"The Self is ever attained. There is nothing to realize. What is new cannot be eternal. Therefore, there is no moment of realization." — Ramana Maharshi

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Sri Ramana Maharshi taught that all thoughts, perceptions, memories, and ideas stem from one primal thought called the 'I' thought—the thread running through every experience. Your attention continuously focuses on objects—what you see, feel, think—never on the subject itself, the "I" that witnesses everything. This constant externalization prevents you from discovering the true nature of the witness.

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According to Ramana, the sense of personal identity—the "I am a person with a mind and body"—is a fiction that causes all suffering and wrong ideas about yourself and reality. Self-inquiry challenges this identification moment-by-moment, revealing what you truly are beneath the stories.

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The question "Who am I?" is not seeking information. It's an invitation to stop seeking, to recognize what's already here, to be what you've always been.

 

The answer cannot be spoken, thought, or experienced. It can only be. You are That.​

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What Self-Inquiry Is NOT:

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• A mere mental questioning or mantra repetition—its purpose is to focus the entire mind at its source.

• The mind's inspection of its own contents; it is tracing the mind's first mode, the 'I-thought,' to its source, which is the Self.

• Continues throughout one's waking hours, irrespective of what one is doing—not limited to meditation. 

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The Spiritual Heart (Hridayam)

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If one inquires where in the body the thought 'I' rises first, one will discover it rises in the heart—the place of the mind's origin. This isn't the physical heart or a chakra, but the tranquil state in which all thoughts come to an end, called the state of the Self, with no exterior or interior.

In practice: As inquiry deepens, the mind begins to rest effortlessly in the spiritual heart center—the source of the 'I'-thought, where the ego arises.

 

Once you can fix attention in this space of pure awareness, you can stop inquiry and remain as you are, free of "I."

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The key requirement is a quiet mind—not perfectly quiet, just quiet enough. This requires a good intellectual framework for the spiritual journey and being honest about what you want.

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You are not searching for yourself. The "I" is searching for the "I." Eventually, the searcher realizes it IS what it's been searching for.

The separate self is like a stranger at a wedding who's treated well because of mistaken identity. Once his true nature is investigated, he makes himself scarce.

 

So, it is with the ego.

 

What remains when the ego vanishes? Not nothing, but Everything. Not absence, but Presence itself.

 

A soundless radiance shines forth of its own accord—the pure consciousness that you are and have always been.

 

Recommended Study: 

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• "Who Am I?" (Nan Yar?) by Ramana Maharshi - The foundational text

• "The Path of Sri Ramana" by Sadhu Om - Clearest commentary by a direct disciple

• "Be As You Are" by David Godman - Organized collection answering common questions

• "Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi" - Record of actual conversations

• "Self-Inquiry (Vichara Sangraham)" - Ramana's written instructions from 1901-1902

• Conscious Circle: Non-Duality and Advaita philosophy (YouTube channel)

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