Ramana Maharshi - Thoughts suddenly cease and ‘I-I’ rises up equally suddenly

Question : Thoughts suddenly cease and ‘I-I’ rises up equally suddenly and continues. It is only a feeling, not a thought. Can it be right?
Ramana Maharshi : Yes, it is quite right. Thoughts have to cease and reason to disappear for the ‘I-I’ to rise up and be felt. Feeling is the main thing, not reason.

Question : Moreover, it is not in the head, but at the right side of the chest.
Ramana Maharshi : That is where it should be, because the heart is there.

Question : When I look outwards it disappears. What should I do?
Ramana Maharshi : Hold fast to it. This does not mean that thought is impossible during the state of ‘I’ consciousness, as indeed one can see from the example of Bhagavan himself, who was permanently in that state. For the ignorant person, thought is like a dense cloud overhead, shutting him off from the illumination of the sun.

When the ceiling of cloud has been broken and rolled back, letting in the light, he can use thought without being imprisoned by it. To change the metaphor, Bhagavan sometimes compared the mind of the Realised Man to the moon in the sky in day-time – it is there but its light is not needed – because one can see without it by the direct light of the sun.