In plain words
But there is just one condition. What is that condition? Whatever you do, you must experience its result. That is all," He said. God has given everything. If you do good, a good result comes. If you do bad, a bad result comes. But for this result you must be ready. Today people are not ready for it. They want the result of the good they did. They do not want what the bad they did brings. No. This is the command of God. If you want a good result, do good.
Men want the fruit of merit, but merit itself they do not want; the fruit of sin they do not want, yet sin they commit with zeal.
Man wants the fruit of merit, but he does not come forward to do meritorious deeds. He does not want the fruit of sin, but he comes forward to do sinful deeds. Whose fault is this? God is only the Sākṣī of everything; He Himself is the doer of nothing. He created everything and gave it to people. What those people experience is nothing but the good and bad they do. In this God is only the Sākṣī, nothing else. If even now we recognise this truth and set about doing good works, if we try to bring in good thoughts, if we cultivate a good vision, this is what is called mending the mind. That is:
See no evil, see what is good. Do no evil, do what is good. Hear no evil, hear what is good. Talk no evil, talk what is good. This is the way to God.
We must learn this kind of thing. All we see is evil. All we think is evil. All we do is evil. How will good come? It will not. If you want good, do good. See good. Hear good. Speak good. Live a good life. These are the things we must learn now. For we are not in a state to go to the high level. Step by step we must enter into small changes, and then join the high royal road.
We must develop pure qualities in us. This is the chief and true fruit of Śivarātri. We must listen to good things. Śiva means auspicious. Jāgaraṇa on Śivarātri does not mean going to the cinema.
Playing cards with relish through that night: does spending it so make it a vigil? The fishermen at the tank, for the fish, lying in wait with fixed gaze: does that become liberation? Drinking arrack till you forget your own body: does that alone become the supreme absorption? Angry with his wife, lying down without food: does every such man become one who fasts? Only when the thought is kept on You alone is it there; without even a little Bhakti, is there Mukti! What more than this can I make known, O members, counted among the good and virtuous!
If someone says, "I watched four films and kept jāgaraṇa all night", is this jāgaraṇa? Jā-garaṇa: what comes with the thought of God becomes jāgaraṇa. Ja, being born; garaṇa, with divinity: with the feeling born of divinity we must keep jāgaraṇa on that day. All our actions must be joined with God. All our feelings must be united with God. That is true jāgaraṇa. In this way there are very great meanings. The ancients handed on each word in its own way. Those words have many meanings, and each person takes the meanings that suit him. This is not right. Its meaning must be taken as the divine meaning. Only then do we gain the right meaning. A small example. All the Pāṇḍavas were sitting together, deliberating.