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"...The teachings of the Geetha do not get the respect that the book gets. Thousands of people, When they see the sacred books, Geetha. Ramayana, Bhagavatha, Bhagavatha, etc.. bow their heads, press them to their eyes, place them on their beads, keep them On a special seat in the shrine and reverentially placing a few flowers on them, they sit with closed eyes and with teardrops rolling down their cheeks, fall prostrate before the books and rise very much satisfied with themselves! All that reverence is for the stack of paper, not for the Contents of the books, the subjects they deal With. What the head must carry is not the weight of the paper, but the message contained thereon. Attach value not to the book, but to the subject; revere, not the volume, but the matter expounded therein. Install it not on the altar, but in the heart. For it is only then that the authority of the Geetha will be honoured steadily, at all times. The mind will not be cleansed of egoism or like evils by all this outward reverence: learning by rote, offering worship in the shrine room, holding on the head, pressing on the eyes, etc. Let the message enter the heart; put it into practice and taste the joy that comes therefrom. That is the way of honouring the Geetha.
The tastiest dish can never quell your hunger if you place it on the head or press it to your eye or fall prostrate before it. The Geetha too is on par with this. The Geetha is a tasty dish, full of the sweet ingredients of Bhakthi, Jnana, Vairagya. Eat it; drink it. One morsel is enough. The Karma and hungry man does not need all the grain that is harvested; a handful of rice suffices. The thirsty man need not drink the Godavari dry; a glass of water is enough. He who has hunger for God need not consume the entire Geetha; it can be quenched by practicing even one sloka. A box of matches has many sticks; if you want to light a fire you need strike only one; you can nurture the little flame into a huge fire, with care and diligence. The entire stock of sticks need not be struck. There are 700 sticks in the Geetha; each one is a stick from which you can light the flame of Jnana. Strike one on the stone of experience, that is enough.
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