Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950), born Venkataraman Iyer in Tamil Nadu, is widely regarded as one of the most revered Advaita Vedānta sages and Hindu mystics of modern India. At the age of sixteen, during an intense confrontation with the fear of death, he turned his attention inward and investigated the nature of the “I.” This inner turning culminated in what he later described as the direct realization of the Self (ātman) and a permanent establishment in non-dual awareness. From that point onward, his life unfolded as that of a jīvanmukta, a liberated being whose realization was not a matter of belief or doctrine, but an abiding inner fact.

Soon after this awakening, he left his family home and journeyed to Arunachala, the sacred hill at Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, where he remained for the rest of his life. There he spent years absorbed in deep samādhi in caves and temples on the mountain, gradually becoming known to seekers who were drawn to the stillness and clarity of his presence. Over time, an ashram, Sri Ramanasramam, formed at the foot of Arunachala, and devotees from India and abroad gathered around him for guidance in the quest for Self-realization. His life was marked by simplicity, humility, and a quiet radiance that many regarded as a teaching in itself.

At the heart of his message stood the practice of Self-enquiry (ātma-vichāra), distilled most famously into the question “Who am I?” Rather than encouraging elaborate philosophical speculation, he directed attention to the very sense of “I” or “I am,” inviting a direct investigation into the “I”-thought until its source in pure consciousness is recognized. He taught that the true Self is identical with Brahman, the sole reality, and that liberation (mokṣa) is not a new attainment but the recognition of one’s ever-present nature beyond mind and ego. In this view, all authentic paths converge in the dissolution of the ego-mind and the unveiling of what has never been absent.

Silence (mauna) occupied a central place in his mode of instruction, not as mere absence of speech but as a potent form of communication in which the presence of the sage itself functions as a transmission. He spoke of the realized being as benefiting the world simply through such silent abidance in the Self. Although he authored relatively few works and consistently de-emphasized intellectual study, his recorded conversations and brief writings—such as “Who Am I?” and collections like “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi”—have become enduring reference points for students of nondual spirituality. Through these, his influence continues wherever there is a sincere longing to know the Self as the only reality.