In plain words
A small instance. The rains fall as though poured out of pitchers. But as for soaking into the earth, they soak in very slowly. Water that has soaked in over a whole year we pump out in ten minutes. The soaking in is very slow. Because the pumping out is so much greater, we are today weaklings who cannot enjoy even water in plenty. When shall we ever make good the shortage of water? Only when we discover a speed of seeping down to match the way we pump it up can we have this water. In the same way, when the children's ambitions, their unrest and their turmoil are growing at great speed, if we try to set them right slowly, we cannot finish in good time. So, by practising our aims fully, we shall have a fine chance to draw many and to shape many. Now another point. We must teach the equality of all religions. The quotations and ideals in the ‘Bible’, the ideals in the ‘Qur’an’, the ideals the Parsis hold in Zoroastrianism, the ideals in all the religions of every other kind, the ideals in Buddhism, to the children well, in the form of stories. We must teach them so that they come to know them properly. Our Bal Vikas gurus must not hate any religion. They must not give pride of place to one religion alone. Many have said that all the ślokas in the Bhagavad Gītā should be taught. That is a great mistake. We have no objection to their learning them with their own śraddhā and Bhakti. But what we must teach is what is in the books called the Qur’an and the Bible. In the same way, the views of all religions must be told to the children well, in a way they can understand. You must clearly recognise that the harmony of all religions is itself the Sai religion.
Even if some religions oppose the Sai religion, we, for our part, must not think of them as opposed. Those who think of a religion as opposed are small-minded. He who looks on all religions as equal is whole. So we too must never, through small-mindedness, follow a broken and scattered path and enter into a narrow way of thinking. Gurus must develop such a large heart. Only then will our aims be fit to be made known and taught to the whole world. Further, in a number of ways, we must bring the children onto the path of Satya: that they must speak Satya. Every teacher must teach the children with smiles dancing on his face. Scolding them in anger or beating them: we must never follow such methods of discipline. It is a task that we accomplish with Prema, with calm and with patience.
This is a mighty task. To accomplish this mighty task, the principle of Prema is the main path. We must not give Ahaṅkāra or envy the slightest room. So, by teaching the children well, from this tender age, the principles of the body and senses, Manas and Buddhi that we have heard about today, we must take up today the chance to raise them into heroes, valiant and great, who will uplift the country, with no room at all for this possessiveness and Ahaṅkāra and without falling in the least into the monstrous ghost called selfishness.