Give up thinking of objects

Q: I have been making sadhana for nearly twenty years and I can see no progress. What should I do? From about five o'clock every morning I concentrate on the thought that the Self alone is real and 
all else unreal. Although I have been doing this for about twenty years I cannot concentrate for more than two or three minutes without my thoughts wandering.

A: There is no other way to succeed than to draw the mind back every time it turns outwards and fix it in the Self. There is no need for meditation or mantra or japa or anything of the sort, because these are our real nature. 

All that is needed is to give up thinking of 
objects other than the Self. Meditation is not so much thinking of the Self as giving up thinking of the not-Self. 

When you give up  thinking of outward objects and prevent your mind from going outwards by turning it inwards and fixing it in the Self, the Self alone remains.

~ Be as you are. The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi edited by David Godman.