In plain words
A ‘library room’ may hold lakhs of books. Even so, does that library room know even one word of those lakhs of books at all? The state of man today, too, is like this library room. He comes to know every subject in the world. He listens to every teaching. But he puts not a single one into practice. However many times we hear things we do not put into practice, there is no use. So those who follow the spiritual path must put at least one or two things into practice; then alone can they experience Ānanda. Then alone can they share the Ānanda they have experienced with others. This is the chief principle we must know today.
The Name on the lips, service with the hands
To put one's Bhakti and faith in God into works of helping others is a most excellent path. Hanumān once told Vibhīṣaṇa this very thing. Once Vibhīṣaṇa, to Hanumān: “Hanumān! For a long time I have been remembering the Name of Rāma. I have no thought other than the thought of Rāma. Even so, Rāma's grace has not yet come to me. I have not been granted the darśan of Rāma,” he said. Hanumān was the very home of restlessness, a byword for it. Yet even such a Hanumān planted his fine, straight words in Vibhīṣaṇa's heart. “Vibhīṣaṇa! You are thinking of Rāma, but how far are you taking part in Rāma's work? It is not enough just to think of God; you must enter into God's work. I myself am the living proof of this. The Name of Rāma is in my heart. But ‘Rāma's command’ is what comes first for me. I must do Rāma's work with my hands. Only then do I feel content. If the food on the plate is to go into the stomach, we must set both the hand and the mouth to work, must we not! So you must remember the Name with the mouth and carry out service with the hands. Only when you do both of these will the darśan of Rāma be granted to you,” he said.
Wealth that is earned must be put to good use
We may earn any amount of wealth. But only when the wealth earned is put to good use does that wealth, too, get its fitting honour. Instead, people put the wealth they have earned into some foreign banks, and at the very end they close their eyes and go. Only when we let out the air we have breathed in does our health stay good; when we do not pass out the food we have eaten by the other way, our health is ruined. In the same way, only when the wealth earned is put to good use does it gain its fitting fulfilment.