In plain words
That is just what the Bhāgavatam has been saying: ‘To go back to where it was born is the nature of every living being.’ You have come from the Ātma; you must reach the Ātma. Until then, on the pilgrimage through the field of karma, you must not be careless in the least. Today people forget the road they came by. They go searching along new roads. Many come to Me and ask, ‘Swami! Show me some path.’ ‘My dear! I need not show you one. Hold to the very path you came by!’ I tell them. Where have you come from? It is not from your mother that you came. It is not from Madras that you came. The body came from Madurai. But your coming is from the Ātma itself! You are not the body; you are not the Manas. This is what Vedānta calls ‘Neti, neti’. You are not the body, not the Manas, not the Buddhi, not the senses, not the antaḥkaraṇa. You are the Ātma.
If you drive away attachment and hatred and evil qualities like envy, you will attain immortality
‘Śruṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putraḥ.’ You are a son of amṛta. You, a son of amṛta: why do you long for anṛta? What is the way to amṛta? What is the way to immortality? Removal of immorality is the only way to immortality. If we drive away evil qualities such as attachment, hatred and envy, we will attain immortality. These evil qualities alone keep God far from us! If we move away from the evil qualities, God is always close at hand! So, step by step, we must drive away the traits of animals and go on fostering divine qualities. We must grow human values such as Satya, Dharma, justice, morality, honesty and tyāga. Lust, anger, pride and envy: all these are the traits of beasts. But unfortunately we are taking to these very traits. Look at anger: that is a dog's trait. So when you get angry, tell yourself, ‘I am not dog, I am man!’ The anger goes. At some times the traits of monkeys come up. Not of ordinary monkeys: the traits of mad monkeys come up. At such a time, tell yourself, ‘I am not monkey, I am man!’