In plain words
If there were no sun, no one could do their own work. So it stands as the onlooker so that work gets done, but it is not the onlooker for the sake of the fruit. The fruit, though, we must taste for ourselves. So that this fruit is experienced, so that this fruit is turned weak, so that bad fruits are turned into good ones, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara keep to the right way. What must we do to please them? That is exactly what we did today.
Hearing, singing, remembering Viṣṇu, serving His feet, worship, salutation, service, friendship and the offering of the self.
Today we must win the friendship of those three. When they become our friends, we can put an end to any number of our troubles. When a minister is our friend, when a minister is our relative, we can get rid of any number of our troubles. In the same way, over the fruit of actions done knowingly or unknowingly, we can win any victory through the friendship of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara. To win the favour of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara, remembering the Name of God is essential. Meditation on God is essential. All these are paths laid down for winning their favour. But why this comparison between these worldly ministers and the divinity that pervades the universe? Why these signs? This whole universe is made up of many signs. You know this well. When we set out on a journey anywhere, policemen stand at the road circle. They control the traffic. There are signals too. What are these signals there for? They have to be there for the running of the world. Without them the world is not kept safe.
Brahmā, the Creator, taking time, cause and duty into account, and according to the fruit of what each did in whatever birth, keeps acting within each one's department as befits their level. He keeps giving them the promotions they deserve. Besides that, he keeps changing some departments. This is the Creator's chief duty. With duties of this kind in view, the Brahma principle has spread everywhere. Brahmā means that which pervades. What does Viṣṇu mean? That too means nothing other than pervading everything. Where there is creation, there is protection as well. So where Brahmā is, Viṣṇu is there too. Where protection has taken place, there is punishment. In that way of punishing is the principle of Īśvara. All three of them have this way: they set the faults and the good in their own departments in proper order and pass them on to God. Where is divinity? Divinity is everywhere. Unable to recognise this secret, we pray to God in many different ways. These are not prayers to God. This is only a way of praying to the administrators. These administrators, taking the state of the matter into account, make their recommendation to God. God is ever the Sākṣī. He has not a single guṇa. He has no form. He can take any form. But God, who is without guṇas, is in the guṇas as well. The pot was born from clay. Clay has no shape. But the pot, made with clay, has a shape. The pot is not in the clay. But the clay is in the pot. So divinity is everywhere. It is in what has guṇas and in the nirguṇa too. In what way does God go along with you? As citta. Citta itself has been called Citragupta. The citta hidden within us has been called Citragupta. All the good and bad we do sticks fast in that citta. He gives form to what has stuck there, and through that He brings about the result. Because He has kept upholding Dharma in this way, God has been called the very embodiment of Dharma. God does not interfere in what Brahmā is doing. He does not interfere in protection. He does not interfere in sustenance. Because He is such a Sākṣī, He has been called the embodiment of Dharma, the embodiment of the Sākṣī. But here we must recognise one more small secret. In matters of creation, we must keep up some kinship with Brahmā. For protection we must form a bond with Viṣṇu. For dissolution we must keep up kinship with Śiva. But with our heart filled full with the feeling of God, in a state of fullness, we must form our kinship directly with God Himself. This is Śaraṇāgati. The secrets of God are full of wonder.
Wonderful, and for the three worlds holy, sickles to the creeper of worldly life, true friends, to the grove of the sages the springtime: such are the stories of Lord Viṣṇu.
Ordinary people do not understand them. “Why is Swami doing things like this? He has fallen prey to troubles of this kind”: this is how we talk. Īśvara gave Bhasmāsura a boon. The very moment it was given, Bhasmāsura, who had received it, had no gratitude.