Chapter 5: Understanding the Human Being as Co-existence

of Self (‘I’) and Body

We have seen that our fundamental motivation, our basic want - is that of continuous happiness
and prosperity. We have also seen that the fulfilment of this want depends upon our
understanding the reality, or harmony at every level of our existence. We have also seen that
we can understand this harmony through self-exploration.

We have also explored that as humans, our living extends from the Self to the entire existence.
The levels of our living are -

living in myself
living in family
living in society
living in nature/ existence

In this chapter we will study the human being comprehensively, including the human body as
well as the observer and user of the Body, i.e. the Self. So, we will understand the human
being as the co-existence of the Body and the Self (or ‘I’). Let us start the journey of
understanding.

Human Being is More Than Just the Body

What do we visualize when we refer to someone as a Human Being?

There is the familiar shape and structure of a human body that is immediately apparent to us
and we imagine someone with similar human body-like features. But in addition to the body,
we are also aware of the 'alive-ness' of the person - the feeling that makes us understand that
this person is alive. In the simplest way – we perceive this 'alive-ness' in the activities
demonstrated by the person like their seeing, talking, listening, walking, eating etc. On a
deeper examination of the 'alive-ness' we sense the subtler activities of the person – the person's
feelings, thinking, believing etc. It is impossible to imagine a human being – a person that is
alive – without these two aspects namely the Body and the 'alive-ness'. A dead human being
does not show this 'alive-ness'.

A Human Being is co-existence of the Body and this 'alive-ness'. The same 'alive-ness' refers to
itself as 'I'. Thus we say - “I am so and so” or 'I feel tired' or 'I am happy'. Each one of us refers
to ourselves as 'I'. This ‘I’ or ‘Self’ is also called ‘consciousness’ and is the sentient constituent
of the human being. Thus there is a clear distinction that each one of us can make and see that
there is an awareness of 'I' and an awareness of the Body.

We are busy through the day performing different activities. From brushing our teeth or taking
a bath to studying or playing – we consciously choose, decide and perform an activity with the
knowledge that it is ‘we’ who are performing these activities. It is not the body that chooses,
decides and performs these activities – without our consent or participation. We use our bodies
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
to perform such activities – and the choice, the decision and the manner in which to perform
these activities – all of this is ‘ours’ (or of 'I'). For example, we don’t say my legs started
walking by themselves! We say, “I decided to walk” i.e. the decision to walk is taken by ‘I’,
and not the legs!

When we savour delicious food, the latest music or a thrilling action movie, is it – each time –
our body or is it the 'I' that is enjoying or getting excited?. Again, you would say that it is 'I'
that is enjoying or rejecting the food, the music or the movie – whichever it is. Here as well, it
is ‘I’ that chooses to watch the movie and I watch the movie with the help of the eyes and ears.
Similarly, we feel pleasure, pain, happiness and sadness. We all have experienced these
feelings in ourselves. Sometimes when we meet someone we are thrilled and excited to be with
this person. Is it the body that feels the happiness of meeting someone or, do I feel happy? Such
a question sounds odd and we can see this for ourselves! The entity that experiences such
feelings is also 'I' or (our) Self.

Similarly, when we are reading a book and someone asks us – “who is reading this book?” Or
who understands it? - We might find the questions a little strange. After all it is 'I' who is
reading it, 'I' who understands it. But if then we are asked– who is this 'I'? - Then it seems even
more strange, we are quick to answer: ‘ Its me or myself’; or its ‘I’.

So, the Human Being is a co-existence of both these entities – the Self (‘I’) and the Body. We
will explore about this further in the following section.

Understanding Myself as Co-existence of the Self and the Body

Here is a proposal:
co-existence

Human = I (Self) ⇄ Body

information

The Human Being is the co-existence of I and the Body, and there is exchange of information
between the two. We can make this distinction between the Self and the Body in three ways in
terms of the needs, activities and the type of these two entities, as shown in the table below:

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 I Body

Trust, Respect… Food, Clothing…

Needs are… Happiness Physical Facilities

(sukh) (suvidha)

In Time, needs are… Continuous Temporary

Qualitative Quantitative
In Quantity, needs are… (not quantitative) (limited in quantity)
Needs

Right understanding Food, Clothing, etc

Needs are fulfilled by… and right feelings

Desiring, Thinking, Breathing, heart beat, etc

Activities

etc
Activities are… Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing, Fulfilling
Recognizing,
Fulfilling
Consciousness Physio-Chemical
Type

It is of type… (not material) (material)

Understanding needs of the Self and needs of the Body

We shall refer to the items next to the first column “Needs” in the table above one by one and
will explore into ourselves here:

Needs are…
All of us feel hungry! This happens because the body has a need for nourishment. In order to
have nourishment, the body needs food and water. The body needs food for its functioning and
each cell uses the energy from the digested food for its sustenance. This forms the basic need of
the Body. Besides food, the body also needs protection from changing weather conditions and
the ruggedness of the outdoors. The body can be damaged by continuous exposure to cold, or
rain or the sun. Hence, there is a need for some basic facilities to protect the body. Clothes and
shelter are thus needed to keep our body protected and sheltered from the extremities of
weather. We may also need “instruments” like a car to travel, or a mike to speak to a large
audience. Else, we would have to walk distances, or perhaps shout at the top of our voice to a
large audience, and that would only strain the body! Hence, instruments are needed for the right
utilization of the body. This may seem like very obvious facts and all of us seem to know them,
but you will very soon see the significance of these points we are discussing!

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Now ask yourself this question: “Who takes care of the body?”
The answer is: “I do” or, “I take care of the Body”

We can now ask given that these are the needs of the Body; ‘what do ‘I’ want’ or ‘what is my
need’? We have already identified a few such needs so far, so let us list them down: respect,
trust, happiness….are some of the needs of ‘I’ , or my need. Hence, we say “the need of the Self
(I) is: trust, respect, happiness, etc”. Now ask yourself a couple of more questions to be sure of
where these needs belong - In I, or in the Body:

• Who needs trust? Do I need trust, or is it the need of the Body?

• Who needs respect? Do I need respect, or is it the need of the Body?
• Who needs happiness? Do I need happiness, or is it a need of the Body?

The answers are: “I need trust, respect, happiness, etc”. Similarly, we can see that the earlier
set of needs: like nourishment, clothing, etc are clearly the needs of the Body and not of ‘I’. I
ensure these for the body - but I can clearly identify that these needs of nourishment, clothing,
etc are of the Body and not of I.

If we club them together, we see that the needs of the Body like food for nourishment, clothes
for protection, and instruments to ensure right utilization can be categorized as being ‘physical’
in nature, or also called ‘physical facilities’ (suvidha); whereas the need of I is essentially to
live in a state of continuous happiness (sukh).

Thus, this is one fundamental difference between the needs of 'I' and the needs of the Body.
The needs of the body are physical in nature, whereas the needs of the the self (I) are not
physical in nature – like trust, respect, happiness, etc. This is one primary distinction we can
make, between the Self(I) and the Body, in terms of their needs: these are fundamentally
different.

Hence, it becomes clear that we need to work for both: to ensure happiness, respect, trust in I,
and for physical facilities of the Body.

