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In plain words

Sri Ramakrishna: Well, which do you like, God with form or the formless? You see, He who is formless, He it is who is with form. To the devotee's eyes He gives darshan in a form. It is like a boundless mass of water. A great ocean. There is no shore and no edge, and in some places that water has turned to ice; when the cold is very great, ice forms. Just so, by the frost of devotion the form is seen. And again, as the ice melts when the sun rises—the water is water as before—just so, if one goes by the way of knowledge—the way of discrimination—the form is no longer seen; all is formless once more. When the sun of knowledge rose, the ice of form melted away.