In plain words
Take Prakṛti as your support and enter into nivṛtti,’ he said.
So today our goal must be the Ātma, and our walk must be the walk of Prakṛti. Today all students have their eyes on Prakṛti and their walk in the Ātma. How can that happen? It cannot happen. Whoever they may be, we must bow to the good words that elders speak. For the man who bows in this way to the commands of mother, father, teacher and God, there is never trouble of any kind. In passing excitement and passing distress we may say all sorts of things. Our Sundaraiah too said a few minutes ago: It was out of some little excitement, and in my sorrow that Swami had not spoken to us or talked to us for a long time, that I spoke; but those who have spoken that way and given promises are not one, not two, but so many. So you need not give Me promises. I am not asking for promises. Finish the work you came for; after you go back from here, bind yourselves by a fitting vow to make your parents happy with honour and respect and to give them a fitting example: that alone is My joy.
First of all, recognise the secret of life. These good words are one thing, discrimination: weigh well what is good and what is bad. But today man is making no effort at all towards any power of inquiry. Though people outside tell you things that are not for your good, people develop a greater liking and taste for them. The words spoken with Prema, wishing for your good, seem a little hard to you. That is just where you must inquire. Whose words are for my good? Whose words are for my pleasure? Whose words are the root of my growth? Whose words are we killing? We must make this inquiry. The doctor comes to the patient: ‘Dear one! If your illness is to be cured, you must keep this diet. You must not eat those, you must not eat these.’ When he says this, the patient feels a little hard towards the doctor. But a friend comes along: ‘What of the doctor's words? I will bring you everything; eat everything, and your health will come right’: things that go against health, that spoil his health still more, and it is that friend's words that taste sweet. The words of those who do us harm are sweet. The words of those who wish us well are a little harsh. But though they are harsh for the moment, they too are sweet. In the same water the lotus was born, and the leech was born. But the leech fastens on a man and sucks out his blood. The lotus brings delight to the heart. Though their place of birth is one, their states and their ways are quite different.