WHEN PEOPLE CAME to Ramana Maharshi’s ashram during his lifetime, a short pamphlet called Who Am I? was the first thing they were given to read. It was always available and the price was only half an anna so even the poorest visitors could afford it.
The pamphlet explains how to practice the method that Ramana recommended for becoming Self-realized. It’s very short. My copy has 16 pages.
The first draft was written by one of Ramana’s earliest devotees in 1901 or 1902 when Ramana was about 21 years old. The devotee asked Ramana questions and wrote down his answers. The pamphlet grew longer over the years as material was added, but originally the first question was:
Who am I?
Ramana’s first answer was:
Arivu alone is I.
Arivu means ‘consciousness’ or ‘knowledge’ in Tamil, Ramana’s native language.
If book learning could make you Self-realized, after reading that answer you would be Self-realized. But of course it can’t. This pamphlet isn’t meant for book learning. It’s a how-to manual for obtaining experience. It’s a set of instructions for finding the “place” that Ramana calls the Heart or Self and keeping the mind there until it dissolves forever. As Ramana explains in the pamphlet:
Enquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self.
“Retaining the mind in the Self.” That’s a practice. This booklet explains how to do it.
At the time when these conversations took place, Ramana hadn’t yet read many books about traditional Indian philosophy and religion, so his answers were based mainly on his experience and expressed mostly in his own vocabulary. As a result some people think this pamphlet has a more concrete, experiential flavor than Ramana’s later works, although the devotee muddied that flavor a bit by adding ideas of his own that he had learned from books.
According to Major Chadwick, one of Ramana’s direct disciples, this short pamphlet is the only text a person requires in order to become Self-realized.
Who Am I? was revised and reprinted over the years so there are several variants. Most editions consist of questions and answers, reflecting the original conversations between the devotee and Ramana in 1901, but there is also an essay version that was written by Ramana himself around 1927. Ramana didn’t write very much, so this is significant.
The essay version is the most authoritative because it’s the only one written by Ramana himself, and it’s the one we primarily recommend. Michael James’s translation is the best. It’s the first link below.
Here’s a photograph of the first page of Who Am I? in Ramana’s handwriting. You can see all the pages in the Aradhana 1993 issue of The Mountain Path:
The first page of Who Am I? in Ramana’s handwriting.
From the Tamil essay version (the only version written by Ramana). This translation is the most accurate, most literal one. Includes notes, commentary, and original Tamil.
From the Tamil essay version (the only version written by Ramana). This is the version included in Path of Sri Ramana, Part I.
From the Tamil essay version (the only version written by Ramana). This translation was included in early editions of The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi published by Sri Ramanasramam.
From a Tamil question-and-answer version (not written by Ramana). This translation is included in the current edition of The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi published by Sri Ramanasramam.
From a Tamil question-and-answer version (not written by Ramana) with commentary by David Godman.
By Major Alan W. Chadwick
An extraordinary series of five articles by Michael James reproducing, translating, comparing, and analyzing the numerous versions of this text that were written and published over the years. This series is probably the greatest feat of scholarship in the Ramana literature.
Photo: Sri Ramanasramam catalog number asr_18.
This page was first published on May 16, 2017 and last revised on December 7, 2023.