In plain words
The Nine Kinds of Pūjā
You may perform pūjās. There are nine kinds of pūjā, like this:
Hearing, singing, remembering Viṣṇu, serving His feet, worship, salutation, service, friendship and offering of the self.
These nine are nothing but karmas. But why are you doing dhyāna? For whom are you doing it? What is the fruit that comes of it? If you inquire, there is one, and only one, answer to this. Whether you do dhyāna or tapas, a yajña or a yāga, every bit of it you are doing for yourselves alone; it is not for God, not at all. Why would God need all these? You carry them out for your own satisfaction. You do japa for your own satisfaction alone. Beyond that, there is no fruit in it whatever for God. They think, “I am doing this pūjā for God.” No, that is a great mistake. All that men do is for selfishness: whatever is said, selfishness keeps moving behind it. Wherever one walks, selfishness is seen behind. Whatever is said, selfishness is seen in it. Man lives as a puppet in the hand called selfishness. Without this selfishness he cannot take even one step forward. He acts only for his own good, not for the good of others. However much anyone does, they are doing it only for their own sake, not for God's: you must recognise this truth and act by it. You do this meditation for your own satisfaction. You do japa for your own satisfaction. You do bhajan for your own satisfaction alone. Only sādhana done selflessly reaches God.
One Is Oneself God
All these are only practices done for selfish ends, not ones done for God. For he himself is God. So'ham: he himself is God. “I myself am God,” he himself declares. But why do all these for God? Where is God? How is one to catch hold of Him? How is one to see Him? All questions of this kind have kept coming from beginningless time until today.