In plain words
Embodiments of Prema! The śāstras must be read, the Vedas must be studied, the Upaniṣads must be looked into; but we must not recite them as books for recitation. Today they say, “Recite the Gītā, recite it.” Because such foolish gurus are born, foolish disciples are produced. What fruit comes of reciting? If you recite “laḍḍu, laḍḍu”, will the laḍḍu come into your hand? If you want to go to Madras and say “Madras, Madras” on the road, will you reach Madras? You must travel on that road. Many foolish people have all started what they call recitation. Recitation of the Lalitā Sahasranāma, recitation of the Devī Sahasranāma, recitation of the Gītā: what is gained by reciting all these? Instead of saying a hundred ślokas, put one śloka into practice. Recitation without practice is worse than useless. We must recognise the full meaning of Sat-Cit-Ānanda. Sat is God. Cit is the jīvātma. Only when Sat and Cit come together is there Ānanda. If Sat stays as Sat and Cit as Cit, where will you find Ānanda? Only sorrow will come.
Devotees and seekers
When you want light, there must be a bulb and there must be current. Only when you Connect the two, isn't it! do you get light. If you hold a bulb in your hand and want light, how will it come? That is mere foolishness. “A rich man put all his important, precious jewels in a Godrej cupboard. He tied its keys at his waist. Thieves came. Ten of them helped one another lift the box, put it in a lorry and went away. At once this foolish man thought: ‘The keys are still at my waist; what does it matter to me if they take the box?’” Devotees and seekers are like this. Where is God? “I am reading books, I have learnt all the ślokas by heart; so God is with me.” There should be at least some practice that goes with the meaning of these ślokas, shouldn't there! Today there is no practice. Wherever we go, our own petty feelings keep coming to mind.
The spiritual and the social, made one
In the world today people think that the spiritual has nothing at all to do with the worldly. They see the worldly as having no experience at all of the spiritual. That is a great mistake. True Divinity is the harmony of the two, the spiritual and the social. The unity of the country and the wholeness of the people come only through the support called the spiritual. What binds social life to spiritual life is Divinity. The bond between the world and the Paramātma is one that cannot be broken, a dependence of each on the other.