In time, needs are…

Let’s take the following situation. You meet a friend, and its his birthday. He invites you to the
canteen for a treat, so you follow him – expectantly. You have your fill. You meet him after
one hour again, and he again invites you to join him at the canteen! You politely refuse, but he
still takes you along…and starts giving you food, insisting that you eat and never stops. Your
treat, has now turned into a punishment! It becomes quite clear to us, that the body needs food
– but only periodically. We can take numerous such examples, and carry out experiments on
ourselves, and we will find, and can conclude that food for the body is a temporary need.

Similarly, we need warm clothes during winter and lighter clothes during summer. Just because
I have a good sweater, it does not mean that I will continue wearing it even in summer! Hence,
it’s apparent that we do not need clothes continuously! We tend to change our clothing based
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
on the weather. I.e. the need for clothing for the body is temporary in nature. Similarly, I want
to be in the house for only a limited time in a day. If I am retained in a room throughout my life,
so as to be ‘protected’, it will be life imprisonment for me! The need for a house as well, turns
out to be temporary – in this sense.

If we take the example of instruments for the body, the same thing applies. We want a vehicle
to go from one place to the other. But think of what would happen if once you get onto the
vehicle, you are not allowed to get down ever!

We can hence see that be it food, clothing, protection, or instruments, these are needed only for
some amount of time, or we can say that the need for physical facilities of the Body is
temporary in time – it is not continuous.

So the needs of the Body are temporary in time.

What about the needs of ‘I’? Ask yourself these questions:

Do I want to be happy only sometimes, or all the time?

Do I want respect in relationship only sometimes, or all the time?
Do I want acceptance in relationship all the time, or only sometimes?

We find that we want happiness continuously. We also want the feeling of respect continuously
and so also acceptance in relationship. You do not want to be unhappy even for a single
moment, or lose the feeling of respect for yourself for a single moment. It’s quite clear then,
that the needs of ‘I’ are continuous in time, unlike the need of the Body, which was temporary
in time.

When we explore the needs of the body, we find out there is no need of the body that is
continuous. Not even the need for air! You breathe but not continuously. We inhale once and
the next moment, we exhale. It is interrupted. On the other hand, there is no break in the need
for happiness and feelings in ‘I’. We do not want respect one moment, and give it up to be
disrespected the other moment! Rather, we want happiness and the feeling of respect ensured in
us continuously.

Summarizing the points we have made so far, we can see that:

• The need of the Body is Food Clothing, Shelter, or physical facilities, and these are
temporary in time.
• The need of ‘I’ is happiness, trust, respect, etc – and these are not physical in
nature, and are continuous in time.

In quantity, needs are…

For the Body: Quantitative

The needs of the Body are also quantitative! You can quantify your requirements for food,
clothes, books, shoes, slippers, rooms, bikes… The numbers may be large or small. But they
are limited in quantity. For example, you may need to take only four chapattis a day, while your
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
friend may need ten chapattis a day! I may need a bicycle to travel, you may need a car. But the
number of bicycles or cars that we are going to use is going to be limited again. It’s not like we
need unlimited quantity of bicycles or cars! Whatever physical facility we need is going to be
limited in quantity. To verify this, you can make a list of things you use and see if there is
anything that is needed for the body that is unlimited in quantity. It is easy to verify this point,
each one of us can do this.

Fair enough, so physical facilities are required in limited quantity. What happens if we try to
keep consuming physical facilities limitlessly? Lets take eating for example:
You go to a party and find that you can eat as many rasgollas as you want. You are hungry, and
you like this sweet very much. So, you start eating it with a lot of energy. In the beginning, it
satisfies your hunger and you find it delicious. You have had four of them so far. It is
“necessary and tasty” as of now. You continue counting five, six, seven...ten.. By the time you
are at the tenth sweet, your stomach is full – you find it difficult to eat, but you still enjoy the
taste. It has now turned “unnecessary but still tasty”. You, however, continue to eat - eleven,
twelve…and now. you start losing the taste…. it has turned “unnecessary and tasteless”. You
still persist on…and continue to eat- thirteen, fourteen…and if you still go on, it very soon
becomes “intolerable” and you cant stand the sight of the rasgolla anymore! This is also
something you can verify for yourself!

We can hence conclude that: “When we try to perpetuate physical facilities, the following
pattern results. With time it successively changes from

Necessary and tasteful =>

Unnecessary but tasty =>
Unnecessary and tasteless =>
Intolerable!

It thus becomes clear that as far as physical facilities go, they are needed in the beginning, but
if we try to keep consuming, it becomes intolerable with the passage of time. This applies to
every physical facility. We can only think of having unlimited physical facilities, but if we try
and consume, or have too much of physical facilities, it only ends up becoming a problem for
us! You can try imagining this: You like apples, that does not mean you end up having tons and
tons of apples! You may like a specific type of car, but if I gift you a hundred such cars, it will
only be cause for trouble for you!

We can thus conclude that physical facilities are needed for the Body in a limited quantity.
When we try and exceed these limits, it becomes troublesome for us after some time.

For the Self: Qualitative:

On the other hand, the needs of the Self (‘I’) are qualitative, not quantitative. We cannot talk of
one kg of respect, half a meter of love or two litres of affection! It even sounds simply
ridiculous! Happiness is qualitative. Either we are feeling happy or we are not.
Our feelings are qualitative. Either they are there or they are not.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
This is easy for us to verify, and is a very important point for reflection for each one of us – the
fact that needs of the Self (‘I’) are qualitative in nature – they are not qualitative.

We can further see that if a feeling is not naturally acceptable; we do not want it even for a
single moment. If acceptable, we want it continuously. We have already seen this with the
example of respect. We don’t want the feeling of disrespect even for a single instant, since it is
not naturally acceptable to us; on the other hand, respect is naturally acceptance and we want it
continuously.

Thus, to every need in the category of ‘I’, the following applies:

If it is naturally acceptable, I want it continuously.

If not acceptable, I do not want it at any moment.

Thus, not only are the needs of I qualitative (they are not quantifiable); but we also want them
continuously.
On the other hand, when it comes to the Body, the needs are quantitative, and we cant have
them continuously – or, do not need them continuously!

Needs are fulfilled by…

The need of the Self (I), for happiness (sukh), is ensured by Right Understanding and Right
Feelings, while the need of the Body, for physical facilities (suvidha), is ensured by appropriate
physico-chemical things.

The way to ensure the two kinds of needs is completely different. I may have lots of physical
facilities, but if I lack the right understanding, I will not be happy. Similarly, we may be living
together amidst lots of wealth. But if we do not have right feelings for each other, the happiness
in living together is not ensured.

Lets take an example here. Say you are sitting in a nicely air-conditioned room on a big
comfortable sofa with a person for whom you have the feeling of opposition in you. The Body
is very comfortable and well taken care of, but how do you feel? – Happy or unhappy? Surely,
you will be under stress, you will be unhappy. There are enough physical facilities (suvidha)
here, but not the right feeling in I. Hence happiness (sukh) is not ensured. Now imagine that
you are seated alone in an air-conditioned room, the Body again, is very comfortable, but you
are having contradictory thoughts or you are confused. How do you feel? –Happy or unhappy?
Again, you feel unhappy. You have again enough suvidha here, but not the right understanding.
Hence sukh is not ensured. You can test this out yourself. You may be having the best of food
available, but if you are not in a good mood, you are still unhappy. You might be sitting in a
nice comfortable car, but if you are worried about something, you are still unhappy – although
your body is fully fine and comfortable. This is an easy thing for each one of us to verify – all
we need to do is start paying attention to it!

