In plain words
In the same way, all beings, all living creatures, come forth from the Ātmatattva itself, which is divinity. But the Ātmatattva is not seen. What we see is the good and bad of the beings that came forth from it, the conduct of those beings. After Śaṅkara's Advaita had spread in all four directions in the city of Kāśī, thousands of paṇḍitas gathered. The mind of a man with purity of citta is like a spotless mirror. Once, Śaṅkara closed his eyes. A vision of his mother in distress appeared. There and then he stopped the assembly and came to Kālaḍi. Before his mother closed her eyes, Śaṅkara appeared there, fulfilled to the full the promise he had given her, and at the last poured tulasī water into her mouth. In the conditions of that time, the people of Kerala were against it.
To give up every kind of desire: that is sannyāsa
A sannyāsī must not enter into the rites of karma. He had renounced all karmas and taken up sannyāsa. What does sannyāsī mean? Sannyāsa is nothing other than giving up all desires. Śaṅkara, who had taken sannyāsa, entered into the worldly karmas of everyday life. Be it his mother or be it his father, he must not enter into the rites. So that the students may understand, I have to go a little deeper. First of all, before taking sannyāsa, they perform what is called the Virajā homa. What does Virajā homa mean? As though he had died, he performs his own rites himself, and takes on a new garb and a new name. He changes his form; the former form is gone. The name once given to this body is gone as well. A new name comes. Lokānanda, Nāgānanda, Ānanda: all of them Ānandas! But in them there is not a grain of Ānanda. That is the Virajā homa. He has performed his own death-rites himself. At such a time, where is mother, where is father, where are the rites? So he must not enter into the rites.