Self-Enquiry

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4 - From Self-Enquiry, in The Collected Works.

 

Explaining the technique of Self-enquiry, the Maharshi says: "By steady and

continuous investigation into the nature of the mind, the mind is

transformed into that to which the 'I' refers; and that is in fact the

Self."5 He also instructed people to probe and find out where the I-thought

arises. When the enquiry is persisted in it transpires that the ego

dissolves in the Self which is the Heart (hridayam). It is true that the

mind often gets distracted on the way and strays outwards, but every time

this happens it must be brought back to the enquiry into its nature. This

process has to continue till it subsides into its Source, the Self. For this

there is no other means so effective as Self-enquiry. Other means such as

breath-control and meditation for mind-control may lead to a temporary

subsidence of the mind but not to final Liberation. It will rise up again.

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