Passage 11

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

They must conduct themselves with morality and honesty. They must foster values.

He who moves in Brahman is a brahmacārī

What are human values? We must know this, and step by step show these values in practice. Without these human values there is no use even in our living. Some think that human values mean good conduct, Dharma, and that Satya, Śānti, Ahiṃsā and the rest, all put together, are human values. In all of them Prema stands as the chief principle. ‘love is God, live in love,’ they said. Without Prema, this Dharma, Satya, Śānti and Ahiṃsā have no value at all. They must be qualities joined with divinity. Whatever work we do, we must do it with Prema. In the culture of Bhārata there are many more principles, fit to be practised in daily life. Not only this: they have divided human life into four stages, brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. These four are divisions within the culture of Bhārata. Of them all, brahmacarya is like the foundation. For the students of today it is as precious as life itself. If anything goes astray anywhere, it is the Dharma of the householder that goes astray. If the householder's stage goes astray, there is no need to speak of vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Our culture has explained well the meaning of the word brahmacarya. Brahmacarya does not mean only good conduct. It is not merely to say that one is not a householder. We cannot call such a person a pure person. We generally think that one who is not a householder is a brahmacārī. This is a very wrong meaning. Be in the householder's stage, be in vānaprastha, be in sannyāsa, be in any stage at all: you must move in Brahman; that is brahmacarya. ‘He who moves in Brahman is a brahmacārī,’ they said. We must live in the feeling ‘Sarvaṃ viṣṇumayaṃ jagat.’