In plain words
So they came to decide that divinity comes only to those who, by sādhana, hold these Rudras in check on this Śivarātri. That is, control of the senses is the very root of Mokṣa and of the vision of God. This control of the senses is not so easy. Arjuna himself: ‘Cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramādi balavadṛḍham’. “It is very dangerous, very strong; I cannot control it, Swami,” he said. The ṛṣis too knew this kind of suffering. They had experienced it well. That is why: ‘Sir! You cannot stay in control for as long as the span of your life. If you control these senses even for the single night of Śivarātri, you can attain divinity,’ they said, and came to regard it as a special night. When man has no work, no bridle is enough any more to hold these senses. They run wherever they please. So on this Śivarātri, when you spend the whole night thinking of God, feeling for God and worshipping God, these senses have no room to enter anything else; so spend this time the whole night through in thinking of God, remembering God and feeling God. It is a time of the closest nearness. ‘In this time you can become worthy of God's grace’: so they came to decide.
But all the clever moderns of today hold that keeping awake is what matters, and the good thought of how to make the night holy is not born in them. They decide that on Śivarātri they must keep vigil. How do they do it? “We will go to three films. Some hour near dawn comes round. We come home, bathe, and have tiffin and a meal.” Others again, wondering how to pass the whole night, turn to cards with their dears and nears. Still others, the women of the house, get together. They sit playing at dice. That is why:
Playing cards with relish through the night: does passing it so make a vigil? The gaze with which the fishermen at the tank lie in wait for fish: is that Mukti? Drinking arrack and forgetting your body: does that alone make rapture? Sulking at your wife and lying down hungry: is that a great fast?