This is a beautiful saying and it comes from the place of a very deep realization.

When you are looking outside the window and see a bird, is it you? No. It’s a bird. When you hear this bird sing, are you hearing yourself? No, you hear its song. When you perceive something, it is, by the very definition of being perceived, not you.

Similarly, your emotions are not you, your thoughts are not you and even your body is not you - they are also subjects of perception. If you perceive or “see through” your ego, it also must be not you, by definition. And if you perceive consciousness, awareness or stillness, it is ultimately not you also.

Try to find you. You can only find you in something that you perceive, but if you perceive it, it’s not you. And if you feel like you have found the perceiver, you have perceived it, which means it’s not you again. The perceiver cannot be perceived, what would you perceive it with, another perceiver?

So what are you?