In plain words
When someone comes, we ask, 'Who are you, sir? Where have you come from?' You question everyone, but you do not question yourself, 'Who am I? Where have I come from?' If you question yourself, you will easily come to know who the others are. What is needed for this? First of all, confidence is needed. Satisfaction comes only through confidence. Only through this satisfaction do you make sacrifice. Only through this sacrifice do you attain realisation. First of all: self confidence, the foundation; self satisfaction, the wall; self sacrifice, the roof; self realisation, the life. Without a foundation you cannot build a wall. Without a wall you cannot put on a roof. Without a roof we cannot live there. We must see that self confidence does not waver in the least. In any situation, even when life itself is at stake, it must not waver. We must develop faith that deep. Only when we develop that faith does Ānanda arise in us without our knowing. Once this Ānanda has arisen, you will sacrifice everything. In Ānanda there is no distinction at all of mine and yours. Only then do you sacrifice everything. What Ānanda sacrifice gives! But we are unable to do it. What is the reason?
Attachment and possessiveness, these two, have bound fast. These two alone take us to hell. That is why someone said it. That Yamadharmarāja casts a noose over every person and carries him off. When God has created in so many ways, Yamadharmarāja casts a noose and carries away! To carry off so many lives, where did Yamadharmarāja set up a rope factory? This rope factory is nowhere. These nooses need not be brought from anywhere. Attachment is one, possessiveness is the other; in these two he binds tight. This very attachment and possessiveness become a noose around our neck. That itself brings our time to its end. We must not think that God hands out hardships or gives comforts from somewhere. Our resolves alone are the root cause of happiness and sorrow. Our resolves alone are the root cause of good and bad. Someone or other is not our cause. It is a mistake to think, we got these hardships because of them, we got hardships because of these people. We ourselves are the cause of good and bad. We ourselves are the cause of happiness and sorrow. We ourselves are the cause of blame and praise. We ourselves are the cause of everything.