"Who am
I?" is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on
Self-enquiry. The questions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one Sri
M. Sivaprakasam Pillai about the year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate in
Philosophy, was at the time employed in the Revenue Department of the South
Arcot Collectorate. During his visit to Tiruvannamalai in 1902 on official
work, he went to Virupaksha Cave on Arunachala Hill and met the Master there.
He sought from him spiritual guidance, and solicited answers to questions
relating to Self-enquiry. As Bhagavan was not talking then, not because of any
vow he had taken, but because he did not have the inclination to talk, he
answered the questions put to him by gestures, and when these were not
understood, by writing. As recollected and recorded by Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai,
there were fourteen questions with answers to them given by Bhagavan. This
record was first published by Sri Pillai in 1923, along with a couple of poems
composed by himself relating how Bhagavan's grace operated in his case by
dispelling his doubts and by saving him from a crisis in life. 'Who am I?' has
been published several times subsequently. We find thirty questions and answers
in some editions and twenty-eight in others. There is also another published
version in which the questions are not given, and the teachings are rearranged
in the form of an essay. The extant English translation is of this essay. The
present rendering is of the text in the form of twenty-eight questions and
answers.
Along with
Vicharasangraham (Self-Enquiry), Nan Yar (Who am I?) constitutes the first set
of instructions in the Master's own words. These two are the only prosepieces
among Bhagavan's Works. They clearly set forth the central teaching that the
direct path to liberation is Self-enquiry. The particular mode in which the
enquiry is to be made is lucidly set forth in Nan Yar. The mind consists of
thoughts. The 'I' thought is the first to arise in the mind. When the enquiry '
Who am I?' is persistently pursued, all other thoughts get destroyed, and
finally the 'I' thought itself vanishes leaving the supreme non-dual Self
alone. The false identification of the Self with the phenomena of non-self such
as the body and mind thus ends, and there is illumination, Sakshatkara. The
process of enquiry of course, is not an easy one. As one enquires 'Who am I?',
other thoughts will arise; but as these arise, one should not yield to them by
following them , on the contrary, one should ask 'To whom do they arise ?' In
order to do this, one has to be extremely vigilant. Through constant enquiry
one should make the mind stay in its source, without allowing it to wander away
and get lost in the mazes of thought created by itself. All other disciplines
such as breath-control and meditation on the forms of God should be regarded as
auxiliary practices. They are useful in so far as they help the mind to become
quiescent and one-pointed.
For the mind that
has gained skill in concentration, Self-enquiry becomes comparatively easy. It
is by ceaseless enquiry that the thoughts are destroyed and the Self realized -
the plenary Reality in which there is not even the 'I' thought, the experience
which is referred to as "Silence".
This, in
substance, is Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's teaching in Nan Yar (Who am I?).
T. M. P. MAHADEVAN
University of Madras
June 30, 1982
Om Namo Bhagavathe
Sri Ramanaya
sources: Nan Yar - Tamil, Published by President, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai - 606 603; Phone: 04175-237292, 237200. Who Am I? - (Nan Yar?) The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
