'ANNAMALAI SWAMI' - The guru may tell his disciples a thousand times "You are the self, you are not what you imagine yourself to be", they all keep asking the guru for methods and routes to reach the place they are already are.

Spiritual seekers have a very strange habit: they are always looking for a way to reach, attain,discover,experience, or realize the Self. They try many things because they cannot comprehend that they are already the Self. This is like running around looking for one's eyes with one's own eyes.
Why should you imagine that it is some new experience to be discovered or found ? You are the Self right now, and you are aware of it right now. Do you need a new experience to prove that you exist? The feeling "I am existing" is the Self.

You pretend that you are not experiencing it, or cover it up with all kinds of false ideas, and then you run around looking for it as if it were something external to be reached or found. There is a story about someone like thus.
Once a king imagined that he was a poverty-striken peasant. He thought , "if I go and meet the king he may be able to help me by giving some money."
He searched for the king in many places but he could not find him anywhere. Ultimately he became very depressed because his search was not yielding any results. One day he met a man on the road who asked him why he was so depressed.
He answered, " I am searching for the king. I think that he can solve all my problems and make me happy but I cant find him anywhere".
The man, who already recognized him, said with some astonishment, "But you yourself as the king!"
The king came to his senses and remembered who he was. His problems all ended the moment he remembered his real identity.
You may think that the king was fairly stupid but he had at least enough sense to recognize the truth when it was told to him.
The guru may tell his disciples a thousand times "You are the self, you are not what you imagine yourself to be", they all keep asking the guru for methods and routes to reach the place they are already are.
Living by the words of Bhagavan, p 292

'NIRVRUTHI PANCHAKAM' - SREE NARAYANA GURU- [English Meaning]

Verse-1 Kim nama desha ka jathih pravrutthi ka kiyad vayah Ityadi vadoparathir yasya tasyaiva nirvruthi. Meaning: What is your name? Where are you from? What is your caste? What is your profession? How old are you? He who is free from such questions alone attains tranquility. Verse-2 Aagacha gacha magacha pravisha kvanu gachasi Ityadi vadoparathir yasya tasyaiva nirvruthi. Meaning: Come! Go! Don't go! Come in! Where are you going? He who is free from such discussions alone attains tranquility. Verse-3 Kva yasyasi kada ayata kuta ayasi kosi Ityadi vadoparathir yasya tasyaiva nirvruthi. Meaning: When did you go? When did you come? From where did you come? Who are you? He who is free from such questions alone attains tranquility. Verse-4 Aham tvam soyam antarhi bahir asti na va asti va Ityadi vadoparathir yasya tasyaiva nirvruthi. Meaning: Me or you, that or this person, inside or outside, he who is free from such discussions alone attains tranquility. Verse-5 Jnata ajnata samah sva anya bheda shoonyah kuto bhida Ityadi vadoparathir yasya tasyaiva nirvruthi. Meaning: Equal towards the known and unknown, without discrimination between self and others, then why is this difference? He who is free from such questions alone attains tranquility.

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - 'Swami Chinmayananda'

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - Awareness of Self is ever there - ~Ramana Maharshi

Questioner: How may one destroy the mind?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Is there a mind in the first place? What you call mind is an illusion. It starts from the `I-thought'. Without the gross or subtle senses you cannot be aware of the body or the mind. Still it is possible for you to be without these senses. In such a state you are either asleep or aware of the Self only. Awareness of Self is ever there. Remain what you truly are and this question will not arise.
~ from "Talk 217"; 29th June, 1936

*Glimpses of Self-Realization*- AIDS TO ENQUIRY: 'GURU VACHAKA KOVAI': Ramana Maharshi

758 The best way of quelling the movements of the mind that, as the perceiver, the objects perceived and the act of perception runs far and wide, is that of employing the mind to see itself through itself. 

759 Since reality shines radiantly within you as the Self, only that Self deserves to be known by you. For inquiry into your real nature as it actually is in the Heart, the infallible guide is the true LIGHT of the ‘I AM’ that cannot be rejected.

