The first level is identification with external objects. If we hold a marker and say, "This is my marker," it becomes clear that the marker is something being observed. It exists separately from us. We are the observer and the marker is the observed. Therefore, the marker cannot define us. The same principle applies to every external possession. Whether one uses a simple phone or the latest model, whether one wears particular clothes or jewellery, these are all external objects. Yet people often derive identity from them. Though these objects are outside us, we begin to think they can define who we are, and this becomes a form of wrong identification.
The second level is identification with the physical body. We commonly say, "my hand," "my eyes," or "my hair." Even in the language we use, there is a distinction. The body is something we experience. Looking through childhood photographs reveals how dramatically the body changes over time. Sometimes even we ourselves find it difficult to recognize earlier versions of ourselves. The body undergoes continuous change, but the individual experiencing those changes remains the same. Therefore, we are the experiencer while the body is the experienced object. This does not mean the body should be neglected; it needs care and protection. However, taking it to the extreme and believing that the body entirely defines us leads to excessive identification.
The third level is identification with breath. Breath can also be observed. By paying attention, one can notice the process of inhalation and exhalation. Practices meant to calm or center us often direct our attention to breathing because we can become witnesses to it. If we can observe breath, then breath too becomes an object of experience. We are not the breath; we are the observer of it.
The fourth level is identification with thoughts and the mind. Thoughts constantly arise and disappear. We are able to notice thoughts that create happiness, agitation, anger, or fear. We can observe emotions and recognize their movements within us. The mind may be thought of as a book where thoughts continuously appear and disappear. Since we are able to observe these thoughts and emotions, we cannot be identical with them. We are not the mind and we are not the emotions; we are the witness of them.
The fifth level is identification with the intellect, the faculty through which we know and understand things. We know what we know and we also know what we do not know. For example, one can say, "I know that I do not know Bengali." We can examine our own knowledge and recognize areas where understanding exists and where it does not. Since we can observe the functioning of the intellect, it too becomes something separate from us. Therefore, we are not the intellect.
The sixth level is identification with memory. Memory is a collection of experiences and impressions from the past. Some events are remembered vividly, while others fade away. We can observe what we remember and what we forget. Since memory itself is being witnessed, it also cannot be our true identity. Memory exists as something external to the witnessing presence.
Through this process of negation — "not this, not this" — we gradually eliminate all false identifications. We are not external objects, not the body, not the breath, not the mind, not the intellect, and not memory. What remains is the witnessing principle itself, the unchanging consciousness that observes all experiences. Whatever is experienced cannot be the experiencer. We are the witness, the perceiver, and the consciousness through which all experiences are known.