You take a look at yourself.
Look at the way your thoughts have been ruling you, keeping you in bondage to them, how your thoughts have caused you to fear, to be suspicious, to be doubtful, to be apprehensive, to worry, and you
begin to do the work.

As long as the thoughts keep coming, you have to ask the question
“To whom do they come?”
That’s how it all begins.
Forget about the world.
Forget about everything.

I know some of you are saying already
“If I forget about everything, how will it get done?”
As I explained to you before,
before you were born everything was already laid out, and your body is going to go through the experiences it has to go through, yet it has absolutely nothing to do with you.
So forget about that.
Deal with the thing at hand.
It meant first that your thoughts control you completely, and it’s hard for you to get away from them.
Then you start to work by inquiring
“To whom do they come?”
Whatever thoughts come to you, you pose the same question. It makes no difference whether the thoughts are good or bad.

Some of you are still believing that to pose the question “To whom does this come?” is only for bad thoughts, or when things are not going your way.
On the contrary. All thoughts are erroneous. No matter what kind of happy thoughts come to you, no matter what thoughts come to you that are horrible, you have to ask
“To whom do they come?
To whom do they come?
They come to me. I feel them. Since I can think about I, I must be separate from
myself, and all of my thoughts are threaded on the I.”

You therefore follow the I thread to the source, realizing all the time that you are not I. You become the witness to I.
That alone makes you feel wonderful, for you begin to realize that your real nature is freedom.
It is I who has the problems.
It is I who has the apprehension, the suspicions, the anger, the fears, the frustrations, the needs, the wants,
the desires, are all attached to I.
It is even I that wishes to become self-realized.

Watch the I.
Abide in the I.
Just by abiding in the I do thoughts begin to become weaker. When more thoughts come, you inquire again “To whom do they come?” and you realize they belong to the personal I. At this time, when you’re witnessing the I, do not inquire “Who am I?” but spend the time witnessing the I.

As further thoughts interrupt you, again inquire “To whom do they come?” Again “They come to me, to I.” Again
feel and realize that my real nature is safe and secure. It is I who has the problem. When you come to this realization
after a while, you then can inquire “Who is this I? Who am I?” Remember when you’re saying “Who am I? you’re
not talking about your real nature, who does not experience problems. You’re referring to your personal I, that is
separate and apart from you.

Where did this I come from?
Who gave it birth?
If you do this correctly, everything will come by itself. You will begin to feel and realize your self. “When I slept, I
was not bothered by I. When I dreamt I was not bothered by I. But now that I woke up, I is born. Who gave it birth?”

This kind of inquiry will cause something beautiful to happen to you. You will begin to feel that no one gave the I birth.
It never existed to begin with.
I know some of you still believe that consciousness, or the self, gave the I birth. How could this be? Consciousness,
the self, is all-pervading. It takes up all space. There’s no room for anything else. In other words, there cannot be
consciousness and you, or consciousness and I, or consciousness and the world, because there’s just no room. There
never was room for you and I. This will be a new revelation for you. You will awaken simply by realizing this great
truth.

When I say you look for the source of I, the source of I is nothing. It comes from no thing. But you will ask the question “Then why did it come at all?” And the answer is, it didn’t. The I exists like your body exists, like your mind exists, like the world exists, like the universe exists, like God exists. All of that is I. If none of these things
exist, neither does the I.

The important point to remember is, when you’re playing with the I, do not identify the I with the body or with yourself. Keep the I separate. Realize that your body is attached to the I, the universe is attached to the I, but the I does not exist. Nothing gave it birth. That’s why as I opened up the lecture tonight, I said your true nature is nothing.

You are plain nothing. You are no thing. No thing, nothing is consciousness, absolute reality, pure awareness. It is Parabrahman, it is beyond Brahman, and you are that. It begins and ends with you.

What do you do with all of your time during the day? There is no such thing as you’re too busy to practice self- inquiry. This should come first in your life, because this is your life. Everything else is secondary. If this appears too cdifficult for you in the beginning, surrender everything to God.
Let God take care of everything for you. Say something like this “God, self-inquiry is too heavy for me right now. I seem to go nowhere with it. But I surrender to
you my emotions, my body, my anger, my fears, my frustrations. I surrender the universe, the world. Everything that I believe I surrender to you. Take it and do as you will with me. I am only a puppet for you. Play with me as you desire,” and leave it at that.

As you keep on surrendering every day, twice a day, three times a day, just by that alone fear will leave you. Your frustrations will leave you. Your mind will not concentrate on your body. It will become
weaker just by surrendering.

The choice is yours. Do what you must. But remember, to go on playing the game of life will only lead you to more life, more births, more deaths, more frustration and more ignorance.
Realize the truth about yourself, and become free.

The Collected Works of
Robert Adams
Volume 1, page 248-249