In plain words
That is religion. To realise is religion. What must we realise? Who am I? Who am I? Am I the body? No. Am I Manas? No; am I Buddhi? No. None of these. This body is mine. This is my body. Who is this ‘My’? When you say, This is my kerchief, kerchief is separate from me. My body means body is separate from me. Then, who are you? That question arises. If you go on realising in this way, all these bodies are mere instruments. Kinsmen, friends, wife: all are passing clouds that come in between. Before marriage, who is wife, who is husband? Before birth, who is son, who is mother? All these are attachments that came in between! Not love, only attachment. Love relates to the bond between you and divinity. That is real love. Before your birth, there is love, after your death also there is love. During life time, there is love. Hence love is omnipresent. Trikālābādhyaṃ. We must develop Prema of that kind. Fostering Prema that is like the clouds drifting by in between, man forgets his own divinity. That is great folly. Through this foolish deed man is unable to recognise his own principle.
The body has come for the sake of karma
Do the karmas that belong to the world; there is nothing wrong in that. Duty is GOD, work is Worship. Do karmas with this feeling; but you must not do them with an attachment. ‘Karmaṇyeva adhikārasya māphaleṣu kadācana.’ You have no right to the fruit. This body has come for the sake of karma. For the sake of this karma and body, time has come. Believing time, karma and causes to be our duties, we must enter into our work. Jesus was the one who recognised this truth. His mother was a very great devotee. She constantly taught this child thought of God alone. One day He was sitting on a mountain, reflecting. After His father died, His mother was suffering greatly. He sat for 12 days. ‘What is this attachment? Where has this attachment come from?’, He reflected. It is what we ourselves have fostered! This is not the gift of God. The gift of God is Ānanda.