The Indian sage Sri Ramana Maharshi taught how the paths of Vichara (Self Enquiry) and Bhakti (Surrender) lead to the same realisation of the Self. Let's understand this and see how these seemingly separate paths are not two. (This is about Non-Duality, of course.)

Self Enquiry is the practice of seeking 'Who am I?' It's not about just asking that over and over. It is about getting to the root of who we are. We have an assumption of who we are. Primarily there is an identification with the body: the mind thinks, "I am this body." As the mind develops it can reach a greater understanding about the spiritual nature of reality. The mind reaches a recognition that we are not the body. We can then come to think that we are a soul that inhabits the body and outlives the body. But we are not to stop at that understanding. There is a deeper recognition.

The practice of Self Enquiry is for the mind to analyse its ideas of who it is and look to the root where these ideas are perceived. The ideas of identity are not who we really are. We perceive the mind activity and ideas. Who is it that perceives? From that premise we can go deeper into the non-thinking recognition of self awareness. Ultimately the mind's idea of being a separate individual (whether a body or a soul) is dissolved in the clarity of the unlimited Self. The unlimited Self is all that there is. It is not separate or divided from others. There are no others. There is only This, complete and content. It's what we call Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

The practice of Surrender is one of surrendering oneself to God. This could be in selfless service and prayer, always giving, with kindness, peace and love. Traditionally in India this would have been in service to a guru, but really it is service to God, or service to the whole. God is the Whole. It is not to serve some and dismiss some others. It is a surrender of all selfish urges and attachments to this or that. It is the surrender of boundaries between 'me' and 'them' and 'God'. There really are no boundaries, but the physical practice of surrender assists the breaking down of mental barriers and boundaries that are believed to be real. Ultimately in Surrender the mental ideas of 'me' and 'mine' dissolve. Leaving what? Just What Is.

So you see, the path of Self Enquiry leads to the dissolving of identity through knowing, and the path of Surrender leads to the dissolving of identity through selflessness. The two paths are one. They are paths for the mind's idea of identity to choose, though each is the same practice of dissolving the selfish self. This dissolving of the mental notion of being a selfish limited self unveils the freedom of the true Selfless Self. This is the true nature of who we are, yet there is no 'who' about it. The True Self is no self. The way of selfishness is the opposite of Truth, and the True Self is not limited or defined as this or that.

There is no true identity, because identity requires otherness. Identity and otherness are the reflection of Truth. The Truth of Unlimited Undivided Oneness. We are That.