In plain words
But in human beings, who have gained ‘a human birth, hard to win among creatures’, it is lacking.
No other being has the sacred power that is in man. Just as the elephant does not know its own power and strength, so the people of Bhārata, though they have every power, cannot grasp it or show it forth. Human beings must practise the sādhana of making their sacred ideals and feelings one-pointed and realising their own divinity.
Of whatever party they may be, all the people of Bhārata are one. Their feelings, opinions and thoughts may differ, yet all the people of Bhārata are one. The body has many limbs. Cut away each limb and there is no body at all; in the same way, when personal and selfish feelings dance their fiendish dance, all the people of Bhārata must push them aside and guard the honour and unity of the country. The body and the country are an image and its reflection. We must realise that our country is our mother. For sacred Bhārata, the Veda and the Śāstra are its two eyes. Guarding these two eyes of Mother Bharata, make the effort to be in her lap and worthy of her Prema. Our Upaniṣads teach the eternal path of Satya, ‘Lead me from the unreal to the real’. We must try to know it. Everyone talks of the wonders of creation. But they do not learn the cause of creation, its cause. Every matter, every substance has a support. Our handkerchief and the table before us did not simply fall into our hands like this. There is One who created the cotton and the wood they are made from. This creation did not just drop down from somewhere. There is a Creator. Whether you would build a house or make a cart, there must be a primal material. That primal material is itself the Godhead. It is not that the world came out of nothing. There is no such thing in the world as nothingness. Everything is born of fullness alone. You must grasp one more Satya. Many people fret over Sri Sathya Sai Baba's many miracles, asking what Satya there is in them. To your eyes it is a miracle. To My eyes it is natural. A miracle means attraction. This attraction is in every object in the world. Drop anything, and the earth's attraction makes it fall to the ground. Nature itself has a kind of attraction. In the market we buy only the vegetables and fruits that attract us. All these miracles are only to refine your hearts. So that miracle leads on to refinement. From refinement comes help to others, and as its fruit man attains realisation. Man's narrow sight sees only the miracle and does not see the other three things. Now, My dearest and foremost miracle is Prema. Prema cannot be understood through learning or in any other way. As in the words ‘the Truth of truth’, we must know Prema through Prema alone. Recognising the divinity between man and man, recognising the sacredness in oneness, human beings must with Prema develop brotherhood and the fatherhood of God. Air is the same everywhere, yet in a balloon it is held limited; as you blow and blow, the balloon bursts and the air inside merges in the air of the universe; in the same way, through sādhana, we must develop the broad feeling, ‘you and i are one, i and you are one’, and cultivate a broad Prema. Man, who is small, must strive to become one with the vast. In Vedānta it is said, ‘The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman itself’: as one's feeling is, so one becomes. The principle of Brahman is in all. Instead of living to no purpose in our daily life, we must grasp the principle of Brahman in all and dwell in divinity. As the branch is a limb of the tree and the child of the mother, so man is a limb of God. As the branch cannot live apart from the tree, nor the child apart from the mother, so man cannot live apart from God. Even without speaking of God, we must serve society with a heart of sacred Prema. One must bring the body that is one's service into the ocean of God. Through such service we must prove the truth of ‘work is worship, duty is God’.
‘Aham’ is like a crown upon the vices in man. As long as this Aham remains, suffering cannot be escaped. As long as there is air in a football, there is no escaping kicks, is there? Once the air is gone, no one strikes it. Fill yourself with the air called Ahaṅkāra, and reproach and hardship cannot be escaped. Blows fall, more than you can dodge. Kāma has been called a ghost, krodha a spirit of the dead, and Ahaṅkāra a fiend. Man must grasp that principle which is true divinity, take on immortality, and do sacred deeds. Only then will this ghost, spirit of the dead and fiend, kāma, krodha and Ahaṅkāra, go far away. Man is covered over by Māyā. So he deludes himself that he will last for ever. Every man, whoever he may be, is afraid of death! Wealth, gold, goods and vehicles are not lasting. We must recognise that only morality, honesty and a good name are lasting. money comes and goes but morality comes and grows. Sacrifice, character and Satya: these are the lamps of life. These alone protect the body, the country and society. Pushing caste and experiences behind us moment by moment, we must reach the goal with good ideals and aims.
Those who live in this city of Delhi, the capital of the country, must try to live in a still more exemplary way. We must bring about many changes among students and teachers. There must be a close bond between them. In the field of education today, which has become tape-record education, we must bring about changes as far as we can. A student who got 30 marks out of a hundred, that is, one who made 70 mistakes out of a hundred, and then became an officer or a leader: what example do such people set for others? How then will the country prosper? How can such people help the welfare of the world and peace? The Minister for External Affairs, Vajpayee, is asking one thing. People who know nothing of our Bhārata, of the Bhagavad Gītā, the Mahābhārata and the Vedas bring dishonour on our country abroad. In New York, someone was asked who Ādi Śaṅkara was and answered that he was a beggar: that is shameful. So we must give those who go abroad from Bhārata due training in our culture for at least three months, and see that they present the culture, the sanctity and the honour of Bhārata and make them grow twofold.
Jana gaṇa mana……