The inquiry begins only during the leisure hours of the waking

state when one sits for practice. Just as a thing comes to our
memory when its name is thought of, does not the first person
feeling come to everyone's memory as soon as the name
(pronoun) 'I' is thought of?
Although this first-person feeling is only the ego, the pseudo
'I' consciousness, it does not matter. Having our attention
withdrawn from second and third persons and clinging to the
first person – that alone is spiritual practice. As soon as the
attention turns towards the first-person feeling, not only do
other thoughts disappear but also the first thought, the rising
and expanding pseudo 'I' consciousness, itself begins
contracting!
"When the mind, the ego, which wanders outside knowing
only other objects (second and third persons) begins to attend
to its own nature, all other objects will disappear and, by
experiencing its true nature (Self), the pseudo 'I' will also die."
– The Garland of Guru's sayings, verse 193

Another translation of that same verse: "If the mind turned

outward and distracted, starts observing its own being,
Alienation ends, the vestige ego, merges in the light of true
Awareness shining in the heart."
– verse 193
"If the fickle mind turns towards the first person, the first
person (the ego) will become non-existent and That which
really exists will then shine forth."
– Eleven Verses on Self-Inquiry, verse 6 by Sadhu Om.

This is the great revelation made by Sri Ramana and bestowed

by Him as a priceless boon upon the world of spiritual
aspirants in order to bring Vedanta easily under practical
experience.
Just as a rubber ball gains greater and greater momentum
while bouncing down the staircase, the more the concentration
in clinging to the first person consciousness is intensified, the
faster is the contraction of the first thought (the ego), till
finally, it merges in its source.
That which now merges thus is only the adjunct, the feeling
'so and so' which, at the moment of waking, came and mixed
with the pure existence-consciousness, which was shinning in
sleep as 'I am', to constitute the form of the ego, 'I am so-and-
so', 'I am this' or 'I am that'.