In plain words
In Vedānta this itself was called asti, bhāti, priyam. These three too are one. This tumbler is here. This is asti. Sat. What is Cit? We are seeing it. Not only seeing it, we have come to know that this is a tumbler. And Ānanda means: we are experiencing it. Has this Sat, Cit and Ānanda become three? No, it is one. This Sat that is, is one; what shines is one; what gives joy is one. So, in the one thing, through many kinds of delusion, we experience manyness and keep imagining many forms and names. So we must recognise the truth that the Ātma principle means divinity joined with oneness. This Ātma means that which has no form. It is simply that which takes on many forms. There is air. It has no form at all. Merely because it has no form, can one say there is no air? But whatever shape this air takes refuge in, it takes on the form of that shape. If it enters a balloon, it takes on the form of a balloon. If it enters a foot ball, it takes on the form of a foot ball. If it enters the pillow laid under the head, it looks like a pillow. It has no one form. But it has a quality. This itself is the quality of Caitanya. To understand this principle of Caitanya is very hard. This very Caitanya is what they called consciousness. Wanting to recognise this consciousness, wanting to understand it, we took a small part of it and went on shaping it into the form called conscience. That is, witness. This itself is called awareness. This itself is called the witness. So there is the witness. This witness must have some support, must it not? Conscious has come in. The tattva of these three, consciousness, conscience and conscious, went on turning into three guṇas. Conscience is bound up with the senses. Conscious is bound up with Manas; consciousness is bound up with the Ātma. For the sake of worldly custom and worldly knowledge we went on dividing the properties of these three in this way. How is this? A small example. A doctors' conference is being held. The whole hall is full of doctors. Doctors: it is one name. But one may be an ENT doctor, another a Bones doctor. Another may be a doctor who studied to specialise in the kidney. Besides, they may turn out as many kinds of persons who divided the body into parts and studied it.