In plain words
For example, take sugarcane. It has a great many joints, but the juice within it and its taste are one. Draw juice from anywhere in this sugarcane and only sweetness comes; there is no other taste. So he said sugarcane juice is Advaita. But this sugarcane juice cannot keep for long. So you must turn it into sugar. That keeps for ever. You can use it at any time, anywhere, in anything. So if sugarcane juice is Advaita, sugar is Viśiṣṭādvaita. It is a qualified Advaita. Rāmānuja put this forward.
Dvaita: Madhvācārya. Advaita: Śaṅkarācārya. In Dvaita, the jīva is one thing and God another. What did Madhvācārya say? ‘O God! I do not want sugarcane juice. I do not need to become sugar either. For sugar does not know its own taste. So I must be an ant that eats the sugar. You are the embodiment of Prema. I must be the one who tastes Your Prema. You are God. I am the jīva. We must stay apart. Only while the jīva stays apart can it taste divinity,’ he said. This is divinity. Once this jīva has eaten well of the sugar that is God, digested it and understood the principle of God, he himself becomes God. ‘Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati.’ Today people sink into needless arguments about Dvaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita and Advaita and waste their time. These three together are one. The sugar in Mysore pāk, gulāb jāmun, barfi and pālkova is one and the same, isn't it! In the same way, in this world the forms and names are many and different. But what is in everyone and in everything is one: ‘Ekātmā sarvabhūtāntarātmā.’
See, there are so many bulbs. But the current is one. Then where does the difference lie? One is red, one is blue, one is white, one gives more light. One gives less light. None of this is a fault of the current; the difference is in the bulbs and their wattage. In the same way, the current called divine power is in you, in Me, in everyone. But according to the capacity of each one's heart, one person's is dim. Another's is bright. The cause of this is only the difference in wattage. When you think of Hari always, at all times and everywhere, this wattage comes as much as is needed. So change the bulb. Change the wattage. But there is no need to change the current. If the dim heart is to become bright, increase your Prema. As Prema grows, your heart becomes light and bright.
See, this is a stick of wood. If you put it in the fire, it turns into charcoal. If we touch the wood, no dirt sticks to us, but if we touch charcoal, the dirt sticks. What must we do to make this charcoal white again? Simple and ignorant people wash it with soap. If you rub soap on charcoal, the soap too turns black, but the charcoal does not become white. Even if you wash charcoal in milk, the milk too turns black, but the charcoal does not whiten. What must we learn here? Why did it become charcoal? How did it become charcoal? It became charcoal through contact with fire. Put it back into the fire itself; it burns and burns and burns and at last turns into white ash. It became charcoal because it burned only halfway. When it burns completely, it becomes white and light. In the same way, when there is part-time devotion, the mind is like charcoal. When there is full-time devotion, it is light and bright. So put it into the fire of Prema. It will burn and burn and turn into fine ash. Blow ‘phoo’ and it flies away. See, if you let go of this stick there, it falls down. But burn that same stick well and turn it to ash, and when you blow ‘phoo’, it rises up. So the lighter the mind, the higher it goes. The more the weight, the lower it sinks. So to rise to a high level, you must keep reducing the weight of desires. Less luggage more comfort make travel a pleasure. The more you reduce desires, the lighter the mind becomes.
It is not enough merely to reduce desires; the evil qualities of attachment, hatred and envy above all must lessen. These three are man's chief enemies. They destroy all three: karma, upāsana and Jñāna. Lust destroys Bhakti. Anger destroys Jñāna. Greed destroys karma. When anger comes, the very sense to judge when, where and how to speak is lost. It increases enmity. So you must give no room to anger. There must be no greed at all. Even cancer can be cured, but these three cannot be cured. Then when are they cured? When you put them into the fire of divine Prema, they are burnt to ash. When you put hard iron into fire, it burns through and melts. You see! When even hard iron melts like that in fire, will our evil qualities not melt in the fire of divine Prema! So we must first destroy our evil qualities. There is no use doing japa, dhyāna or some other sādhana to destroy them.