In English
If a wife addresses her husband and says, “Now that we have come to the decision to admit our son in the , should we not make some clothes for him?” If, at that moment, the husband has no money, he decides to borrow some and get clothes prepared for his son. For whose sake has he borrowed the money? For whom has he got the clothes prepared? He has done all this for the sake of his son. After some time, a few of his friends come to him and tell him that Summer Classes are being conducted in the and advise him that, if necessary, he should take a couple of days’ leave and go and listen to those lectures. To this, the individual may give a reply and say, “I cannot get leave even for half a day and how can I go and listen to the discourses in the Summer Classes?” If the next day, his wife gets some incurable disease, then he takes leave, takes his wife to a hospital, admits her there and goes on leave for a number of days. For whose sake has he taken this leave? That is for his wife. After a few days have passed again, an incident may occur by which he has prepared some very good food which he likes, and while the food is in his plate, he gets the news that his son fell under a car and met with an accident on the street. Then he will give up the food that he likes. Although he is hungry and wants to eat, he will run for the sake of his son on the street. He has given up the food which he very much likes to eat. For whose sake has he done this? For whose sake has he run into the street? That is for his son. Thus, we see that when one sees his own people, who are dear to him, suffer from pain, he is willing to sacrifice everything. We come to understand that he is doing nothing for him-self, but that he is doing all these things for people who are dear to him. Will he have complete satisfaction if he and the close members of his family are well? Will it be possible in those conditions for him and the members of his family to live in peace? This will not bring him complete peace because he lives in the society. A human being who is born in the society, who grows in the society, and who lives in the society, cannot for a moment abandon the society. He may say that he is doing his work for promoting his own prospects and for looking after himself and that he has nothing to do with the society. But who has given him his job, and who is paying him his salary and looking after his comforts in life? It is the society around him.