Ramana Maharshi : Bhakti is jnana mata or the mother of jnana

Question : Is the thought `I am God' or `I am the supreme being' helpful?
Ramana Maharshi : `I am that I am.' `I am' is God, not thinking `I am God.' Realize `I am' and do not think `I am.' `Know I am God,' it is said, and not `Think I am God.`

All talk of surrender is like pinching brown sugar from a brown sugar image of Lord Ganesa and offering it as naivedya [food offering] to the same Lord Ganesa. You say you offer your body, soul and all possessions to God. Were they yours that you could offer them?

At best, you can only say, `I falsely imagined till now that all these which are yours were mine. Now I realize they are yours. I shall no more act as if they are mine.' This knowledge that there is nothing but God or Self, that I and mine don't exist and that only the Self exists, is jnana. Thus there is no difference between bhakti and jnana. Bhakti is jnana mata or the mother of jnana.