In plain words
Only then has it its true worth! Arjuna too was proud for a long time: ‘Kṛṣṇa is my friend, my brother-in-law; Kṛṣṇa is our kinsman. Kṛṣṇa is my charioteer. Kṛṣṇa is my comrade’: he kept thinking in this way. As long as the Pāṇḍavas thought of Kṛṣṇa in that way, so long they could not understand the principle of Kṛṣṇa. Until then Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna lived together only as brothers-in-law. Arjuna was a great intellect. Using all his power of intellect, he argued back and forth with Kṛṣṇa in many ways. Then his stock ran low. Then at last he cut down his words. He surrendered. Only then did he say, ‘Kariṣye vacanaṃ tava.’ ‘Kṛṣṇa! From now on I will follow Your word. I will practise Your word, I will follow it,’ he said. Only after making such a promise did he come to recognise the principle of Kṛṣṇa well. You wrote a letter to your friend and sent it by registered post. But what is needed to know whether that registered letter has reached your friend or not? An acknowledgement must come back to you from there. As long as this acknowledgement does not come to you, it means your letter has not yet reached your friend. In the same way, you think, ‘I have Prema, I have Prema.’ But your letter must come and reach Me, and you must receive My acknowledgement. Only then is that the sign that it has reached. That is, God must say, ‘You are Mine.’ As long as He does not say it, you do not belong to God at all.
If you strive to achieve it, you can achieve anything at all
When will you become so? This becomes possible only when you offer your all to God and live in the feeling of the Ātma. This is not so easy a path. But you must make the effort it needs. You need not doubt, ‘I am an ordinary man; can I achieve so great a thing?’ If you hold on firmly, you can achieve anything. You must develop that śraddhā. ‘Śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṃ.’ Only then do we gain Jñāna.