Chapter III

One cannot escape from disquiet so long as the fundamental ignorance persists; mere change of occupation, prompted by the desire for more comfort or the need for satisfying some passing likes will not give lasting satisfaction. It is like hoping to improve matters in a dark room by a mere readjustment of furniture. If however a lamp is lit, even without that readjustment, passage across the room is rendered easier. There is no need to interfere with the furniture at all.

So too, in this benighted world, it is difficult to move about truthfully, correctly and peacefully without knocking against some obstacle or other. How then are you to succeed? Light the lamp! Let it reveal the reality; get the light of Jnana. That will solve all the difficulties. You may claim that you live according to Dharma. But, your basic flaw is that your acts are not done in the spirit of dedication. If so done, it gets stamped with the authentic mark of Dharma. Some clever folk might raise a doubt and ask: "Can we then kill and injure, in the name of the Lord dedicating the act to Him?" Well, how can a person get the attitude of dedicating all his activities to the Lord without at the same time being pure in thought, word and deed? Love, Equanimity, Rectitude, Non-violence - these are the attendant virtues of the servant of the Lord. How can cruelty and callousness co-exist with these virtues? To have selflessness, the spirit of self-sacrifice and the spiritual eminence required for the dedicatory outlook, one must have first won the four characteristics: Sathya, Santham, Prema, Ahimsa. Devoid of these, mere naming will not make any deed a votive offering.