Vichara

Vichara is enquiry, the steady scrutiny by which the mind turns back upon itself to find its source. In Advaita this is atma-vichara, self-enquiry: the question Ko'ham, Who am I, held until every answer dissolves and only the silent witness remains. It is not philosophy debated outside; it is the surgical instrument used inside, on every passing thought. Vichara is the act of looking back at the looker, until what looks and what is looked at fall away into one luminous awareness.