In plain words
That is not possible for you. First of all, try to recognise your nature. On this very point, Vedānta: “My son! Know yourself,” it taught, in small, simple words you could understand. “Why should I make an effort to know who I am?”: such crazy questions the ‘modern boys’ of today keep asking. “I am the son of so-and-so, my name is such-and-such, I do such-and-such a job, I am from such-and-such a country”: one can give fine answers like these. But these answers are answers bound up with attachment to the physical body, and nothing else. “This body is the child of so-and-so; this body works in such-and-such an office. This body took such-and-such a degree; this body came from such-and-such a country”: if we look into all such things, they are only attachments to the body and not attachment to the Ātma, surely! When told to know yourself: “I have known myself. My name is so-and-so, my height is this much, my colour is such”: saying no more than this is not the right answer. ‘You’ does not mean only ‘you as an individual’. This ‘I’ has taken on the very form of the whole. The very ‘I’ that is in all is in you too. That is why it has been said: “Its hands and feet are everywhere, its eyes, heads and faces everywhere, its ears everywhere in the world; it stands enveloping all.” The Ātma that pervades everywhere is but one. Bodies may differ; high and low may differ; forms and names may differ; learning and intelligence may differ; but the principle of the Ātma is one alone. We must try to recognise the divinity that carries such oneness.
Recognising the unity in diversity: that is the secret of Vedānta
Embodiments of Prema! Today we do not see the unity in diversity. We divide unity into diversity. The secret of Vedānta is nothing but recognising the unity that lies in diversity. This Vedānta came into being through the Upaniṣads. What is the inner meaning of ‘Upaniṣad’? Upa, near; ni, below; ṣat, sit: that is the meaning. ‘Sit below and listen,’ it was said. Why must one sit below to listen? The guru is the one who teaches.