In plain words
The whole world is made of the five elements. If you convince your mind well of the Satya that these five elements are right here with me, there will be no room at all for these desires. Through such full examination and enquiry, we must develop Jñāna. Jñāna is not something to be had from somewhere apart. What man must do today is to try to see as one his own being, which is in all beings, and all beings, which are in his own being. Men's aims may differ, their doctrines may differ, their deeds may be done differently, their works may differ, but we must demonstrate the Satya that the divinity in all of them is one. In front of Me there are two mikes. In front of Bhagavantam there is one mike. All these bulbs are giving light. This bulb is different, that bulb is different, this mike is different, that mike is different. But if we recognise the Satya that the current in all of them is one, there is no room at all for such desires. So, Jñāna is to show that the one thing called ‘Īśvaratva’ is in all. In this world the body passes through four stages, called childhood, youth, adolescence and old age. They appear as four stages, but in all of them the person is one. Beauty and charm, attraction and repulsion, old age and childhood: these changes keep happening. When we recognise this truth, there is no room for this body, these wishes, these hatreds or envies to arise in us. Above all, man wants to be honoured in a high position. And what else does man hope for? He hopes that everyone will love him. How does honour come to us? As long as there is wealth, attendants may come and honour us. Even this honour they give only for the sake of the wealth; they do not honour from the heart. When wealth comes, medicines may be had, but health is not had. When wealth comes, a name may be had, but Prema is not had. When wealth comes, pleasures may be had, but Śānti is not had. But what we need is Śānti. Where do we find this Śānti? Except from divinity alone, we will not find it by any other path.
Every man, though he has many pleasures and many comforts, pines away without Śānti. That is why, when every man longs for Śānti, we must be ready to do the karma fit for it. Man comes into the world through hunger. At once he cries. When a little milk or honey is given, he stops crying. The moment he is born, he is born with the wish called hunger. Once a year has passed, he sets off after toys. From toys he runs after clothes. Then books. Then he sets off after power. From this power he hopes for still more and more power. Where will these wishes ever end! When does this honour come to us? Only when we do the work we have to do at the time it has to be done, keeping our duty as our aim, does honour come to us.
A small example. With today our teachers' conference has ended. From tomorrow we must set out. Tomorrow we enquire when the Bangalore bus is. He says the Bangalore bus is at 9 o'clock. You go to the bus stand with your luggage and sit down. It is 9 o'clock, it is ten o'clock, it is eleven o'clock, but the bus has not come. Then a kind of irritation rises in you. You cannot leave your things there and come to the mandir. Nor can you go on sitting right there at the bus stand. The mind is irritated. What made it irritated? You got irritated because the bus that was to come did not come on time. At this time of irritation, what do you do? You curse the bus, you curse the bus driver, you curse the transport, and in the end you curse the government as well. You revile it because the bus is not coming on time. What brought about this reviling? Because it did not come on time, the bus became the target of so much impatience and so many curses. In the same way, if a man does not do the proper work on time, the world reviles you. If you carry out your karma on time, the world honours you. If the bus comes on time, how happy you are! You say thanks to the driver. In the same way, if we keep doing the proper work on time, the whole world honours us.
Another example. A mother's own son is joining a college. A mother is very fond of her son. If he passes, the mother cooks sweets at home with care. She gives the boy an oil bath for his head. She gives him new clothes. That day the mother makes a great festival. She honours him. She rejoices greatly that her son toiled night and day and did his duty. If that same son fails, the mother too blames him.