In plain words
Like a raging gale, time is rushing past at great speed; like a block of ice, the span of life is melting away; and yet man goes on his way without recognising and living by the very duty he was born, and lives, to carry out. This is a pitiable state of affairs.
You are those who impart learning; you are teachers: you are like fine sculptors. Sculptors have the power and the skill to shape the boulders of the hillside and grant them the worthiness to be installed in a temple. In the same way, yours is the sacred service of bestowing Vijñāna, Sujñāna and Prajñāna on the children who come to you for learning, and so giving their humanness its full meaning. To sow the seeds of Prema in the hearts of boys and girls, to raise the flowers of forbearance and offer the fruits of Śānti to the Paramātma: that is the very duty teachers must carry out. From time without beginning the great ṛṣis performed the karmas the Vedas enjoin, cultivated love of God and fear of sin, and themselves churned their minds to gather a treasure of nectar, the ways of Sanātana Dharma; today all those ways have declined, survive merely in words alone, and have become empty in practice. Between the words that are spoken and the deeds that are done there is no harmony at all. While they welcome war, they hold peace conferences. They spend their time in nothing but meaningless, futile pursuits.