What keep us separated from god is our cravings - Hindu wisdom.
Eating, sleeping, fear, copulation— these are the common characteristics of man and beast. We differ from the beasts in that we can discriminate between right and wrong. If one lives on a low plane of consciousness, one finds pleasure in the senses. With spiritual growth, one experiences happiness in subtler things. Then the person no longer finds enjoyment in the gross. Most people live the lives of beasts—drinking, hunting, running after a mate. If one cannot rise to a higher plane of consciousness, human birth is wasted.
“Meditate! Meditate! Be absorbed in His consciousness! If you can think single-mindedly of the Master for five years, you will achieve everything. Then it does not matter where you live. East and West will be the same to you. Know that God alone is real. Nothing else matters.
There is the ocean of infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss, seemingly divided by the stick of an ego which lies upon it. This ego is the first begotten son of desire. Our cravings alone keep us separated from God.
Sometime or other we must be freed from them. Root out all desires and call on Him! If He wills that the body should die, let it die while chanting His name! By worldly standards a man may be great. But he too in some life or other will have to renounce everything for God.
An enlightened being, who has seen God and been freed from cravings, again engages in work for the good of others. You also may work, under the direction of illumined souls, because selfless work will help you grow spiritually. Actions performed in the spirit of nonattachment do not create bondage. They stop the wheel of karma.
Pray to Him: ‘O Lord, I want you alone. You are my all in all. May I always think of you. Do not engage me in actions that may make me forget you. Wherever you may keep me, may I remember you.’
But if you say ‘Lord, give me this and do not give me that,’ then your prayer is selfish. When you want to do one thing and not another, you permit your ego to control you. Always pray that you may have devotion to the lotus feet of the Lord and that you may have the society of the holy."
Source – Conversations With Swami Turiyananda Witnessed and recorded by Swami Raghavananda.
Swami Turiyananda (3 January 1863 - 21 July 1922) – a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.