Passage 7

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In plain words

We must enquire into the truth: are the words he spoke true, are those faults in me or not? Do the charges he brought go against my Dharma, or keep to it? When my conduct is not what those criticisms say, when my words have nothing at all to do with his criticisms, I must stay at peace. Why should I give room to anger? So watch your word and watch your action. When we watch these two, Śānti comes quite naturally. Śānti is the jewel of the maharṣis. This Śānti will not agree to stay with the selfish. Seeing those who have Ahaṅkāra, Śānti runs away. So Śānti makes its home only with one who lives with Satya and with Dharma. With those given to selfishness, Ahaṅkāra and passion, it will not stay even a moment. So when this Śānti is joined with Satya and Dharma, those thoughts themselves take the form of Śānti.

C: character. watch your character. Man's chief prāṇa. Character is 3/4 life. Prema itself is our prāṇa. A life without Prema, even while it lives, is equal to the dead. So Prema is the chief quality. Think on it well. Character does not mean merely keeping to good conduct, not entering into injustice, not doing wrong; it is not only this much. We must shape our humanness. Readiness to act must flourish. We must develop the prosperity of society. Not only this. We must live for the Ātma, not for food. Truly, a life without this quality is like a house without a lamp. Like a kite whose string has snapped. Like a coin that will not pass. First of all, we must give such a thing called life the value fit for character, on the right path. That is Prema. Selfless Prema. Prema without Ahaṅkāra, Prema without show. This very Prema is our true character. This alone is eternal. This is what takes on the form of Satya. This character must be joined with the three that came before: Satya, Dharma and Śānti. We must watch: is my character with Satya, is it with Dharma, is it with Śānti? If we enquire well into these three that came before, character too will take on its own true form.

Now, the fifth. H. Heart. What does this heart mean? Not the physical heart. This physical heart is only a fistful.