In plain words
Our body is like a flute with nine holes. No desire for the objects of the senses must block it. Only then does God draw sweet notes from it and pour out Ānanda. The Gopīs made their very bodies into a flute and prayed to Kṛṣṇa to play on it. So holy were their hearts. Even today there is no lack of people with Bhakti and śraddhā. But along with Bhakti we must also gather divine feelings into the heart. If holy feelings rise in the heart only when some festival day comes round, and vanish clean away the very next day, what is the use?! We must regard every day, every moment, as holy. Only through such a feeling can we attain divinity.
Man means one who has faith
There is no place where God is not. But you cannot see Him. You see only the human form, but cannot see the Mādhava within man. Without the Mādhava in him, how could man stand at all? The wind is not seen by the eye, nor caught in the hand. Do you say for that reason that it is not there? In the same way God is all around you, but He is not seen by the eye, He is not caught in the hand; He comes only to one who has a pure heart and a holy feeling. Which feeling is holy? The feeling of the one Ātma alone is holy. Only one who has the feeling of the one Ātma is a true sādhu. It is a mistake to think that all who wear ochre robes are sādhus. Changing the clothes is not enough; the character must change. The word for man means one who has faith. Faith in what? It must be faith in God. You trust the washerman and give him your costly clothes; you trust the barber and bow your head before him; you trust the goldsmith and put gold in his hands; you trust the driver and sit in the car. In this way you trust everyone, but you do not trust God. This is the great weakness. God alone is the One to trust. Whether you trust the rest or not does not matter. Look carefully into the lives of the great, and you find that God Himself protected them in every way, do you not! They fell into many hardships, yet they never lost their faith in God, and precisely for that they are able even today to receive fame and honour in the world. Yet even great devotees, at one time or another, unable to bear their sufferings, blame God. But that is only a passing fit of passion!
Rāmadāsu and Tyāgarāja
You know this: Tānīṣā had Rāmadāsu put in jail because he built a temple to Rāma with money that was due to the government. Rāmadāsu was alone in the jail, poor man! “What sin have I committed? I did not misuse the money, did I! I had ornaments made for Sītā, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa; I had a temple built. What wrong is there in that?!” he grieved bitterly. He grew angry that Rāma showed no pity though he was suffering so much.
‘For Mother Sītā I had a pendant made, a tamarind-leaf pendant, Rāmacandra! That pendant cost ten thousand varahas, Rāmacandra! A jewelled crest I had made with fine skill, Rāmacandra! And You strut about in it; whose father's money is it, Rāmacandra!’
“Rāmacandra! You go about strutting, wearing the ornaments I had made! Whose father's money do You take it to be?” he asked. At once he saw his mistake.