The recognition of one's innate Divinity and the regulation of one's daily life in accordance with that Truth are the guiding stars for those who are caught in the currents and crosscurrents of strife and struggle! Without Atmajnana (awareness of your own reality that you are just a wave in the ocean of Divinity) life becomes a meaningless farce, a mockery, a game of fools. It is the acquisition of that awareness that makes life earnest, sweet and fruitful. When you try to prepare a meal, you may have with you all the materials you need: rice, lentils, salt, lime, spices, vegetables and so on. But unless you have the fire in the hearth, you cannot get the edible meal. So too in life, Atmajnana is the fire which makes the material world and the external activities and experiences, edible and tasty, digestible, health-granting and joy-giving. That joy is called Anandam; it is uplifting, illuminating and constructive!

- Divine Discourse, Mar 16, 1966.