Who Am I? (Nan Yar)

Nāṉ Yār

Ramana Maharshi's short classic on self-inquiry: tracing the sense of "I" back to its source.

Modern expositionSource not yet ingested

Tradition: Modern expositions · Advaita Vedanta
Difficulty: beginner
Attribution: Ramana MaharshiRamana Maharshi; his answers to questions put by his early devotee Sivaprakasam Pillai, later arranged in prose
Period · language: Answers given around 1901–1902; published in various forms from the 1920s onward · Tamil
Themes: Self-inquiry · Mind · Self · Liberation

Why read this?

It is perhaps the most direct modern introduction to self-inquiry (atma-vichara). In a few pages it explains what the mind is, where thoughts come from and how to turn attention back to the Self.

The frame story

A young devotee, Sivaprakasam Pillai, put questions to Ramana, who at that time was largely silent and often answered in writing. The answers were later edited into the question-and-answer and essay forms now in print.

Questions it answers

?Who am I?
?What is the mind, and how can it be quietened?
?Is liberation something to be gained?

Key teachings

Editorial overview

Not the body, not the mind

The text begins by setting aside the body, senses and mind as objects, in the manner of neti neti, pointing to awareness as what remains.

The I-thought

The mind is a bundle of thoughts, and the root of all thoughts is the I-thought. When one inquires into its source, the I-thought subsides.

Self-inquiry as practice

Whenever thoughts arise, one asks to whom they arise and returns attention to the sense of I. Ramana presents this as the most direct method.

Surrender as equivalent

Complete surrender to God is presented as another route to the same end, since both dissolve the ego.

Structure

Short prose textCirculates in a question-and-answer version and an essay version; the number of questions differs between editions

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Who Am I? (Nan Yar) is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.