In plain words
Today ninety-nine people in a hundred are in this very state. Worshipping only the pictures of the one they worship, and harming the living forms themselves. Is this the mark of pūjā? It can never be. So, as for the God we trust with all our heart and for whose grace we make every effort to become worthy: we make efforts that cannot hold on to Him even when He is within our grasp in person, and then try to experience Him in the unmanifest, or through a power beyond our reach and sight; that can only be called foolishness. We must recognise, at least to some extent, how great our Ajñāna is when we fail to recognise God, present as consciousness in the living, and worship some lifeless form instead. First of all we must reflect on what this all-pervading Viṣṇutva is. We must make the effort it takes to know it. So it becomes perfectly clear to us that the principle of the Ātma alone is the support of everything. Because our desires run beyond all bounds, we are losing even the faith we have. Here is a little story about this.
We Must Not Ask God for Petty Wishes
A rich man had a daughter. There was wealth in plenty, but the girl's nose was flat. The girl's nose had sunk far inward. No nose could be seen. The father tried very hard to get the girl married. All who came would look at her and go away. When they saw the wealth, desire came; when they saw the girl, they did not like her at all. In those days there were no people doing this plastic surgery. But he went to many people: ‘How can it be cured?’ he asked, and all of them said, ‘None of us can do it,’ and left him in despair. Well, the father lost hope, and when he offered a dowry of two lakhs instead of one, someone or other, out of greed, married this girl. Poor things, they lived in a house and prayed to God every day in so many ways. They went on pilgrimages, visited holy places and took holy baths. Whatever they did, would the nose get a nose? It could not. At a sacred place a great soul gave them a piece of advice: ‘My child! Only the One who created it can set this right; it will never be set right by any changes in nature.