We can thus see that:

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 • The need of the Self (I) for happiness, trust, respect, etc is fulfilled by right
understanding and right feelings, while the

• Need of the Body is fulfilled by physical facilities.

• The needs of the Self (I) are qualitative, and continuous in nature, while

• The need of the Body is quantitative and temporary in nature

The ‘confusion’ we are in today…

Now that we have studied different needs of the human being: in terms of Self (I); and of Body;
do you think, one can replace the other? Let us explore this point a bit more here.

You will recollect that we discussed about 1) right understanding, 2) relationship and 3)
physical facilities in the previous chapter. We had seen that physical facilities are necessary and
complete for animals; but when it comes to human beings, physical facilities are necessary but,
they are not complete:

Right understanding is needed in

myself.
1) Right Understanding
This is a need of I

2) Relationship 3) Physical
facilities

Physical facilities, the things we use, come from

We want to have the right feelings in
what we call as nature.
relationship.

This is a need of I This is a need of the Body

We are studying the same issue now, only more closely. Based on the discussion in the previous
sections, we are able to better see why physical facilities do not suffice for a human being. It is
because a human being is the co-existence of the Self (I) and the Body, and physical facilities
are a need of the Body. Having physical facilities ensures the fufiment of the need of the Body –
it does not address the need of ‘I’ – of happiness, trust, respect, etc. It thus becomes clear, once
again, that we need to ensure all three: 1) Right Understanding; 2) Relationship and 3) Physical
facilities for the human being.

Hence, for human beings, we need to fulfil the need of both: of I and of Body – happiness
(sukh) and physical facilities (suvidha). One cannot replace the other.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Let’s take some examples to explore this point further. Let’s say you visit a friend’s house, and
you are hungry. When you get there, your desire is that he treats you with respect as well as
provides food/water for your hungry/thirsty body. Now imagine this – your friend provides you
with lots of delicious food but treats you with contempt. How would you feel? Now suppose
there is another friend who treats you with utmost warmth but does not even ask you for food
or water. How would you feel in these situations? We can see that we require both: respect for
‘I’ and food or nourishment for the body. If just one of them is available, it is not enough for us.
A common mistake today is that we mix these two sets of needs: happiness (sukh) for ‘I’ and
physical facilities (suvidha) for the Body. We assume that
“all we need is physical facilities (suvidha), and that it will automatically ensure happiness
(sukh)”
While the reality is that we need both: since one is the need of the Body , and the other is the
need of I .

We hence need to work for both happiness (sukh) in ‘I’ and physical facilities (suvidha) for the
Body. The programs for the two are also different. Working for one will not ensure the
other. I.e. only working for happiness in ‘I’ cannot ensure physical facilities for the Body, and
only working for physical facilities cannot ensure happiness in ‘I’!!

Given that this is the case, we can now find out where we are investing most of our time today -
working for physical facilities, or working for right understanding and right feelings? You can
ask yourself this question, right now: All your desires, all your plans right now: are they to
ensure right understanding and feelings in ‘I’, or merely to ensure, or accumulate physical
facilities? This is an important question to answer for each one of us, since it is directly tied to
our basic aspiration of happiness!

As humans we need both – continuous happiness in the Self (‘I’) as well as limited physical
facilities for the Body. We need to fulfil both of these and both are important. Also, just having
one does not ensure the other. i.e. only eating food does not ensure respect or happiness, and
only being happy does not ensure food! We need both. Thus, with right understanding, we
become responsible to ourselves (for ‘I’) as well as our Body.

You can now pause for a moment and look around you: everyone, including yourself, is
running around busy accumulating, or preparing to accumulate physical facilities in different
colours, shapes and sizes! This is all we seem to be able to think of! The funny thing is, today,
despite putting in most of our efforts for physical facilities we are not even able to fulfil the
needs of the Body correctly. This is because if we try to fulfil the continuous need for happiness
(sukh) in ‘I’ by continuously consuming physical facilities (suvidha) at the level of the Body,
not only will we be unsuccessful in being happy, but the Body also suffers, since we are now
abusing the body in this process. Instead of giving the body what is needed to ensure health, we
keep trying to do something to the Body in the vain hope that it will make us happy – this only
gives us some sensory inputs from the body, but it does not ensure continuity of happiness in
‘I’. i.e. the need of ‘I’ and the need of Body has to be addressed separately. Needs of ‘I’ are
qualitative and continuous in nature, needs of Body are quantitative and temporary in nature. It
is thus quite obvious that one cannot replace the other. Any attempt to do this – as we are doing
today will only lead to problems in ‘I’ and in the Body.
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Today, assuming that they will fetch continuous happiness, we attempt to accumulate
‘unlimited facilities’; and in the process, end up ignoring and losing our relationships, and get
into contradictions, ultimately leading to a self-defeating process. We assume that we need
‘unlimited’ wealth to ensure continuous happiness. We have just seen that this is not possible.
To add to this, there are some more inherent contradictions in this desire for ‘unlimited wealth’:
Ask yourself: Can wealth ever be unlimited? Whatsoever be the amount of physical facilities
you may accumulate, it always has a limit! You can talk of 1 car, or 10 cars, or 100,000 cars,
but it still has a limit!

Another issue we have today is that we have assumed that physical facilities will fetch
appreciation from others, which in turn will fetch happiness for ‘I’. This too is an indefinite
process. The same physical facility (lets say, an expensive car) may fetch appreciation from
somebody, and contempt or even jealousy from someone else. It cannot ensure respect for you,
thus it is indefinite.

We can summarize these gross misunderstandings we have today as below:

I = Body

Clothes = Respect

Facilities = Happiness

Now try to reflect back on yourself, do you purchase clothes for respect, or for the protection of
the body? What governs your choice when you are at the shop? If you are purchasing clothes
for respect, you are subject to the same misunderstanding as listed above – respect is a need of
‘I’, it cannot be ensured by putting clothes on the Body. The continuous need for respect
cannot be fulfilled by temporary and limited clothes.

There is thus an urgent need for us to understand ourselves as a coexistence of ‘I’ and body,
and be able to see that their needs are different. If we have this clarity, we shall have different
programs for the fulfilment of both. Today, on the contrary, since we assume ourselves to be
only body, we are running around in larger and larger circles – all the while trying to fulfil the
need of ‘I’ by doing something to the Body – because the basic misunderstanding today is that
‘I’ = Body, which is incorrect.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Understanding the Activities in the Self and the Activities in the Body
Having discussed the needs of the Self and the Body, we can now explore the activities in the
Self and the Body. This gives us further insight into the difference in the nature of the Self (I)
from that of the Body.

