The question “Who am I?” as taught by Ramana Maharshi is not intended to elicit a conceptual or verbal reply, but to function as a precise instrument of inner redirection. It serves to turn attention away from the usual identifications with body, mind, emotions, and social roles, all of which are seen as changing phenomena that can be observed. Because these are objects of experience, they cannot be the fundamental “I” that knows them. By silently posing this question, one begins to see that statements such as “I am the body” or “I am the mind” are assumptions rather than ultimate truths. The inquiry systematically loosens these assumptions, revealing that what is ordinarily taken to be the self is a composite of transient elements. In this way, the question undermines the habitual sense of being a separate, personal entity.

Central to this method is the examination of the “I-thought,” the basic sense of “I am this person” that underlies all other thoughts. Instead of allowing this “I” to run outward into further identifications—“I am this, I feel that, I want this”—the inquiry turns it back upon itself. One attends directly to the bare feeling of “I,” without elaboration or analysis, tracing it to its source. When this is done persistently, the egoic “I” cannot maintain itself; it subsides along with the mental activities that support it. What then remains is not a blank, but the underlying reality that was present all along as pure awareness or consciousness.

Ramana Maharshi described this ever-present reality as the true Self, distinct from the ego-mind that poses the question. This Self is characterized as self-luminous awareness, not dependent on any object to know itself, and is sometimes indicated by the term “I-I” to distinguish it from the personal “I.” It is also expressed as pure being-consciousness-bliss (sat‑chit‑ānanda), emphasizing that it is not something newly attained but the fundamental nature of one’s own existence. The practice of self-inquiry, therefore, is not an exercise in constructing a new identity, but a means of allowing the false sense of individuality to dissolve. When the inquiry has done its work, what stands revealed is the non-personal, ever-present Self that was never truly separate from its source.