You Are Limitless: Discovering Your True Nature

Have you ever felt small, boxed in by your body or the story of your life? We all have. Deadlines, family duties, health issues, money worries — it can feel like life is a long list of limits.

Vedanta offers a surprising, almost shocking view: your core nature is already free, whole, and limitless. The trouble isn’t with you — it’s with the way we mistake ourselves for only a body and a bundle of thoughts.

This article explains the teaching in plain English, with everyday examples and a few try‑it‑now exercises. Take it slowly. You don’t have to “believe.” Just look and notice.

Big promise in one line: At the deepest level, you are unlimited — eternal, present everywhere as awareness, and one without a second.

1) The Big Claim — “You Are Brahman.”

Sanskrit: “अत्र हि अत्र त्वं ब्रह्मासि — atra hi atra tvaṃ brahmāsi.”
Meaning: Right here, right now, you are Brahman.

“Brahman” means the absolute reality — pure existence‑consciousness‑bliss. It’s not a person, not a god sitting somewhere, not a thing you can point to. It is that by which everything is known and in which everything appears.

The Upaniṣads say the same in the famous mahāvākya:

“तत्त्वम् असि — tat tvam asi.”
“That Thou Art.” (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7)

A simple taste

Look at the device in your hand. You see the screen, read these words, and thoughts appear. What makes all of that possible? Awareness. Without awareness, nothing shows up. Vedanta says: that awareness is what you truly are.

Two easy comparisons

Movie screen: Many scenes come and go — fights, weddings, storms — but the screen stays untouched. Likewise, emotions, situations, and bodies appear and change. The awareness “screen” is constant.
Sky and clouds: Clouds form and dissolve, but the sky is open and unaffected. Thoughts and moods are the clouds; you are the clear sky in which they come and go.

You don’t have to “become” Brahman. You already are. This teaching is recognition, not construction.

2) What Do “Limits” Mean?

Most things we deal with are limited in three ways:

Space‑limited — your cup is on the table, not in the kitchen at the same time.
Time‑limited — a flower blooms and withers. Phones upgrade. Bodies age.
Object‑limited — a cup is a cup, not a chair. One thing excludes another.

If something is limitless (ananta), it must be free of these three limits:

Not limited by space — not stuck in one location.
Not limited by time — not born, not dying.
Not limited as one object among others — not a separate “thing.”

Vedanta says: Awareness has exactly these features.

Why?

Space: Everything you experience — room, street, sky — appears in awareness. Awareness itself is not “somewhere.” It’s the field in which “somewhere” shows up.
Time: Awareness is present in every moment — childhood, today, tomorrow’s plan. It doesn’t age. The body ages in awareness.
Object: You can point to objects; you can’t point to awareness like an object. It’s not one more thing — it’s that which knows all things.

Mundaka Upaniṣad (2.1.3): “स एव ब्रह्म विज्ञेयं यत्ते नान्यः अवशिष्यते — sa eva brahma vijñeyaṃ, yatte nānyaḥ avaśiṣyate.”
Know That (Brahman), after which nothing else remains to be known.

Everyday example

When you dream, an entire city is created — people, traffic, buildings. On waking, you see: the whole city was in the dreaming mind. Likewise, in waking life, the entire world of experience appears in awareness.

3) “But I Was Born and I’ll Die.” — Are You Eternal?

Objection: “I have a birth date. One day I’ll die. How can I be eternal?”

Response: You’re right about the body — it begins and ends. But the teaching points to you as the knower, the aware presence to which the body is known. The knower does not come and go with what is known.

Bhagavad Gītā 2.20:
“न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचित् — na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit.”
The Self is never born, nor does it die.

Katha Upaniṣad 2.2.18:
Never born, eternal, undecaying; you are not slain when the body is slain.

Try this

Recall being five years old. The body was small, the voice different, the likes and dislikes changed. Yet there is a clear sense of the same “I” that was present then and is present now. Bodies and roles changed, but the basic “I‑am aware” did not.

Another angle

When a phone breaks, the user is not harmed. You get a new device and continue. The body is like a device; awareness is the user. Vedanta goes further: the user is not a tiny person inside — it is pure awareness itself, not bound to one device.

4) “But My Awareness Feels Inside This Body.” — Are You Everywhere?

Objection: “My awareness seems located behind my eyes. Surely it’s inside this body, not everywhere.”

Response: Notice that everything you know — sights, sounds, the feel of your body, thoughts about “inside” and “outside” — all appear in awareness. “Inside” and “outside” are experiences. Awareness is prior to both.

Mandukya Upaniṣad 1.4:
“अयं आत्मा ब्रह्म — ayam ātmā brahma.”
This very Self is Brahman.

Bhagavad Gītā 13.34–35 (sense):
Seeing the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, one does not hate anyone.

