Self-inquiry (Mahadevan)

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Sri Ramana's central teaching is Self-inquiry.

Instead of wanting to know this and that, seek to know

the Self. Ask 'Who am I?' instead of asking about a

hundred other things.

 

Self-inquiry ought to be the easiest of all tasks.

But it seems to be the most difficult because

we have become strangers to our Self.

What one has to do is simple - to abide as the Self.

This is the ultimate Truth. This is one's eternal, natural,

inherent state.

 

On accout of ignorance we identify ourselves

with the not-I. The most subtle of all these identifications

is with the ego. Let us search for the root of the ego.

Where from does this pseudo-I arise?

At the end of this quest we shall find that the ego

disappears letting the eternal Self shine.

 

So the best discipline is the inquiry 'Who am I?'

This is the greatest japa. This is the true pranayama.

The thought 'I am not the body' (naham) is exhalation

(rechaka); the inquiry 'Who am I?' (koham) is inhalation

(puraka); the realization 'I am He' (soham) is retention of

breath (kumbhaka).

 

The fruit of self-inquiry is the realization that the Self is all,

and that nothing else there is. For those who follow this

method no other sadhana is necessary. But even those

who adopt the discipline of devotion (bhakti) reach the

same goal. If one surrenders one's ego to either the Guru

or God, one realizes the Self.

 

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from T.M.P. Mahadevan's Foreword to the Talks

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