In plain words
You must not let the mind go after bad things. Thoughts of many kinds arise in the mind, good ones and bad ones. We must put the bad far away and take up the good. We must regard the mind as Lakṣmī. Lakṣmī ceaselessly calls to mind ‘Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa’. The principle born in that Nārāyaṇa is the principle of the Ātma. Whether you say Ātma, or mind, or heart, it is all one. The Ātma is Nārāyaṇa Himself! The mind, that too is Nārāyaṇa Himself! And the heart, that too is Nārāyaṇa Himself! Nārāyaṇa is called ‘the Dweller in the heart’. We are treating the mind with great neglect. That is a great mistake. It must be taken very seriously. (Bhagavān created a golden necklace and showed the pendant at its centre.) Lakṣmī is in the middle of this pendant; the desires are like the gems all around it. The master of these desires is Lakṣmī, lasting, true and eternal. “Manayeva manuṣyāṇāṃ kāraṇaṃ bandhamokṣayoḥ.” Whether of bondage or of Mokṣa, the mind alone is the root cause. Every one of you must try to recognise this truth.
Before I went to East Africa, Easwaramma came to me: “Swami! There are many wild beasts there, they say; there are many fearsome sights, they say. So do not go there. If you will it, everything will come right here. You need not go to see them! So why are you going?” she asked. “I am not going to see wild animals; I am going because I have granted the devotees' prayer, made with Prema,” I said. When I went there, all the devotees there got together and arranged some planes. In that plane I went round the whole forest. Thousands of elephants came into view in the Kampala forest. The whole forest seemed to be nothing but elephants. I took bananas, went up to them and gave them the bananas. They ate them happily. ‘Bisons’ (wild buffaloes) too came into view there, by the thousand. And lions were lying on the road, wherever you looked. My jeep went right over their tails. But they did nothing.