In plain words
If he were truly a jñāni, why should he keep the water-gourd under his head? He has not let go of his attachment to the gourd!’ said Ubhayabhāratī, so that he could hear. He grew angry. As they were coming back after bathing in the Gaṅgā, he took the gourd and flung it away. Seeing this, Ubhayabhāratī said, ‘He has not only attachment but Ahaṅkāra as well.’ Then the sannyāsi saw his mistake and fell at her feet.
Jñāna that is eternal Satya
In this way Ubhayabhāratī went on bringing about a change in many people. What she thought, what she said and what she did, all three were one. For that very reason she became a guru to all. “Manasyekaṃ vacasyekaṃ karmaṇyekaṃ mahātmanāṃ,” they have said. Whoever it may be, only the one who drives away Ajñāna and develops the principle of Prema is the true guru. Only the one who brings the mind to its end is the true guru. We must long for nothing but the one God. Such Jñāna alone is the Jñāna that is eternal Satya.
There are so many such jñānis in the world. “If there were no holy men in the world, how would the worlds shine as by day?” Only because such jñānis are there does the whole world shine. Unity is Jñāna. Multiplicity is Ajñāna. Jñāna is not something you get from someone else. It is gained only through divine Prema. What we must ask for is the Ātma alone, nothing else. A beggar stands before a house and says, ‘Bhavati bhikṣāṃ dehi.’ He asks the dweller in the body to give him alms; he is not asking the body. Through just such small comparisons we can develop Jñāna. The studies we pursue in this world cannot give us the Jñāna of the Ātma.
Though they have studied right through to M.A.s and B.A.s, though they be great men of renown, though they have wealth and give generously, though they be holy ones famed across the earth, though they have long life and health without end and are men of perfect strength, though they ever practise japa and tapas and are brāhmaṇas who teach the Vedas, they can never equal the devotees.