In plain words
Manas, Buddhi, citta and Ahaṅkāra: where are they born, where do they grow, and where do they subside? That is Brahman, that is the Ātma.
So, to recognise your birthplace, to recognise your own true nature, how can you attain it if you search along other paths? It is like a thief putting on a policeman's disguise and trying to catch himself. Why some other sādhana to recognise yourself? There was a little story about this. Ten fools got together and went to cross a river. Having crossed the river, they were in doubt whether all ten of them had come back. One began to count. '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! Alas, another one is not here; he has been swept away in the river!' and, deluded, they grieved one with another. 'What you said is not right. 'I will see,' and he too counted, '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9'; 'What you said is true, another one is not here,' and he too sat down weeping. A traveller was going along the same road; he was a man of discernment. Seeing their distress, he asked, 'My dears! What is the reason you are grieving?' 'We came as ten, but we are only nine; another one has been swept away in this river,' they wept. Seeing their ignorance, the traveller went 1, 2, 3, 4... and counted off the ten. My dears! You are ten, but whoever is counting forgets himself and counts. That is why you grieve as though one were lost. The person who has forgotten himself cannot recognise the right truth. When you yourself are the Ātma, if you pray to or do sādhana for something else for the sake of the Ātma, how can you recognise your own tattva? Ekohaṃ bahusyāṃ: because the One has turned into the many, you develop a taste for diversity and forget the oneness. All these too are only your own reflections, like the reflections seen in a mirror. You give up the original and put your faith in the reflection. So you go on being bound in illusion. Brahman is not caught by one who is bound by illusion; so, if we want to experience the feeling of the Ātma, all the sādhanas we do are useless.