In plain words
The mark of a true sādhaka
Today a most sacred year has begun. So you too must grow sacred feelings. Not in this year only: all through your life you must nourish sacred feelings. The body is made of the five elements. So it cannot escape undergoing some pain. It undergoes it, and it passes. You must not tie yourself to it. To put this true saying into practice is the sādhana you must do. Without doing this sādhana, you turn a rosary in your hand and say you are doing sādhana. While the rosary turns in the hand, the mind wanders all over the town. Is this japa! Not at all. You have sat down with your eyes shut to meditate. The body sits still, but the mind keeps running off in all directions. How can that be meditation? You must keep the mind still too. Only when you have achieved a mind that does not waver and a vision that is not deluded will you become a true sādhaka. Fickleness is the mark of a monkey. So you must not let fickleness come near you at all. Do not turn your mind into a Monkey-mind. You belong to Mankind. So you must fill your heart with Kindness. You must nourish the spirit of sacrifice, and Prema.
(Swami Himself sang the song ‘Prema mudita manase kaho...’ and led the devotees in singing it, and then went on with His divine discourse, saying this:)
Embodiments of Prema! We are singing with our mouths and keeping time with our hands. The note must suit the pitch, and the beat must suit the note. The feeling must come from the heart. In the word ‘Bhārata’, ‘bha’ means bhāva, ‘ra’ means rāga, ‘ta’ means tāla. So the people of Bhārata are those who worship God with bhāva, rāga and tāla. Many people, singing Tyāgarāja's kīrtanas, keep time on their thigh. Our two hands together have ten fingers in all.