In plain words
What is the difference! Is it a difference of form, a difference of name, a difference of conduct? No, no. For all, the heart alone is the root and base. So let every one of you follow the heart. This is what has been called conscience. Śaṅkara went on teaching a very easy path.
Adornments differ, the gold is one; the colours of the cattle differ, the milk is one; the kinds of beings differ, the jīva is one; the kinds of flowers differ, the worship is one; the darśanas differ, God is one. Not knowing this, men lose their wits and, for the sake of a living, are bound in many bonds.
Go deep and look in this way, and all is one, all one! So many people are sitting here. They are of many names and forms. They have many feelings. They have many ways of conduct. But in all of them the five elements are one! In you, in me, in him, in this one, in everyone, the five elements are one!
Brahman means the vast form
The principle of these five elements is the supreme principle. It is in everyone. You, he, this one, all are embodiments of the Ātma! All of these are embodiments of Brahman! That is why ‘Tat tvam asi’ has been said, whether in the Bhagavad Gītā or in the Upaniṣads. ‘Ahaṃ brahmāsmi’: I myself am Brahman. Who can say this is not so? What does Brahman mean? The vast form. That which has the power to spread. The feelings in man keep spreading out. You are here. But your mind goes off to Madras, to Bombay, and wanders about there. How vast it is! In a single moment it has gone, to Delhi! So it has the nature of the vast. We are not nourishing it. We are not strengthening it.