In plain words
Education alone is the power that makes manifest the divine power hidden in man. But all of today's educational institutions are turning into mere factories that make students into graduates. Neither of the two can recognise the close bond and kinship that should exist between students and teachers. The humility, awe and faith that should be felt towards gurus are not to be seen in students at all. But the feelings of tenderness and the principle of Prema that should be felt towards students are missing in teachers. Because the teachings of these teachers, too, go on merely mechanically, the students' state of mind is falling into disarray. These teachers make no fitting effort to be the ideal the student's future needs. Nor are the students developing fitting faith in the teachers.
This is a vessel. When we want to pour what is in this vessel into this vessel, only when both vessels are in the right position can what is in this one pass into this one. If this upper vessel is jolted even a little, what is in it cannot pass into this lower vessel. If the upper vessel stays steady and the lower vessel moves at all, what is in this upper vessel cannot pass into the lower vessel; so the vessel at the higher level is the teacher. The vessel at the level below it is the student. In this, only when the feelings of both are in the right state can the student receive the learning the teacher gives. So, because the responsibility for today's system of education rests on both, we are living through such a situation. We cannot say whose the fault is and whose it is not. Only when the two hands meet is a sound made. So the student is not in the state a student should be in. The teacher too is not in the state he should be in. Sacred changes must come about in both. Besides human progress, we must recognise in this the principle of śreyas and preyas. The teacher must teach seeking the good of the student. The disciple must not let his mind enter any other matter at all apart from devotion to the guru, and must remain in a kind of steadiness. Then alone will he receive the best education, grow into a student who is an ideal for the country, and be able to give the country a fitting high standing. Above all, what we must recognise today is that human qualities are disappearing from man.