In Ramana Maharshi’s teaching, the question “Who am I?” functions not as a philosophical riddle but as a precise instrument for turning attention back upon its own source. Rather than encouraging speculation, it is meant to interrupt the mind’s outward movement toward thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, and redirect it toward the one who claims, “this happens to me.” When any experience arises, it is examined by asking, “To whom has this arisen?” and recognizing that the response is always “to me.” The subsequent question, “Who am I?”, shifts focus from the content of experience to the experiencer itself, thereby cutting the habitual identification with passing mental states.

Through this disciplined redirection, the inquiry traces the “I-thought” or sense of individual self back to its origin. The feeling “I am this body-mind, I am so-and-so” is treated as a root-thought from which all other thoughts branch out. By persistently attending to this sense of “I” rather than to its countless associations, the mind ceases to chase secondary thoughts and instead remains with their source. This is not a process of collecting conceptual answers, but of holding attention steadily on the bare fact of “I-am-ness” until its true nature is revealed.

As this inquiry deepens, a kind of inner negation naturally unfolds: whatever can be observed—body, sensations, emotions, ideas, roles—is recognized as an object of awareness and therefore not the real “I.” The question “Who am I?” thus serves as a subtle form of “not this, not this,” stripping away false identifications without constructing a new conceptual identity in their place. The aim is not to arrive at a verbal conclusion such as “I am this or that,” but to see directly that the separate ego, which seeks such answers, has no independent reality apart from awareness itself.

When attention is steadily kept on the sense of “I” in this manner, the ego-thought gradually subsides into its source, which Ramana identifies as the Self, pure consciousness or Being. In that inward “sinking,” the questioner and the question are both consumed, leaving only the Self, where no further inquiry is required. In this way, the question “Who am I?” serves simultaneously as method and path: it redirects consciousness from objects to the subject, exposes the illusory nature of the ego, and stabilizes abidance in the Self, which is presented as liberation.