The enquiry: ‘Who am I?’ really means trying to find the source of the Ego

Question : When I think, ‘Who am I?’, the answer comes: I am not this mortal body but am Consciousness or the Self. And then another thought suddenly arises. Why has the Self become manifest? In other words; ‘Why has God created the world?’

Ramana Maharshi : The enquiry: ‘Who am I?’ really means trying to find the source of the ego or of the ‘I’-thought. You are not to occupy the mind with other thoughts, such as ‘I am not the body’.

Seeking the source of the ‘I’ serves as a means of getting rid of all other thoughts. You should not allow any scope for other thoughts such as you mention, but should keep the attention fixed on finding the source of the ‘I’- thought by asking, when any other thought arises, to whom it occurs; and if the answer is ‘to me’, you then resume the thought: ‘What is this ‘I’ and what is its source?’