In plain words
To pass the time, for the gossip of the townsfolk how ready you are, and with what great care! but when the sweet talk of God is told so tenderly, you will not stay attentive, O ears!
When divine matters are spoken of, when the sacred principle of the Ātma is taught, these two ears take opposite ways, like East and west. When bad things are to be heard, the two become one. These very marks are dullness of understanding.
The third is vitarka. Whatever is said, to invent meanings contrary to it; here is a small example. A great devotee says,
Śuklāmbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śaśivarṇaṃ caturbhujam prasannavadanaṃ dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśāntaye.
so he says. That is, the one who wears white clothes is Vighneśvara. Viṣṇum, the one who pervades all; this Vighneśvara is ash-coloured. Caturbhujam, the one who has four arms. This is the description of Vighneśvara that great devotees give. And how does one who is no devotee argue against it? Śuklāmbaradharam: the donkey, which carries all the clothes. Viṣṇum: it roams wherever you look in the bazaar. There is no one to tie it up. It wanders freely everywhere, all-pervading. That is the donkey. The one that is ash-coloured: the donkey. Caturbhujam: the one with four legs, the donkey. How contrary this is! That is why he tries to describe good as bad and bad as good, just as he pleases. That is the kutarki.
The fourth is viparya durāgraha. That is, the conceited man, though he knows nothing, says, "I know everything. Who is anyone to tell me?" Why should one who knows everything enter into this folly? This is simply viparya durāgraha. That is, the foolish stubbornness within him. Any man at all can be set right, but the fool we cannot set right. In man today these four, viparya durāgraha, kutarka, dullness of understanding and avidyā, are dancing wildly. We must make an effort to drive these four away. What is the effort we must make for this?
We are doing many kinds of sādhana. We are doing dhyāna. What is dhyāna? Is it to sit with eyes closed, in the lotus posture, hands clasped tight? That is for the photograph; it is not true dhyāna. Dhyāna has no one fixed method. To fix the mind on God, that alone is true dhyāna. This whole life is made of dhyāna. You read books and fix your attention on them. If you did not give your attention there, you could not read the books at all!