The Setting
- Paul Brunton, a British journalist and spiritual seeker, travels through India investigating yogis, swamis, and miracle workers, most of whom disappoint him. Exhausted and skeptical, he arrives at Tiruvannamalai at the foot of the sacred mountain Arunachala, where Ramana Maharshi sits in silence, teaching through presence as much as words.
The Dialogue
The First Meeting
BRUNTON: Maharshi, I have traveled through India, met many teachers, seen many practices. I am weary of philosophies, tired of promises. I need something direct, practical, verifiable. Can you help me?
RAMANA (after a long silence): Who is it that is weary? Who has traveled? Who seeks help?
BRUNTON (taken aback): I have. Paul Brunton. The man sitting before you.
RAMANA: Find out who this ‘I’ is that you refer to. This is the direct path.
BRUNTON: But that’s what I’m asking you to tell me!
RAMANA: I cannot tell you what you are. You must find out for yourself. If I tell you, it becomes another concept, another belief, another bit of information cluttering your mind. But if you discover it directly, no one can take it from you.
BRUNTON (frustrated): How do I discover it?
RAMANA: Ask yourself: ‘Who am I?’ Not as an intellectual question, but as a living inquiry. Trace every thought, every feeling, every sensation back to its source. Who is the one experiencing all this?
The Practice of Self-Inquiry
BRUNTON: I think a thought. I say, “Who is thinking this thought?” I answer, “I am.” But this just leads me in circles.
RAMANA: Good. You have started. But don’t answer the question with another thought. The question “Who am I?” is not meant to get an answer in words. It is meant to turn the mind back to its source.
When you ask “Who am I?” you are directing attention away from thoughts, feelings, sensations—away from all objects of consciousness—and toward the subject, the ‘I’ itself.
BRUNTON: But when I try to look at the ‘I’, I find nothing. It’s like trying to bite my own teeth.
RAMANA (smiling): Exactly! You cannot objectify the ‘I’ because you ARE the ‘I’. The eye cannot see itself. The knife cannot cut itself. The ‘I’ cannot be made into an object of knowledge.
BRUNTON: Then what is the point of the inquiry?
RAMANA: The point is this: by persistently asking “Who am I?” and rejecting all that is not the ‘I’ (not this body, not these thoughts, not these feelings), you strip away all false identifications. What remains when all else is rejected?
BRUNTON: Nothing?
RAMANA: Not nothing—Everything. Pure consciousness. The Self. But not as an object separate from you. You discover: “I AM that pure consciousness.”
The Nature of Consciousness
BRUNTON: Maharshi, I still don’t understand. Am I consciousness or do I have consciousness?
RAMANA: You ARE consciousness. Consciousness is not something you possess; it is what you are. Think of it this way:
In deep sleep, where is the world? Where is your body? Where are your thoughts?
BRUNTON: Nowhere. They all disappear.
RAMANA: Yet you exist in deep sleep, don’t you? When you wake up, you say, “I slept well” or “I slept poorly.” How do you know you slept if you were not there?
BRUNTON: I suppose I must have been there…
RAMANA: Yes! In deep sleep, there is no body-consciousness, no thought, no world, yet YOU exist—as pure consciousness, as the ‘I AM’ without any qualifications. This is your true nature.
Then you wake, and immediately the thought “I am this body” arises. From this root thought, all other thoughts sprout: “I am male/female,” “I am British,” “I am a seeker,” “I am confused.”
But all these are qualifications added to the pure ‘I AM.’ They are not your essential nature.
BRUNTON: So in deep sleep, I’m enlightened, and in waking, I’m deluded?
RAMANA (laughing): Not quite. In deep sleep, there is no ignorance, but there is also no awareness of your true nature. You are there as pure ‘I’, but you don’t know it.
What we seek is to be awake in deep sleep—to have the awareness and clarity of waking combined with the peace and pure being of deep sleep. This is the natural state, sahaja sthiti.
On Thoughts and the Mind
BRUNTON: Maharshi, my problem is my mind won’t stop. Thoughts arise continuously. How can I find this pure ‘I’ when I’m bombarded with thoughts?
