In plain words
(Swami, showing His handkerchief) If anyone asks, “What is this?”, you say, ‘Cloth.’ Many threads are held in this cloth. Cotton is present in these threads. In the same way, three principles are present in you too. 1. The you that you think you are (the body); 2. The you that others think you are (the mind); 3. The real you (the Ātma). That Ātma itself is 'I'. That itself is Brahman; that itself is God. God has no particular name, and no form. Man imagines some form or other for God and is content with it, but if you truly look, all forms are God's alone.
Emperor Bali and Vāmana
Emperor Bali was a man of great sacrifice and a supreme devotee. Śrīman Nārāyaṇa came to him in the form of Vāmana and asked for a gift of three paces of land. Though Lakṣmī dwells on His very chest, Hari, who rides the bird, went to Bali and begged for alms. But why did He have to take on so small a form? One who begs is small; he cannot be big, can he! That is why even one as great as Śrīman Nārāyaṇa became small when He came to Emperor Bali to beg. That small one's feet were smaller still. He asked for no more than three paces of land. With those three paces He won all three worlds. God is full of infinite power. What is impossible for Him?! Śukrācārya came: “Bali! This is no ordinary person; He is Śrīman Nārāyaṇa in person. So do not give Him what He asks for,” he warned. But Emperor Bali: “Gurudeva! If a man breaks his word, is he a man at all? I have given my word that I will give. So come what may, I shall keep my word,” he said. He gave the three paces of land, as Vāmana had asked. What are those three paces? “Bhūḥ bhuvaḥ suvaḥ.” “Bhūḥ” means this world made of matter. Vāmana took this in with a single step. “Bhuvaḥ” means the world of feeling. “Suvaḥ” means Suvarloka. That is the principle of the Ātma. The world of matter (the body), the world of feeling (the mind) and Suvarloka (the Ātma): all three are held within man.