In plain words
Truly, God is right before you. He is within you. Divinity alone is in the world; there is nothing else. Many hardships and troubles come to us. All of them are only the agitations of our own mind. Seen truly, man is supremely blessed. The comforts, joys, pleasures and delights that men have, no other creature has. Even after taking such a sacred human birth, we keep thinking, ‘Sorrow! Sorrow!’
We go off to what is called a sādhana camp, and what do we do there? Cleaning the temple there. Laying some road or other, doing Nārāyaṇa sevā: all things like these. All these are good deeds, but they are not sādhana. Sādhana has an inner meaning. The unceasing effort we make to gain what we long for: that very karma is what is called sādhana. Whatever path we follow to obtain the thing we have resolved to obtain, that itself should be called sādhana. But for the principle of this sādhana to be achieved, three measures are needed. To win this object there must be ‘Prema’. We must recognise the ‘excellence’ that lies in that object. This is what has been called Viveka. Then we must make the effort fit to obtain that object. That is what has been called karma. These are Bhakti, Jñāna and karma. So when we say we are doing sādhana, it becomes sacred only when the oneness of these three is blended in that sādhana.
How should sādhana be done? One must recognise one's own reality. This itself is realisation. But how are we able to see our own face? What must we do to see it? Only when we set before us a mirror made of earth can we see our face. In the same way, if we wish to see our own true form, only when we look in the mirror called the Buddhi, joined to the Manas, does our reflection appear in it. Only because a black chemical is coated on the back of this mirror can we see our face on the front. Otherwise, what is behind it would show, but what is in front would not. That black chemical coated on the back is the Manas. So when we put the Manas behind the mirror called the Buddhi, when the Buddhi's shadow takes in the Manas, when we take the Buddhi as our leader, our reflection appears in it very clearly. We must follow the Buddhi, not the Manas. The Manas is like a monkey. When we put this darkness called the Manas behind this mirror called the Buddhi, and make the front clean and pure, our own true form appears in the mirror.
Whether to better oneself or to better others, purity of citta is the first need of all. Tiruttuṇḍ Āḷvār lived in Tamil Nadu. ‘My body itself is dedicated to You. My blood itself is Your adornment. My Prema itself is Your garment’: thinking in this way, he would lay his hand on a stone and grind it, and apply the blood that came, saying, ‘This is Your sandal paste.’ When he had no plate to offer the ārati, he would put camphor on his palm and offer the ārati in his palm itself. The one who took up such sacrifice was Tiruttuṇḍ Āḷvār. But for this, God appeared before him. If his longing, his principle of Prema, had truly been pain to him, he would not have taken up such things! To him it was Ānanda, after all. Ānanda itself is Brahman. For Ānanda he will toil to any length. The body made of the five elements will go one day in any case. I will offer it to You. Our Kṛṣṇamūrti told us. In Śaraṇāgati to Swāmi we are doing all our work. We have won a great triumph. We achieved it more easily than we had thought, and in a short time. Food cooked for 400 was enough for 1,000, and there was still some left over. What does offering mean? Oneness: one feeling everywhere. Only where there are two can there be one that offers and one that receives the offering. When there are not two, who is it that offers? Who is it that receives? So to hold to oneness is itself offering.
This whole world is fit for God to dwell in. In God's will there is not one bad thing. The reason is that all of it was made by His will. So all of it is sacred. But the fault lies in the way it is used. Is a knife bad? With it you can cut fruit, you can cut vegetables; if, when anger comes, you use it to kill others, is that the knife's fault? No. It is our own fault. When we root out our faults, develop good qualities and, with a sacred, broad outlook, regard service to society as service to the Lord of all, that becomes the true principle of service. Service does not mean doing something for someone or other. Whatever we look at, it is for the pleasure of the Lord. Not for the pleasure of any patient. Not for the pleasure of this creature. Not for the pleasure of these who have no one. We do it for the pleasure of God. Because God is in that one.
Ekanātha went to Kāśī. He took Gaṅgā water. From there he was going with his band of disciples to mingle it at Rāmeśvaram. On the way, a donkey had fallen down. The sun was fierce. Finding no water anywhere, the donkey was in great distress.