47. सम्यक् सरति इति संसारः

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If you look at a whirlpool in a flowing river, it appears as though it is an object by itself. But it is just a modification of the water molecules of the river. It is not separate from the river. Water is constantly entering and leaving the vortex. But since the flux is in equilibrium (rate of inflow ~ rate of outflow), the shape of the vortex is maintained for a short period of time, and this makes it appear as though an independent object. In case of the water vortex, we can clearly notice this fact as the formation and dissolution of vortex occurs within the matter of few seconds. But we do not notice that the exact same thing is happening with our own body for the reason that it happens very slowly, over many years.

Every cell in your own body has a limited lifespan. They are born, they sustain for a preprogrammed time and then they die. Every 10 years or so, the cells in the body get completely replaced. Not a single cell that you had a few years ago exists now in your body. Atoms are entering our body and atoms are leaving our body, although at a much slower rate as compared to the water vortex. Cells are in constant flux. But since the flux is in equilibrium (rate of inflow ~ rate of outflow), a shape (body) is maintained for some period of time, and this makes it appear as though an independent object. There is no difference between the water vortex and our body in this sense. If we record a body's growth over several years in a video tape, and then watch it in fast-forward mode, it would look exactly like the water vortex.

Patanjali mentions this in one of the sutras - परिणाम एकत्वात् वस्तुतत्त्वम् (4.14).

An object is but an equilibrium in a flux. Everything that we call as objects, including our body, are all equilibriums within constant flux (of space-time-energy). Nothing remains as it is, there is constant flow. And that is the world. सम्यक् सरति इति संसारः - That which flows incessantly is the world.

Now, I am not much interested in the objects. I am more interested in this body which I am calling as 'me'. If everything has changed in my body in the last few years, if not a single cell has remained, how is it that I still feel continuity? How is it I am still the same person?

The food, which at one point is identified as different from me, becomes me after I eat it, and what I identify as me now, ceases to be me after I excrete it out of the body. But the sense of 'I' does not modify or break anywhere. This is actually a surprising thing which should generate curiosity. What I pointed at ten years back when I said 'me' doesn't exist now at all. I am only pointing at a vortex, a shape. Therefore, the body-vortex which is being pointed at cannot be me. I am the one that is pointing at the body. Body-vortex is never the same, but I am always the same. Something has remained as it is, something that identifies itself as 'me'. What is it and where is it then? What am I and where am I then?