Question: The statement in the scriptures, "I am," sounds like an ego statement.

Babaji:

This is not the egotistic "I." Now what we have imagined of as "I" is egotistic; this identification may be associated with the body.  When you lose this imagined "I," you experience the real "I," the real Self, not the imagined self.

It is like when Adi Shankaracharya said, "Aham Brahmasmi" - "I am THAT." The ancient Sages called "God" in the Sanskrit language, "Tat" - That.  So the statement is that this "I am" is "That." So the mind's Ultimate Truth is God - 'That'.