor non-existence. I am beyond language. I am the Shining. I am the Glory of void and non-void.
I am the good and the bad. I am Happiness. I am beyond grief. I am Consciousness. I am awake. I am equal (in all).
I am the like and the non-like. I am that.
I am the eternal, the pure, and the ever felicitous.
I am the form of immeasurable Bliss. I am beyond body.
I am beyond bondage or emancipation. I am the pure Brahman. I am He.
I am ever of the form of deliberation and yet am beyond deliberation.
I am the earliest. I am beyond the contemplator and contemplation.
I am neither the thing defined nor non-defined. I am the non-absorbed Essence.
I am not the measurer, the measure or the measured. I am Shiva. I am the Seer of all. I am beyond the eyes. I am the Wise.
I am the Quiescent. I am the Destroyer. I am the doer of all actions. I am Pure Bliss. I am beyond the universe. I am of the form of all light.
I am the Light in Absolute Consciousness.
I am free from the three periods of time. I am beyond desires.
I am beyond body. I am the One that has no body. I am beyond compare.
I am solely the thing that is of the nature of wisdom. I am beyond Ego.
I am of the nature of the vast and all-full wisdom. I am one that is witness and beyond desire.
I reside in My glory alone. I am beyond motion. I am beyond old age.
I am beyond destruction. I am the vast ocean of bliss. I am the subtle.
I am beyond change. I am the soul, beyond the illusion of qualities. I am of the nature of the true wisdom beyond limit.
I am the state of excellent happiness. I am all-pervading and beyond stain.
I am the limitless and endless Sattva alone. I am replete with Supreme Bliss.
I am of the nature of happiness, which is Supreme Bliss.
I am pure, secondless, and eternal. I am devoid of beginning. I am free from the gross, subtle and causal bodies.
I am of the nature of wisdom. I am the emancipated One.
I have a wondrous form. I am free from impurity. I am the one latent in all.
I am the refined Supreme Truth. I am of the nature of Wisdom- Bliss alone.
I am of the nature of consciousness. I am of the nature of happiness. I am the eternal Soul. I am the primeval consciousness.
I am beyond passion or faults.
I am neither existing nor non-existing.
I am not of the nature of anything. I am of the nature of the actionless.
I am beyond parts.
I am the pure, the enlightened, the eternal, the all-pervading and of the nature of the significance of Om, of the spotless, and of Chit.