In plain words
But some intellectuals think, "Surely it is not right to waste my learning, my saṃskāra and my intelligence." Learning and intellect, the two of them, stand one on that side and one on this. What joins the two is saṃskāra. If we develop saṃskāra, both learning and intellect are put to good use. If we give up saṃskāra and think only of learning and intellect, it is simply dry. They turn into lifeless things.
By reading the letters set down on paper does a man on earth become wise? Knowing the meanings within the letters, the one who reads so is the best.
Merely by reading letters, no one becomes intelligent or learned. Only the one who reads with an eye to the meaning in the letters is truly wise. So this meaning within the letters is itself this culture. We have cast off such a culture, and today we have taken this learning and this intellect as our support. That is why good thoughts are moving so far away from us.
So even if we do no mudrās and master no mudrās, if we grow in every matter as far as we can through deep faith, that itself is our goal. This alone is the fulfilment of our life. Still, some may try to master these mudrās as a practice. Above all, khecarī mudrā, ṣaṇmukha mudrā and śāmbhavī mudrā, these three mudrās, are of great use for mastering the mind. These five mudrās rest on the six cakras. Mūlādhāra, svādhiṣṭhāna, maṇipūraka, anāhata, viśuddha, ājñā and sahasrāra: these are the seven cakras. Next Thursday we shall talk about the lords of these cakras and the changes in the mind that come about through them. In this way, all the teachings in the Upaniṣad, the Brahma Sūtra, the Bhagavad Gītā and the commentaries of Vedānta have one single key, and that is mastery of the mind. All of these are like the branches and twigs of that mastery of the mind. Whatever we do, we must do it with faith.
We must develop faith in God. Without faith, even if we read the Bhagavad Gītā, even if we learn its seven hundred ślokas by heart, it is only a burden on the throat, and we find no happiness in it at all.