In plain words
He recognised that He was none of these. At last He came to the principle, ‘I remain just I.’ This amulet stayed round the Buddha's neck to the very end. After He left His body, this amulet too vanished.
To think ‘I am I’ is itself true dhyāna
The Veda teaches the mahāvākyas ‘Ahaṃ brahmāsmi’ and ‘Tat tvam asi’. ‘Ahaṃ brahmāsmi’ means ‘I am Brahman’. In this mahāvākya two are joined together, ‘I’ and ‘Brahman’. What exists as two is not Satya. ‘Tat tvam asi’ means ‘That am I’. In this too, ‘That’ and ‘I’ are joined together. So this too is not Jñāna. ‘The vision of non-duality is Jñāna.’ Inquiring in this way, Siddhārtha at last came to know the Satya, ‘I am I.’ That itself is true realisation. Without knowing that, however much tapas you do, however much dhyāna you do, however much yoga you do, there is no gain. The sādhanas that man does today are all artificial. Japa, tapas, dhyāna, yoga: all these give only a passing satisfaction; they do not bring lasting Ānanda. Some say they are doing dhyāna. Siddhārtha too said to do dhyāna. But dhyāna on what? What, after all, is dhyāna? Is it fixing the mind on some object? No, no, that is not dhyāna at all. To think ‘I am I’ is itself true dhyāna.
Listening, singing His praise, remembering Viṣṇu, serving His feet, bowing, worship, servitude, friendship, offering of the self.
What does friendship mean? The two becoming one. After friendship comes the offering of the self. That alone brings one close to God. As long as there is the difference of ‘you’ and ‘I’, this is not possible. The Buddha recognised this Satya and went on acting by it. He sought out many yogis and, as they taught, went on doing japa and tapas along many paths. But He recognised that all these merely pass the time and do not give light.