Today spiritual exercises are confined to listening and not practising. Listening (Shravanam) has become so popular, and after listening, people brag that they know everything. This crazy boastfulness is deepening one's ignorance. You must ruminate over what you listen. After rumination, one should practice the lessons (do Nididhyasana). Only then you will achieve purity in thought, word and deed. To develop a spiritual outlook and to inspire it in others, you must possess purity of heart (Chitta shuddhi). Spiritual wisdom dawns only when there is purity of heart. Just as removal of weeds, tilling the land, sowing the seeds and watering the earth are required before the crop can be harvested, the field of the human heart has to be cleared of bad thoughts and feelings, the Divine Name sown, watered with love and tilled by spiritual practices. Only then you are entitled to reap the harvest of Divine Wisdom (Jnana).

- Divine Discourse, Oct 07, 1993.