In plain words
There is the master of a house. His wife comes; she says, ‘my dear husband’. Her relationship is of that kind. The grandson comes. ‘My dear grand father,’ he says. While the two of them are still talking, the brother comes. ‘My dear brother,’ he says. The son comes. ‘My dear father,’ he says. The daughter-in-law comes and says, ‘My dear father-in-law’. Though there are so many relationships and names, the master of the house is one! Because so many people form so many kinds of relationships, so many kinds of names arise. All this is kinship.
You alone are mother and father, You alone kinsman and friend; You alone are learning and wealth, You alone are my all, O God of gods.
‘You alone are everything!’ they say. What madness! Look. ‘O God, You are my father, You are my mother, You are my friend, You are my kinsman, You are my all,’ they say to God. Śaṅkara went on refuting this. This is a great mistake. When you say ‘You are my father’, the father stays the father and the son stays the son. What is the use of that? No, no: the two must be made one. You are I, I am you. You and I are one only. This is the strength in Advaita. On this very ground the Veda said, ‘Tat tvaṃ asi’. ‘Through oneness of this kind great Ānanda comes to us’: so Śaṅkara went on teaching Advaita. But it is not that easy. Inquiry of many kinds has to take place for it. There must be the saṃskāra fit for it. This saṃskāra has to ripen. When saṃskāra ripens, the feeling that all is one comes to us easily. How fortunate is the one who has such a feeling! There is no one in the world more fortunate than he. The one who has such a feeling is a great and meritorious soul. He is the very king of the world. King over kings, the great king among kings. He is king of the empire of the Ātma.