Within Self Realization, they believe that Source is the same as the Self.

Our Self consists of an "I", where we feel we exist, as we have got a historical timeline.
Each "I" has its own ID processed by the Source, and all "I" exist within what Source calculates; so Source is beyond any sense of "I" or Self - As to contain all them selves, it has to be selfless.
Source doesn't have a beginning or an end, it just always was; whereas an "I" is applied to things that have some form of timeline.

In the Bible the Lord of Creation (YHVH) is speaking, which is the same as Bhagavan Brahma interacting; where the Creator has a personal ID, and therefore has an "I Am" to speak from.

The Source of reality in the Bible is El Elyon (God Most High), and it interacts with Creation through the Creator; where the Creator is like the Arm doing things within the reality, and God is the whole of reality.

When the made up Gospel of John applies that Christ was using "I Am" statements about himself, it then confuses many theologians as they think a finite man, is claiming to be God incarnate.
Throughout human history this has been a problem, as mankind has this tendency to worship its self, and to make anthropomorphised ideas about God to glorify themselves; when God is without form, creates everything, and is beyond being contained within a simple being.

Because in Self Realization there is a tendency to believe they are the "I Am" consciousness, they apply that God is "I Am", and they are that same being. The reality is God is the emptiness (Nirvana/0neness), and when we let go of all attachment to everything, we become One with Source.

Within Christ's wording in the Synoptic Gospels, he was using "I Am" statements for the God Most High, as being the only 'Self Existing' one; yet when we've attach to God being a thing, with a sense of Self, we miss the point that God is selfless.

Thus basically, since Christianity, and Self Realization both try to anthropomorphize the "I Am" statements, into being some Divine Statement, it creates the opposite; as the "I Am" becomes a statement of Ego, and when Source has used "I Am" statements, it isn't stating it like it has to exist, yet that everything exists because of it.