In plain words
You must recognise the difference in this. 'That is I myself': mistaking your own body for it, you say, 'That is I myself.' While you say 'That is I myself', however many people take a stick and beat that reflection, it does not make you weep at all. You feel no blow. If someone comes and abuses that reflection, you get angry. If they beat it, no blow touches you; but if they abuse it, then the blow lands. When they beat it, that is not I. When they abuse it, I am that. This is the secret in the Vedānta. That is, when we recognise the heart and the principle of the Ātma as one, whatever pain comes to anyone, it is mine. But while we live with attachment to the body, whatever anyone thinks, it is not mine. What gives such vast teachings is the Vedānta.
It is to recognise such a pure, eternal and true principle that we must take part in a few gatherings of this kind. You must keep safe in your heart some of the things you have heard and seen in this gathering. That is why the Vedānta has been teaching these three chief principles: śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsa. Śravaṇa means hearing. To recall again what has been heard is manana. To put into practice what has been reflected on is nididhyāsa. To bring the food cooked in the form of dishes and set it out in the dining hall. Making it in the kitchen is itself one śravaṇa. Merely doing śravaṇa is of no use. Merely having as much food as is needed in the kitchen is of no use. We must bring it into the dining hall and set it on the plate. That is manana. We must eat it: that is nididhyāsa. Cooking the food, serving it, enjoying it. That is jñātuṃ, draṣṭuṃ, praveṣṭuṃ. Mother came and said this. 'Dear son!' 'I have made pāyasam for you, I have made pulihora, I have made vaḍas.' You heard it. That hearing itself is jñātuṃ. You brought them all and set them on your plate. You looked at them well: this is draṣṭuṃ. Not only seeing it, but praveṣṭuṃ. It must go inside. Only then do we get nourishment and contentment. Whether it is something the elders said or something the children said, we must listen to it to some extent, reflect on it well, and try to put at least one or two things into practice. The oneness of these three is the root of true Ānanda.
Students! Vairāgya is not our leaving everything and going off somewhere. To stay just where we are, forget the nature of the object, and experience its real essence: that is Vairāgya. Do not keep the view that sees the material object. Grow the view that sees the supreme object. To recognise the secret of the matter that is in an object, that itself is Vairāgya. A small example. We have gone to the market and brought home a mango. I myself paid the price for this mango. I paid my own money. I did not steal it from anyone and bring it. I did not pay someone else's money. You may pride yourself, 'This is my money.' You bought a mango and brought it home. When you eat it, what do you do? You take only the juice.