In plain words
When the gramophone plate sings, people weep. But does the plate weep at all? Who knows what will happen at what minute. ‘What will happen at what minute, who can foresee?’ We must be watchful every minute, every second. ‘Tasmāt jāgrata jāgrata jāgrata’, they said. The Vice-Chancellor spoke. He spoke very well about Ādi Śaṅkara. He was born in a small village. When he was made head of the pīṭha, Ādi Śaṅkara had no Ahaṅkāra of any kind. No possessiveness of any kind. No envy of any kind. But into those who came after him, all these kept creeping in now and then. They set a rule for these maṭhas. At the door on this side a guard, at the door on that side a guard, must hold a staff in his hand. Those on this side and that must keep repeating two sayings. Once, one of these heads of the pīṭha thought, ‘Aha! This maṭha has so many lands. So many people worship me,’ and he kept thinking so, full of Ahaṅkāra. At once the guards would say, ‘Tasmāt jāgrata jāgrata jāgrata.’ Śaṅkara, even beforehand: ‘Give no room to Ahaṅkāra of this kind. Jāgrata, jāgrata,’ he kept warning. That same watchfulness must be in you. With the rope called the Name, you must tie God, the Named, and bind Him fast to the peg called the tongue. If you tie the rope of the Name to the peg of the tongue, God will stay right beside you. The Name is the rope. The Named is God. The peg is the tongue. You must tie it to your tongue. ‘Jihve rasajñe madhura priye tvaṃ satyaṃ hitaṃ tvāṃ paramaṃ vadāmi āvarṇayethāṃ madhurākṣarāṇi govinda dāmodara mādhaveti.’ So sweet is the Name of the Lord. What does Mādhava mean? Mā means Māyā. Mā means Lakṣmī. Mā means the earth. That is, the dhava of the earth, of Lakṣmī, of Māyā. Dhava means husband. Master. Lord of Lakṣmī. Lord of the earth. Lord of Māyā. Such is the meaning the word ‘Mādhava’ holds. Master of Māyā; He Himself is master of Lakṣmī, He Himself master of Prakṛti. When we take hold of such a Master, everything comes under our sway. ‘O tongue! Listen carefully! You know taste. How sweetly you speak! You are very great.