In plain words
Through the principle of Prema we can achieve everything. We can bring the whole world itself into our hands. Forgetting such a principle of Prema, you sit in dhyāna morning and evening. But what dhyāna are you doing? How long does that dhyāna last? It does not last even for a moment. They are all nothing but drifting clouds. So do not go too far into the matters of the world.
Caitanya the devotee
Once Caitanya Mahāprabhu was going through the bazaar beating a drum, chanting ‘Rām Rām’ to himself and dancing. Some people saw him, took him for a madman and smashed the drum. But Caitanya did not grieve that the drum was gone. He went on his way, beating cymbals and singing. Jealous people took the cymbals too and threw them away. ‘Oho! Could it be that God does not like even this beating of cymbals?’ Caitanya thought. He recognised the Satya that only what is dear to God endures. ‘O God! Whatever is dear to You, that alone I will do. What is not dear to You I will not touch at all,’ he said. Thinking that God did not like the playing of the drum and the beating of the cymbals, he gave them up. He gave up all material sādhanas. He developed the principle of Prema. “Lord! What I have is the principle of Prema, and that alone. No one can take it away from me,” he said. We must long for such a principle of Prema. What use is it to long for what is material and, the moment it goes, grieve that we have been cheated? ‘Nirguṇaṃ nirañjanaṃ sanātanaṃ niketanaṃ nitya śuddha buddha mukta nirmalasvarūpiṇaṃ’: such Prema alone we must take as the chief thing. If we keep Prema in our heart, no one can take it away.
What does ‘sādhana’ mean?
Here is a sheet of paper. Can My name on this paper be separated from the paper? It cannot. In the same way, the principle of Prema must be printed on the paper of your heart; the two cannot be separated. Take up such a principle of Prema. “Whether you are in the forest, in the sky, in the town, in the village, on the hill, or swept into midstream....