RAMANA: The solution is not to fight thoughts. You cannot stop thoughts by force. The more you try, the more they multiply—like trying to calm waves by beating them with a stick.
Instead, investigate: To whom do these thoughts arise?
BRUNTON: To me.
RAMANA: Who is this ‘me’?
BRUNTON (pausing): I… don’t know.
RAMANA: Then find out! This is the inquiry. Every time a thought arises, instead of following it, question: “To whom does this thought arise?” The answer will be “To me.” Then ask, “Who am I?”
By this practice, the attention is turned away from the thought to the thinker, from the object to the subject. The thought will subside, and if you persist in the inquiry, all thoughts will eventually dissolve into their source—the Self.
BRUNTON: What about emotions? I feel fear, desire, anger…
RAMANA: Same inquiry. Fear arises. Ask: “Who is afraid?” Desire arises. Ask: “Who desires?” Always turn the attention back to the ‘I’ that experiences these states.
You will discover that emotions are like clouds passing across the sky of consciousness. The sky is not affected by the clouds. Similarly, the Self is not affected by emotions, though emotions appear in it.
The Witness and the Doer
BRUNTON: Maharshi, I understand intellectually, but when I try to practice, I’m still caught in the sense that ‘I’ am doing things—thinking, acting, seeking. How do I break this?
RAMANA: You must distinguish between the real ‘I’ and the ego-I.
The ego is the thought “I am this body, I am the doer, I am the experiencer.” This is the false ‘I’, the imposter. It is not real, but it seems real due to constant identification.
The real ‘I’ is pure consciousness, the witness of all experiences, including the ego itself. It never does anything. Actions happen IN it, but it itself is actionless.
BRUNTON: How do I access this witness?
RAMANA: You don’t access it—you ARE it. You cannot become what you already are. But you can recognize it by observing that all experiences appear to you. You are the constant factor in all changing experiences.
Watch your thoughts like watching clouds. Watch your emotions like watching weather. Watch even your body and its sensations. The watcher is always you—unchanging, uninvolved, free.
BRUNTON: But if I’m just watching, who is acting? Who is living life?
RAMANA: Life happens. The body acts. Thoughts occur. But there is no separate doer. The sense of “I am doing” is the fundamental ignorance.
When you deeply investigate, you’ll find that actions happen spontaneously. Thoughts arise on their own. Even the decision to act arises on its own. Where is the doer?
The jnani (the realized one) knows this. He acts, but he knows he is not the actor. He lives, but he knows he is not the liver. He is the pure consciousness in which all this appears—like the screen on which a movie plays.
The Direct Experience
BRUNTON: Maharshi, can you give me this experience? Can you transmit it to me?
RAMANA (gazing at Brunton with his penetrating eyes): I am always giving it. The question is: Are you receiving?
The Self is already shining in you. I am not giving you something new. I am only pointing to what you already are.
(Ramana falls into silence. Brunton, looking into the sage’s eyes, suddenly feels his mind becoming quiet. The endless stream of thoughts slows, then stops. For a moment—perhaps seconds, perhaps timeless—Brunton experiences pure being, pure awareness, without thought, without separation, without Paul Brunton.)
(After some time, Brunton returns to normal consciousness, shaken.)
BRUNTON (tearfully): What… what was that?
RAMANA: That is what you are. That peace, that fullness, that presence—this is your true nature. You experienced it for a moment. Now the practice is to abide in it permanently.
BRUNTON: How?
RAMANA: Keep the inquiry going. In every moment, whether meditating or working, keep asking: “Who am I?” Let this inquiry become continuous, like an underground stream that keeps flowing beneath all surface activities.
At first it will be effortful. Then it becomes natural. Finally, you will realize you never stopped being That—you were just looking away from it.
On Effort and Grace
BRUNTON: You make it sound easy, but I struggle so much. Is spiritual effort necessary, or is it all grace?
RAMANA: Both are necessary, and both are the same.
From the ego’s perspective, effort is needed. You must persistently inquire, constantly turn attention to the Self, discipline the mind, study the teachings. This is the path of striving.
