In plain words
Through selfishness and Ahaṅkāra he is sinking lower and lower. This is simply useless. What causes this fall? These alone are the causes: selfishness, Ajñāna and avidyā. Behind every word, every act and every thought of man, selfishness is stirring. Those who seek liberation must burn it up in the fire of Jñāna. Otherwise man has no existence at all. Who is a human being? One who has good thoughts, memories and a future. The ground of a good future is a harvest of good thoughts. We must establish this in the Ātma principle. The chair is not in the wood; it is not in the mind. In the same way the Ātma principle too is beyond place and time. Do not misuse such time, which is unbroken. We must use time, karma and duty well. Time changes from moment to moment. Life is like a bubble on water. A lifespan is like water in a leaking pot. Not to notice this is the root mark of Ajñāna. To set right the faults within us is most urgent today. Recognise what is eternal Satya in human life, and put your time to good use.
In our land of Bhārata there are 56,400 small villages. The state of these villages is very sad and pitiable. Those who live in the towns must throw themselves into programmes of social service, to support their brother men who live in the villages and bring them up to their own level. Today, whatever we do and whatever we think, it is done out of selfishness alone. We are becoming good for nothing. When, then, will we ever recognise what is for the good of others? We pin many hopes and are let down. We climb onto the platform and make speeches. But what we say, we do not do. “A crore of things may be said; not one is done.” That is why the Upaniṣad declared, “Arise, awake, and learn by going to the great ones.” We climb onto the platform and call out, “Sisters and brothers!” We all think of ourselves as brothers. But real brothers themselves fight over property and go all the way to the Supreme Court. So rather than calling ourselves brothers in mere words, we must grow a feeling of the Ātma that is higher than that. Only then will the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man find their meaning.
Today is the holy day of Ugādi. Eating feasts and putting on new clothes is not enough. With the new year, begin a new endeavour. The village folk are suffering many hardships. They have no proper medical or educational facilities. There is no clean water to drink. They have no latrines, and no food to eat. Do the service that gives them these facilities, and through it see Divinity. Today we need the one who toils. Not the one who speaks empty words. Ours is the land of Bharata. A land of karma. Toil itself is karma. Only then will this become a land of karma. Only the land that loves Bhagavān is the land of Bharata. So toil, bring the people of the countryside forward, and win love for Bhagavān. Today our lives have been soiled by the threefold craving: the craving for a wife, for wealth and for sons. Wealth turns a man drunk, and then mad. Wealth is needed, certainly. But there must be a limit to it. Wealth beyond measure ruins the mind. Spending what one has earned is harder than earning wealth. Keeping safe the wealth that is left over is harder still. Yet these hardships are not without some joys. So spend this wealth on the people of the villages and on the poor, and put it to good use. It is not that this world is rooted in wealth. This world is rooted in Dharma. When wealth grows, unrest grows, as horns grow on a beast. Along with wealth, sorrow grows too. The man who has wealth is tormented by the government on one side, his relatives on another and thieves on a third. God knows the suffering the man of wealth goes through. Those who have heaped up wealth for their sons suffer at the hands of those very sons. So give in charity, and let your wealth fulfil its purpose. The members of the Sathya Sai Organisations must go round every village and make the lives of its people better. For the Sathya Sai Organisations this is a new undertaking. I will come to every village.