RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

What is Self-inquiry?

Self-inquiry (Atma-vichara) is perhaps the most important meditation practice of the Yoga of Knowledge (Jnana Yoga). It consists of tracing the I-thought back to its origin in Pure Consciousness. One casts aside the object portion of our thoughts, the this or that with which the I has been identified, which is ultimately the I-am-the-body idea, and strives to discover the pure I-in-itself devoid of all objectivity.

This means to try to find out who we really are in our eternal Being as apart from the transient becoming in which we are involved. This system is perhaps best explained in the modern world in the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, though it is the essence of Vedanta as found in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita.

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