But from the Self’s perspective, there is no effort. The Self is already attained. What effort is needed to be what you already are?
And yet, even your effort is grace. The very desire to know the truth, the ability to inquire, the persistence to continue—where do these come from? From the Self alone.
The ego cannot liberate itself by its own effort, just as darkness cannot remove itself. But when you turn toward the light—when you inquire into the Self—the ego dissolves naturally. This is grace.
BRUNTON: So I should make effort but not depend on it?
RAMANA: Make the effort. Do the inquiry. Practice intensely. But simultaneously, surrender. Know that you cannot do it alone. The Self must reveal itself to you. Your effort creates the openness; grace does the rest.
It’s like opening a window. You make the effort to open it, but the sunlight that streams in—that is grace. The sunlight is always shining. The window-opening merely allows it in.
On the Body and the World
BRUNTON: Maharshi, if I am consciousness alone, what about this body? What about the world? Are they unreal?
RAMANA: They are not unreal, but they are not what they appear to be.
The body appears real as long as you identify with it. “I am the body” is the primal ignorance. But when you realize “I am consciousness, and the body appears in me,” then the body is seen correctly—as an appearance in consciousness, not as your identity.
Similarly, the world appears real as long as you take yourself to be a person in the world. But when you realize “I am the consciousness in which the entire world appears,” the world is seen correctly—as a projection of consciousness, not as something independent and external.
BRUNTON: But I see the world. I interact with it. How can it be just consciousness?
RAMANA: In your dream last night, you saw a dream world. You interacted with dream people, visited dream places. While dreaming, it all seemed completely real, didn’t it?
BRUNTON: Yes.
RAMANA: Yet when you woke, where did that entire world go? It collapsed back into your mind—into consciousness. It was never really “out there.” It was a projection of consciousness all along.
This waking world is similar. It appears in consciousness, is sustained by consciousness, and dissolves back into consciousness (in deep sleep and at death). Consciousness alone is real. The world is its appearance—not separate from it, but not ultimately real as an independent entity.
BRUNTON: This is hard to accept.
RAMANA: Don’t try to believe it. Investigate and see for yourself. Practice the inquiry, realize the Self, and this understanding will dawn naturally.
The Final Teaching
BRUNTON (after several days of silent practice with Ramana): Maharshi, I must leave tomorrow. What is your final advice for me?
RAMANA: Remember: You are not the body, you are not the mind, you are not even Paul Brunton. These are just appearances. You are the pure ‘I AM’—eternal, unchanging, free.
Whatever happens in life—success or failure, pleasure or pain, health or illness—you remain untouched. Like the screen remains unburned when fire appears in a movie, you remain unaffected by the world-appearance.
Keep up the inquiry. Let “Who am I?” become your constant companion. And always come back to the simple sense of being—the pure ‘I AM’ before all thoughts.
This is enough. This is everything.
BRUNTON: Will I see you again?
RAMANA (smiling): Where can you go where I am not? I am the Self within you. When you know yourself, you will know me. We are not two.
Go with my blessings. May you realize the truth soon.
The Teaching
Core Principles of Self-Inquiry (Ātma-Vichāra)
The fundamental question: “Who am I?”
- Not an intellectual question to be answered with concepts
- A tool to turn the mind toward its source
- An investigation into the nature of the subject, not the object
The method:
- When any thought/emotion arises, ask: “To whom does this arise?”
- Answer: “To me”
- Then ask: “Who am I?”
- Don’t answer with thoughts; let attention rest on the sense of ‘I’
- Repeat constantly
The result:
- Thoughts subside into their source
- The false ‘I’ (ego) is exposed as unreal
- The true ‘I’ (Self) is revealed as pure consciousness
The Nature of the Self (According to Ramana)
What it is:
- Pure consciousness, awareness
- The ‘I AM’ before any qualifications
- Unchanging, eternal, present
- Not an object that can be known, but the subject that knows
- Not attained but recognized
What it is not:
- Not the body (the body is perceived by you)
- Not the mind (thoughts are perceived by you)
- Not the ego (the sense of “I am this/that”)
- Not something separate that you “have”
The key insight: You cannot find the Self because you ARE the Self. You can only stop identifying with what you are not.
