Chadwick: [unhappily] I have been staying here for months. I see no improvement in me. If anything, my condition seems to be taking a turn for the worse. I am desperate to Realise in this lifetime
B: Give up the idea that you are striving for Realisation. 
 
C: [Aghast] What?! Bhagavan would have me abandon the quest? Has he decided I am unworthy to Realise? 
B: Did you pay attention to what was said to you? You were not asked to abandon the quest. You were asked to abandon the spurious idea that there is a ‘you’ which is trying to merge with a ‘super-you’.
 
C: [gloomily] I understand nothing. 
B: Throw away the belief in the existence of the personal self. It is only on that erroneous basis that you are now asking questions.
 
C: But I must remain to perform sadhana! 
B: What is the objective of sadhana? 
 
C: Destruction of the ego. 
B: No, transcendence of the idea of its existence. 
 
C: So, if I just free myself from the idea that I exist as an individual person, the Who am I? method is not needed? 
B: First discard that erroneous idea. In having discarded that idea, do not bring in any other idea in its place, such as Aham Brahmasmi [I am Brahman], I am being consciousness, etc. Remain free from all ideas, that is from all mental identification. Let the mind remain in the state of pure Subjective Consciousness free from all objectification or identification. 
      Then, as and when thoughts arise, tackle them with the counter-thought, ‘To whom has this thought arisen?’. This arrests the further development of the thought. Then return the mind to its native state of pure Subjective Consciousness. This is the way. 

Q: What are the indicators based on which I shall be enabled to find out for myself whether I am doing vichara correctly or not? 
B: If vichara has resulted in a state of mind wherein it abides as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, then you have done it correctly. However, it is not easy for the neophyte to tell whether his mind is presently abiding as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, because the torpid mental state of manolayam [state where mind structures are hazily projected] is often mistakenly regarded as being the tabula-rasa mental state of pure Subjective Consciousness. 
      When mind abides as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, it unmistakeably scintillates ‘I’-’I’. Thus, the definitive answer to your question is that vichara has been done correctly when doing it has resulted in the Aham Sphurana flashing forth.
 

Q: And how to recognise the Aham Sphurana when it ‘flashes forth’? 
B: There is no possibility of mistaking it when the experience actually occurs. Whatever description is given, is not only useless but also counter-productive, because if a description of the experience of Aham Sphurana is given, the mind twists and contorts the present banal experience of outward protruding, satiation craving mental impulses into one that seems to perfectly match with the description given; because it wants to avoid getting destroyed.
       So, even if you have heard a description of the experience of the Aham Sphurana being furnished in this Hall, please make no effort to recollect it. When the Aham Sphurana actually flashes forth, you will know it alright. Cognition of the Aham Sphurana is not based on intellectual corroboration it is a direct experience of the Self, inferior only to the Sahajastithi of the Jnani.