In plain words
Take no pride in dress or speech; do not praise yourself; do not revile others: this alone, it is said, is Jñāna.
Embodiments of Prema!
It is well known that from ancient times, through age after age in Bhārata, the holy days have carried special inner meanings and have proclaimed spiritual Satya. But because we have taken up outward rituals and ways of behaving, we are forgetting their inner sense, their inner meanings and their principles. In Bhārata, for those who are able to keep them, every day is a holy day. Śivarātri month after month, the Ekādaśī vrata once every fifteen days: looked at well, every day is a holy day for the people of Bhārata. But between all the holy days and today's holy day of Dīpāvali the difference appears great. Within Bhārata alone, in its many regions, people observe it in many ways and worship. In some regions they keep it as the day when Śrī Rāmacandra, having left Ayodhyā, met with hardship for fourteen years, lost Sītā, suffered troubles and plunged the people of Ayodhyā into thick darkness, slew Rāvaṇa, then reached the city of Ayodhyā and blessed the hearts of its citizens in holiness, and Sītā, the great mother, entered Ayodhyā and lit the lamp of joy. In other regions they keep it as the holy day when, in the Kṛṣṇa Avatāra, He slew with Satya as His support the asura called Naraka, the home of vices, and made divine virtues shine in the good and the saintly. In still other regions they keep the festival with the memory of how Emperor Bali, true to the promise he gave to God, rejoiced in Vāmanamūrti at Siddhāśrama.
In this way, in many regions and for many reasons, people hold festivities with great enthusiasm. But above all, on Naraka Caturdaśī we must grasp that Narakāsura means the asura nature that drags one to hell. The capital of this Narakāsura was Prāgjyotiṣapura. Prāk means before, jyoti means light, and ṣā means forgetting. That is, his kingdom was the very centre that forgets the light that was before. That is, Prāgjyotiṣāpura is the place that has forgotten the light before, the first light, the light of the Ātma. That is, the place that has forgotten the light of the Ātma is the capital of this Narakāsura. Every person who has forgotten the light of the Ātma is himself a Narakāsura. That is, humanity, filled with Ajñāna, darkness, Ahaṅkāra and pride, has itself forgotten its own light of the Ātma. The Narakāsura made of the vices, evil ways, wicked deeds and arrogance in man is forgetting the light of the Ātma within himself. Narakāsura's mother was Bhūdevī. This Bhūdevī prayed to God without ceasing. No mother wishes for her son's death, or can endure it. She cannot bear such grief. But Bhūdevī, Narakāsura's mother, prayed to God: ‘Swāmī! On the day my son meets his end and this whole earth shines in light, let that day of my son's death be a day of joy for the whole world; let people rise in the brahmamuhūrta, light lamps and spend it in joy and festivity.’ That is why, calling it Naraka Caturdaśī, young and old alike take the oil bath, put on new clothes, light lamps and are happy. Its inner meaning: all the people born on Bhūdevī are her children. If they do deeds that displease that mother, that mother wishes for the death of her son. For a mother to wish for her own son's death, his vices alone are the reason. The vices of this Narakāsura: Ahaṅkāra, envy and anger. This envy, Ahaṅkāra and anger became demonic tendencies and danced the dance of dissolution in Narakāsura's heart. To drive away such vices, effort and śraddhā are needed. The one who has śraddhā gains Jñāna; for want of this Jñāna man is the home of these vices; for man there is no merit beyond śraddhā, and no happiness equal to it. Through śraddhā, things out of our reach come to us. Through want of śraddhā, things that should be gained are lost to us. The story of Ekalavya is well known to the people of Bhārata. When Ekalavya begged Droṇācārya for the art of archery, Droṇācārya said that he would teach only a kṣatriya, and no one else. Then, with nothing else he could do, Ekalavya, with great śraddhā and dedication, made an image of Droṇācārya out of clay and learned the science of arms. He mastered even śabdavedī, the very last of the eight arts. That is, the art of loosing arrows by sound alone. Seeing this, Droṇācārya was greatly astonished. Ekalavya's strength and skill appeared greater than Arjuna's. The cause of this strength and skill was śraddhā alone. One who has śraddhā can make a great fire out of a speck of a spark.