In plain words
Food makes the body grow; dhyāna makes the understanding grow
Today we sit in dhyāna. We do not know whom we are meditating on, or what we are meditating on. The moment we sit in dhyāna, all the vegetables in the kitchen come to mind. In our way of Bhārata there is a connection between the pūjā room and the kitchen. But we must recognise its inner meaning. Food for the body, food for the head, they have said. Dhyāna is food for the head, that is, dhyāna is what makes the understanding grow. Food is what makes the body grow. If only the body grows, swelling up like a big pakoḍā, and there is no intelligence, a reservation in a mental hospital will be needed. Dhyāna is what makes the Buddhi grow. Dhyāna is what makes understanding grow. So japa, dhyāna, yoga, yajña, bhajan and all such things broaden the heart. We must not neglect them. We must not be careless, thinking, "Oh, we are just singing bhajans." Even if it is not pleasing to your ears, make the effort, with a pure heart, to dwell to some extent on that rāga, that feeling, that tāla. There is no difference at all among the religions. All religions are one! Each religion follows certain practices and certain rules. But God is beyond rules. He is beyond feelings. He is not bound by any of this. No religion is free of bounds. Each stays within certain limits and follows only certain disciplines. These limits and disciplines are needed only by man. The divine has none. That is why there must be rules for man. The divine has no rule. If you think, "Mine is the Hindu religion, mine is the Christian religion", divinity is not in the religion. It is in your own mind. When you examine your mind well and broaden it, all religions come together as one.