In plain words
So whoever comes to us and asks for service, that is the best person. And now, do you ask what the work is? Within my duty, in whatever work I have to carry out my duty rightly, to carry out that duty is itself the best karma. And of times, do you ask which is the good time? Only the present is the good time; the future has gone off and settled somewhere. It lies beyond what the eye can see. It lies where it cannot be seen. There is no use brooding over such a future. If you ask whether we should brood over what has gone by, what has gone by we have already seen and sent on its way. There is no need to brood over it. We must take fitting care of what is happening now. Carrying out our duty well, making the present time sacred, and receiving our guests and visitors, those who come to our home, with good words, kind speech and due respect: these three alone are what is right. Whoever comes to us is good. Whoever he may be. Whatever the duty you do, it does not matter. Duty is what matters. So see to it that you do it well. Only when we look after the present will a good future come. ‘These three are sacred,’ the sādhu answered. At this time when you are young, in the present, what is your duty? On the one hand you must make your parents glad at heart, and, without falling into any upheaval in your student days, set about accomplishing rightly whatever work you have joined. To accomplish it in this right way is right karma. For this time of life, this is the right time for you to nurture some kinds of morality and honesty, the qualities within every principle. Well then, what else is there to do? Not only fitting respect for your parents, not only bringing them a name that lives up to its meaning: you must also make a firm resolve to restore the future of our Bhārata, and its culture too. So, at this age, you must keep these three safe: discipline, devotion, duty. As for which time is good: how sacred this age is cannot be told. When we tread unholy paths in this sacred age, life is tossed about in a state of great turmoil.