Books can at best inform; they cannot demonstrate by direct proof. Only the realised can convince by direct demonstration. So they have to be sought after and served reverentially. Then only can precious Jnana be won. No amount of seawater can slake one’s thirst; no amount of study of Shastras can solve doubt. (GV, p. 90)
The Gita has to be used for self-realisation; that is the holy task for which it is designed. It is wrong to misuse it. All attempts to use it for fame and fortune, for titles and display, are but symptoms of egoism; they are acts of sacrilege. The ‘‘Gandha’ must be extracted from this ‘Grantha’ (Gita); that is the test of scholarship; the fragrance (gandha) is the essence of the book (Grantha). Do not, on the other hand, transform the mastaka into a Pustaka, the brain into a book. (GV, pp. 162-163)
What the head must carry is not the weight of the paper, but the message explained thereon. Attach value not to the book, but to the subject, revere, not the volume, but the matter expounded therein. Install it not on the altar but in the heart. (GV, p. 162)