Self-Inquiry (ātma-vichāra), as taught by Ramana Maharshi, is a direct method of spiritual investigation centered on the fundamental question “Who am I?” (Nāṉ yār?). Rather than engaging in philosophical speculation, it calls for a practical and sustained turning of attention toward the inner sense of “I” or “I am.” The focus is not on thoughts, emotions, or external experiences, but on the subject to whom all these appear. In this way, Self-Inquiry functions as a disciplined redirection of awareness from objects of consciousness to the very experiencer of them.

The method proceeds by tracing the “I”-thought or ego back to its source. When any thought, emotion, or sensation arises, the practitioner asks, “To whom has this arisen?” The natural response, “To me,” becomes the doorway to the deeper question, “Who am I?” By persistently following this line of inquiry, false identifications with body, mind, roles, and experiences begin to fall away. The “I”-thought is gradually recognized as something that appears and disappears, rather than as the ultimate reality of one’s being.

Self-Inquiry is therefore not an exercise in conceptual analysis, but a direct, experiential investigation of the “I”-feeling itself. It is not meditation on an object, but a process of eliminating all that is not the Self by refusing to be diverted by secondary thoughts and returning again and again to the sense of “I.” As attention rests more steadily in this source, the ego-sense dissolves, and what remains is pure awareness or consciousness, the unadorned “I am” free of attributes. Abiding as this non-dual awareness is regarded as liberation or Self-realization in this teaching.

In this vision, Self-Inquiry is held to be a most direct path, because it addresses the root of all experience—the sense of being a separate “I”—rather than attempting to modify or perfect its countless expressions. By allowing the questioner, the question, and the process of questioning to subside into their common ground, the practice reveals one’s true nature as pure, limitless consciousness.