In plain words
Brahmavidyā is gained by breadth of heart and purity of citta
In the time of the ‘Paramahaṃsa’ there were many men of worldly learning, paṇḍits and intellectuals. But Ātmajñāna did not shine much in them. Otherwise the names of those paṇḍits and those intellectuals would be heard somewhere; they are heard nowhere. What is the reason that only the name of the ‘Paramahaṃsa’, who learned no worldly learning, has spread so far in the world? Water mixed with sugar and plain water look the same to the eye. Drink them, and you know which is the sweet drink and which is water. The words of the Paramahaṃsas are filled with the supreme purpose. The words of intellectuals are filled with learning. Paṇḍits of surface study go to the money, but cannot go to Paramātma. A matchstick soaked in water will not light however much you try. Not only does it not light, it spoils the box too, the matchbox. In the same way, the parrot talk of impure hearts is soaked in the vāsanās of the world. However much they teach, there are only hearers, no eaters. Of all the dealings in the world, knowledge is the special cause. Without an object there is no knowledge of the object. But knowledge is of two kinds, indirect and direct. Knowledge marked by difference, of subject and object, is indirect knowledge. Without indirect knowledge there is no direct knowledge of any object. The direct comes through the senses, the eye, the ear and the rest, and through statements. This is worldly learning. But Brahmavidyā is gained by breadth of heart and purity of citta.