In plain words
Merely reading the Bible brings no fulfilment. Merely reading the Qur'ān brings no fulfilment. Merely reciting the Bhagavad Gītā brings no fulfilment. Merely uttering the words in the great scriptures brings no fulfilment. We must put into practice the chief principle that is in them. Socrates used to gather many young men together and teach the way of inquiry into the eternal and the transient. The chief officer for ruling a kingdom must be only one who has Bhakti and surrender. One who has no Bhakti and surrender is not fit to be a ruler of the kingdom, he said. He must regard Satya alone as the ideal of his life. He must be a person who shows gratitude to God. He taught that when he enjoys the power of rule he must not forget God through Ahaṅkāra, and that such a ruler falls to ruin. But these teachings did not please those who were kings in the least. So they laid many kinds of charges against him and came to regard him as a traitor. In the end they decided to kill him. He was pure of heart. He lived by selfless action. He was not in the least afraid to teach such things. He thought, "Rather than give up my life at the hands of these impure rulers, it is far better to give it up at the hands of my pure disciples." At the end he taught his disciples one truth. Dear ones! Every one of you must show gratitude to God. You must hold to Satya. We must not break the word we gave and leave our life in debt to others. He himself demonstrated this ideal. Once, long before, he had promised to give a man a hen. Before taking his own life he thought it over. Thinking, "To whom have I made what promise?", he called a disciple to him. Dear one! At such and such a time I made a promise to a man. So, while I am still alive, bring a hen and give it to that man, he said. Otherwise I will have to be born in debt to him. That saying spread widely among the disciples. The cause of rebirth is precisely our going back on our word. Making sure we never give gratitude is itself the root cause of our rebirth. So a word is like a seed. If it sprouts, then again it is "birth again, and death again"; so you must keep the word you have given and make every effort to fulfil it.
In the same way 'Hazrat Muhammad' demonstrated an ideal. He too, before giving up His life, thought it over carefully: Have I made a promise to anyone? Am I in debt to anyone? If there is a debt, rebirth will come to Me again. He went on teaching His disciples the truth that He must be free of debt. Once, long before, when He travelled on a camel, He was absorbed in a disciple's words and came away without paying the camel man his fee.