I Am^[1]

Jesus said to them,
  "Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM."

– John 8:58

“Of all the definitions of God, none is so well put as in the Biblical statement, “I Am That I Am.”
In fact, God is none other than Self.”

– Talks # 106, 29 Nov 1935

“I am this” or “I am that” is the ego. “I-AM” is the whole Truth.”

”God plus desire is man, man minus desire is God”

“Desire constitutes maya, and desirelessness is God.”

– Ramana Maharshi; Talks #537

“Agitation of mind is the cause of desire, the sense of doership and personality.
If that is stopped there is quiet.”

– Ramana Maharshi Talks #354

“M. The purpose of efforts is to get rid of all efforts. The force will be clearly felt when the stillness is achieved.”

– Ramana Maharshi; Oct.1969, pg.262, The Mountain Path

“Be still and know that I am God.”

– Psalm 46:10

“The mind is the outgoing faculty of the individual.
If that is turned within,
It becomes still in the course of time
and that “I-AM” alone prevails.

– Ramana Maharshi; Talks #503

“Here stillness is total surrender without a vestige of individuality.”

– Ramana Maharshi; Talks #354, 08 Feb 1937

Other thoughts may come and go like the various notes of a musician, but the ‘I’ continues like the basic or fundamental sruti note which accompanies and blends with all other notes.

– Ramana Maharshi; Self Realization,
10th ed.2002; Ch.5, 'Born Anew', p.17

“I-AM” is the whole Truth.” “I Am That I Am”

– Exodus