In plain words
So the Ātma alone is the basis of all. The Ātma alone is the root. The Ātma alone is all.
But innocent people imagine, “The Ātma is in my body.” Body, mind, universe, all of them are in the Ātma; the Ātma is not in anything else. All is full of the Ātma. All is the form of the Ātma. All actions are actions of the Ātma. Japas, dhyānas, yajñas, yāgas and all such sādhanas are only the ways of those with a dualist mind; they are not the real thing. Only those who believe that God, or the Ātma, is separate take part in these practices. The one who feels that God is separate from him is the fool. God is not separate from him. God has a heart. That heart is the Ātma. Those who think the Ātma is something apart are thinking that God has no heart. However many books one reads, however many sādhanas one practises, however many great souls one sees, if one does not recognise one's own nature, one is a complete fool.
Only at a time when the Ātma is not our aim does the aim of God appear to us. So only when we keep the Ātma as our aim does this world become invisible. Above all, people do all their sādhanas with the mind. That is the big mistake. All sādhanas done with Manas turn us only towards Manas, not towards the Ātma. “Yato vācā nivartante aprāpya manasā saha.” Neither Manas nor speech, in any way, can tell of this Ātma-principle. Will a thief ever try to get a thief caught? In the same way, Manas is a thief. It never tries to bring itself under control. How can we hold the mind in check? When we turn the mind towards the Ātma, we can hold the mind in check without effort. It disappears. We must turn our sight towards the Ātma. What is this sight? Is it turning all the outward gaze of these eyes of skin inward? No, no. Our sight always stays outward sight; we cannot change it into inward sight. The nature of these eyes of skin is outward sight. Then what does it mean to make this sight inward sight? That is, changing one's sight is nothing but leaving the feeling of the world and remembering the feeling of the Ātma. A small example. There is a silver statue there. As long as our mind is on the material called silver, we do not see this statue. Once we set our mind on the form, we do not see the silver. In the same way, when we turn our sight towards the Ātma, when we set our feeling there, this feeling of the world disappears.
The principle “I, I” is everywhere. Above all, if we go deep and enquire well into how God is and what God's name is, God's very first name is “I”. The name Praṇava may have come only after this name “I” came.