Here is the full transcript of Lenaa Kumar’s talk titled “I, Me , My Self Realization” at TEDxStTeresasCollege 2022 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Very good morning to all of you. Thank you TEDxStTeresasCollege for giving me this opportunity and honor of sharing my experiences with this fantastic audience on this esteemed platform.
It was a hot summer afternoon in a non-air-conditioned train coach. I was three years old and very talkative and absolutely enjoying the attention I was getting from everyone around me.
And the old man sitting opposite to us asked me, “What’s your name, little one?” And I said, “Lenaa.” And he said, “Oh wow, what a lovely name, what does it mean?” And I went, I looked at my parents and they didn’t seem to have an answer either.
Oh, I can still feel the awkwardness and the confusion that question created in me at that age. When I came to know that the theme of this event is Elaine, the ray of light, I couldn’t help think about the connection it has with my name, Lenaa. Most people I meet, almost all of them, ask me the meaning of my name since that day. And for the longest time, it was a source of embarrassment and confusion for me.
The Journey of Self-Discovery
And then I came into films and I struggled even more with this uncommon name, uncommon in India that is. And then at the age of 25, my dear friend, I call her Anita aunty, gifted me a keychain with my name and the meaning of my name embedded on it. And lo and behold, I realized that Lenaa means light. What a relief it was for the next time an interviewer asked me the meaning of my name.
Now you all must be wondering if my name, Lenaa, meaning light, is significant enough to be part of a TEDx talk on the theme Elaine, the ray of light.
The point in the story I want you to remember is the awkwardness and the confusion one feels at not knowing something so personal as one’s own name’s meaning. That’s all you need to remember really in that story. And I promise you this will make more sense after what we’re just about to do.
But for what we’re about to do, I need all of you to participate. I would love for it if you would shout out your answers when I ask a couple of questions. Do we have a deal? Wow. Oh, I love the energy of this room already.
Okay. So my first question is, do you believe that you can be an enlightened being, a self-realized person? Wow. Everyone? Can those who do not believe raise their hands? Everyone here believes that you can be an enlightened person. Do you already have a way of doing that?
The Possibility of Self-Realization
Do you already know how you’re going to do that? I think not, but it’s just great that so many people in the room actually believe that it is possible. Because as far as I have found out, humanity’s greatest self-limiting belief is the belief that self-realization is not for everyone. It is for some special few, for some very lucky souls. It’s not for everyone. It’s what humanity predominantly believes.
So what I would love to do today, and with the support of so many people who really believe like I do, that self-realization is our birthright. Let’s shatter this self-limiting belief today and in its place, empower ourselves with the ability to maximize and utilize our full potential.
Yeah? Let’s do this. Have you ever said, “My body, my body?” We all say it so many times a day.
The Concept of “I”
Have you said, “My mind?” So who is saying, “My body, my mind?” Who is claiming ownership of this body and mind? Answers, me? More answers? I? Me? Myself? I am saying, “My body, my mind?” So naturally the next question is, what am I? What is I? What is the meaning of the word I?
The Search for Identity
Why do all of us call ourselves I? You have an answer. Now are you feeling a little uneasy, anxious, confused, like little Lenaa did when she didn’t know the meaning to her name? And knowing the answer to this question, what am I, is so far more important than knowing the meaning to one’s name, right?
Would you like me to give you the answer to the question? The answer is so simple, it’s going to seem ridiculous. And that’s exactly why it stays in our blind spot. The answer is life, L-I-F-E, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal and infinite life is what you are.
One life, many bodies. One life, every one of us calls ourselves exactly that same I. If we all just together said I in one voice, it would still be that same one life. Do you want to try that out? At the count of three, shall we all say I together? One, two, three, I! And just say I loud enough, let’s get that energy inside our bodies bubbling, because we’re going to go to the next question. Can we say I once more?
The Power of “I”
Can everyone say I? One, two, three, I! I, see? We can say it in unison and it really means exactly the same thing. We are all one life in many forms. So the question, we’ve got the answer to the question, what am I? I am life. Easy and simple, don’t take my word for it, please do your own deductions after this.
And this immediately leads us to the question, then who am I? And now that we have the answer to what am I, and we are all self-realized, like you all believe we can be, we are self-realized, so what is who am I, is the next question. And the question, who am I, is a question of self-actualization. Self-realization and self-actualization are two aspects.
Self-Realization vs. Self-Actualization
Self-realization can happen in an instant, like someone can just tell you something and you can just click and the light turns on, and we have realized, that’s all it takes. But self-actualization does not happen in the mind as self-realization does, it happens in the body. Self-realization is knowing in your mind what I am. Self-actualization is being in your body who you specifically are, uniquely are.
So what determines who you are? It is remembering that you are life itself, the one life that is in all bodies and minds, yet is a very specific expression, here to have very specific experiences through that form. Keeping this in mind, every choice, every decision you make in life is going to determine who you show up as in the world, and that how you show up in the world is what determines who you are. And I think this is such great news to know what we are and then be able to decide who to be.
It is empowering at the deepest core level. This realization for me really changed the way I created myself in every role I played in real life and in reel life, from the kind of student I am to the kind of friend I am to the woman I am, how I show up in the world, how I carry myself off, is we make choices and decisions every single moment of our life and that is what life is, living is.
So the only reason why I shared this with you is that I have spent almost all of this lifetime looking for the simplest answers to these basic questions of what am I and who am I. Most of us don’t even think about this because it’s like, okay, this is not important and but for me, this has been a preoccupation and I think it has taken up all these years of my life in the mind instead of actualizing through the body as much.
Conclusion
So the only reason I share this with you is out of the love for all of you that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If you spend some time and you find that this clicks in you, you can then use this information to start actualizing yourself, knowing that you are all-powerful, all-resourceful life itself in a form with a given name. You just start making those choices that unleash your unlimited potential and live that life of fulfillment that you came here on earth to live. May you be Elaine, the ray of light that illuminates the path for all of life.