In plain words
Wake up, wake up. They said, “Look upon this divine radiance.” We have seen. Where have we seen? Inside and outside, everywhere, we have seen. Antar bahiś ca tat sarvaṃ vyāpya nārāyaṇaḥ sthitaḥ. Do you know how He is? “Vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntam ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt,” they said. That Puruṣa cannot be described in any way. He shines like the radiance of the sun. Where is He? He is beyond tamas. They went on proclaiming that only when tamas is given up does this radiance come to us, through the power of tapas. We must drive tamas away.
Without giving up tāmasa, how can the truth be grasped? Without giving up rājasa, Bhakti does not come. Sāttvika alone is the divine sādhana: so says this good word; do not forget it.
First of all we must drive away the tāmasa that is in us. Has this body come merely for food and drink? No. What lives merely in food, sleep, fear and mating is animal nature. There is another quality, beyond this. That is discrimination power. Jñāna is a divine power. Unless tamas goes, sacred Jñāna does not come to us. After that tamas goes, rājasa remains. Rājasa keeps filling and filling itself with many desires. Then we must drive away this rājasa too. Only then does sāttvika come forth. Only when this sāttvika comes forth is this radiant Divinity seen by us.
Students! The secret of the Veda is deep beyond measure. For those who have śraddhā and Bhakti it is a very easy path indeed. One who opens his eyes sees all the stars, though they are lakhs of miles away. But for one who has closed his eyes, or for one who has no eyes, even if you bring a powerful bulb and hold it before his eyes, he does not see it. Even a sun blazing with the light of a crore of suns, we cannot see in the least. So we must open the eye called śraddhā and Bhakti. So not this eye of skin but the eye of Jñāna: when we open that, the divine radiance is seen everywhere. Where is God? Every day at mealtimes the children … are praying. But they are not praying with understanding. We say, brahmārpaṇam. To whom are we offering? To the fire of digestion? No. Yet we say it.