Few people understand the true significance of festivals like Sankranti. Man cannot secure enduring bliss through physical pleasures. He must discover that the source of this bliss is within himself. Sankranti enables man to make this discovery, like a man carrying his spectacles on his forehead searches for it everywhere and discovers to his joy that it has been with him all along. The Divine is not anywhere else. It is enshrined in one’s heart. Hence, the man who seeks the Divine within his heart redeems himself. He then attains liberation. All external spiritual exercises are of temporary value. They should be internalised to experience lasting bliss. All mental exercises also leave the heart unaffected. In the nine paths of devotion, beginning with listening to sacred things and ending with Atma-nivedanam (total surrender of the self), the last is the most important. After Atma-nivedanam there is no need for any other effort. Sankranti gives the call for this total surrender! – Divine Discourse, Jan 15, 1996.