Let us revisit the table we initially started with. We have already explored the needs of the ‘I’
and Body, we will now explore into the activities in the I and Body (shown in larger size font,
and shaded in the table below)

I Body
Trust, Respect… Food, Clothing…

Needs are… Happiness Physical Facilities

(sukh) (suvidha)

In Time, needs are… Continuous Temporary

Qualitative Quantitative
In Quantity, needs are… (not quantitative) (limited in quantity)
Needs

Right understanding and Food, Clothing, etc

Needs are fulfilled by… right feelings

Desiring, Thinking, Breathing, heart beat, etc

Activities

etc
Activities are… Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing, Fulfilling
Recognizing,
Fulfilling
Consciousness Physio-Chemical
Type

It is of type… (not material) (material)

Desiring, Thinking… in ‘I’ and Breathing, heart beats… in Body:

Let us look at some of our common daily activities and see how we understand them in the
context of the Self (or ‘)’ and the Body. This will help us understand and discern the Body from
(our) Self or ‘I’. If we look at the variety of activities that we are engaged in commonly - we
see that we can put them in three categories:

• Activities that are going on in the Self

• Activities that are going on in the Body
• Activities involving both the Self and the Body

Let us write our proposal about the ‘I’ and Body again, so we may refer to it:

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 co-existence
Human = ‘I’ (Self) ⇄ Body
information

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 In order to understand the distinction in the activities in ‘I’ and those in the Body, let us write
down all our activities. For better clarity, we have categorized them as
1) Activities going on in the Self (‘I’);
2) Activities involving both ‘I’ and Body, and
3) Activities going on in the Body

All our Activities

1) Activities 2) Activities 3) Activities

going in the involving both I going on in the
Self (I) and Body Body

Activities that Activities that are happening Activities that are

are only happening with the involvement of both, going on only in the
in ‘I’ I & Body Body, but with the
consent of I

Thinking Seeing Breathing

Dreaming Talking Digesting
Imagining Listening Blood Flow
Analyzing Eating Heart Beats
Understanding Walking Growth of hair

These are ‘my’ These activities require my active These activities donot
activities they, participation require my active
are in ‘I’ participation

These activities are not happening ‘by themselves’. These activities are
The entity that is responsible for all these activities is happening by’ themselves’;
the Self or I but with ‘my’ consent, with
the consent of ‘I’. I don’t
need to pay particular
attention to these activities
for them to take place.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
1) Activities that are going on in the Self (‘I’)
All of us think. This is something each one of us can verify. We also imagine, and this is very
evident from the following example: You are sitting in the classroom, and there is a lecture
going on. As you listen, you hear something and are suddenly reminded of an incident that took
place years ago. Your attention is drawn to that incident, and you start thinking about it, and
spend a few minutes there. After sometime, your attention shifts back into the classroom and
the teacher is standing at your desk, and asks “Where were you?” – your body is here, but you
were not ‘mentally here’. This happens with many of us – in the classroom, and outside it. We
may be sitting at home, and our mother may be calling us to eat. The words fall on our ears, but
we are so engrossed in reading a book, or in front of the computer, that she has to repeat herself
a couple of times before we respond! What is happening in these examples? – We are fully
engaged in activities in ourselves, in ‘I’. We are so lost in the thinking, or imagining that we
don’t hear the inputs from the Body.

If you now start observing yourself, you will see that most of the time, you are engrossed in
yourself; quite oblivious to what is happening outside. This also usually happens when we are
driving, or riding a bike for example. We may have ridden for 30 minutes through heavy traffic,
but we may have been lost in some thought, some imagination, some analysis most of the time
– with the result that when we reach our destination, we are surprised that we are already there!
These are activities that take place in ‘I’. Understanding, desiring, analyzing, imagining,
choosing – are activities that take place in the Self (‘I’)

These activities are going on in us all the time, and we are usually unaware of them. If we start
paying attention to them, we can become aware of them. When we don’t pay attention, we
don’t even register that these activities are taking place, with the result that we are ‘lost’ most
of the time, we are absent minded. Just try to keep an account of this, and you will see how
often in a day you are in this state!

We can also see that these activities take place irrespective of the state of the body. This is also
something you can verify yourself – even when you are sick, the activity of thinking does not
stop. You don’t think less or more based on whether you are hungry. Your capacity to imagine,
does not change even when you are lying in a hospital bed – in fact, if you are sick and on a
hospital bed, or at home at that time, you will see that you think and imagine a lot more, since
there is nothing much to do! This tells us that these activities are going on in the Self, in ‘I’ and
are not dependent on the state of the Body.

2) Activities involving both the Self (‘I’) and the Body

In the many activities we perform on a daily basis, we will discover a distinction between the
Self and the Body. We saw above that there are some activities that only take place in ‘I’. There
are some activities that we do, in which both ‘I’ and Body are involved.

Take the example of eating. Here, I first decide which food to eat, then make the choice to take
the food inside the body, and then use my hands to carry the food to the mouth and then use the
mouth to chew the food and then swallow it. Thus eating is an activity which involves both the
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Self (and ‘I’), where the choice is being made, and then the Body, with which the activity is
carried out. Now, who do you think is enjoying the tasty food that is being eaten? The
enjoyment that one gets out of eating tasty food – who do you think enjoys it? Me, the Self (‘or
I’) or the Body? The answer is obviously: “I (my Self) am the one who is getting the taste of
the food and enjoying it!” It is I that gets the taste of the food, enjoys the food.

Similarly, in walking, running, studying, doing my household chores, etc, both ‘I’ and the Body
are involved. The decisions, and choices are made in I, and these are carried out via the Body.

What about listening? When I listen, what is involved, ‘I’ or the Body or both? think about it
for a while… Say, your father asks you to get him a glass of water. But you are busy solving
your maths problem. What happens then? The words fall on your ears, but you are unable to
‘listen’. The Body has received the words, but you (‘I’) have not attended to it. So, you do not
respond. The participation of the body in this activity is to receive the words, and your (‘I’’s)
participation is to receive information from the Body, and get the meaning of those words.
Thus, listening involves both- ‘I’ and Body.

Similarly the activities of tasting, seeing or smelling involve both –‘I’ and Body. To conclude,
we can say that whenever there is involvement of the sense organs in the Body, then ‘I’ is also
involved. You can now notice that tasting, listening, smelling, seeing – that use the bodies five
sense organs also have an involvement of ‘I’. It is ‘I’ that receives information from the sense
inputs, and provides direction to the five sense organs in the Body.

Similarly, whenever the “work-organs” are involved, like hands or mouth or legs etc. then
again you are involved as it is you who selects to use them. For example – walking does not
happen by itself – but only when 'I' choose to walk, how much I decide to walk, how fast I walk
and when I decide to stop; is all decided in ‘I’ and then it is instructed to the Body. You can
observe this as well, when you are walking, for example: If you start paying attention, you will
see that all the time, it is you (or ‘I’) that is taking the decision to walk, regulate the speed of
walking, etc.

Thus, it’s all about paying attention! As we pay attention to our daily activities with the
distinction of I’’ and Body in mind, it becomes possible to distinguish that many of these
activities like seeing, walking, smelling listening, etc involve both I and the Body.

3) Activities that are going on in the Body

The Body is a set of 'self-organised activities' that are occurring with my (‘I’’s) consent but
without my (‘I’’s) active participation. These are functions like breathing, various organ
functions, digestion, etc and we will call this category of functions as “bodily functions' or
simply the activity of the 'Body'. An activity like breathing happens by itself and there is no
active participation of 'I' in the performance of the activity. However, this breathing continues
with my consent. I.e. I can choose to stop breathing when I want to, but do not have to pay any
special attention to keep breathing. Each one of us can easily verify this – all we have to do is
start paying attention to it!

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing & Fulfilling in ‘I’ and Recognizing & Fulfilling
in Body
In the previous section, we saw that the activities in ‘I’ and those in the Body can be clearly
distinguished. We will now look at the activities in ‘I’ and Body from a different perspective.

