In the Verse 24 of “Reality in Forty Verses”, Ramana Maharshi says that neither the insentient body says “I”, nor the sentient, self-effulgent, ever-present Consciousness says “I”. Between them, the Ahamkara (ego-self) rises as “I” and ties both of them together and it is known as Chit-Jada-Granthi (Sentient-Insentient-Knot). This knot needs to be cut using Viveka, the sword of reasoning and discrimination.
The non-emergence of the egoistic “I” is the pure state of being. To destroy the ego, the source of its emergence has to be sought by digging deep and turning the mind inwards. Then the Ahamkara (ego-self) subsides and the experience of the Self emerges as the real “I” - “I” – “I”.
One of the slokas in the book “Drig-Drishya Viveka”, considered as one of the important works on Advaita Vedanta, explains that the Ego, because of its proximity to the Atman (Self), confuses us by taking the nature of the Self and behaves like a heated iron ball. An iron ball is round and cold. The fire has no particular shape and is hot by nature. When the two come in contact, they transfer each other’s properties. The iron ball glows red like the fire and the fire takes on the round appearance of the iron ball. This mutual transfer of properties is called Anyonya Adhyasa (Mutual Superimposition).
Along with the above explanation, Swami Gurubhaktananda also gives another modern example of analysing the inter-relationship between electricity and a light bulb. The bulb becomes luminous and the electricity manifests as the light through the bulb. The idea is, if the instrument which is the bulb and its activity which is to glow, are all considered together along with the electricity then the pure nature of electricity cannot be understood. Only if the activity and the instrument namely “glowing” and the “bulb” are separated and discarded, then the real nature of the electrical energy could be understood.
In the same way, our Life Principle or Life Force or Life Energy (Atman) powers the instruments which are our mind and the body. The activity of the mind is the thoughts and the activity of the body is engaging in various actions. When we separate and discard the instruments and their activities, which are the body and the mind, and their activities, then we can grasp, understand and experience our own life energy. Unlike the electrical energy which is inert, our Life Energy is sentient which means it is a Sentient Life Energy, has Consciousness, rather it is the Consciousness itself.
When we abide as Pure Consciousness, the mind becomes quiet, we experience the silence and the ego or the individuality vanishes and this is called Self-Realisation.
I have tried to explain what exactly needs to be done to attain Self-Realisation in my answer to the question How can I attain Self-Realisation according to Ramana Maharshi?
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