In plain words
‘When it is other than Brahman, what way is there for Brahman and Prakṛti both to become one? It cannot be!’: with such misgivings they keep fretting. To the eye it looks different, but when we inquire well into the inner meaning, only oneness becomes clear to us in it. Here is a small example. There is a seed. When we put that seed in the soil, pour water on it and look after it properly, that seed comes up as a sapling; the same seed grows into a tree, the same seed puts out shoots, blossoms into flowers, gives us fruit, and so shows itself in visible form. But because of the qualities and faults of Prakṛti, it shows itself as sapling, tree, branches, twigs and fruits; yet when we speak of it rightly from the spiritual point of view, the very soil in which we planted the seed is the sapling, the soil itself is the branches, the soil itself is the leaves, the soil itself is the fruits. Fruits, flowers, branches, twigs, leaves: all are nothing but soil; they have not left the form of soil and taken some other form. So the tree born of the soil is soil itself, not a tree. In the same way, Prakṛti born of Brahman is Brahman itself, not Prakṛti. Prakṛti appears to us as form, but Vedānta upholds the truth that the Prakṛti we see is the very form of Brahman. To recognise this truth, both of these are essential for us: the power to grasp, and an aim.
Vision Fixed on the Aim Alone
Here is a small example of what is called aim. In the Mahābhārata, Droṇācārya, to teach the Pāṇḍavas archery, tied a bird to a tree, called these Pāṇḍavas one after another, and ordered them to shoot the bird. Then, as each came to the spot and stood ready to shoot, Droṇācārya would put some questions. ‘Bhīma! What do you see now?’ he asked. Bhīma was a strong man, after all! To show that he had great intelligence: ‘Gurujī! I see the tree, I see the bird. I see the string tied to the bird. I see the sky behind it,’ he boasted. ‘All right! When you see so many things, you have not made your sight one-pointed; sit aside!’ he said.