In plain words
You must sing only such songs as everyone is able to utter. The bhajans you sing must be such as to share out Ānanda among the many. “I will sing whatever song I like. If others follow, let them follow; if not, never mind”: there must be no such selfish thinking. “Can everyone follow the song I sing? Or not?”: that is how you must inquire. Among those who take part in the bhajan there will also be many from abroad. To them nāmasmaraṇa is very dear. So the songs you sing must be such that they too can understand them.
“The Name of Hari, the Name of Hari, the Name of Hari alone; in Kali there is no other way, none other, none other at all.”
In the Kali age there is nothing beyond nāmasmaraṇa. “Sai Bābā's devotees? They just keep singing bhajans, that is all! There is no sādhana of any kind”: so some fools criticise. What do they know of how much sweetness there is in nāmasmaraṇa? That is precisely why even Śaṅkarācārya, who taught the doctrine of Advaita, ‘Ekātmā sarvabhūtāntarātma’, at the very last came down into Dvaita, saying ‘Bhaja Govindaṃ’.
The equal standing of all religions
You must not hate any religion. You must not hurt any person. You must see sameness and oneness in everyone. With your heart filled with envy and hatred, however much bhajan you sing, there is no gain. The essence of all religions is one and the same. The goal of all names is one and the same. First of all you must believe in this oneness. Those who pray to Allah are Muslims, those who pray to Jesus are Christians: you must not hold such feelings of difference. All alike are children of God. But each has been following the path that suits their own state and circumstances. The English call water ‘water’, the Tamils ‘tannī’, the Hindi speakers ‘pānī’; in this way they call it by different names, but no one can change the water, can they! In the same way, people give God whatever form and name occurs to each of them and worship Him, but God is one alone, one alone, one alone.
Two paths to release from bondage
Man is bound by the ropes of worldly things. If man wants release from these bonds, what must he do? For this there are only two paths. One is the path of service, the second is the path of Jñāna. On the path of service, the devotee must keep lessening his Ahaṅkāra with the feeling “Dāsohaṃ, dāsohaṃ.” Then the ‘ropes’ grow slack. As for the path of Jñāna, there you must go on growing into the infinite principle of the Ātma, with the feeling “Śivohaṃ, śivohaṃ” (I myself am God). Then the ‘ropes’ snap all at once. So if you want release from bondage, you must go either by the path of Jñāna or by the path of service. In no circumstances must you give room to Ahaṅkāra. Just from eating a couple of chillies, the tongue feels very hot. And as for the ‘kāra’, the heat, in Ahaṅkāra, there is no need to speak of it specially. After all, what do you see that you should have Ahaṅkāra?