In plain words
Those forms and names are different. But his true name is ‘Ātma’ itself! You must not forget it. Keep contemplating it without a break, and do whatever acting you may. This is the right ideal for life, and Ānanda. Some people: ‘I have offered everything to God, I have attained Śaraṇāgati, yet why have my troubles still not come to an end? Why do such notions still come to me? Why am I put through these sufferings?’ they lament. Children must grasp this finely. If you had truly surrendered, why would these troubles come to you? Why would these feelings come to you? You would never so much as think these thoughts. You would never so much as grieve that these are your troubles. So it means you have not truly surrendered! If it is Śaraṇāgati, you will not care about this brooding. In the same way, though God Himself is in you, all these sufferings close in on you only when you have no faith that God is in you.
The Influence of the Mind Is the Root Cause of All States
When man, in keeping with the influence of circumstances, reflects with presence of mind on his own condition and enquires into the principle of God, the forms and names of God appear different. Even so, God is One! Let Christians say it, let Muslims say it, let Persians say it, let Hindus say it: whoever says it, God is One! But in keeping with the rules and doctrines of each of those communities, we experience Him as different forms and names. There is a brahmin. He is cooking in a kitchen. In keeping with the work he does, we call him a ‘cook brahmin’. He does pūjā inside a temple. He is a ‘priest brahmin’. Why a cook brahmin here and a priest brahmin there; is a brahmin not a brahmin? No: the work done here is cooking, the work done there is pūjā. At midday that same brahmin sets the almanac before him and tells everyone from it. Then they call him an ‘almanac brahmin’. That same brahmin goes to an office. Then they call him an ‘officer brahmin’.