Advaita Vedanta · 1879–1950
Ramana Maharshi on the source of the ego
Enquire into the source of the ego and it vanishes
The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is the thinker. The thinker is the ego. If you enquire into the source of the ego, it will vanish.
What this verse points to
The clearest short statement of Ramana's method. Rather than fighting thoughts one at a time, he directs attention to the one they all presuppose — the thinker — and asks where that one comes from.
His observation was that the ego cannot survive being looked for directly. It operates by being assumed, and enquiry withdraws the assumption.
Sit with it
When a thought arrives, ask "to whom?" — then ask where that "I" is. Stay with the looking, not the answer.
About the Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi underwent a spontaneous experience of death at sixteen that left him permanently established in Self-knowledge, and spent the rest of his life at Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai. He taught mainly in silence, and when he did give a method it was atma-vichara — self-enquiry, holding to the question "who am I?" until the questioner is seen through.