Activities of ‘Recognizing and Fulfilling’ In the Body:

We saw that breathing, heart beats, digestion, etc were activities in the body. The activities of
the Body can also be understood as ‘recognition and fulfilment’. ‘Recognition’ means that the
Body has a definite relation with physical facilities, and the relation is fulfilled in the
interaction of the Body with the facility.

Let us take an example to understand this: When you are thirsty and drink water, the body
absorbs the water to the extent needed and uses for the nourishment of the various organs. We
see here that the water has a definite relation with the Body. We thus say that the Body
‘recognises’ its relation with water, and ‘fulfils’ it. As a result, the need of the Body in terms of
water is fulfilled. We are using the terms recognition and fulfilment in this sense here.

Now, suppose somebody takes in petrol in place of water. Will the Body respond in the same
way? Definitely not! Since it has a different relation with petrol, the recognition & fulfilment of
the Body with petrol is different.

We can also see that there this process of ‘recognition’ and ‘fulfilment’ exists between the
various organs in the body besides between various physical facilities (like water, food, etc)
and the body. So, we can say that the ‘heart recognizes its relation with the lungs and fulfils it’,
‘the hands recognize their relation with the rest of the body and fulfil it’, ‘the lungs recognize
their relation with air and fulfil it’; and so on.

You will notice that we are using the words ‘recognize and fulfil’ in a different sense here – it
is not being used in the sense we use it for human beings – for example, we often say ‘I
recognized a friend’ – here, we are aware that we have recognized a friend. However in the
case of the Body, there is no such ‘awareness’ – of drinking water, eating food etc. It is just a
‘default definite relation’ the body has – within the internal organs in the body and with
external physical facilities like water, food, etc.

The activities in the body are thus also called as ‘recognizing & fulfilling’ activities. The
fulfilment depends on the recognition. In the example of water and petrol, the recognition of the
body in each case was different, and hence the fulfilment was also different.
These activities of the Body of ‘recognition and fulfilment’ are definite, hence, the response of
the Body to a given thing is definite.

Activities of ‘Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing & Fulfilling’ in the Self (‘I’)

When it comes to the Self (I); we see that in addition to ‘recognizing and fulfilling’, there is
also the activity of ‘assuming’ and that of ‘knowing’. Let us take an example to understand the
activity of ‘assuming’ first.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Let’s say a needle is pricked into your body. What will happen? If the needle is sharp, it will go
inside. If it is blunt, it will not. The Body has a definite relation to the needle, which it
recognises and fulfils. This is recognizing and fulfilling at the level of the body, and this is
definite. What about in ‘I’? If somebody tells you that the needle is a syringe, and the person
with the syringe is a doctor, and he is here to cure you, you will cooperate with him and allow
him to prick the needle in. But if you are told that the person with the needle is there to harm
you, you will object to the action fully, to the extent that you will do anything to avoid the
needle from going into the Body. If he/she manages to overpower you and poke the needle in
the Body, it will still pierce the body.

What happened here? The recognition of the Body was definite, but your recognition about the
needle depends on your assumption. When you assumed that the person with the needle is a
doctor and is here to help you, you allow him/her to prick it in (your ‘recognition’ and
‘fulfilment’) whereas, if you assumed that the person is here to harm you, you resisted him/her
(your ‘recognition’ and ‘fulfilment’ has now changed).

Thus, we can see that in the case of ‘I’, the recognizing and fulfilling changes based on the
assumption. There is no such faculty of ‘assuming’ in the Body. Irrespective of whether a
doctor or a person wanting to do harm is pricking the needle, if the needle is sharper than the
body, it will still pierce the body (recognition and fulfilment of the body is always definite)–
however, as the assumption in I changes, the recognition and fulfilment in ‘I’ changes – either I
will assist, or resist. This is a crucial distinction in the activities in ‘I’ and in the Body.
• In the Body, recognizing & fulfilling are definite; there is no ‘assuming’
• In ‘I’, recognizing and fulfilling depends on assuming. As the assumption changes,
recognizing and fulfilling changes.

Let us now write down what we have learnt so far about the activities in ‘I’:
• We assume – we all make assumptions. We say “I assumed this was true, but I was
wrong”. Example: if I see a snake and assume it to be a rope, I shall respond differently
to it (recognition and fulfilment), than if I see it to be a snake in the first place. We call
this activity ‘assuming’ or ‘mannana’
• We recognize – we all recognize things today, we recognize a variety of things. Like,
we recognize water, our parents, friends, etc. We call this activity ‘recognizing’ or
‘pehacha-nana’. The recognizing in ‘I’ depends on assuming.
• We fulfil – once we recognize water, we take it, when we recognize a friend, we greet
him/her, when we see a wounded dog, we try and help it. This response that follows
recognition is called the activity of ‘fulfilling’ or nirvaah-karna. The fulfilling depends
on the recognizing

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Taken together, we can write this as (in ‘I’):

Assuming
Recognizing
Fulfilling

leads to leads to

Or,

mannana
pehacha-nana
nirvaah-karna

leads to leads to

Assuming, recognizing and fulfilling are activities that we all do, irrespective of whether we are
aware of it or not. There is another activity that exists in us (in ‘I’) that we are largely unaware
of or have not explored properly. We tried to explore this activity, get a glimpse of it, via our
natural acceptance. We said this activity tells us what is true, it lets us explore into what is true
for us, what is harmonious for us, what is true in reality. This activity is called ‘knowing’.
Knowing means we have the right understanding – the understanding of harmony at all levels
of our living. As a result of knowing, we understand reality, as it is. This activity is called
“knowing” or ‘jannana’.

When we have the right understanding, or when we know, the assuming becomes on the basis
of knowing. Until then, our ‘faculty of knowing’ is dormant ; and we only operate on the basis
of assumptions. Hence, today, since our assumptions are only beliefs (we have not verified
them on the basis of knowing); our recognizing and fulfilling keeps changing. When we have
the right understanding, when we have the knowledge of reality, it is definite, and then
assuming becomes according to the knowing, and hence recognizing and fulfilling becomes
definite, or according to knowing. Until then, it is subject to beliefs and assumptions, and this
keeps changing.

If we list these down in order, we can write (in ‘I’):

Knowing or jananna (* currently dormant)

leads to

Assuming or mannana
Recognizing or pehacha-nana
Fulfilling or nirvaah karna

leads to leads to

Thus, we can conclude that if assuming is based on knowledge which is correct, then
recognition will be correct and fulfilment will be correct. If assuming is not based on
knowledge, then things may go wrong.

Thus there are two added activities in the Self as compared to the Body – Knowing and
Assuming.

:
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Understanding the Self (‘I’) as the Conscious Entity, the Body as the
Material Entity

Now that we have looked into the needs and activities of I & Body, let us look at the last point
in our table – shaded below in large font:

I Body
Trust, Respect… Food, Clothing…

Needs are… Happiness Physical Facilities

(sukh) (suvidha)

In Time, needs are… Continuous Temporary

Qualitative Quantitative
In Quantity, needs are… (not quantitative) (limited in quantity)
Needs

Right understanding and Food, Clothing, etc

Needs are fulfilled by… right feelings

Desiring, Thinking, etc Breathing, heart beat, etc

Activities

Activities are… Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing, Fulfilling

Recognizing, Fulfilling

Consciousness Physio-Chemical
Type

It is of type… (not material) (material)

At this stage, we shall use a new term called ‘conscious’ entity or ‘consciousness’. To
understand this concept, we don’t need to look far. We only need to look at ourselves! We had
earlier explored into this feeling of “being alive” or “alive-ness” that we are all familiar with.
We say ‘I didn’t mean to say that…’ or, ‘I thought he was coming’….or….’I had assumed that,
but it turned out to be wrong’…..or ‘I was walking down the road the other day and recognized
you’….’I saw a stone on the road and threw it by the side’…and so on.

