Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda created the “BMI Chart” to help us understand Vedanta in a simpler way and to use it to apply Vedanta to our daily lives. While simple in appearance, the BMI Chart reveals the relationship between our Real Nature and the relative reality of the transactional world. Through it, we can better appreciate our own personality, introspect into why we respond the way we do, and discover how to realize our True Nature.
Pujya Gurudev calls the B (Body), M (Mind), and I (Intellect) our equipment which we constantly use to seek happiness. But, through our individual faculties and roles as P (Perceiver), F (Feeler), and T (Thinker), we seek that happiness in the temporary world of O (Objects), E (Emotions), and T (Thoughts). We might wonder why we act in a certain way or why we have likes or dislikes and why those are different from others. Here we see the significance of the V (Vasanas). Those Vasanas are unmanifest tendencies deep within us that then manifest through each individual BMI and act upon the OET. Due to this extroverted nature, we forget our True Nature, symbolized as OM. Those Vasanas create a veil of ignorance preventing us from appreciating our True Nature thus making us conclude that I am this limited individual (Jiva) and the World (Jagat) and its creator (Jagadeeshwara) are different from me.
However, there is hope for us all. Using the same equipment of the BMI, we can transcend our V (Vasanas) and realize our True Self. Vedanta tells us that happiness is not outside; rather, our own nature is that of permanent, infinite bliss. Through the sincere study of our scriptures and its messages, we can realize the Om (Supreme Reality) already within us!