Passage 2

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In plain words

The flowers and the fruits they offer, all of them, are filled with magnetism. However many thousands of devotees enter, this magnetic power only keeps growing day by day; it never dwindles. When an iron spike is placed in a magnetic field, within a few days it too becomes a magnet. In the same way, the people who enter a temple and the things they offer are filled with magnetism. The mighty divine powers in a shrine arise only through the magnetic power the devotees have carried in.

Magnetic power fills every person. But you fail to recognise that power; you imagine there is some special power in temples, and you try to take hold of that power. No special powers are gained from temples. It is the magnetic power that went out from you that is reflected back to you. Devotees go to holy places such as Tirupati, Haridvār and Ṛṣīkeś. The Bhakti and surrender of those very devotees is the root cause of the power of each of those holy places. God is the embodiment of every splendour. Man too is the embodiment of every splendour. Splendour, power, fame, Jñāna, wealth, Vairāgya... all these are gifts of God's grace. They are in every human being. But by misusing them, man loses these powers. When he puts them to good use, divinity shines in himself. In the face of such a man, radiance keeps blazing.

The body, the life-breath, divine power

As Venkatraman (former Vice-Chancellor) said in his speech: materialisation, vibration, radiation; man is the very form of these three. Materialisation means the body. Vibration means the life-force. The power of the Ātma that brings these two into harmony is radiation.