Who Am I? - The Direct Path

The Question

कोऽहम्? (Ko’ham?)
नान यार्? (Nān Yār? - Tamil)
Who Am I?

“Who am I?” is not a philosophical question requiring an intellectual answer. It is a practical tool for turning attention away from objects and back to the subject—the “I” itself.

Ramana Maharshi’s Method

आत्मविचार (Ātma Vichāra)
Self-Inquiry

Sri Ramana Maharshi taught self-inquiry (atma vichara) as the most direct path to self-realization:

The Practice

1. When any thought arises, ask “To whom does this thought come?”
2. The answer will be “To me”
3. Then ask “Who am I?”
4. This question draws attention back to its source

What Happens

• When you search for the “I,” you cannot find it as an object
• The “I” thought subsides
• What remains is pure awareness, your true nature
• This is not a state to be achieved but the recognition of what always is

Common Misunderstandings

This is not:

• An intellectual analysis
• A mantra to repeat mechanically
• A meditation technique that produces a special state
• Something that will happen in the future

This is:

• Direct investigation into the nature of the self
• Immediate and always available
• Recognition, not attainment
• Your present reality, not a future achievement

The Essence

Ramana taught that all spiritual practices ultimately lead to the same point: the investigation of the self. But self-inquiry goes directly to the source.

You are always aware. The question “Who am I?” simply redirects attention from what you are aware of (objects) to that which is aware (the subject, consciousness itself).

In Daily Life

Whenever you feel disturbed, contracted, or identified with a particular experience, pause and ask:

“Who is experiencing this?” “To whom does this feeling belong?” “Who am I, really?”

This brings you back to the spacious awareness that is your true nature—unaffected, unchanged, ever-present.

The Discovery

अहं ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham Brahmāsmi)
I am Brahman - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Through sincere inquiry, you discover:

• You are not the body (you are aware of the body)
• You are not the mind (you are aware of thoughts)
• You are not emotions (you are aware of feelings)
• You are pure awareness itself—limitless, birthless, deathless

This is not a belief to adopt but a direct recognition to be realized through investigation.

The Five Sheaths Analysis

पञ्च कोश विवेक (Pancha Kosha Viveka)

Vedanta teaches that the Self is covered by five layers (koshas), like a lamp covered by five lampshades:

1. Annamaya Kosha (Food Sheath - Physical Body)

   • Made of food, sustained by food
   • “Who am I?” - Not the body
   • The body changes, grows old, dies—but I remain

2. Pranamaya Kosha (Vital Sheath - Life Energy)

   • The breath, prana, vital force
   • “Who am I?” - Not the life force
   • Energy fluctuates—but I remain constant

3. Manomaya Kosha (Mental Sheath - Mind)

   • Thoughts, emotions, memories
   • “Who am I?” - Not the mind
   • The mind comes and goes—but I witness it

4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (Intellectual Sheath - Intellect)

   • Reasoning, discrimination, ego
   • “Who am I?” - Not the intellect
   • Even the sense of “I” is witnessed by me

5. Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss Sheath - Causal Body)

   • Experienced in deep sleep
   • “Who am I?” - Not even this
   • I am aware of the bliss and its absence

What remains? The pure Self—consciousness itself, witnessing all five layers.

The Story of the Young Man’s Search

युवक तत्त्व अन्वेषण (Yuvaka Tattva Anveshana)

A young seeker once approached Ramana Maharshi in distress, saying, “I have tried self-inquiry for months, but I cannot find the ‘I.’ Where is this ‘I’ that you speak of?”

Ramana smiled and asked, “Who is it that cannot find the ‘I’?”

The seeker answered, “I cannot find it.”

Ramana asked again, “Who is this ‘I’ that is searching?”

Suddenly, the seeker became silent. He realized: The “I” that was searching for the “I” was itself the “I” he was looking for. The searcher and the sought were the same.

The Teaching

• You cannot make the “I” an object of investigation
• The eye cannot see itself
• The “I” is not something to be found—it is what is finding
• You are always already the Self—you just need to stop looking away from it

The Three Steps of Investigation

त्रि-पद विचार (Tri-Pada Vichara)

Ramana’s method unfolds in three movements:

Step 1: Notice the “I” thought

• Whenever you say “I am tired,” “I am happy,” “I am thinking”
• Notice the “I” that claims ownership
• This is the ego, the false “I”

Step 2: Question its reality

• “Who am I that claims to be tired/happy/thinking?”
• Try to locate this “I”—where is it?
• You’ll find it cannot be grasped as an object

Step 3: Rest in the source

• When the “I” thought subsides
• What remains is the real “I”
• This is pure awareness, the Self
• Not blank nothingness, but luminous presence

Ramana’s Own Words

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

The practice is not accumulative—it’s subtractive. You’re not adding knowledge; you’re removing false identification.

“Your duty is to BE, and not to be this or that.”

You don’t become the Self—you realize you never were anything else.

“The thought ‘Who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization.”

The Witness of Deep Sleep

सुषुप्ति साक्षी (Sushupti Sakshi)

A profound aspect of self-inquiry: In deep sleep, there are no thoughts, no world, no body awareness—yet upon waking, you say “I slept peacefully.”

Who witnessed that peaceful sleep if there were no thoughts?

This proves that you exist independent of thoughts, body, and mind. You are the consciousness that remains even when all else is absent.

The Mahavakya Connection

महावाक्य (Mahavakya) - The Great Sayings

“Who Am I?” leads to the realization of the four great statements of Vedanta:

1. Prajñānam Brahma (प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म)

   • Consciousness is Brahman
   • I am not an object—I am pure consciousness

2. Aham Brahmāsmi (अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि)

   • I am Brahman
   • My true nature is the infinite

3. Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि)

   • Thou art That
   • I am not separate from the ultimate reality

4. Ayam Ātmā Brahma (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म)

   • This Self is Brahman
   • What I am searching for, I already am

The Final Understanding

स्वरूप साक्षात्कार (Svarupa Sakshatakara)

When the inquiry is ripe, there comes a moment when the question “Who am I?” is no longer asked but lived. The inquiry becomes effortless, natural, spontaneous.

At that point:

• The seeker disappears into the sought
• The question dissolves into the answer
• The “I” thought merges into the “I” reality
• Only the Self remains—and it is realized: “I always was this”

Not “I have found myself”—but “I never was lost.”

Not “I am now enlightened”—but “there was never ignorance.”

Not “I have become free”—but “I was always free, and only imagined bondage.”

सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma)
All this is indeed Brahman

When you know who you are, you recognize yourself everywhere. The question “Who am I?” leads to the answer “I am everything and nothing—the pure awareness in which all appears and disappears, untouched, unchanged, eternal, free.”