Although thoughts of the world may still assail you, if you go on carrying out my behests, things worldly will not touch you.
At this juncture one end of the rope is in my hand, one end is in your hand and a third is in illusion's hand. Under these circumstances, you must do one thing. Do not try to pull your end toward you because you know one end is in my hand. Rather, your duty is not to resist the pull from me. If you let go, maya will pull you. If you turn toward me I will pull you. This means let thoughts come, but for the sake of God, for my sake and for the sake of honesty, do not put them into practice. That would be spiritually fatal. But don't worry, because I know God will help you.
This mental state of dejection, frustration and mayavic thought-torture is very good from a spiritual point of view. It can be a turning point. It is said in books, "Fools don't get angry. Wise men get angry but don't express anger. Eunuchs don't have sexual thoughts. Brave men have such thoughts but don't put them into action." Suppose you are having such thoughts; you should not try to stop them from coming. If you try to stop them, they will attack you again with double the force. So let them come and be spent away.
There is no need for you to check thoughts from coming, but they should not be put into action. What is the way out? Just to say do not put them into action? What is the practical remedy? Some people think and repeat: "I am God, I am the Soul." But this thought cannot free anyone. Only when you experience God, then nothing binds you; otherwise, all the Vedantic reasoning cannot free you. So what happens? People having such thoughts remain engrossed in maya and do not worry about anything. They allow their bad thoughts to result in actions and enjoy a worldly way of living. But afterwards, with the spending of these sanskaras, new sanskaras crop up. This is the way of the world. The indifference of the Vedantists toward such thoughts, and thinking that only God is real and whatever we do is by the will of God are the cause of such happenings. If you could continually feel convinced that nothing happens without God's will, it is good. But it is impossible to have such a firm conviction without Experience.