In English
Practice is more essential than precept
Those who claim to be (spiritual aspirants) are really striving for selfish ends. The Divine is omnipresent. To experience the Divine, you have to undertake an enquiry with a steady mind. People today pursue studies all their life, but hardly practise what they have learnt. Practice is more essential than the mere acquisition of knowledge. It is not accumulation of information that is important, but the transformation of himself. Of what use is all the information you have gathered? How much of it have you put to practical use? How much bliss you have derived from it? The answer will be a hero in gathering information; a zero in petting it into practice. In this way, life is being wasted rather than being purposeful'. The first step is for each one to comprehend his true Self. In many cases, as they grow in years and study more and more books, they develop doubts. Apart from filling their minds with bookish lumber, of what use is all their studies? There is no difference between books without consciousness and minds filled with bookish knowledge. Both are equally sterile. It is a case of "living death" for both. Book knowledge without practice may be useful for teaching others, but is of no value to the man himself. A man who does not practise what he preaches is wasting other people's time. To begin with, make right use of your time. In this context, I repeatedly advise students and others to reduce their talk. Engage yourselves in spiritual enquiry and practise at least a fraction of what you learn. Today we are supposed to bid adieu to the old year and to welcome the new year. But, in fact, we should not bid farewell to because the name suggests the presence of the Divine in every (limb) of our body. Welcome all the years. Don't give a send-off to any year. Develop equal-mindedness towards everything. Do not brood over the past. The joy experienced Will be in inverse proportion to your desires. The greater the desires, the less the happiness you will experience. Therefore, try constantly to reduce your desires. In the journey of life, as in a railway journey, the less luggage (desires) you carry, the greater comfort you will have.