In plain words
He read all the books. He visited great souls. He listened well to their teachings. But in the end He recognised the truth that none of these could give true Jñāna. The Jñāna that is right within oneself as one's own quality, this Jñāna that stands hidden right within oneself: how can persons in the outer world teach it? So, resolved that He Himself must recognise His own Jñāna, His own Ānanda of the Ātma, He did great tapas. He turned His sight inward. His outward-turned sight too He stilled completely. Gradually a Jñāna of the Ātma kept dawning from within Him.
The Three Refuges
Only then did He say, ‘Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi.’ ‘Saṅghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi’, and only after that ‘Dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi’: that is, He Himself put to use, through the Buddhi, the Ātmajñāna that was in Him. He brought into the Saṅgha the Jñāna that had dawned through the Buddhi. He tried to put into practice through Dharma this Jñāna He had brought into the Saṅgha. So if man wishes to attain Jñāna, he will never attain Jñāna through acquaintance with books. All these are nothing but tasks done merely to waste time. Only when we develop the antaḥkaraṇa fully does Ātmajñāna come within our reach. All power, every bit of it, lies contained in man's antaḥkaraṇa itself. Longing to experience this Ānanda of the antaḥkaraṇa, man takes up study after study. He keeps on hoping, ‘Through these studies we shall gain Jñāna.’ But next, thinking, ‘Only through power does Jñāna come,’ he stepped into power. After that, thinking, ‘This Jñāna can be experienced within the householder's path,’ he himself tried that. Giving up everything, he put himself to tapas alone. However many kinds of sādhana he tried, this Jñāna did not dawn from within him. The Ānanda that man is meant to experience is simply not in studies. It is not in tapas alone, nor is it in the householder's dharma.