Your reality is the Atma, a wave of the Paramatma. The one object of this human existence is to visualise the Reality, that Atma, that relationship between the wave and the sea. All other activities are trivial; you share them with birds and beasts; but this is the unique privilege of man. He has clambered through all the levels of animality, all the steps in the ladder of evolution in order to inherit this high destiny. If all the years between birth and death are frittered away in seeking food and shelter, comfort and pleasure as animals do, man is condemning himself to a further life-sentence. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 183)

The others who consider themselves free are also in jail, for the world is a huge house of correction. When a prisoner is transferred from one place of confinement to another...he will have a police constable on each side of him, isn’t it? When he moves about, these two will be with him always. When man, who is a prisoner in this jail moves from one place to another, he too is accompanied by Ahamkaram and Mamakaram; Egoism and attachment. When he moves about without these two, you can be sure he is a free man, liberated from prison.

Now that I have referred to jail and jail life, let Me tell you something more. You are all under sentence of imprisonment and are in this jail. There is no use hoping for reward when you work in jail; you have to work because you are ordered to, and you must work well too. You cannot argue that rewards are not distributed justly and you are not entitled to desist from your allotted task. If you do so, your sentence will be extended or you will be transferred to another jail. On the other hand, if you quietly accept the sentence and go about your work without clamouring or murmuring, your term is reduced and you are sent out with a certificate that ensures a happy life, unpestered by constables. This is the attitude that the individual must adopt, if he is aware of his sentence and if he is earnest about freeing himself.

Man is a prisoner of his senses so long as these two keep him under guard. Man strays away into misery and pain because he loses the sense of value and runs after the temporary and trivial. He ignores the voice of God that warns and guides from within, and pays the penalty for the transgression. Life is to be dedicated, not for mere food and drink, or mere catering to the cravings of the senses. It has to be devoted to the attainment of the bliss that God alone can confer. Of course, there will always be worries and fears along the road that you take from birth to death. But you can ever be free from both, provided you have as the Giver of Light, the name, Sai Ram. (LDL, pp. 61-62)