In plain words
What we ask for, we must ask of God. What we seek, we must seek in God. The door we knock at must be the door of Mokṣa. That is our duty, but we do not do so. God says one thing, and devotees do another. If man does the very things He has said, he becomes a divine human being. But because certain weaknesses arise in him, he becomes a slave to those weaknesses and moves far from God. So one must not move away from divinity. To be far from God is living death, he said. Today man remembers God, yet he stays far from God. No, no. Not merely thinking of Him, not merely longing for Him: one must offer oneself. Only then, ‘Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati’: the two become one. This is charcoal, this is fire. If the fire is in one place and the charcoal in another, the fire does not enter the charcoal. The charcoal must be brought close to the fire. The closer it is, the more the fire enters the charcoal. Between the fire and the charcoal that have come close, we must work a fan. When the fan is worked, the charcoal turns wholly into fire. So one must come near to God. The wind called God's wish must blow. This is near and dear. With both of these you attain divinity. If we are near but not dear, we are like the frogs in a pond. The frogs sit on the lotus flowers. But they do not drink the nectar in them. They come from far away. From distant lands like Argentina, Australia and America they come, the bees. They drink the nectar and go. The near is in you; the dear is in them. So if near and dear are both in you, ‘Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati.’ Oneness is attained.
Students must be students, not seekers of sense objects
Those who come from afar: ‘Ah! How fortunate the students are! Swami talks with them, walks with them, is with them,’ they think. They cannot tell whom they are near.