Self-Inquiry (Atma Vichara) as taught by Ramana Maharshi is a direct, introspective method aimed at recognizing one’s true nature as pure, non-dual awareness by investigating the sense of “I.” Rather than engaging with the endless variety of thoughts, objects, and experiences, attention is deliberately turned back toward the one who is aware of them. The central tool is the question “Who am I?”, not as a philosophical puzzle to be solved conceptually, but as a means of tracing the “I”-sense back to its source. In this way, the practice does not seek to construct a new identity, but to reveal what has always been present beneath changing mental and bodily states.

The method unfolds in a simple yet radical manner. Whenever a thought, feeling, or perception arises, the practitioner asks, “To whom has this arisen?” The immediate answer is, “To me,” which is then followed by the deeper inquiry, “Who am I?” or “What is this ‘I’?” Instead of following the content of the thought, attention is redirected to the bare feeling of being, the sense “I am,” and is invited to remain there. Through this repeated turning inward, the mind is led away from its habitual outward movement and toward the very root of the “I”-thought.

This inquiry is not an exercise in analysis or conceptual dissection of the ego, but a direct, present-moment focusing on the “I”-sense itself. No attempt is made to define the Self in words; the emphasis is on abiding as the pure sense of being, free of adjuncts such as “I am the body” or “I am this role.” Ramana Maharshi taught that the “I”-thought is the root of all other thoughts, and that by holding attention steadily at its source, the ego subsides. What then remains is the Self—silent, formless awareness—which is not something newly produced, but the recognition of what is ever-present.

Because it addresses the very subject who would practice, desire, or attain, this approach is regarded as a direct path. It does not depend on elaborate rituals, visualizations, or complex techniques, but on a simple, sustained turning of attention toward the one who says “I.” In daily life, this can take the form of repeatedly returning to the inquiry “Who am I?” or resting as the silent witness of all phenomena. Over time, as identification with body and mind loosens, there is a natural abidance in the Self, where the distinction between a separate seeker and the sought reality falls away, and one’s essential nature as changeless consciousness stands revealed.