In plain words
We think a religion is bad. We must not revile any religion. In no religion must we keep up the distinction ‘Yours is small, ours is great.’ All religions are good. So whichever one you like, whichever one you long for, you have the right to follow it. But in such divinity, I say firmly, no one has the right to condemn any of them. The reason is that the right to condemn divinity belongs to divinity alone, and to no one else. In such conditions, simply because we are small-minded, we go climbing up to the sky, thinking we know everything. But it is of no use. Though we reach the sky, we are not blessed with Ānanda. We count the stars. We land on the moon. But peace and security are lacking. ‘With the atom bomb in their hands, they cry out for peace’: how will peace come? Śānti is not something that lies in the outside world. Śānti dwells in our heart. Only when we develop the inward vision within our heart do we gain Śānti.
Wealth gives us no Śānti. Learning gives us no Śānti. Virtue gives us no Śānti. Strength gives us no Śānti. Śānti comes only with sacrifice. Śānti comes only with Prema. Only when we develop this Prema and this sacrifice — these two, Prema and sacrifice, are like a chariot with two wheels — can we travel well. If either of these two wheels is missing, we cannot travel. Prema and sacrifice are like a bird with two wings. It can try to fly as far as it likes. If either of the two wings is missing, it cannot fly.
Embodiments of Prema! First of all, sacrifice. Learn this. Give up selfishness. Develop what serves others. This is the goal of true life. This is the very work we must do. Instead: you were born; what have you earned? I had four houses built, I acquired twenty acres. For whom? In the very end, all you need is six feet. These twenty acres are of no use to you. The four houses are of no use to you. For whom? Do not strive for what does not go with you, for what is not yours. What goes with you, what becomes yours, are just two things: merit and Dharma. If we do meritorious deeds, they keep going with us. If we practise Dharma, it follows us like our own reflection. So, as we do these gifts and charities, in these works of charity too, the Guntur organisations must not take anything amiss: I do not like spending a great deal of money. ‘misuse of money is evil’, they say. After coming to this place, that so many of you, with Prema so holy in your hearts, have waited here for My Prema even in this scorching sun is a thing beyond words, a thing that cannot even be told. My Prema is for you, your Prema is for Me. We must come to know this principle of Prema. But it is not good to spend so much money and waste it all on these flowers and things of this kind.