In plain words
But such faith is not found in the people of today. For lack of this faith, man is breaking so many of his own resolves. Faith is of great importance in everything. We have been setting Bhakti and faith side by side. Bhakti means Prema; faith means trust. There must be trust in Prema. Today we have no trust even in our own Prema. Then how will Prema for God come? Your Prema is of nature. But God's Prema is pure. It is beyond nature. It is a Prema without limit. For a principle of Prema as great as this to come, we must keep reducing this worldly Prema step by step. Take the children. When the examinations begin, prayers multiply. What are all these prayers for? For the examinations. No. No. That is not right prayer. It amounts to begging. You must not be a beggar. You are bigger. A devotee must not enter into this kind of thing. When, without desires of any kind, you desire God alone, He Himself grants everything. But since we have not reached so high a level, at the beginning we cannot help asking for a few things. Even a mother, they say, does not feed you unless you ask. But a mother is a relationship of nature. The Divine mother is not a relationship of nature. She is a mother of the order of nivṛtti. For pravṛtti, begging, taking and enjoying are all natural. In the Ānanda of nivṛtti there is only experiencing, and no begging at all. Accept whatever is done. Accept whatever is given. Do not make the discrimination of good and bad. It may look bad in your eyes. But the result may be good. For someone who has malaria fever, the doctor gives a quinine mixture. This quinine is bitter. The medicine is bitter, but its power is great. It cures the illness that has come upon you. In the beginning, Bhakti is hard. But we must not be afraid of this hardship at all. We must not give up at all because of this hardship. Many great souls endured many hardships and labours and performed very long tapas to attain that divine principle. Happiness lies between two pains. Without pains, happiness is not gained. Through these very pains we gain happiness. 'Will it give jaggery when called and asked, unless one beats it to pulp and draws out its juice?' Only when a diamond is cut with many cuts does it gain its right value. Without those cuttings it does not get its right value.