Passage 2

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In plain words

We must serve those very people who stand at a level below us and whom the world has neglected. When we inquire into the kinds of men and divide them, the one who stands at a high level may be said to be at the level of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. The one who stands at the same level as us may be called Aśvattha-Nārāyaṇa. Those who stand at a level below us may simply be called Daridra-Nārāyaṇas. We need not serve Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. He has as many servants as he needs. Aśvattha-Nārāyaṇa means one who runs ceaselessly after desires. However many kinds of strength and ability he may have, he has no contentment at all. However much he earns, he keeps smouldering with the greed to earn still more. There is no need at all to serve such people. But it is most necessary to serve the humble folk who are lowly, who are poor, and who have been kept at a distance in each and every thing. Even in that state we must not entertain the feeling that we are serving somebody. We must serve with all our heart, with the feeling of Prema that says, "I am serving the Nārāyaṇa who is in this world."

Only for those who have served with thought, word and deed, and with the body as well, does the mind become pure. Without purity of mind, man cannot rise to a higher level at all. In the workers there must be no Ahaṅkāra or ostentation at all. Workers must have broad hearts. A selfless feeling must be there at all times. They must foster a heart of Prema. The workers themselves are like the backbone of the organisation. Such people must understand basic humanness. Understanding alone is not enough. They must practise it. Without such practice, service done with ostentation and Ahaṅkāra does not deserve the name of service. The joys and sorrows we experience in life, the likes and dislikes we act out, the cravings for sense objects we wait upon: all these are only disorders of the mind. The feeling of duality, "This is separate and I am separate", is itself the root cause of this disorder. The selfish feeling, "Whatever becomes of anyone, it does not matter; only I and mine must stay safe and happy", is itself the root cause of duality.

Through this very feeling of duality, attachment and hatred grow in man. These very attachments and hatreds make the mind impure. So if this mind, hardened with this impurity from generation to generation, is to be purified, it is not something that happens so easily. As for these, it becomes pure only through one thing: service. When we want to separate the reflection of the moon in a bowl of oil, we must follow the right way to do it. But man today, resolving to rid the bowl of oil of the moon's image in it, puts that vessel into the fire and burns it.