In plain words
A small example. We are winding thread into a ball. But each round goes its own way. But we must hold this ball very firmly. If we keep winding the thread held in this way, little by little that ball of thread grows bigger. If we grow careless in any way and that ball of thread slips from the hand, the rounds on it come away. The winding is one and the same; one and the same is the winding. But if our hand slips, they are wasted. So the sādhanas we do are few. But if we neglect them, we lose every bit of this spiritual background of many births. So whatever we do, ‘sukhaduḥkhe samekṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau’: we must try to live holding both of these as equal. Only then will the right result, too, come to us.
The learning that brings gold, and Brahmavidyā
Embodiments of Prema! What man must truly meditate on are devotion to God, which is the very form of Prema, and royal power, which is sacrifice. Through these two the nation is uplifted. Today a politics of sacrifice is not to be seen. Devotion full of Prema is to be seen nowhere. ‘To be happy here, the learning that brings gold; to be happy hereafter, Brahmavidyā.’ So a sādhana that is Prema is very important. They greatly inspire hearts. But the politics of sacrifice is for the world's sake. If we are to set the world right, we must enter this world in a life full of sacrifice. If we are to make life blessed, we must practise a life full of Prema. Sacrifice is true yoga. Only when we experience this yoga does a life full of Prema come to us. ‘Yogaḥ citta vṛtti nirodhakaḥ.’ Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalaṃ. So man today must first recognise himself and then try to recognise others; if he searches for God without knowing himself, how will God be found?