Try to break a coconut, as it comes from the tree. The shell is covered compactly by a coat of fibre. You cannot break the coconut as it is by hitting it with a crowbar. Take off the fibrous armor, then breaking is very easy. You can also take the coconut to the temple as an offering to God.  So too, you have to remove the fibre of desire for sense-objects and then go before the Lord, devoid of kaama (desire) and krodha (anger). You have to destroy your ego and surrender to the Lord. Then you declare that you are egoless and break the coconut into two. You will  be accepted unto Him now, not before.         

- Sathya Sai Speaks,  Vol 5, Ch 29, Mar 29, 1965. 

"Practising what you preach is a virtue" - Baba