“When we want to know a thing,” writes Sri Sadhu Om, one of the most highly regarded disciples of Sri Ramana Maharshi, “we attend [only] to that thing [i.e., not to some other thing]. So, accordingly, if we want to know ourself, we should attend only to ourself” (The Path of Sri Ramana [rev. ed. 2023], p. 5, my emphasis).

These two sentences are deceptively simple yet, in truth, utterly profound.

The Argument

1. The methodological principle serves also as the major premise: If one wants to know some thing, then one attends to that thing alone.

2. The minor premise: If one wants to know oneself, one attends to oneself alone.

3. Truly, I want to know myself.

4. Conclusion: Therefore, attend to yourself alone.

Commentary

Throughout your daily life, you accept the simple methodological principle: if you want to know astrophysics, you study astrophysics–not dog training or cycling or, indeed, any other thing. The same goes for any object: you learn about that object and not some other if your interest lies, of course, in knowing that particular object.

Suppose that you really do want to know yourself. The trouble, then, lies in the habitual mistake of trying to know yourself by trying to grasp yourself in (seeming) association with the non-self.

I say, “I want to know myself,” but I then turn outward with a view to trying to know myself qua thinker, qua doer, qua hurt one, qua experiencer, and so on. In other words, I seem to still believe that I shall know myself insofar as I am mixed up with some object or other.

This is not only a methodological error; it’s also a fundamental error in conception. Let go of both errors.

Indeed, Sri Sadhu Om is telling us that the inquiry at hand–the investigation concerning oneself–is far simpler and is–as the term “direct path” implies–actually direct. What is simple and direct about this particular kind of inquiry?

Succinctly put, I am to investigate the nature of myself alone–that is, without reference or appeal to any objects, forms, or “limiting adjuncts” (upadhis). There’s a name that Sri Ramana Maharshi conferred on this very specific type of inquiry; that name is self-inquiry or self-investigation (atma vichara).

If you want to know yourself, then attending to (or investigating) yourself alone essentially means, first, holding onto the I-thought and, second, letting all objectivity slowly dissolve until only the I, alone, remains.

Coda

If you still think that you’ll know yourself by associating yourself with what-you-aren’t, then you haven’t really “grokked” what Sri Sadhu Om is so straightforwardly saying. Contemplate these two sentences until their meaning is clear.