In plain words
Then Kṛṣṇa said, “Arjuna! Remembering alone is not enough; you must remember constantly.” Remembrance means remembering at some particular time, in some one place, observing some rule. Constant remembrance means remembering at all times and in every state. “Arjuna! You remember Me only at a set time and by a set rule. This is not true remembrance. Remember Me constantly, and I will be right beside you for ever. “Mām anusmara yudhyaca”: even in the battle, keep remembering Me alone. That is your duty. It is not enough to seat Me on your chariot; seat Me on the throne of your heart. The yantra is outside; the mantra is within. You have seated Me outside, but you have not seated Me within you,” He said. Then Arjuna, “Kṛṣṇa! All that You say is true, but I am an ordinary man. How can I reach so lofty a state?” he asked. “Arjuna! You look at My form and are deluded into thinking that I too am an ordinary person like you. It will take you some time yet to recognise My true nature,” He said.
Drive out wicked feelings
God is the embodiment of Prema. So you too must become an embodiment of Prema. How is that possible? “Brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati”: whatever you remember, that form you attain. Darwin, Prahlāda, Nārada and Vālmīki were changed in just that way. You too, choose the forms and names you love, and dedicate your life to the contemplation of God. Do not let wicked feelings into your heart at all. If ever they do enter, drive them out at once. You have built yourself a house and set doors in it. What for? So that you and your kith and kin may come and go. But just because there are doors, do you let in the donkeys and pigs going along the bazaar? No, you chase them off. In the same way, if wicked feelings enter you, drive them out that very moment, and welcome good feelings.
God cherishes the feeling
God is nothing other than Prema. Nor is there anything that we give to God. So we must not think, ‘I gave God this much, I gave Him that much.’
“O God! Whatever You gave me, that same thing I am giving You. Nothing is mine to call my own. All of it is what You gave! What You gave I give back to You alone”: such is the holy feeling of offering we must have. ‘I had food served to five hundred people. I gave away saris and dhotis to five hundred people’: do not tell God this; tell it to the income-tax people if you must. God looks only at the feeling with which you gave. Give just a tiny tulasī leaf with a feeling of Prema, and that very gift becomes something great. We must give with Prema, and make our offering from the heart.
Expectation destroys, freedom from expectation saves
A principal transferred from one college to another does not fret, “How am I to leave behind the chairs and benches of that college?!” The root of this is his freedom from expectation, the feeling that all of it belongs to the Government and not to him. He stays their guardian and looks after them, but he has no feeling that they are his.