In plain words
They are only shapes taken on for the welfare of the world, the establishing of Dharma, the protection of the world and the ideals of man.
Svarūpa lakṣaṇa means “Satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma”: “Satyaṃ brahma”, “Jñānaṃ brahma”, “Anantaṃ brahma”. These are forms beyond place, time and person. Though beyond them, they enter into place, time and person, shine there, spread abroad, and bestow the form of Ānanda.
In every object in the world there are five lakṣaṇas. These five are asti, bhāti, priya, rūpa and nāma. Asti means showing that an object exists; but even when the object exists, light is essential to show it; if there is no light at all, we cannot be sure that it is there; to think that the object exists is only the word ‘asti’. What makes the object shine is the word ‘bhāti’.
We love as the moment prompts us, but we do not love always and everywhere. When we are hungry, we love food dearly. Once a handful of food reaches the stomach, the hunger is gone. After that we do not crave food. Yet the very taste it had before the hunger stays in that food even after your hunger is satisfied. So the true nature of food is the principle of priya! These three, asti, bhāti and priya, are the marks of God. Form and name are made up by Māyā. Even in these forms and names that Māyā makes up, the divinity whose form is asti, bhāti and priya is contained everywhere. Nothing at all in the world comes to be made without a maker. In some place, in some form, the maker of that thing must surely be there. For things that belong to this world, it is possible to find out who the maker is. The sun, the moon and the rest, the stars, the earth, the sea: must there not be some maker for all of these? So we cannot but believe the Satya that, before creation itself, there is a divinity that is the Maker. There are two causes, the upādāna kāraṇa and the nimitta kāraṇa. Only when the upādāna kāraṇa is there can the nimitta kāraṇa come about. Here is a silver plate. The one who made this silver plate is a silversmith. But if there were no silver at all, how could this silversmith make the plate? So the silver, which was there before the plate, is the upādāna kāraṇa. Only when that silver is there does the silversmith, who is the nimitta agent, give it a form. So the upādāna kāraṇa is the very root and ground that is there before everything. The very maker of this cause is God. So Ānanda is present in every object. To hope that we can experience Ānanda only in some one place, on one path alone, is Ajñāna.
Whoever a man may be, there are only two things he longs for in his life! All the rest are held within those two. (1) the ending of sorrow, (2) the gaining of Ānanda. Is there anyone who does not want an end to sorrow? Is there anyone who does not long to gain Ānanda? This very thing is called Mukti. Imagining that Mukti is some special place or some path, many unbelievers may argue that they have no need of Mukti; only an utter fool, one who cannot grasp the true meaning and sense of the word, will say, ‘I do not want Mukti.’