In plain words
it said. Very well. The third fish spoke, they say. ‘The water drying up is a lie; the fisherman catching us is a lie. That we will die at his hands is simply Asatya. We need not think about it at all. Let us live. Off with you!’ the third one taught firmly, they say. Now, what are these three fish? These three jīvas too, called sattva, rajas and tamas, fall into the pond called saṃsāra and keep suffering there. All the while, the water called the life-span of saṃsāra keeps wasting away, little by little, they say. As this water goes on wasting away little by little, the fisherman called Yama comes and casts into it the net called the noose, they say. ‘So, even before this water dries up, even before the fisherman comes and throws his net, we must go into Mokṣa, the eternal ocean,’ the first fish taught. To think and inquire about future safety at the very outset, and to look for a fitting way to it, is the mark of the sāttvic nature. Then what does rajas say? It brushes it aside with ‘Oh, we'll see to it when it comes,’ they say. So, if at this time when we are young we are neglecting our life, then in truth we are living right in the rajas guṇa itself. Not thinking of the future at all, taking our pleasure as it comes from moment to moment, and following like cattle, like wild beasts, the thought of how we may just bring our life to its end. That, plainly, is the nature of the tamas guṇa. So we must not give our life over to the tamas and rajas guṇas and set about smearing soot on humanity itself. As much as the body goes on growing and growing, so much the life-span goes on dwindling and dwindling, going down. So, even before this wastes away completely, we must understand the sacred divine principle, live by it, and make the effort to reach the goal. At this very tender age we must keep in our citta this spiritual path or the divine principle, and make the efforts fitting to it. So, doing our karmas to some extent with Bhakti and prapatti, we must take part in social service today in the feeling, ‘Every single karma I am doing for my Ānanda.’