In plain words
I never told you to give up your work! Carry out your duty. But whatever work you do, trust it to be God's work. Yet the feeling of God enters you only when you go into the pūjā room.
“Its hands and feet are everywhere, everywhere Its eyes, heads and faces; everywhere in the world Its ears; It stands, enfolding all.”
All that the eye sees is the form of God! The body is the temple. Wherever the body goes, God comes there. It is a moving temple. Even a mother may forget her child at times, but God never forgets. God is nearer than anyone. So do not forget God.
In Prasanthi Nilayam, let your ties stop at ‘Hello, how are you, goodbye’
Today very many people come to Prasanthi Nilayam. But are they experiencing Praśānti? No, no. Talking with everyone, going to this one's house and that one's... With these alone they waste their time. Are you cats or rats, to go roaming from house to house? (Cats? Rats?) For whom do you come here? Why go roaming from house to house? Why talk with everyone? Cattle, the moment they see green grass, eat it up in haste. Then, once back in their own place, they chew the cud, grind it and swallow. They do not waste the chance they get. In the same way, you too make good use of this fine chance you have got, and spend your time in peace. Gather good things here, and after you go back to your own places, turn them over in your mind, put them into practice, experience them and rejoice. But many people waste this chance. Instead of coming here and building up Praśānti, they talk with everyone and waste their energy. Because of that, in ‘meditation’ their mind does not stay still for even a moment. Who is related to whom? Hold firmly to your bond with the One for whom you came here. Do not waste time. Do not make too many ties with others. You come here having put even your own old people far behind. From America, from Russia, from Japan, you come here leaving even your mother and father. After coming here, why these ties with new people? Stay in solitude. Make your mind pure. There is no need to talk with anyone. Many dangers arise from forming needless ties. If you fall into bad company, it is like paying good money to buy sorrow. ‘Hello, how are you? Goodbye’: it should stop there; you should not build up friendship month after month.
Some people, relying only on an acquaintance with books, think out of Ahaṅkāra that they know everything and try to teach others. There is no greater ignorance than that. ‘What do I know? What can I tell others? What stock do I have with me?’: each one must enquire into this for himself. This is ‘self-enquiry’. For this, ‘self-confidence’ is very necessary. Then, ‘self-realisation’.
In some book they have written: gulāb jām, barfī, pālakova, miṭhāyi. Will you know their taste just by reading that? Many people learn by heart the 700 ślokas of the Bhagavad Gītā. Learn them by heart without practising them, and all that is left is a dry throat! Instead, practise just one śloka; that is enough. To know whether the rice is cooked or not, it is enough to look at two grains. To know the taste of the sea, you need not drink the whole sea. Put one drop on your tongue and you will know. In the same way, put one thing into practice; that is enough.