In plain words
Life itself is a yajña; man's span of life is 116 years. But the first 24 years are filled with childhood. That is, it is the early morning. Then the next 40 years are all midday; grown very fierce, urged on by the senses, sunk in the longings for sense objects, forgetting true knowledge, not opening the eyes, in the way of one who has strength of arm, the forty years go by. Then, when old age sets in, he keeps all these longings down and worries over the welfare of wife, children and the rest. As long as there is muscle in the body, we must not grow proud at the sight of the body's strength. The body is only like a block of ice. Moment by moment its span of life keeps wearing away. If we look to the power of money, it is even more fleeting. As long as the power of money lasts, one may go through many kinds of trouble. The moment the power of money runs out, there is no one who will look at his face. A deep darkness closes in. This is only like a flash of lightning. The instant the lightning flashes, a great light comes. But right after it darkness closes in. There is no ground at all for us to think of money, to depend on it alone and to get Ānanda from it. That is precisely why you must look to the strength of virtue and try to live by it.
We must set out to put life on the sacred path. To hold to Satya, what hardships Hariścandra went through! To follow her husband, how much forbearance that Candramati gained! Bowing to his father's command, how much humility that Lohitāsa showed! Parents must teach every child Satya like Hariścandra's, forbearance like Candramati's and Śānti like Lohitāsa's. Only when the parents make these children's hearts soft and sweet, as is right, from childhood itself, will the children be able to enjoy many kinds of happiness and joy in the future.
In human life a power beyond the material things of the world is most necessary. That is why the Veda has kept showing that the sacred, divine power is far higher than this power of matter. We must take the needed pains to experience such divine power at least a little and to share it with others.
Embodiments of the divine Ātma! If not even a little transformation comes in us, we will have done nothing but misuse our life, our time, our body and our duty too. They have been coming to Prasanthi Nilayam for a long time. For forty, forty-five years they have kept on hearing Swami's teachings. But day by day their desires grow beyond all bounds, and tyāga does not begin in them even by an atom.