In plain words
When they had gone some way further, he asked, “All right then, do you at least know your multiplication tables?” The boatman: “What do I want with these tables and sums, Swami? I know how much money to take for how far. That is enough,” he said. “Then three parts of your life have gone into the Gaṅgā!” said the pandit. Even as they were talking like this, a great whirlwind began to blow, and under the blows of the waves the boat began to rock this way and that. A little later a downpour began. “Swami! Can you swim?” asked the boatman. “Hey, I cannot swim, man,” said the pandit in alarm. “Then your whole life has gone into the Gaṅgā,” said the boatman. In a little while the boat sank completely, and the pandit sank along with it. Only the boatman, who knew how to swim, reached the bank and was able to save his life.
In the Ocean of Saṃsāra the Gītā Alone Is How We Swim
You see! As swimming is essential to cross a river, so the Gītā is the support to cross the ocean of worldly existence. For us who travel in the ocean of saṃsāra, it is the Gītā we need; these elections and newspapers are not what matters. Every person who travels in the ocean of saṃsāra must know the Gītā. If we do not know it, however much else we know, it is of no use. In the ocean of saṃsāra the Gītā alone is how we swim. What is the essence of that Gītā?
Those people who worship Me, thinking of no other, ever steadfast in Me: their welfare I carry.
If we leave all other thoughts and remember God alone without ceasing, He Himself looks after our welfare. When we do all our actions in the feeling that they are God's, everything bears fruit.
For the Fire of Jñāna to Arise...
We must build up a divine vibration around us. This becomes possible only through contemplation of the Name. When there is friction between our two hands, even cold hands grow warm.