In plain words
It did not rely on the branch. It relied on its own wings. That is why, let the branch sway, let it drop, let it fall, it has no fear at all. Because it depends on its own self-confidence, on its own strength. But today's man, sitting on the small tree called worldly life, if it moves this way or that even a little and some unrest arises, sinks down, frets and wastes away. Man today lacks the self-confidence a bird has. That is why man must recognise well the bird's ideal and the bird's experience and himself have that kind of intelligence. In the same way, when we enquire well into every object, it offers us its inner meaning as our own experience. That is why they said, Nature is Preacher.
The root cause of this is nothing but the Ajñāna that has hardened in his mind for generations, because feelings bound up with Prakṛti have entered man in so many ways. If we wish to remove the Ajñāna in these thoughts of the mind, it will not go at all with mantras and tantras, with yajñas and yāgas, with japa, dhyāna and bhajans. The day man truly recognises the principle of the inner Ātma, the principle of the thought "I", that day none of these will trouble him or teach him at all. The reflection of the moon is seen in the oil in a vessel. Even if you take the vessel to the fire and burn it well to remove this reflection of the moon from the oil, the reflection will not go. What is the basis of this reflection? The oil. Only when the oil is removed will the reflection go. Just burning the vessel will not drive the reflection away. Our body itself is a vessel. The sense desires within it. Moha alone is the oil in it. Very greasy. In this very oil the reflection of the mind is seen shining brightly. That is why they said, "Candramā manaso jātaḥ." That is, the mind is the reflection of the moon. The moon is the reflection of the mind. If you wish to drive away these thoughts of the mind, merely tiring the body, doing japa, dhyāna, yoga and the rest with it, however many kinds of labour you carry out, the dirt of the mind within will not go.
Will the snake die from pounding on the anthill? Will the sense pleasures subside if one punishes one's own body? Does one become an Ātma-jñānī merely by giving up hunger and thirst? If one does not know who one is, how can tattva-Jñāna come about?