I am means

Expressions researched:
"I am means"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

Now this consciousness is... What is this consciousness? This consciousness is that "I am." What I am? When in contaminated consciousness this "I am" means that "I am the lord of all I survey." This is impure consciousness. And "I am the enjoyer." The whole material world is moving that every living being is thinking that "I am the lord and I am the creator of this material world." The consciousness has got two psychic movement or two psychic division. One is that "I am the creator," and the other is "I am the enjoyer." So the Supreme Lord is actually the creator and He is actually the enjoyer. And the living entities, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, he's not actually the creator or the enjoyer, but he's a cooperator. Just like the whole machine. The part of the machine is the cooperator, is the cooperator. Or if we can study just the constitution of our body. Now, in the body there are hands, there are legs, there are eyes, and all these instruments, working, but all these parts and parcels of the body, they are not enjoyer. The stomach is the enjoyer. The leg is moving from one place to another. The hand is collecting, the hand is preparing foodstuff, and the teeth is chewing, and everything, all parts of body, are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principle fact within the organization of this body. And everything should be given to the stomach. Prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇām (SB 4.31.14). Just like you can see a tree green by pouring water in the root. Or you can become healthy... The parts of the body—the hands, the legs, the eyes, the ears, the fingers—everything keeps in healthy stage when the parts of the body cooperate with the stomach. Similarly, the supreme living being, the Lord, He is the enjoyer. He is the enjoyer and He is the creator. And we, I mean to say, subordinate living beings, the products of the energy of the Supreme Lord, we are just to cooperate with Him. That cooperation will help.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

So it is not necessarily that one has to become pure devotee immediately. Just like we are also following the instruction of our spiritual master. I don't claim that I am pure devotee or perfect, but my only qualification is that I am trying to follow the instruction of the perfect. Similarly... This is called disciplic succession. Just like here it is stated that Kṛṣṇa is the original spiritual master and Arjuna is the original student. So Arjuna said that sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). "My dear Kṛṣṇa, whatever You are saying, I accept in toto," in the Tenth Chapter. Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan says, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa, it is something else." He does not accept in that way. He says that "Whatever You are saying, I accept it. You are saying that You are the Supreme, I accept it. I don't say that You have got a separate thing within. That is Supreme, You are not Supreme, as person." This is impersonalist. They do not know that Kṛṣṇa has no such... A conditioned soul... Just like we are, I am different from my soul. "I am" means my body, or I am soul, different from the body. So Kṛṣṇa has no such differentiation. He does not know that. Because he's not following Kṛṣṇa, the perfect spiritual master. He's following some rascal spiritual master. Therefore he has this mistake. But if we follow Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, then we get the perfect knowledge. We may not be cent percent perfect, but as far as possible, if we follow the instruction as it is, that much perfect. In this way one will get perfection.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- London, August 19, 1973:

How plainly, how easily explained that kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā. There are three stages, kaumāram. Up to fifteenth year, it is called kaumāra. And then from sixteenth year, it begins youthful life up to fortieth year. Then after forty, one becomes jarā, old man. Primarily old man and later on. Say, forty to fifty, primarily old man, and after fifty, he is old man. Therefore it is advised pañcāś ordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. Pañcāś means fifty. Ūrdhvam, fifty-one. And rest of the days, maybe one hundred years, but that is not possible nowadays. Maybe seventy, eighty, utmost. Somebody lives ninety, ninety-five. Hundred years, although the limit, nowadays nobody lives. So those who are dhīra, gentlemen, sober-headed, cool-headed, they can understand that "I have changed my body. When I was a boy, up to fifteenth year, I remember how I was playing, how I was jumping. Then I became young man. How I was enjoying my life with friends and families. Now I am old man." "I am" means my body. Dehinaḥ. Dehi and dehinaḥ. Dehi means the proprietor of the body, owner of the body, and deha means the body.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Everyone is hankering after peace of mind. Ātmā suprasan. Ātma, ātma means this body, ātma means the mind, and ātma means the soul. We are in three status of life. Actually, we are the spirit soul covered by two kinds of dresses. Just like you gentlemen, you are also covered by two kinds of dresses-underwear and coat, shirt and coat. Similarly... Actually "I am" means I am not this shirt and coat. I am within the shirt and coat. Similarly, I, the soul, I am covered by two kinds of layers—mind, intelligence, and false ego. False ego means I am considering, "I am this American dress," "I am this Indian dress." Because I am identifying with this body. If I ask somebody, "What you are, sir?" "I am American." "What you are, sir?" "I am Indian." "I am brāhmaṇa." "I am kṣatriya." But these are the designations. This is not my real identification. The Vedic information is, when I understand I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am Brahman, or the spirit soul. That is my beginning of identification. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā, to inquire about the spirit. This human form of life is meant for advancing knowledge of brahma, brahma-jñāna. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who is advanced in knowledge of Brahman, he is called brāhmaṇa. So, if we actually want peace... Everyone is hankering, that is our prerogative. Every living entity must hanker after happiness. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Because by nature we are happy. By nature we are happy. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. So as spirit soul we are naturally happy, blissful. But because we have been covered by the eight material elements—earth, water, fire, air, ether. These are gross elements. And within the gross elements—mind, intelligence and ego. So somebody is satisfied with the comfort of the outward gross elements, this body. They are called materialists.

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

What is this consciousness? This consciousness is "I am." Then what am I? In contaminated consciousness "I am" means "I am the lord of all I survey. I am the enjoyer." The world revolves because every living being thinks that he is the lord and creator of the material world. Material consciousness has two psychic divisions. One is that I am the creator, and the other is that I am the enjoyer. But actually the Supreme Lord is both the creator and the enjoyer, and the living entity, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is neither the creator nor the enjoyer, but a cooperator. He is the created and the enjoyed. For instance, a part of a machine cooperates with the whole machine; a part of the body cooperates with the whole body. The hands, legs, eyes, and so on are all parts of the body, but they are not actually the enjoyers. The stomach is the enjoyer. The legs move, the hands supply food, the teeth chew, and all parts of the body are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principal factor that nourishes the body's organization. Therefore everything is given to the stomach. One nourishes the tree by watering its root, and one nourishes the body by feeding the stomach, for if the body is to be kept in a healthy state, then the parts of the body must cooperate to feed the stomach. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer and the creator, and we, as subordinate living beings, are meant to cooperate to satisfy Him. This cooperation will actually help us, just as food taken by the stomach will help all other parts of the body.