In the recorded teachings, self-inquiry (*ātma-vichāra*) and devotion (*bhakti*) are presented not as rival paths but as intimately related movements of the same quest for Self-realization. Self-inquiry is consistently held up as the most direct means: the sustained investigation into “Who am I?” leads attention back to the source of the “I”-thought and thus to the Self. At the same time, this very turning inward is described as the highest form of devotion, because true worship is to abide in the Self rather than in transient mental images. In this light, inquiry is not a dry intellectual exercise but a profoundly devotional act, the mind bowing to its own source.

Devotion, however, is not sidelined; it is given a crucial preparatory and supportive role. Love of God or Guru, expressed through surrender, prayer, repetition of the divine name, and worship, serves to purify and steady the mind. A mind softened by humility and oriented by love becomes more capable of the subtle, sustained attention required for genuine inquiry. Devotion thus quiets the ego and reduces its resistance, making it easier to trace the “I” back to its origin. Even within devotional practice, the teaching points back to inquiry by inviting the question: who is the one that loves, prays, or surrenders?

As these two modes mature, they are shown to converge in a single realization. Self-inquiry, when pursued to its end, dissolves the sense of a separate inquirer and reveals the Self as the only reality. Mature devotion, carried to complete surrender, likewise erodes the distinction between devotee and the object of devotion, until no separate worshipper remains. At that point, the Self, the devotee, and the beloved are understood to be one, and the “I am” that inquires is the same “I am” that surrenders. Thus, what begins as two apparent paths—one of questioning and one of loving—resolves into a single non-dual recognition in which both knowledge and devotion find their fulfillment.