In plain words
In the same way man hopes to enjoy Ānanda in sense objects and in things, and in the end, since that is not lasting Ānanda, he gives up the body in despair without recognising his duty; the day the thought "I" leaves a man, that very day he can become the very form of Brahman. The Vedānta has taught, "Brahman is real, the world is illusory." Whether the world is real or Asatya, whether it is Māyā or illusory. Leave the matter of the world to the world. The world itself can show whether it is lasting or passing. First try to recognise whether you are real or Asatya. Only when you recognise your own truth can you settle that the world is illusory and that you are real. There are the words "I am Brahman". But before this word stands the word "I". Where does this word "I" come from? What does this word "I" mean? Saying "I" is not merely an idea; it becomes what is natural. Beside this natural "I", "man", which is merely an idea, takes shape. That is, the words "I am a man". "I" is natural; "a man" is an idea. "I" is fullness. "Man" is not full. "Man" is bounded by a limit. "I" is infinite. So when this bounded "man" joins the full "I", it becomes "I" alone, and the word "man" is there no more. A river flows with a form and a name. Before it merges in the sea, it has a boundary. It has a limit. But when it joins the infinite sea, it loses its limit, its form, its name and its taste. So when the river reaches the sea it becomes the sea itself, and there is no longer anything separate called a river. In the same way, when humanness with its limits joins the limitless principle "I", "I" alone remains, and this limited principle called "man" is there no more.
Where is the birthplace of the word "I"? In Sanskrit they called it "aham". The word "aham" was born from the Ātma. This thought "I" is itself the aham. From this very thought "I" the mind has taken a form. In short, this mind and this "I", the aham, are parts of the Ātma. Their relation is that the Ātma is the grandfather, the aham the son and the mind the grandson. Here is a cloth. Threads are the basis of this cloth. Cotton is the basis of the thread. Cotton has no form; it has only purity and holiness. So this thread came from the cotton itself. The cloth took shape only by the joining of the thread. In the same way, from the pure, unmoving, selfless Ātma-principle itself arose the principle called aham, called "I". From this very thought, the aham, the mind took shape.