Atma-vichara is not the study of the attributes of Atma, as given in books, but the analysis of the ‘I’. (JV, p. 60)
In the household, when the wife is a shrew, there can be no joy or peace. Or, if the husband is a drunkard and a cruel tyrant, the atmosphere is charged with hate and grief. So too, in the body, when the mind is a shrew or when the Intelligence is a tyrant, there can be no peace. The master of the household is the Atma, who is seldom recognized or identified as such. When the Atma is discovered as the master, and recognised as such, joy reigns undisturbed in the home. Now, there is a certain ‘I’ used in speech and thought as possessing the body and the limbs, the senses and the mind and the reasoning faculty, but, there is no attempt to probe into the idea of the ‘I’ and no keenness to spot out its whereabouts and characteristics. This is what is called Atma-vichara; every Unit must encourage its members to develop Atma-vichara, and not be content with the conventional items of club activity, like the unveiling of portraits. This search for the Atma will be facilitated by a study of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, which is but the essence of Upanishadic teachings.
The greatest defect today is the absence of Atma-vichara, the inquiry into the nature of the Atma. That is the cause of all this Ashanti; if you are eager to know the truth about yourself then even if you do not believe in God, you will go astray. The pots are all of mud, the ornaments are all of gold, the clothes are all of yarn. There is unity where one saw only diversity; the basic substance is one and indivisible. That is Brahman; that is the Atma, which is your own basic substance too.
This Atma-vichara is best found in the Upanishads. Just as a river’s flow is regulated by bunds and the flood waters are directed to the sea, so too the Upanishads regulate and restrict the sense; the mind and the intellect and help one to reach the sea and merge individually in the Absolute. Study the Upanishads with a view to act accordingly, to put the advice into practice. (TMM, pp. 167-169)
What exactly is Atma-vichara? Not the study of the attributes of Atma, as given in books, but the analysis of the nature of the ‘I’ laying bare the enveloping sheaths, the Panchakosas, through concentrated discrimination, directed inward. It is not the Vichara of the external world or the outer objective world; or the academic scholarship directed towards the interpretation of texts. It is the analytical penetration of the secret of the Atma, achieved by the keen edge of intellect. (JV, p. 59)