In plain words
But when, and in what way, are we to pierce this tamas? If this tamas is to go, we must make the true principle shine out. If darkness is to go, we must light a lamp. In the same way, if the Ajñāna in us is to go, we must make Jñāna shine. What is this Jñāna? From which book can we receive it? Jñāna is not something gained merely by acquaintance with books. It is not gained through a guru's teachings. It is not something we learn in some school or other. This Jñāna is not something we buy. It is not to be had in any shop. No company supplies it. It is not something any friends give. The vision of Advaita is Jñāna. When we recognise the truth that the divine power in all is one, that itself is true Jñāna. ‘Ekohaṃ bahuśyām’: the one divine principle alone pervades everywhere.
If we want diamonds, if we want rubies, they are not to be found in a tree trunk. Rubies are found in the earth itself; they are not found in a tree. So if we search for God somewhere in a land outside, we will not find Him. He lives within you yourself. ‘Deho devālaya prokto jīvo devaḥ sanātanaḥ’: the body is a temple. In it dwells the God called the Ātma. This temple, the body, is not installed in one place. A moving temple. Wherever the body goes, God is there, all of it. So we must try to see God within this very temple, the body. Outward sight is the sight of a beast. Inward sight alone is divine sight. So try to look within yourself. How are you to try? There is oil in a vessel. In that oil the reflection of the moon is seen. If we want to wipe out the reflection of the moon seen in the oil, putting the vessel in the fire and heating it will not make the image of the moon vanish. We must enquire. What is the root cause of this reflection of the moon? Is it the vessel, or the oil? The reflection is seen only because the oil is there, not because of the vessel. The vessel is the support of the oil. The oil is the support of the reflection. So if we take away the oil, the reflection is gone. Instead, if we go on putting the vessel in the fire and heating it, the reflection is not burnt up. The delusion 'I am a man' is itself the reflection. This very obstacle, which holds the saṃskāras of other births, is our life span. This is what they called vāsanā. In this mind that is called vāsanā lies this reflection called humanness, and it is with this humanness that we make ourselves shine. If humanness is to go and divinity, the divine nature, is to come, we must root out these vāsanās. Every saṅkalpa that comes to us, too, is bound up with vāsanās.
Vedānta has gone on giving many kinds of teaching for rooting out these vāsanās.