Other articles in this series:
Note: “enquiry” and “inquiry” are the same word. It can be spelled either way.
The term “Self-enquiry” is the second reason why people misunderstand Ramana. This term is a misleading English translation of a Sanskrit phrase used by Ramana, atma-vichara.
“Self-enquiry” is a bad translation because it seems to mean “ask questions.” That’s not what Ramana meant. We know exactly what he meant because he explicitly defined atma-vichara in his most important work, “Who Am I?”:
The name ‘atma-vichara’ refers only to always keeping the mind on oneself.
That’s from Michael James’s translation of “Who Am I?” which I think is the best.
Obviously “always keeping the mind on oneself” has nothing to do with asking questions.
Reason #1, based on “Who Am I?”, creates the same misimpression. The two misunderstandings combine to create a widespread belief that Ramana’s method is based on asking questions. This belief is wrong.