In plain words
Second, A. A means action. Watch your action. That is, in every task we do, in the acts of our nature, we must enquire: are we doing work joined with Satya, is this work joined with Dharma, is it against Dharma, is it empty of Satya? This action we call Dharma. What does Dharma mean? They said, “What is held is Dharma.” Each thing has its own special quality. When a thing loses that special quality, it loses its Dharma. That is to say, he has lost the qualities he ought to have. There is fire. What are the qualities of fire? Fire has the power to burn. Not only that: the power to give light. Because it has these three qualities, the power to give light, giving heat and the power to burn, we call it fire. When it has lost the power to burn and lost the power to give light, it becomes charcoal, but it can never be fire. That is, the power fire ought to have is not in it. It has lost its Dharma, so it is not fire. It takes a second form, called charcoal. There is sugar. What is the quality of this sugar? Sweetness. If it has lost its own quality, it can never be sugar. Just some flour. In the same way there is the rose. And its quality? Giving fragrance. We can see a rose that has lost such fragrance. But today there are plastic roses. But that can never be a real rose. The qualities of a rose are not in it, so we decide it is not a rose. In the same way, what are the qualities man ought to have? For man, Satya is one chief quality. In every situation, the words we speak must speak Satya alone. Those words must cause no pain of any kind to anyone. Second, Dharma. As for Dharma, one must follow it on the right path, so that the human values never stray onto a wrong one.
Next, there is Śānti. As for what Śānti means, we take Śānti to be bearing whatever anyone says. The T in this watch is thought. Only when our thoughts are sacred, divine, joined with divinity, joined with this Satya and Dharma, will the heart that holds such thoughts be serene. So thought, these thoughts, must be joined with Satya and Dharma, which came before. When Satya and Dharma are in the heart as thoughts, Śānti arises quite naturally. A small example of this. Someone has abused us. Or criticised us. At that moment you must not take those words as your ground, grow heated and leap at them.