Along with Vicharasangraham (SelfEnquiry), Nan Yar (Who am I?) constitutes
the first set of instructions in the Master’s
own words. These two are the only prose
pieces 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
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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
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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 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 realised – the
plenary Reality in which there is not even the
“I”-thought, the experience which is referred
to as “Silence”.
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This, in substance,
