In plain words
In every word man speaks today, Satya is slackening. In every look man casts today, Prema is falling into hiding. In every thought man thinks today, foresight is perishing. In every wish man wishes today, selfishness and self-interest alone are seen. The bad qualities, bad thoughts and bad company in man roam freely in many ways. In such circumstances, how can we open the heart? What really stands in our way? All the sādhanas we do, through what do we do them? Through the Manas itself! Whatever we hope to gain, the Manas itself stands in the way of it. The Manas itself stands in the way of everything. The day we put the Manas out of sight, that very day everything becomes visible to us. So man today must forget the Manas. What we do in order to forget this Manas: these are the sādhanas. Sādhanas do not mean japa, or yoga, or yama and niyama.
True Sādhana Is the Sādhana That Lets Us Forget the Manas
The sādhana by which we forget the Manas: that is true sādhana. We must turn our gaze towards the heart. Only then does forgetting of the Manas come. As long as the Manas is there, man cannot but be there. As long as the Manas lives by attachment to the body, by its tie with the body, happiness is not within our reach. Man has come to identify himself with the body. So we are unable to recognise the true, eternal svarūpa. How unsteady the body is! These delusions too are just as unsteady. A small example. We must try to recognise, ‘For what purpose did God give the body, the Manas, Buddhi, citta, the senses and the antaḥkaraṇa, all these?’ At home we have laid out a good mattress. We have put in place a good, comfortable pillow. The fan is turning. The air conditioner works well.