In plain words
The two children said, “You get mevā: so what is the gain? It is digested all in one go.” Then Tulasīdās said, “My child! Eating this worldly sweet gives only a passing sweetness, a passing end to hunger. It is digested in a moment. True! But not this one: the sweet God gives is the sweet of Prema. It is never digested at all. There is no hunger left. Though you eat it for many days, you never have your fill. That very sweet of Prema is what He gives through sevā,” he taught them. “This sweet lights the lamp of Jñāna,” he said. “When into the lamp called the antaḥkaraṇa you pour the essence of Prema called Bhakti, set in it the wick called prajñā, and light it with the fire called enquiry, this oil called Prema burns as the radiant Jñāna of the Ātma,” he said. That is why it is called ‘Bhakti’. Bhakti is not merely singing bhajans. Nor is it merely doing some pūjās or other. How are our Bhakti, our pūjās and our bhajans today? They are bound up with selfishness and self-interest. Bhakti is that which is filled with selflessness. To look at, everyone seems a devotee. Watch what they do, and they appear full of humility and obedience. But look into the heart, and it is the very opposite. That is why it has been said, ‘Look at Marks, and Ranks come. Look at conduct, and blanks come.’ Seen in outward practice, it looks like Bhakti. But look into the thoughts of the heart, and it turns out utterly loathsome. We must not take on such a nature. Within and without there must be one feeling, one thought, one and the same principle of Prema. Bhakti is not something only to be proclaimed or put on show. Bhakti put on show leads into great danger. So, to keep out of this danger, we must hold one and the same feeling within and without. This is true Bhakti.
All of humanness rests on discipline and steadfast observance
The third is discipline. It is very necessary. As soon as we rise at dawn we finish our morning duties, remember God, and then go about our work, whatever it is.