Everyone is the Self and indeed, is infinite. Yet each person mistakes his mind-body for his Self.
In order to know anything, illumination is necessary. This illumination is provided by Consciousness.
Consciousness is the Self of which everyone is aware. No one is ever away from his Self and therefore everyone is in fact Self-realized; So what is self-realization then?.
Realization consists only in getting rid of the false idea that one is not realized! It is not anything new to be acquired. It must already exist or it would not be eternal and only what is eternal is worth striving for.
Once the false notion ‘I am the mind-body’ or ‘I am not realized’ has been removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone remains and in people’s present state of knowledge they call this realization. But the truth is that Realization is eternal and already exists, here and now.
The essence of the mind is only awareness or consciousness. However, when the ego clouds it, it functions as reasoning, thinking or perceiving.
The Universal Mind, not being limited by the ego, has nothing outside itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by ‘I am that I am.’
Credit: By Sri Ramana Maharshi in Teachings in His own Words.