Suppose we ask a question now: ‘Who is talking, seeing, thinking, recognizing, assuming, etc?’
The natural answer you will give is ‘I’. It is this ‘I’ that we call as consciousness. In loose
terms, we can call it a feeling of being ‘self-aware’. This feeling that ‘I am’ is the beginning,
our gateway to understand this consciousness.

We also saw in the previous section that there are the activities of assuming, recognizing and
fulfilling, with the capacity for knowing in ‘I’. Thus, we can conclude that consciousness or a
conscious entity has the activities of Knowing, Assuming, Recognizing & Fulfilling.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Conversely, we can say that any entity that has the capacity of knowing, assuming, recognizing
& fulfilling can be called as a conscious entity, or consciousness, or ‘I’. Hence, we can now say
that any entity that does not have the activity of knowing and assuming is not a ‘conscious
entity’. Similarly, any entity that has the activity of recognizing & fulfilling only can be called a
‘material entity’. As we have already seen the activities of ‘I’ and body, we can say that while
the Self (‘I’) is a conscious entity, the Body is a material entity, or physico-chemical in nature.
The conscious entity desires, thinks, selects, while the material entity just performs material
activities, about which we have already studied. The conscious entity has knowing, assuming,
recognizing and fulfilling, while the material entity only has recognizing and fulfilling
activities.

Thus, we can write:

coexistence
Human Being = Self (‘I’) ⇄ Body
information
The conscious entity The material entity
that desires, thinks, that has physio-chemical
imagines activities like digesting,
heart-beats etc.

knowing, assuming, recognizing & fulfilling

recognizing & fulfilling

The human being is thus a coexistence of a conscious self (I) and the material body.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
To make it more explicit, we can write:

‘I’ has acceptance of co-existence with the Body

‘I’ directs to make available physicochemical conditions
for the body
Self (‘I’) Body
(Conscious entity) Information (physical chemical
entity)
‘I’ takes decisions and instructs the Body

I co-exist with the Body. I and my Body keep exchanging information.

Body co-exists with ‘I’

Body
Self (‘I’) Information (physical chemical
(Conscious entity) entity)
Body cannot decide or instruct.
Body makes availabe information (sensations) to the Self (‘I’)

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Exercise on Distinguishing Needs of the Self (‘I’) and Body

We will now take up some exercises to distinguish the needs of the Self (‘I’) and the Body.

1. Firstly, fill in the answers in the table below. Do not see the right answers until you
have completed yours!
2. Next, make your own list of needs, and find out which ones are related to the Self (‘I’)
and which ones are related to the Body.
3. One thing to be noted here is that we are making a list of our wants here, which may or
may not be a need (we have assumed it to be a need). That’s why the two columns read
as ‘Related to Body?’, and not of the body; and ‘Related to ‘I’? , and not of the ‘I’.

Exercise: Needs of I & Body

Need Related to Body? Related to I?
Ex: Nice looking Car
Ex: Car for transport
Ex: Food
Ex: Tasty Food
Ex: Trust
Ex: Happiness
Ex: Knowledge
Ex: 50 Lac Rupees
Ex: Love
Ex: Good Health
Ex: Prosperity
Ex: MBA

The answers are given on the next page:

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 Need Related to Body? Related to I?
Ex: Nice looking Car √

Ex: Car for transport √

Ex: Food √

Ex: Tasty Food √

Ex: Trust √

Ex: Happiness √

Ex: Knowledge √

Ex: 50 Lac Rupees √ √

Ex: Love √

Ex: Good Health √

Ex: Prosperity √

Ex: MBA √

We can make some additional observations on this table as shown below:

Need Related to Body? Related to I?

Ex: Nice looking Car What the body needs is protection. The ‘nice' part of the
√car is a need of I
Transport,
√ is for right utilization of the Body & related to Body
Ex: Car for transport
Ex: Food √ that nourishes the Body is related to Body only
Food,

Ex: Tasty Food √ also be tasty

Nourishment is for body, taste is for I. Nourishing food can

Ex: Trust √ the body

Trust is a need of the I. It can be expressed through

Ex: Happiness Happiness is basically a need of I. We currently try for this via√
the body sensations

Need to know is a need of I. The body is used as an

√instrument
Ex: Knowledge
The amount 50 lacs is I’s assumption. It could be for respect or sense of security This money could
Ex: 50 Lac Rupees √ for nurturing & protecting the body
also be used √

Ex: Love Love is a need of I. It can be expressed through√

the body

Ex: Good Health √ Good health, is a need related to body

Ex: Prosperity The feeling of prosperity is for I√

Ex: MBA MBA is for I. This could be for learning, respect, √

money, etc.

*Regarding prosperity, it is to be noted that if we are talking about the feeling of prosperity, it
is the need of ‘I’. If we are talking about the physical facilities, they are the need of the Body.
Similarly, MBA,if we are talking about the learning or respect part of it, it is for ‘I’. If we are
talking about the physical facilities that we are going to earn through this degree, then it is
related to the Body.

Based on the above exercise, the following conclusions can be made:

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
1. The needs of the Self (‘I’), and needs of the Body can be clearly identified by each one of
us. It is not a difficult thing to do. Once we are aware of this distinction, it becomes
possible for us to classify our needs as shown above.
2. The need of ‘I’ is happiness, trust, knowledge, respect, taste, etc while the need of the body
is things like food, shelter, and nourishment etc – basically physical facilities.
3. We are usually made to believe that the need for physical facilities is unlimited. But when
we go about listing them, we see that their need is limited. And that we can actually list
them down! If you have not done so, you can do it right now. Make a list of all the physical
facilities you need and you will see that they are actually limited.
4. Most of the needs are related to ‘I’, very few to the body. Today, since we are unaware of
how to fulfil the needs of ‘I’, i.e. continuous happiness, we tend to think that unlimited
physical facilities will secure continuous happiness for us – and when we go to do it, we are
not successful.
5. The most you can do with physical facilities is that they can help ensure the health of the
Body, either mine or my relatives’, and facilitate me to rightly utilise the body.
6. Money is just a representation of physical facilities, and this representation is based on our
notions and conventions. Today, we focus on money with the notions ‘just have money, the
rest of it will come’, ‘happiness, health, everything can be bought’, ‘Shop, eat,
celebrate!’… (As a matter of fact, humans are not able to ensure even the health with so
much of education and sophistication while animals are able to do.) As a matter of fact,
a. When we think in terms of physical facilities, the needs turn out to be definite.
When we think in terms of money, need for money turns out to be undefined.
b. The way to work out the need for money is to thus first identify the need for
prosperity, and in order to feel prosperous, find out what the need for physical
facilities is, and then to find out how much money is needed to acquire the required
quantity of physical facilities.

We can see from the previous exercise that each one of us can identify our needs and find out if
they are related to ‘I’, or related to the Body. We can also see that what we have been talking
about all this while is related to our everyday living – this is not just a theoretical discussion.
These needs are in each one of us, all the day, every day. If only we start paying attention to
them, we will start becoming aware of them. As we become aware of this, we can better
understand our own needs, as human beings: the needs of ‘I’ and needs of body, and can hence
make a program to ensure the fulfilment of both set of needs – need of ‘I’ and needs of Body.

