In plain words
The reflection of the sky seen in it is black too. So if we want to see You in our heart, You need not change our eyes. Nor need You change Your form any more than that. We do not ask You to clean our dirty minds; but change this sky, the background that is black, to white. That is our heart. If You turn the heart that is the background white, the black form will show beautifully in that white background,’ they said. So they asked Him to change the heart. What is the inner meaning of this? We need not change in the world. We need not change our mind. If we change our heart, which belongs to Prajñāna: as for the mind, it is only impure. However much you wash it, the impurity does not go. If you wash coal in milk because it is black, will it turn white? The milk too turns black. If you think of washing coal with soap, the soap too turns black. Students must think this through well. What was the earlier form, before it became coal? Before this it was wood. This wood burned, and so it became coal. But what is the reason it became this coal? This fire did not burn it fully. But when you throw this coal back into the fire itself and burn it fully, it turns white and light. If you want to make coal white, washing it with milk will not make it white: you must throw it back into the fire. If you throw this coal into the fire and burn it, it turns into white ash. Put this into the fire called grace: I am coal now. I am neither wood nor ash. I have turned into coal. Because I forgot both the beginning and the end and stayed in the middle, I took shape as coal. I left the beginning. That turned into wood. But I must go to the end. To reach the end, the purifying rite of fire is needed still more. The mind has turned into coal. We have forgotten the beginning. We make no effort to reach the end. Staying in the middle, we fall prey to hardships and sorrows. We must attain Śānti in this world. We must attain Śānti of the mind. We must attain Śānti of the Ātma: that is exactly why we daily recite Śānti, Śānti, Śānti, three Śāntis. First of all, bring Śānti to the body. If you want Śānti of the body, remembrance of the Name is needed. If you want Śānti of the mind, the feeling of Brahman is essential. If you want Śānti of the heart, sādhana is essential for us. We must travel from the body on to the mind, and from the mind on to the Ātma.