In plain words
What is the fruit of sādhanas done without śama? What is the fruit of taking up yoga without patience? What is the fruit even of doing japa without Śānti? Is it not like ploughing barren, salty ground?
Students!
‘By sādhana, tasks are accomplished on earth.’ In whatever field of the world you wish to win success, you must undertake some sādhanas that belong to it. Even an ant, if it tries to walk, can travel some miles. If it has no wish to fly, even Garuḍa cannot move two steps forward. No man can achieve the smallest task without resolve, and without sādhana fit for that resolve. The moment Dhruva, at a tender age itself, formed the noble resolve to have God reveal Himself to him, he undertook sādhanas, not in the least afraid of any pain, any hardship, any sorrow, and with courage and daring he won. By the firmness of that noble resolve he became the Pole Star. In the same way, if a man undertakes sādhana with firm faith, giving no thought at all to his age or to his strength and ability, that task can be crowned with success.
You must have heard the stories of so many. Even great and noble souls performed tapas after tapas, at last lost the power of that tapas, fell into despair and kept sinking into dejection. Viśvāmitra performed tapas many times, and at last, because he had no patience, because he had no śama, he lost the power of his tapas and kept trying to go back to tapas again. In every field sādhana is essential.
Sing and sing, and the melody grows ever richer; eat and eat, and even neem turns sweet.