Bhagavan: To realize that you yourself are the Self, why do you require any other light than being-consciousness, the light of the Self? (Padamalai)

Worship Shiva in everyone and everything! To worship is simply to "be" who you are without any doubt.

Do not believe your senses,
Your thoughts deceive you
Stay with the heart the fire that
Burns all attachments to/of/in time and space!
Worship Shiva in everyone and everything!
To worship is simply to "be" who you are without any doubt.

*POINTS TO PONDER* - "IT IS TO DIVE DEEP INTO YOURSELF.."- “No, it is not repeating or meditating on ‘Who am I?’. It is to dive deep into yourself and seek the place from which the ‘I’ thought arises in you and to hold on to it firmly to the exclusion of any other thought. Continuous and persistent attempt will lead you to the Self.” ~Ramana Maharshi

During my second visit in May 1948, I was seated in the hall a few yards away from the couch of Bhagavan, immersed in the serenity and the peaceful silence emanating from him. After food, I approached the young sannyasi who was attending on Bhagavan and requested him to communicate to Bhagavan whether he would graciously clear a doubt of mine. Bhagavan readily consented and cast his encouraging look at me. It was easy for me to make the request, but I felt hopelessly embarrassed to carry out my decision. I thought that it would be an unpardonable crime to disturb the silence of the hall by my attempt to address Bhagavan and that the people in the hall might not look with favor at my audacity. I was confused and did not know how to start. I perspired profusely and felt very shy. I had no courage to open my mouth, even though I felt a great urge to talk to Bhagavan.

After about fifteen minutes Bhagavan beckoned to the sannyasi and asked him to tell me to go ahead with my doubt. Again I felt very shy and nervous and could not speak. Another quarter of an hour elapsed and still I did not address Bhagavan, when Bhagavan told the sannyasi again to ask me what my doubt was. Seeing how merciful and interested Bhagavan was, I could not delay any longer and I blurted out in Malayalam:
“Bhagavan! I have heard about the vichara marga of yours, but have no clear conception of it. Is it to sit in a quiet place and ask oneself the question ‘Who am I?’ repeatedly or meditate on that question as on a mantra?”
On hearing my words all eyes turned towards me. Bhagavan replied tersely and clearly in Malayalam.“No, it is not repeating or meditating on ‘Who am I?’. It is to dive deep into yourself and seek the place from which the ‘I’ thought arises in you and to hold on to it firmly to the exclusion of any other thought. Continuous and persistent attempt will lead you to the Self.”
I was overwhelmed with happiness.Though I had some vague idea akin to what Bhagavan has said, I felt Bhagavan had initiated me and that His Grace had descended on me. The bliss I felt could not be described. I could not contain myself and felt like sobbing. The happiness I felt then I am able to recall even now in all its intensity and I consider myself especially blessed by Bhagavan. I cannot recall the incident in my mind without realizing how infinitely merciful Bhagavan was.
M.M. Menon from Palghat (Kerala) came to Sri Ramana in the late 1940s. He wrote articles for The Call Divine on Advaita and great Indian sages.

*WORDS OF WISDOM*- "Why do you mourn the loss of our parents? I shall tell you where they are; they are only within ourselves and are ourselves.

Ramana Maharshi

Maharshi then read out from the Tamil version of 'Yoga Vasishta' the story of 'Deerga Tapasi' who had two sons, 'Punya' and 'Papa'. After the death of the parents the younger one mourned the loss and the elder brother consoled him as follows: "Why do you mourn the loss of our parents? I shall tell you where they are; they are only within ourselves and are ourselves. For the life-current has passed through innumerable incarnations, births and deaths, pleasures and pains, etc., just as the water current in a river flows over rocks, pits, sands, elevations and depressions on its way, but still the current is unaffected. Again the pleasures and pains, births and deaths, are like undulations on the surface of seeming water in the mirage of the ego. The only reality is the 'Self' from where the 'ego' appears, and runs through thoughts which manifest themselves as the universe and in which the mothers and fathers, friends and relatives appear and disappear. They are nothing but manifestations of the Self so that one's parents are not outside the Self. So there is no reason to mourn. Learn it, realize it and be happy."

