Self-inquiry (ātma-vichāra) as presented by Ramana Maharshi is distinguished above all by its direct orientation toward the root sense of “I,” rather than toward any secondary object of attention. Whereas many meditative disciplines train the mind by resting it on the breath, a mantra, visualizations, sensations, or cultivated qualities such as calm and compassion, self-inquiry turns attention back upon the very subject that experiences all of these. The central movement is not to refine mental contents, but to question the one to whom all thoughts, feelings, and perceptions appear. In this way, the usual assumption of an observer standing behind experience is itself brought under scrutiny, rather than being tacitly left in place.

Methodologically, self-inquiry employs questions such as “Who am I?” or “To whom does this thought arise?” as a means of tracing every arising back to the “I”-sense that claims it. Each thought, instead of being suppressed, analyzed, or replaced, becomes an opportunity to redirect attention from the object to its apparent owner: “to me; who is this ‘me’?” By repeatedly turning awareness in this manner, the practice does not aim at constructing new states of mind, but at allowing thoughts to subside naturally in their own source. The emphasis is on a minimal technique—simply this persistent redirection—rather than on elaborate postures, rituals, or sequential stages.

The orientation of self-inquiry is therefore non-progressive in a distinctive way. Other forms of meditation often conceive the path as a gradual purification and development: stabilizing attention, cultivating insight, or ascending through refined states that may still come and go. Self-inquiry, by contrast, points to the Self as already present as pure awareness, unmodified by the changing play of mental states. The practice is not to acquire something new, but to discern what has never been absent, and to see the unreality of the separate ego that appears and disappears within awareness.

From this standpoint, the goal is not merely tranquility, clarity, or heightened experience, but the dissolution of the ego-identity in its own source and the abiding recognition of the Self. Other meditations may enhance well-being or yield profound but temporary absorptions, insights, or devotional states; self-inquiry aims at a fundamental shift in identity from the changing “I-thought” to the underlying consciousness that witnesses it. Because it requires no special conditions and can be applied whenever thoughts arise, it is presented as an immediate and ever-available way of turning back to that witnessing presence. In essence, its distinctiveness lies in continually following every experience back to the experiencer until the division between the two is seen through.