In plain words
I think, ‘This handkerchief is one thing, I am another.’ This takes the shape of Dvaita. In this very handkerchief we can show Advaita clearly. What is this? This is a handkerchief. This is a piece of cloth. But when you inquire into this very thing, it is not a fabric. It is a joining of threads. It is not threads; it is cotton. Cotton, thread and cloth: the three are one! That is precisely why: ‘Tridalaṃ triguṇākāraṃ trinetraṃ ca triyāyudham trijanma pāpa saṃhāraṃ ekabilvaṃ śivārpaṇam’. That is Advaita. Here we must inquire into two divisions. The seen, and the unseen.
The Ānanda in Advaita Cannot Be Expressed Outwardly
Some people cannot tell in detail what it was that they experienced directly. A dumb man ate every dish of the six tastes. But he has no way to describe each one as it was and explain it in detail. Nor can he tell it. The Ānanda in Advaita cannot be expressed outwardly. In experience you understand it, but you cannot explain it and tell it to others. Here, if the unseen were not there, the seen would be nothing. Unfortunately, today people give more importance only to the seen, and leave no room at all for the unseen. They do not believe in the unseen. Another small example. Here is an ice cube. The ice cube is direct evidence. But water, which is unseen, is there as its basis. Without the unseen water there is no ice to be seen. So for the ice cube, which is direct evidence, the unseen water is the basis. So what is the chief thing for the seen? The unseen alone is the chief thing, the basis. So for this whole world fashioned as the seen, the unseen divinity is the basis. Unable to recognise this truth, man takes the Veda itself to be Vedānta, believes the Veda itself to be Advaita, and, chanting the Veda alone, tries to experience the matters in the Veda. Man passes his time in a worldly life. He passes his time in a physical life.