These days, listening to lectures and discourses has become just an itch, a disease, a craze. When they have been heard once people imaging they have known all. But the real purpose of the search for Truth is to liberate oneself. The yearning must be deep and persistent. The longing to know and experience the Truth will then become a Yoga, a process of union.

The union in Yoga is between Dharma and Divinity. The more such evils as lust, anger, etc., breed in man, the greater the diminution of the Divinity in him. That is to say, his faith in the Atma will decline fast as the evils develop.

Faith is all important. Faith in one's Reality being the Atma - that is the real Vidya. When lust, anger, etc., diminish and disappear, faith in the Atma and in the rightness of spiritual inquiry will grow and get confirmed. Non-attachment is the very foundation for attaining Brahma Jnana (awareness of Brahma, the Universal Absolute). Even for a small structure, the foundation has to be stable and strong, or else it will fall as a heap pretty soon. When a garland has to be made, we want a string, a needle and flowers, don't we? So too, when Jnana (wisdom) has to be won, devotion (the string), non-attachment (the needle) and steady single-pointedness (flowers) are essential.

Every one in the world desires victory. No one desires defeat. All crave for wealth; no one craves for poverty. But how can victory or wealth be acquired? This has to be thought about and discovered. And we need not search long for the solution. Sanjaya, according to the Mahabharata, revealed to King Dhrtharashtra the secret, "Where there are both Krishna, the Lord or Yoga, and Arjuna, the Wielder of the Bow, there victory is assured and wealth is won." Why do we need more than this as advice? There is no need to undergo the threefold struggle - physical, mental, intellectual - to achieve victory. Nor need one get perturbed or anxious. There is no need to pine for wealth and prosperity. Take refuge in God; wield the bow of courage, that is to say, hold the heart pure. That is enough. Victory and wealth are yours. But when you pursue victory and wealth, remind yourself that they are shadows, not substantial things. You cannot attain your shadow with the sun behind even if you pursue it for millions of years. For it flees faster and is always beyond reach. Turn towards the Sun and proceed. Then watch what happens. The shadow falls behind and follows you instead of leading you. It walks on your footsteps like a slave. Consider the shadow as the symbol of Maya. So long as you follow Maya, Madhava is being ignored and is out of sight. You cannot win His vision. You will be caught up in the coils of birth and death and be ever in bondage. From this atmosphere of dependence, one must endeavour to release oneself. Or else, if all one's efforts are directed to the acquisition of sensual pleasures, it is a sure sign of rank ignorance.