In plain words
‘Rāma, You who bear the title of dwelling with overflowing Prema in the ant, in Brahmā, in Śiva and Keśava and the others, protect me,’
he said. That is, He is in the ant. He is in Brahmā. What does this ant do? If you bring a little sand, mix two pieces of sugar into it and give it, it puts the sand aside and takes only the sugar. The ant. When such a power of inquiry is in the ant itself, why has it wasted away in man?
Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān: we must understand the principle of these two. We think that the form of akṣara means only what is not destroyed. Right within it there is destruction. That is, it is precisely by the joining of what is kṣara too that akṣara takes shape. In just the same way there is a bond between faith and unbelief. Within faith itself there is unbelief too. Within unbelief there is faith too. What is this? Na means no. Asti means Yes. Saying no to Yes is nāstika. Na plus asti: nāsti. That is, in the unbeliever too there is faith. Without asti joined to it, the very word nāsti would not come. So in the unbeliever too there is faith. How should we understand this? Unbelief is merely like a bud. In it we do not find the fragrance. But only after it opens does the fragrance come to be felt. So the opened flower itself is faith. The unopened bud itself is unbelief. But the two are one: one has opened, one has not opened. Unbelief means that the lotus called the heart has not yet blossomed in them. Some day or other it will blossom. Sometimes it drops off while still a bud, without blossoming. That is their misfortune. In the world there are no two things at all. So Ekaṃ sat viprā bahudhā vadanti. There is only One: if you recognise that divine Prajñā whose form is rasa, you become one who has recognised everything. If you behold it, you become one who has beheld everything. To that One alone you are offering everything. There is direct proof of this. A man vowed that when his task was accomplished he would worship God with the thousand names. He set up Kṛṣṇa as the deity of his worship. He is doing the thousand names. He offers one flower at a time. Keśavāya namaḥ, Nārāyaṇāya namaḥ, Mādhavāya namaḥ and Govindāya namaḥ: they say all the names. He offers one flower at a time. The names differ, but the offering made goes to the one God alone. There is only One; we speak many names.
The foods differ, but hunger is one; the flowers differ, but the worship is one; the births differ, but the creature is one.