In plain words
The guru was seated outside the room. “My son! Evening is coming on now. I will go into the cave and teach you there. But before we go, there is a lamp there. Light it and come back,” he said. He went there. He took a box of matches with him. He struck them in every way he could and tried to light it. All the matches were used up, but it would not light. “Swāmi! Guruji! This lamp will not burn,” he said. “Why is it not burning? Bring that lamp here,” he said. “Is what is in it oil or water? Think about it,” he said. He looked. Putting his fingers in. It turned out to be water. “Swāmi! It is water,” he said. “The wick is soaking up that water itself. First throw away all that water. Squeeze all the water out of the wick. Then pour oil into it. Dip this wick in the oil again. Then light it. The lamp will burn well,” he said. He did as the guru commanded. It burned as a divine light. Well! The guru kept silent. The disciple watched. “Swāmi! You said you would teach me. When will you give me the teaching of Jñāna?” he asked. “All this while I have been giving you the teaching of Jñāna; did you not hear it?” said the guru. The disciple said, “I do not understand anything.” When you have filled the lamp called your heart with the water called worldly sensual desires, and soaked the whole wick called the mind in sensual desires, how will the fire called Jñāna catch? First pour away the water called the physical sensual desires that you have filled into your heart. Put away from the wick called the mind, too, all its feelings. Fill it with the oil called Prema for God. Then I will light the lamp called the teaching of the Name. That is the lamp of Jñāna. But if you fill your whole heart with worldly sensual desires, with no Prema within, how will the lamp of Jñāna burn? People today all read many books. They receive many teachings. They do many sādhanas. But the impurity in the heart they do not cleanse. As though they had filled in water, the very opposite of this, the very opposite of oil, they stay full of material things.
For how many moments are we using this humanness of ours in a holy way? Children! You all know it well. A minute has 60 seconds. 60 minutes make an hour. 24 hours make a day. 30 days make a month. 12 months make a year. How many seconds are there in a year? When all these are multiplied, how much does it come to? It comes to three crore, eleven lakh and four thousand seconds. We live through three crore, eleven lakh and four thousand seconds. Think how old we are, and how many seconds it all comes to.