Exercise on Distinguishing Activities of the Self (‘I’) and Body

We will now do some exercises on the activities of I and body, this will help us better
distinguish these entities as being distinct: ‘I’ being conscious in nature and Body being
material or physico-chemical in nature. Below is a table. As we discussed previously, there are
three categories of activities as listed below. Look at the activity on the left and put a tick mark
in the appropriate column for the activity. Do not look at the answer before you complete
yours!

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 Activity Going on in I I & Body both are Going on in Body,
involved with consent of I
Eating
Walking
Thinking
Dreaming
Breathing
Heart Beat
Dancing
Chewing
Scratching
Batting eyelids
Anger
Shouting

The answers are given below:

Activity Going on in I I & Body both are Going on in Body,

involved with consent of I
Eating √
Walking √
Thinking √

Dreaming √

Breathing √

Heart Beat √
Dancing √
Chewing √
Scratching √
Batting eyelids √
Anger √
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted
Shouting √ to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
We can add some more observations to the table above:

Activity Going on in I I & Body both are Going on in Body,

involved with consent of I
Eating √
If we are only thinking about eating, only I is involved

Walking √
Thinking √ When we think and do something, both are involved

Dreaming √ If we dream and sleep walk, both are involved

Breathing √

Heart Beat √
Dancing √
Chewing √
Scratching √
Batting eyelids √
Anger √ In getting angry and expressing it, both are involved

Shouting √

Based on the above exercise, the following conclusions can be made:

1. Activities of the human being can be distinctly understood.

2. Activities involving only the Self are sentient activities, such as selecting, thinking, desiring,
etc. You can start looking at these activities and see if they are periodic or continuous.

3. Activities involving only the Body are the ‘material’ activities, and they are completely
different from the ‘conscious’ activities in ‘I’. You can see if the activities in the body are
continuous or temporary. Look at all the activities in the body and find this out.

4. Activities involving both ‘I’ and the Body are those where a conscious effort from I and an
activity in the Body, both are involved. Such activities involve our sense organs; or our
work organs which are conducted by ‘I’ on the Body.

a. Listening is an example where ‘I’ and a sense organ – the ears are involved,

b. Walking is an example where ‘I’ and a work-organ – the legs are involved

c. Blowing your cheeks out is an example where ‘I’ is conducting some action on the
body.

5. It is possible for each one us to observe ourselves, investigate into ourselves and find out
which activities are of ‘I’, are of body, and are those involving both ‘I’ and body.
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
6. This exercise cannot be done by anyone else for you; you have to do it yourself! How you
are, can only be found out by yourself! This is a very simple thing all of us can understand.

7. This is important, since this is to do with how we basically are - as human beings.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
Understanding the Body as an Instrument of ‘I’ (‘I’ being the Seer,
Doer and Enjoyer)

With the previous discussion in the background, we can now make a few more observations
about I and Body. Let us explore the following proposals:

I Body
1 I am My body is
2 I Want to live Body is used as an instrument (of ‘I’)
3 I want to live in continuous For nurture of body → food
happiness For protection of body → clothing, shelter etc.
For right utilization of body
→ instruments/ equipments etc.
are needed as physical facilities.
4 To understand & to live in Production, protection and right utilization of
harmony at all 4 levels (see physical facilities is just a part of my program.
section 4.5) is the program
for my continuous happiness.
5 I am the seer, doer and Body is an instrument.
enjoyer.

* Read the following carefully. Pay attention to yourself as you read, and see if you can relate
to what has been written. If you don’t get it in the first reading, read it again, and again, till you
are able to identify with what has been written!

1. I Am. I exist. The body is. I am the one that ‘knows’ I exist. It is not the body that
knows. I am the conscious entity; the body is the material entity. The awareness of
being, of being alive, is in me, in ‘I’.

2. We all want to live. I want to live. I am the one that wants to live. The Body is my
instrument. Not only am I in co-existence with the Body, but the Body also works like
my instrument. I am the one who takes decisions and the body acts accordingly. Let’s
take an example. When eating, we can see that it involves both, you as well as your
body. You decide to eat and pass the information to body. Thus the food is picked,
chewed and then swallowed. Note that it is the self (‘I’) that chooses to eat and makes a
choice of what to eat and how much to eat. Every moment in chewing, you are choosing
how to chew, how to move the food around, how much more food to pick, etc. All this
is in I, is being done by you. The body is used as an instrument in the process of eating.

3. It’s not just that I want to live. Surviving, living alone is not enough for me. I want to
live, and live with continuous happiness. This is my need. What more can I need! It is
not the body that needs happiness; I am the one that wants to be happy, and all the time.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 Physical facilities are a need of the body. I get the taste from the body, of these physical
facilities.

a. Listing all the needs of the Body, we can see that for the nurture of the body,
food is required. For protection of the Body from the natural climate, clothing
and shelter are required.

b. But this is not all. We do not just need food, clothing and shelter. Human
beings want to travel, they want to interact, they want to be aware of
everything that is going on around them, and they want to move from one
place to the other. In your class, you use multiple facilities, such as a board,
board-marker, projector, chairs and tables, stationery, etc. To talk to your
parents and friends, you may require phones or; to be aware of the world you
may need a TV or internet; to move in a given time from one place to the
other, you may need some means of conveyance. All these are meant for the
right utilisation of the Body, they are all in the category of instruments. These
instruments allow us to see distant things, listen to distant voices and move to
distant places.

c. Thus there are three requirements reated to the Body, nutrition, protection and
right utilisation. The needs of the body are limited in time, and limited in
quantity. My need for happiness is continuous.

4. Well, having said all this, now what is my program, and what part of my program is to
do with the physical facilities? What do I need to do?

a. The proposal here is that my complete program is to understand and live in

harmony at all the four levels of my living. These four levels are: myself,
family, society and nature/existence. Continuous happiness entails
understanding the harmony at all these levels and living accordingly. If I
ignore any of these levels of my living, then there may be unhappiness or
contradiction at that level. I am not satisfied with anything less, to know the
harmony at all these levels of my living is my need. We have explored this in
detail in Chapter 4 .

b. It is clear that the basic program of ‘I’ is to have the right understanding and
feeling, the understanding and feeling of harmony at all four levels of living.
Ensuring physical facilities for the body is only a small part of the program.
Ensuring physical facilities consists of production, protection and right
utilization. (Right utilisation of physical facilities is especially something we
are generally unaware of today.) To understand these three words - production,
protection & right utilization; let us take an example. If I grow wheat, it is
production. I preserve it so that it is not consumed by insects, or destroyed by
rain or wind or the scorching sun - this is protection. And I eat it for the
nourishment of the body; I do not burn it, or simply leave it piled up in my
house - this is right utilization. All these activities to do with physical facilities
form a small part of my complete program. My complete program includes
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 understanding myself and the relationship with the body, understanding
human relationship, understanding the harmony in society, understanding
nature/existence and living in harmony with all this: with the body, in family,
in society and in nature. Ensuring physical facilities, is thus a part of my
overall program: it is needed for the body.

c. We can clearly see that today we have totally ignored the existence of ‘I’, and
hence we are totally unaware of the needs of ‘I’. Since we are unaware of its
needs, we have no program for ‘I’. All we are aware of is the existence of the
Body, and hence all our program is aimed at having more and more physical
facilities – but as we have already explored, merely accumulating physical
facilities does not ensure the need for happiness in ‘I’; physical facilities do
not ensure right understanding in ‘I’. In fact, physical facilities cannot even
ensure health in the body – unless we have right understanding in ‘I’. Hence,
there is a need for us to expand our attention and our efforts to also include the
program for ‘I’. This is an urgent need.

