In plain words
In the same way, Mokṣa and Dharma too have their fruits. When we hear it said of a man that he is very virtuous, it is on the basis of the conduct that lies within his qualities that we call him virtuous. What do we mean when we say his heart is sāttvic? It is on the basis of his conduct that we call him a man of sāttvic heart. In short, it is on the basis of guṇa and karma that we judge a person good or bad. One whose conduct is wicked we call wicked. One who has taken to good deeds we call virtuous. So guṇa and karma are of the first importance for a human being. Man is the very embodiment of guṇa and karma. Kṛṣṇa too said that it was on the basis of guṇa and karma that He created the varṇas. But how are we to practise this guṇa and karma? Actions follow from quality. Quality follows from actions. The tree comes from the seed, and the seed from the tree. Of the two, it is impossible to say which comes first and which after. Each rests on the other; neither can be without the other. That is why we must turn our qualities into good qualities.
Rāmakṛṣṇānanda has spoken. For so many days, for so many years, you have been coming. You listen to discourse after discourse. You hear teaching upon teaching. You have lived in the āśram for a long time. But what has come of it? What have you achieved? Are we putting even one or two of these into practice for others to see? No. That is why all such discourses only heat the heart! They only make one weary of life! They only waste time! Ideas not absorbed into action are a life lived out in the wilderness. We must try to put at least two or three of them into practice.
Kṣamā, compassion, Satya, Prema and fellow-feeling belong to all human beings. No one, of whatever country or caste, can say, ‘This is not for us.’ For every country, every age and every person, these are what matter most. These are qualities of the Ātma. Even if some wicked man torments, strikes or abuses such a person of good qualities, he should give no room to faint-heartedness and no place to anger, and should grow the quality that forgives even the one who punishes him.