In plain words
‘Truth is one; the wise speak of it in many ways.’ In the Bhagavad Gītā Kṛṣṇa too said, ‘Mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtas sanātanaḥ’: ‘It is My own part that dwells in all. What is in you is My reflection and nothing else.’ To recognise this Satya the Buddha toiled very hard. In keeping with the ochre robes He wore, He renounced all desires. In Him there was nothing but Prema. He felt that Prema was His very life. He taught that without Prema all is void.
What exists is one; the names are many
When you bow to one another, you must not think, ‘I am bowing to the person before me.’ ‘I am bowing to my own self. I am seeing only my own reflection’: this is what you must feel. ‘That am I.’ This is what the mahāvākya ‘Ahaṃ brahmāsmi’ teaches. Forms and names may be different. But the divinity in all of them is one. This we call a ‘kerchief’. This we call a ‘shirt’. The names are different, but the basis of both is cotton, isn't it! In the same way, the principle of God that lies hidden in all forms and names is one. So we must regard the principle of God as one; we must not believe it to be many. Today even great scholars teach only difference. Thinking they have gained great learning in the Vedas and Śāstras, they teach what is in them in whatever way occurs to them. What exists is one. They give it many names. The Ātma principle in all, pure, unmoving and selfless, is one. So we must not blame anyone or punish anyone. We must not look for faults in anyone. This is what the Buddha taught! Care for the poor; help them. In truth, no one in this world is poor. All are rich. All are rich. Nobody is poor. Just because someone has no food to eat, just because there are no coins in his hands, we must not take anyone for poor and look down on him. He may have no coins, but he has a heart, doesn't he! So we must respect everyone.