Shri Nathji explained this concept even more beautifully and simply using the example of the drop of water and the ocean. When the drop of water finally achieved union with the ocean, it did this by falling into the ocean.
Once it was inside the ocean, its limited self disappeared. One could no longer conceive of the drop of water as existing separately inside the ocean. The limited shape of the drop disappeared and mingled into the ocean. And there was only the ocean. The voice that cried out: I am the ocean! was then not the voice of the drop, but rather the voice of the ocean asserting its own Existence. In Shri Nathji’s words:
Samundar men katraa fanaa ho gayaa
Fanaa ho ke laa-intahaa ho gayaa
The drop of water perished in the ocean,
And perishing, it became infinity itself!
For man to attain union with God, he must give up all desires. The desires come into existence because of the “I” of man, which attaches itself to the things of the world. Thus, giving up desires means giving up the ego or self or his limited I. When his limited self has been thus annihilated, God enters within him and he attains union with God. The voice that comes from him, then, is not his own voice, but rather the Voice of God, saying: I am God.