Example

Think of a TV playing many channels. Each program appears on the same screen. The screen isn’t “inside” any one show. Likewise, all experiences appear in the same awareness. The body is one “program” among many experiences.

A gentle exercise

Close your eyes for ten seconds. Sounds come and go. Sensations come and go. Thoughts come and go. Ask: Where do they appear? Where do they disappear? They arise in awareness and resolve in awareness. Awareness itself doesn’t come and go.

5) “But I Clearly See a World Out There.” — Is There Anything Other Than You?

Objection: “Look, there’s a chair. It’s surely not me!”

Response: The point is not that the chair is your body. The point is that the chair, the sense of ‘out there,’ and even the thought ‘this is not me’ are experiences in awareness. From the standpoint of awareness, there are not two separate realities — awareness and something else. There is only awareness appearing as everything.

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5 (sense):
As rivers merge into the ocean and become one with it, so all beings merge into the Self and do not return as separate.

Mandukya Upaniṣad 7:
In the highest truth, distinctions end; there is only the One, peaceful and non‑dual.

Examples that help

Dream: While dreaming, you meet people and walk in streets. On waking, you realize the people and streets were not separate from the dreaming mind.
Gold and ornaments: Bangles, rings, chains — different shapes, one gold. If you focus only on shapes, you miss the gold. If you recognize gold, all shapes are understood as gold. Likewise, forms and names are many; the essence is one awareness.

6) What This Means for Daily Life

Realization is not a dramatic lightning strike. It is a steady clarity that changes how you relate to everything.

Fear softens. If your essence is not born and doesn’t die, fear loses its grip. Courage doesn’t mean recklessness; it means living with a deeper ease.
Relationships become lighter and kinder. Seeing the Self in all, blame and hatred have less fuel. You can still set boundaries, but resentment fades faster.
Success and failure are easier to handle. You still aim high and work hard, but victories and setbacks play out on the surface. The ocean is calm beneath the waves.
Purpose becomes service. When separation loosens, helping others feels natural — like the right hand helping the left.

Swami Vivekananda called it an “open secret.” It’s always present, but we overlook it.

7) Common Doubts, Clear Answers

Doubt 1: “If I am awareness, should I ignore my body and life?”

No. Vedanta is not escape. It’s seeing clearly what you are while fully caring for the body‑mind and doing your duties. Think of it as playing your role well, while remembering you are more than the role.

Doubt 2: “Will this make me passive?”

Clarity often brings better action, not laziness. When fear and craving decrease, your actions become wiser, cleaner, and more effective.

Doubt 3: “Is this just positive thinking?”

No. Positive thinking tries to change thoughts. Vedanta invites you to notice the changeless knower of thoughts. It’s a shift in identity, not a mood fix.

Doubt 4: “I understand the logic, but I don’t feel limitless.”

That’s normal. Feelings change. Understanding + steady remembering ripens into natural conviction. Like learning to cycle: wobbly at first, smooth with practice.

8) Short Practices to Stabilize the Insight

Important: These practices don’t create your true nature. They help remove confusion and let the fact be obvious.

Practice A: The Background

Several times a day, pause and ask: “What is constant right now?”
Notice that sights, sounds, sensations, and thoughts change, but knowing remains. Rest as that.

Practice B: Before Sleep

As you lie down, gently repeat: “I am the changeless awareness in which the waking, dream, and deep sleep states appear.” Let the body relax into this understanding.

Practice C: In Conflict

When upset, take one slow breath and remember: the other person also wants peace and happiness. See the same awareness shining through a different set of habits and fears. Respond firmly if needed, but with kindness.

Practice D: Gratitude as Clarity

List three things you’re grateful for. Then add: “All of this appears in the open space of awareness that I am.” Gratitude becomes a doorway to non‑duality.

9) Key Verses — with Simple Meanings

Eternal (कालातीत):
Bhagavad Gītā 2.20 / Katha 2.2.18 — The Self is never born, never dies, never decays. The body changes; you, as awareness, don’t.
Omnipresent (देशातीत):
Mandukya 1.4; Gītā 13.34–35 — The Self shines as all beings. See the Self in all, and all in the Self. Separation softens.
Non‑dual (अद्वैत):
Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2.4.5; Mandukya 7 — At the highest view, only One reality is. Names and forms are like waves; the ocean is one water.

10) In One Breath

You are awareness, not limited to a body or a thought.
Awareness is not in time — time appears in awareness.
Awareness is not in space — space appears in awareness.
Awareness is not one object among many — it is the light of all objects.
Therefore, you are Brahman — whole, free, complete.

“तत्त्वमसि — Tat Tvam Asi — That Thou Art.”

11) Closing Blessing

May this simple seeing settle in your heart. May it guide your words, soften your actions, and light up your relationships. May you discover, again and again, the quiet joy of being what you always were.

🙏 नमस्ते — The same Self in me salutes the same Self in you.

Last modified on 2025-07-27