In plain words
But that fire's heat and light do not help us at all. Only when they go near that fire do they feel that light and heat. If the light is seen from far off without going near, it is no help to us at all. That is exactly why all the Upaniṣads went on teaching us to sit ‘upa’, that is, near. The meaning of the word ‘Upaniṣat’: upa, near; ni, below; ṣat, sit. ‘You, sit near, below!’ they command. We must sit near God. Only then will you have the experience. If you merely stay somewhere far off saying ‘Bhakti, Bhakti’, it is not attained. We have put an AC in our room. If we sit near that AC, all our heat goes. The coolness of the AC comes to us and brings comfort. In the same way, if we put on a heater in winter, all the cold outside goes. The heater's warmth brings us comfort. In just the same way, if we go near God, God's qualities come to us and bring us comfort. If we stay far from God, bad qualities grow strong. So the Upaniṣads remind us, ‘upa’, near, close, ‘go’; ‘go close’. This is what the Veda too says: ‘dūrāt dūre antikeca’. ‘Sir! You keep thinking it is far, far away. No, no; as far as we think we are, so far away You are. As near as we think, so near You are,’ it teaches. All these are faults of the vision, not faults of the creation.
Good and bad are faults of our feeling, not faults of Prakṛti
You all know this well. The Mahābhārata holds all these scenes. Once upon a time, Kṛṣṇa called Duryodhana. ‘I have a great need. Go all over the kingdom and, if there is any one good man, bring him! From now on, in the war, we must make all the arrangements that are needed. Go at once and, if there is a good man in the kingdom, call him and bring him!’ He said.