In plain words
For anyone. So you may think that karma cannot be escaped. But this is possible for God alone. We must make the right effort to earn such grace.
What are we doing today? Ah, I am doing pūjā. I contemplate so much. I love. A man measures these, applying them only to himself. You measure your own. There is a reason for that. But in loving God, this is beyond reason. Those reasons are of no use here at all. How is it? There is a padyam.
A relative who is of no use when needed, a god who gives no boon though you bow to him, a horse that will not run when you have mounted it in the thick of battle: these you must drop at once, O Sumati!
So they said. They said: drop at once a god who gives no boon when you bow, a horse that does not run when you mount it, a kinship that does not help in trouble. To whom was this said? That we do not think about. We grieve, saying, "They did not come and help me!" If we pay good money and bring home a horse, and it does not run when we mount it, we beat it, saying, "It is not running!" At the very end he said it. "Sumati." For one with a good mind these three work. One who has a good mind knows which of the deeds he does are good deeds and which bad. He did not ask, after doing bad deeds, why his relatives did not help him. Those with a good mind do not mount a horse without knowing how to ride. One with a good mind does not give up God, saying, "God is punishing me!" One with a good mind never gives up God. One with a good mind does not mount a horse without knowing how to ride. One with good sense does not do a bad deed and then cast off all his relatives because they did not help. First of all we must keep a good mind. Su-ma-ti: a good mind. Not ku-mati. So it is to gain that good mind that we must take refuge in the Divine to some extent. God always remains the witness.
Suppose some letter comes to you at times, or a telegram: a bad telegram has come. If you keep a good relationship with that postman, he comes kindly and tells you even that bad news with good words. Otherwise: "A letter has come for you."