All living beings are actors on this stage. They take their exit when the curtain is rung down or when their part is over. On that stage, one may play the part of a thief; another may be cast as a king; a third may be a clown and another a beggar. For all these characters in the play, there is ONE who gives the cue! Here, some points have to be understood clearly. The prompter will not come upon the stage and give the cue, in full view of all. If He does so, the drama will lose interest. Therefore, standing behind the scene at the back of the stage, He gives the cue to all the actors, irrespective of the role; be it dialogue, speech or song, just when each is in most need of help. In the same way, the Lord is behind the screen on the stage of Prakriti, giving the cue to all the actors for their various parts. So every actor must be conscious of His Presence behind the Maya screen; he must be anxious to catch the faintest suggestion He might give, keeping a corner of the eye always to Him and having the ear pitched to catch His voice. Instead of this, if a person forgets the plot and the story (that is to say, the work for which one has come and the duties that appertain thereto), and neglects to watch the Presence behind the screen and simply stands dumb on the stage, the audience will laugh at his folly and charge him with spoiling the show.

For these reasons, every actor who has to play the role of man on the World-stage must first learn the lines well and then, remembering the Lord behind the screen, await His orders. The attention must be on both; the lines one has learnt for the role and directions one may get from the stage manager. Dhyana alone gives one this concentration and this awareness.

Whatever might be the tangle in which men are caught, if they get immersed in the Lord's Name, it will make them free; besides, by this means, they can realise without fail the Name and Form through which they constantly remember the Lord. There is no iota of doubt in this. The Sadhanas of Yoga, Pranayama or Tapas are beset with pitfalls at every step and they are full of dangers, too. But in the Sadhana of Japa or Dhyana or Smarana there is no likelihood of a fall or of any other danger. In the former type of Sadhana, the practices differ according to the caste or religion. In the Nama-sadhana, there is not even a trace of such distinction. Hindus, Muslims and Christians may differ on many points, but they are all one in the glorification of the Name of the Godhead. All of them take but the Name of the One Lord, though the language through which the name is expressed is different. Each one recites, repeats and remembers the Name as formed on his own tongue. Each one turns with his fingers the rosary appropriate to his religion. But for every one there is nothing so fruitful, so universal, or so holy among spiritual disciplines as these: Japam, Dhyanam and Smarana.