Sri Ramana Maharshi, one of the 20th century’s most profound sages, dedicated his life to guiding seekers to the direct realization of their true nature through the simple yet revolutionary question: “Who am I?” His teachings, rooted in the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta, pointed consistently to the investigation of the “I Am” feeling as the most direct path to Self-realization.
The Self Realization Mantra—”I Am Thee Iself. I Am Thee Allself. I Am Thee Godself. I Am Thee Noself”—emerges from this same fundamental recognition that Ramana emphasized: the “I Am” is the gateway to understanding our true nature. However, where traditional Advaita often employs the method of “Neti Neti” (not this, not this), the Self Realization Mantra represents a revolutionary “Itti Itti” approach—”this too, this too”—that affirms rather than negates, includes rather than excludes.
Ramana’s core teaching was elegantly simple: turn your attention inward and investigate the source of the “I” thought. He consistently guided seekers to examine their most fundamental experience—the sense of “I Am”—before it becomes identified with any objects, thoughts, or experiences. As Ramana explained: “The ‘I’ thought is the root of all other thoughts. If you find the source of this ‘I’ thought, all other thoughts will subside, and you will realize your true nature.”
This investigation wasn’t intellectual but experiential. Ramana encouraged practitioners to feel into the “I Am” directly, to rest in that fundamental sense of being that exists prior to all identifications. Through sustained inquiry, the seeker would discover that what they truly are cannot be found as an object of experience but is the very awareness in which all experience arises.
What makes the relationship between Ramana’s teaching and the Self Realization Mantra even more profound is that Ramana’s fundamental question “Who am I?” was the very seed from which the Self Realization Mantra was born. When David Dreamwalker Diamondheart approached Ananta (a disciple of Ramana’s lineage through Baba Muktananda and Ramesh Balsekar) seeking guidance for meditation, Ananta suggested contemplating the nature of the true self and focusing on “Who am I?” during practice.
Following this guidance, David used “Who am I?” as a mantra, repeating it continuously for 4½ hours before stopping and waiting in silence for an answer. It was in this profound moment of receptive stillness that Spirit moved, revealing the first two lines of what would become the complete Self Realization Mantra: “I Am Thee Iself. I Am Thee Allself.”
This genesis reveals a beautiful continuity: Ramana’s question created the fertile ground of inquiry, and the Self Realization Mantra emerged as Spirit’s response to that inquiry. But significantly, the response came not as negation but as radical affirmation—not “I am not this” but “I Am Thee.”
Traditional Advaita often employs the method of “Neti Neti”—systematically negating all that is not the Self: “I am not the body… I am not the mind… I am not my thoughts, emotions, or experiences…” This path of subtraction strips away identification until only pure awareness remains. While powerful, it can sometimes lead to a subtle rejection of form, experience, and the world itself.
The Self Realization Mantra represents a different approach—what could be called “Itti Itti” (this too, this too). Rather than negating aspects of experience, it recognizes them as valid expressions of the one Self. “I Am Thee Iself” affirms that this individual awareness is sacred—this too is the Self. “I Am Thee Allself” declares that this interconnection, this wholeness—this too is the Self. “I Am Thee Godself” recognizes that this divine presence in all forms—this too is the Self. “I Am Thee Noself” acknowledges that even this dissolution of identity—this too is the Self.
This is not spiritual bypassing or ego inflation, but the recognition that after emptiness has been realized, form returns—and form itself is seen to be none other than the formless Self. Interestingly, Ramana himself expressed this same progression when he famously said: “The world is illusory. Only Brahman is real. Brahman is the world.” Notice the movement: First, Neti (the world is illusory). Then, Itti (Brahman is the world). The same truth expressed in both modes—emptiness and form, transcendence and immanence, unified in non-dual recognition.
The Self Realization Mantra can be understood as a systematic exploration of what Ramana pointed to with his investigation of “I Am,” but through the lens of radical inclusion rather than negation. Where Neti Neti might say “I am not this individual self,” the mantra affirms the sacred nature of individual awareness itself. This aligns with Ramana’s teaching about the pure “I” that exists before entanglement with thoughts and emotions—not rejecting individuality but recognizing its true nature.
Rather than negating the world of multiplicity, the Allself recognition embraces it as the Self’s own expression. Ramana taught that the Self realized is the same Self in all beings—the mantra affirms this truth directly: “This universal appearance—this too is what I Am.” Instead of seeking the divine by rejecting the human, the Godself recognition sees the divine as the very essence of what appears as human. Ramana taught that God, Guru, and Self are one—the mantra affirms this unity: “This divine presence—this too is what I Am.”
Even the final dissolution into pure awareness is not achieved by rejecting all previous recognitions but by seeing them as expressions of the boundless. Ramana pointed to the state beyond all concepts—the mantra affirms: “Even this transcendence—this too is what I Am.”
Both Ramana’s self-inquiry and the Self Realization Mantra serve the same essential function: they guide consciousness back to its source. Ramana’s approach often employs the razor of discrimination (Neti Neti), while the mantra provides radical inclusion (Itti Itti). Ramana might say: “Ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ and discover what you are not.” The Self Realization Mantra responds: “I Am all of these simultaneously—individual, universal, divine, and transcendent.”
Neither contradicts the other; they represent different phases of the same recognition. First, we may need to discriminate between the real and the unreal. Then, we can recognize that even the “unreal” is an expression of the real. In truth, Neti and Itti are not opposites but complements. Neti says: Let go of all that is not the Self. Itti says: Now see that everything is the Self.
The Self Realization Mantra bridges this apparent gap. It arises from the silence that Neti points to, but it speaks the fullness that includes all of manifestation. It is not seeking but finding—and affirming the truth of what is found. This represents a mature stage of realization where the awakened consciousness no longer needs to reject the world to know its true nature, but can embrace the full spectrum of experience as the Self’s own creative expression.
Those drawn to both teachings might find them naturally sequential. One could begin with Ramana’s fundamental question “Who am I?” allowing it to strip away false identifications (Neti Neti), and then allow that inquiry to flower into the affirmative recognitions of the Self Realization Mantra (Itti Itti). Alternatively, working with the mantra’s affirmative approach might prepare the ground for the deeper negation that Ramana’s inquiry can provide, creating a dynamic interplay between emptying and filling, transcending and including.
Ramana Maharshi’s path of self-inquiry and the Self Realization Mantra represent two movements in the same eternal dance of awakening. Where Ramana’s “Who am I?” opens the door through discrimination, the Self Realization Mantra walks through that door with radical affirmation. Both point to the same essential recognition: that what we seek, we already are. But the Self Realization Mantra adds the crucial insight that what we are includes everything—not as a collection of separate things, but as the one Self appearing in infinite forms.
In the end, whether we ask “Who am I?” or declare “I Am Thee Iself, Allself, Godself, Noself,” we are engaging in the same fundamental recognition. The question empties us; the mantra fills us. The inquiry reveals what we are not; the affirmation celebrates what we are. Together, they form a complete circle of realization.
“I Am Thee Iself. I Am Thee Allself. I Am Thee Godself. I Am Thee Noself.”
Itti. Itti. Itti. Itti.
This too. This too. This too. This too.
This exploration honors both the discriminating wisdom of Ramana’s inquiry and the inclusive recognition of the Self Realization Mantra, seeing them as complementary expressions of the one truth that embraces all while transcending all.
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