In plain words
Nobody is enquiring into the nature of individual character. They pay no heed at all to the matter of it.
In ancient times just those people who had this individual character were held to be ideal people. Just such great souls they used to call philosophers and ācāryas. The very histories that such great souls established used to appear to the world as the chief light for mankind. And such great souls, who made history, from those days used to guard the eminence and the purity of the country. In this way, one must keep fostering individual character, making it grow day by day and examining it oneself moment by moment. With only this individual character, we cannot achieve our tasks. It is needed to some extent only for one's own use. For the uplift of the country or for the country's ideal, this individual character does not shine so much. One can save oneself. One can satisfy oneself. But if one is to join this society and further the eminence of society, national character too is essential along with individual character.
National character means devotion to the country. Individual character is like one's Prema for one's mother. This national character, National character as it is called, is bound up with devotion to the country. That is, loving the country. Saying "Jananī janmabhūmiś ca svargād api garīyasi", they have been fostering, as a goal so important, the worth of this motherland above heaven and the Prema-principle of the mother who gave birth. So individual character is equal to the mother. National character is equal to the country. The very joining of the two, formed as negative and positive, is as if it brings about advantages of many kinds. In the world there may be many who have national character. But if individual character itself is not there, what is called national character has no value in the world. Even if there is individual character, if national character is not there, one cannot shine. Moreover, one cannot achieve the country's eminence. To achieve the country's eminence is the duty of every man. In whatever country a person is born, to wish for the eminence of that country, to long for it, to practise it and to bring it to growth is his duty. Today, though there is national character, though they have made sacrifices in many ways, they are unable to give it a lasting form.
In India, to win self-rule, many great souls poured out their wealth, their minds and even their bodies, and went on to achieve self-rule. They chose national character as what mattered most, and through it they went on to achieve this task. But this national character has been sinking lower little by little. Akbar, the foreign emperor