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Upadesa Sara
Sloka 19
Self-enquiry
What happens when we dive deeper into this analysis?
aham-ayam kuto bhavati cinvatah,
ayi patatyaham nija-vicaranam.
aham – ‘I’ -thought; ayam – this; kuto bhavati – from where; cinvatah – is born (arises); ayi – for one who enquires thus; pataty – falls; aham – ‘I’-thought; nija-vicaranam – Self-enquiry
‘From where does this ‘I’-thought arise?’ For one who enquires thus, the ‘I’-thought (ahankara) falls. This is Self-enquiry.
When we enquire into the nature of the mind as indicated in verse seventeen, the mind begins to vanish. Innumerable thoughts in the mind get reduced to merely two thoughts – ‘I’-thought and ‘this’-thought. These two thoughts again get reduced to a single thought, the ‘I’-thought. This one thought too disappears when we shift our attention to the source of this ‘I’ -thought. When the substratum or support is enquired into, the superimposition gets destroyed and the support alone remains. The pure ‘I’ or Self alone remains and the ‘I’-thought disappears.
Here the word ‘aham’ is used for ahankara or ‘I’ – notion. Ahankara, in most Indian languages, means pride. In Vedanta, however, ahankara is the notion of doership and enjoyership which we assume when we identify with the body, mind, and intellect. The notion ‘I am the body’, ‘I am the doer’, ‘I am the enjoyer of results’ and so on is called ahankara. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi urges us to enquire, ‘From where does the ahankara arise?’ As a result of such an enquiry the ahankara which is produced due to ignorance of the Self is destroyed and the pure Self is known. This is called Self-enquiry. By the interjection ‘ayi’ Bhagavan again indicates the simplicity of this path, which is generally thought to be very difficult. The destruction of the ahankara is the same as the destruction of the mind that was discussed in verse thirteen.