5. Another thing to understand is that I am the seer, I am the doer and I and the enjoyer.

a. I am the ‘seer’: When we are reading a book or listening, when someone, is

explaining something to us, when we are watching a scenery or when we are
thinking / or contemplating, – we are engaged in the activities of ‘seeing’ or
understanding. Each one of us is constantly active in such activities pretty
much the whole day.

Now, if someone asks us, – “Who is understanding all this?”, or, “Who believes
all this?” - we might find the questions a little strange. After all it is 'I' who
understands, 'I' who believes. We refer to ourselves as 'I' and this feeling of 'I'-
ness is what we identify ourselves with. When you see some nice scenery and I
ask, who is seeing, what will be your answer? You will say ‘I am seeing’. We
can see that: ‘I’ see via the eyes, the eyes don’t see, they are just instruments –
that enable me to see something outside. Different images are formed in the eyes
every time; but it is I who is able to relate it to the meaning of that image every
time. Just like I see outside, I can also see ‘in me’ - without the eyes. For
example, I can ‘see’ that I am getting angry, I am feeling happy, etc. In this case,
I understand, or know, or am aware that I am getting angry, am feeling happy
etc. I didn’t have to use my eyes to ‘see’ this, i.e. I ‘see’ or ‘understand’,
sometimes with the help of body, sometimes even without the help of Body.
When I ‘see’ with the eyes, the Body works as an instrument. We can each
investigate into this seemingly simple act of seeing. If you are given something
in your hand and you conclude that it is a pen, it is not your eyes that concludes
this. It is you that concluded this.

Similarly, as you read this line in the book, it is not your eyes that are seeing or
understanding these lines, you are the one that understands these lines – it is ‘I’.
It is not our eyes or ears that understand the meaning of the words – even though
they convey the information. Understanding or believing happens in the 'I'.
The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 Every time you are the seer. ‘Seer’ also means ‘the one that understands’. It is
also called ‘drishta’

b. I am the ‘doer’: Once I have seen/understood something, I am the one who

decides what to do or not to do. I am the doer. For example, I am the seer of
the nice scenery. Then, I am the one that chooses to take a picture of the
scenery. I reach into my pocket, and take out the camera and click a picture. In
order to do so, I use the hands - the hands in the Body are thus used as an
instrument. In this way, I work with my hands and legs. I use the Body as an
instrument to do work. I am the ‘doer’ every time. I ‘do’ even without the aid
of the Body. I make choices in myself, I decide, and it is only then that the
Body comes into the picture. For example, I may choose to call my friend at
this moment, and may suddenly remember that he is in a class and choose to
not call him. In this case, I have ‘done’ or ‘acted’ – I made the choice in me,
but this choice was not carried out via the body – I did not press the buttons on
the phone. Thus, I am the doer – and sometimes I express these actions via the
body. The ‘doing’ thus always starts within me. ‘Doer’ means ‘the one that
does’, who takes decisions to do. It is also called ‘karta’

c. I am the ‘enjoyer’: I ‘saw’ the scenery, and I ‘took’ the picture. I was the
seer and doer so far. When I see the picture, I like it. I am the one that enjoys it.
Thus, there is a continuity of being the seer, doer and enjoyer. Similarly, when
I eat, I am the one that gets the taste – from the tongue. As the food enters the
tongue/the body, the information is passed on to me and it is I who enjoys the
food. I am the one that feels enthused or depressed. I am the one that feels
angry or delighted. All the time, I am the enjoyer, the Body used only as an
instrument. ‘Enjoyer’ means ‘the one who enjoys’. It is also called ‘bhokta’.

Summary

• The human being can be seen as a co-existence of the Self or ‘I’ and the body.
o The ‘I’ is conscious in nature while the body is material in nature.
o There is exchange of information between ‘I’ and Body
• The basic need of I is happiness (sukh), and the needs of body is physical facilities
(suvidha)
o Needs of the ‘I’ such as happiness, trust, respect, etc are: Qualitative (not
quantitative) and continuous in time
o Needs of the body like food, clothing, shelter – physical facilities are
quantifiable and temporary in time
o The need of the ‘I’ for happiness is fulfilled by right understanding and right
feelings, while the need of the Body is fulfilled by food clothing, etc
• The activities in ‘I’ are desiring, thinking, imagining, etc while activities in the body are
digesting, breathing, heart beats, etc

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.
 o All our activities can be seen as a) going on in ‘I’, b) those involving I and Body,
both; and c) those going on in Body
• Activities in ‘I’ can also be understood as knowing, assuming, recognizing and fulfilling
o The recognition and fulfilment in ‘I’ depends on assuming.
o Assuming depends on knowing. Today, we don’t have knowledge, hence we
only assume, or operate on the basis of beliefs
o Activities in the Body are recognizing and fulfilling. The body does not have the
capacity to assume. Thus, the recognition and fulfilment in the Body is always
definite.
• We can each list out our needs and identify which needs are related to ‘I’, and which
needs are related to the Body
o We see that most of our needs are related to ‘I’; very few are related to body.
o We see that the need of physical facilities for the body is limited and
quantifiable. It is not endless
o When we think in terms of physical facilities, the needs turn out to be definite.
When we think in terms of money, need for money turns out to be undefined
o The way to work out the need for money is to thus first identify the need for
prosperity, and in order to feel prosperous, find out what the need for physical
facilities is, and then to find out how much money is needed to acquire the
required quantity of physical facilities
• Taking this further, we can see that
o I Am, the Body is. The awareness of being is in ‘I’.
o I want to live, and the Body is used by me as an instrument
o Just living is not sufficient for me, I want to live in continuous happiness. The
body needs nourishment and protection, for which food, clothing, etc are
required. Right utilization of the body needs instruments or equipments
o My program is to understand and live in harmony at all four levels of living.
Production, protection and right utilization is only part of my program
 Today, we are largely unaware of our Self (‘I’) and the needs of ‘I’. As a
result, we are not paying attention to the needs and program of ‘I’ at all.
Instead, all our attention today is on accumulation of physical facilities,
using which, we can at the most ensure the health of the body.
o There is hence a need for us to focus on the needs and program of ‘I’, else, we
will remain unfulfilled.
• I am the seer, doer & enjoyer. Body is an instrument.
o I am the Seer. I am the one that sees, and understands. I sometimes use the body
as an aid to see. ‘Seeing’ here means ‘understanding’. Seer is also called drishta
o I am the doer. I am the one that decides for doing things. Decisions, choices are
continuously being taken in me. Sometimes, I may express these decisions via
the body. Doer is also called karta.
o I am the enjoyer of all that is done. Enjoyer is also called bhokta.

The content presented here is part of the book copyrighted to Prof. R R Gaur, Prof. R Sangal
and Prof. G P Bagaria, and being printed by Excel Books, New Delhi. It is the text book for the
course ‘A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics’ offered by UPTU.