॥
In plain words
Many people do meditation. What meditation is that? Meditation for show. They sit as if posing for a photograph. That sitting is not meditation. All the actions done with the body are mithyā, not true. Only the sādhanas done with the mind filled with Prema become true.
Jñāna is better than practice, and dhyāna excels Jñāna; better than dhyāna is giving up the fruit of action; from giving up comes Śānti at once.
Every matter needs practice. This practice must go on in our daily life. Walking, talking, reading, writing: all of these you are able to do only through practice, aren't you! But you must practise what is right and what is true. You must not practise what is bad. In fact, bad things need no practice at all. If you push a boulder on a hill with your foot, it rolls down and falls. But to carry a stone that lies below up to the top is very hard. You all know: when a lorry or a bus with a heavy load has to climb a slope, it cries ‘gee, gee, gee’, poor thing! Going up is very hard, but going down is very easy. But we must not strive for what is easy. However hard it may be, we must set a high goal. Always look up, low aim is crime. We must nurture a lofty vision. That is true sādhana.
‘Is he God or not? What is God like? Where is He?’ To such doubts we must give no room at all. All these doubts come only to the utterly foolish. God is everywhere. But you do not see Him because you keep evil qualities in you. Whatever colour of glasses you wear, that is the scene you see. God is everywhere. You yourself are God. But you do not see the God in you. What is the reason? You are sunk in selfishness.
To nurture good qualities, right food and right ways of living are also essential. How should our habits be? We must show humility and obedience to elders. We must respect teachers. We must worship our parents. We must obey their command. Rāma became God because he obeyed his parents' command; and more, he was a true friend to all. His love for his brothers too was very great. He held the welfare of the people to be his own welfare. Today we pray, ‘Samastā lokāḥ sukhino bhavantu’; we do pray, but we think, ‘What do I care how the rest fare? I alone must be well.’ This is not good. We must pray from the heart that all may be well. Why? You too are a member of this society. Only if this society is well will you be well, isn't it? Wish, ‘May all be well, and may I be well too.’ But if you think, ‘What do I care how anyone fares! I alone must be well,’ that will not work. This is utter selfishness. It is a great sin. Selfishness may be there to some extent, but selfishness beyond limit must not be there. We must increase our Prema for God. There is no sādhana greater than Prema for God. Whatever you do or do not do, if you love God with all your heart, there is nothing greater than that.
Mīrā said, ‘I have found, I have found the wealth of the jewel of the Name; my Sadguru gave me a priceless thing.’ She took the jewel of the Name alone as her wealth. Who gave this thing? The Sadguru. Who is Sat? The Eternal One; He is God. When her husband told her to leave the temple and go, Mīrā grieved deeply: ‘Alas! How can I go, leaving my Kṛṣṇa?’ At once she set her mind at peace. ‘This temple built by men is not eternal. The temple God built is my heart. No one can take the Kṛṣṇa within it away from me.’ Then she told her mind, ‘Come, O mind, to the bank of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā’; the bank of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā is the place between the eyebrows. That is the suṣumnā nāḍī. ‘Go there, O mind! Wherever else you go, you will find no peace.’ What are this Gaṅgā and Yamunā like? ‘The waters of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā are pure; the body grows cool. Come, O mind, to the bank of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā.’ To go there we need not buy a ticket. Our right and left breaths themselves are the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā. So… ham. On one side the Gaṅgā, on the other the Yamunā. The place between the eyebrows that joins these two is the suṣumnā nāḍī. In the practice of yoga there are three processes: pūraka, recaka and kumbhaka. Drawing in the breath is pūraka. Letting out the breath drawn in is recaka. Holding both still is kumbhaka. This is done with the body. Through it you can restrain the mind to some extent. But this is not the right path to the presence of God. To win the perfect Prema of God, Prema alone is enough. So develop the principle of Prema. Attain God through Prema alone.