Personality is development of evolutionary process with consciousness entangled in tendencies and trivial sensate values.Man functions from personality with its innate limitations and self centered activity.Such activity is antagonistic to other persons and so any such activity produces conflict, strife, misery, sorrow.But humanity knows only that type of activity which is socially and legally sanctioned.Life means action at various levels.There cannot be any life without action and our present way with its action is producing enormous sorrow to humanity.Seeing this some escape altogether from activity and try to renounce from the world.Without understanding the full implications of such activity, renunciation inevitably leads to new bondage and problems.Life is a ground to learn the skill of living life act in a sane manner.So we have to inquire into whether there is such an action which does not bring conflict, sorrow knowing fully well life means action.Doer-ship is inherent to action that proceeds from personality and we are badly identified with the personality.Action that proceeds from the so called "doer" who is essentially a quintessence of all his "past" experiences is future oriented and unless we go into what is personality, the "me" which is the source of misery to humanity we will not have a clarity about an alternative action which does not bring conflict, strife, sorrow.Personality is imposition of ideas over your consciousness mainly by the society to keep you enslaved to them so that you will become a hindrance to the corrupt ways of society.Once you start doing self-inquiry you will realize for yourself the imposed false values of society over you.Just observing them without any judgement produces a radical revolution in your mind.Then you discard for yourself "what you not"voluntarily and start acting on your own understanding without submitting to authority of any kind. Then slowly, slowly you are freed from these imposed limitation.Then action proceeds from awareness which has no limitation and so such action is not future oriented and without any "doer".Action without "doer" brings joy because now you are acting from your very core of being without any intentions whatsoever.Then consciousness which is entangled in false values so far causing the mind to fight with itself and get degenerated gets freed and becomes one with the universal consciousness.Freedom from identity with limited adjuncts starts like this only and ends ends with the union of liberated consciousness with the pure consciousness.Tendencies are formed only when one does the self centered activity mechanically.After all any habit is born out of mechanistic action.Man is nothing but a collection of tendencies.We act according to the dictates of our tendencies.Habits which finally crytallize as the tendencies are possible only when one is metaphysicaly asleep in sensate values. Once you start self-inquiry awareness is brought into the scene and once you think and act in awareness habits and tendencies will not be formed and old tendencies gradually Adi Sankara said "Vasana kshayam Moksham"(Annihilation of tendencies is liberation). A mind that is free of tendency and so empty can comprehend the reality.Such a mind dissolves in the ultimate and becomes one with it.Then old habit of action from a false center "me"no longer happens and so there is ending of sorrow.The ending of "me" is the ending of sorrow because there is no sorrow when there is no "me'.In such a person in which ending of "me" has happened because he has no residual tendencies to be spent, he no longer requires any body and he just remains as pure consciousness being spread all over existence without any individual identity or a private thought-feeling.Such one is a master. So in self-inquiry the dew drop becomes one with the ocean.So let us al do self-inquiry and and enjoy the bliss of ocean by dissolving in
About the Author: Author is pediatrician from Andhra Pradesh, India, born on 12th December 1950.He is working on the subject of self-inquiry for the past 30 years under the living Presence and guidance of Ramana Maharshi which he discovered 30 years ago in Ramanasramam.He is a frequent visitor to Ramanasramam and out of greatfulness to Bhagawan he wrote many books analyzing philosophy and this book is one of them.His other works include "The Art of self-enquiry, Alpha and Omega of self-inquiry, The essence of self-inquiry part 1 & 2, Insights in self-inquiry Part 1 & 2, Theory of self-inquiry, The Practice of self-inquiry, The theory and Practice of self-inquiry, The comprehensive book on self-inquiry, he commented on Upadesa saram, Akshara Mana Malai of Ramana Maharshi and all are his products of his own experience.He wrote many books on Bhagawan in Telugu which include "Nenevadanu? which is a commentary of him on "who am i" in Telugu and his recent book in Telugu is Vichara Chandrodayam mainly deals with the practical aspect of self-inquiry and he explains in it why self-inquiry is a direct and easy way for realizing the Self