Practical Application
Daily Self-Inquiry Practice
Formal practice (meditation):
- Sit quietly, close eyes
- Feel the sense of your own being—the feeling “I am”
- When thoughts arise, ask: “To whom do these thoughts arise?”
- Answer: “To me”
- Ask: “Who am I?”
- Rest in the silence/awareness that remains
- Repeat when thoughts arise again
Informal practice (daily life):
- Throughout the day, pause and ask: “Who is acting? Who is thinking? Who is experiencing?”
- Before reacting emotionally, inquire: “To whom does this emotion arise?”
- Feel the pure sense of being beneath all activities
- Remember: “I am the witness, not the doer”
Integration with Life
The jnani’s way of living:
- Acts but knows he’s not the actor
- Experiences but knows he’s not the experiencer
- Lives fully but is detached from all outcomes
- Serves others spontaneously from the recognition of oneness
For the seeker:
- Continue your daily activities
- But maintain the inquiry as an undercurrent
- Let the body and mind function naturally
- Remain as the witness of all
Questions and Answers
Q: Why is it so hard to maintain the inquiry?
A: Because the ego resists its own dissolution. The ego is the false sense of being a separate person, and the inquiry threatens its existence. Persist despite the difficulty—this is tapas (austerity).
Q: Can I practice self-inquiry along with other methods?
A: You can, but Ramana taught that self-inquiry is the most direct method. Other practices purify and prepare, but only self-inquiry directly reveals the Self.
Q: What if I don’t feel anything during the practice?
A: Don’t seek experiences. The Self is not an experience—it’s the experiencer. Even when you “feel nothing,” you are there as the awareness of that nothing. That awareness is the Self.
Q: How long does it take to realize the Self?
A: Time is for the ego. From the Self’s perspective, there is no time and nothing to realize. But practically, it depends on the intensity of your practice, the depth of your inquiry, and the ripeness of your mind. For some, it’s sudden. For others, gradual. Keep practicing.
Q: What about emotions and life challenges?
A: Face them while maintaining the inquiry. When fear arises, ask “Who is afraid?” When desire arises, ask “Who desires?” Don’t suppress emotions, but don’t identify with them either. Be the witness.
The Significance
Ramana Maharshi’s Contribution
Revival of ancient wisdom:
- Brought the Upanishadic teaching to modern times
- Made self-inquiry accessible without complex philosophy
- Lived what he taught—authentic realization
Bridge to the West:
- Paul Brunton’s book introduced Ramana to millions
- Simple, direct teaching appealing to Western minds
- Emphasis on experience over belief
The teaching of silence:
- Ramana often taught through silence
- His presence transmitted peace and awareness
- Showed that realization is beyond words
Influence on Modern Spirituality
- Influenced countless Western seekers
- Foundation for neo-Advaita movement
- Model of simple, direct teaching
- Emphasis on self-inquiry as primary practice
- Living demonstration that enlightenment is possible
Contemplation
*The British skeptic came
With questions heavy,
Mind full of doubts,
Heart weary from seeking.
The sage asked one question:
“Who are you?”
Not “What do you believe?”
Not “What have you practiced?”
Not “What do you know?”
But: “Who are you?”
And in that question,
All questions dissolved.
For how can you seek
What you already are?
How can you find
That which is never lost?
The eye seeking itself,
The knife trying to cut itself,
The ‘I’ searching for the ‘I’—
All futile.
But turn the attention around,
Inquire into the inquirer,
Seek the seeker—
And there: stillness.
Not the stillness of death,
But the stillness of pure being—
Alive, aware, eternal.
This is what you are.
Not Paul, not person,
Not body, not mind—
But pure ‘I AM.’
Before birth, beyond death,
Beneath all thoughts,
Behind all experiences—
You are.*
May you, like Paul Brunton, have the grace to meet your true Self through sincere inquiry. Remember: You are not what you think you are. You are the pure awareness that knows you are thinking. 🙏✨