(From 'Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi' 16 [19.1.1935])

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - Is it not foolish to hold on to so many efforts and so many disciplines that are said to be necessary for eradicating the non-existent ignorance? ~Ramana Maharshi

T. K. Sundaresa Iyer and Ramana Maharshi

As the days passed, he was often filled with doubts. Once, he asked Bhagavan, “What is that one thing Bhagavan, knowing which all doubts are resolved?” 

Bhagavan replied, “Know the doubter; if the doubter be held, the doubts will not arise. Recognize for certain that all are jnanis, all are realized beings. But only a few are aware of this fact. Therefore, doubts arise. Doubts must be uprooted. This means, that the doubter must be uprooted. When the doubter ceases to exist, no doubts will rise. Here, the doubter means the mind.” 

TKS asked, “What is the method, Bhagavan?”

 Bhagavan answered sharply, “Inquire „Who am I?‟ This investigation alone will remove and uproot the doubter mind and thus establish one in the Self, the transcendental state.”

On another occasion, TKS had another doubt. He was a pundit, a traditional man, who had read many scriptures. Thus, the six chakras, the psychic centres, kundalini and so on, fascinated him. He asked Bhagavan about them and Bhagavan replied, 

“The Self alone is to be realized. Kundalini shakti, visions of God, occult powers and their spell binding displays are all in the Self. Those who speak of these and indulge in these have not realized the Self. Self is in the Heart and is the Heart itself. All other forms of manifestations are in the brain. The brain itself gets its power from the Heart. Remaining in the Heart is realizing the Self. Instead of doing that, to be attracted by brain oriented forms of disciplines and methods is a sheer waste of time. Is it not foolish to hold on to so many efforts and so many disciplines that are said to be necessary for eradicating the non-existent ignorance?”
From Ramana Periya Puranam

*WORDS OF WISDOM*- Sri Ramana Maharshi

There is no one who does not say `I am'. The wrong knowledge of `I am the body' is the cause of all the mischief. This wrong knowledge must go. That is realization. Realization is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage.
The ultimate truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that need be said.

Sri Ramana

Be As You Are

And that 'LORD' is the omnipresent - omnipotent - all pervading - transcendental - self effulgent - 'TRUTH' - BEING - EXISTENCE - CONSCIOUSNESS - and 'BLISS'. ~Swaathmaaraaman

Beyond all speech, beyond all names,
Beyond the subtlest of all subtle things;
Beyond mind, intellect, and the five senses,
The stainless Lord of the universe remains ever One.

~ Dattatreya's Song of the Avadhut (2.10) —

*Glimpses of Self-Realization*- 'Ramana Maharshi'

*WORDS OF WISDOM*

*Glimpses of Self-Realization*- Horizontally, religions are mutually exclusive, but not really contradictory. Bhagavan was concerned rather with the vertical mode, the paths to realisation, and therefore his teaching clashed with no religion.

Strictly speaking, 'Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi' was not exclusively a Hindu or subject to Hindu ritual, since Hinduism recognizes that one who is established in constant, conscious identity with the Self is above all religions; he is the mountain peak towards which the various paths converge. Bhagavan had many followers who were not Hindus -- Christians, Muslims, Parsis and others -- and none was ever recommended to change his religion.

A religion involves two modes of activity; what might be called the horizontal and the vertical. Horizontally it harmonizes and controls the life of the individual and society in conformity with its faith and morality, giving opportunity and incentive for a good life leading to a good death. Vertically it provides spiritual paths for those who strive to attain a higher state or realize the ultimate truth during this life on earth. Horizontally, religions are mutually exclusive, but not really contradictory. Bhagavan was concerned rather with the vertical mode, the paths to realisation, and therefore his teaching clashed with no religion. He guided those who would follow him on the most direct and central path, the quest of the Self; and for this any religion could serve as a foundation. He approved of every religion and if some devotees came to him who followed no formal religion, he did not insist they should do so. When asked about the different religious practices, he would stress their deeper meaning, and about different religions their basic unity.

-Source: The Teachings of 'Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi' in His Own Words