SELF - ENQUIRY

 

 

 

Self-enquiry is the way to discover what we really are, and  was recommended by Sri Ramana Maharshi as the most direct way.
When we ask ourselves this question: “Who Am I?”, we are not going to get the answer, but we will become aware of the unreality of the questioner, which will eventually disappear.

 

“The question ‘Who am I?’ is not really meant to get an answer,
the question ‘Who am I?’ is meant to dissolve the questioner.”
Ramana Maharshi

 

We can’t be something that we perceive, because we are the perceiver.

Because we can perceive our body, our mind, our emotions, our feelings, we should not identify with them.

 

“The perception of ‘I’ is associated with a form, maybe the body.
There should be nothing associated with the pure Self.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

Realizing what we are not is helpful, it is a weakening of our attachments, of our ego.

Our intellect is prepared to consider a different idea:

 

”The Self is the unassociated, pure reality, in whose light the body and the ego shine,
On stilling all thoughts, the pure consciousness remains.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

Every time when we perceive something , we should turn our attention inward, toward the Awareness that perceives.

Usually we are completely ignoring this  Awareness.

 

"The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen,
not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them.”
Ramana Maharshi

 

In other words, we must be Aware of the Awareness....We are this awareness.