In plain words
We forget the society that is such a support. Every act we do, every karma, must reach as far as society. Sam ājam: that is samāja. Sam is oneness. Ājam means going forward. Going forward in oneness is samāja. The oneness of all is our society. We cannot live even for a moment cut off from society. From oneself to one's family, from one's family to society, from society to the nation, from the nation to the whole world: on the day humanness grows in man, on that very day the nation, society and the world will all live in happiness and Śānti. We cannot just put this humanness on show somewhere. You must put a seed in the soil and water it. Only then does it come up as a plant. But if you put that seed in a tin and water it, will it come up as a plant? In the same way, humanness has to grow in the soil of the spirit; in worldly soil it dwindles away.
So if we would develop humanness, we must develop spiritual strength. We must develop self-confidence. A human being is not merely body, Manas, Buddhi and citta. Higher than all of these is the Ātma. This very Ātma pervades our muscles, our antaḥkaraṇa, our … whole being. This is what they called constant integrated awareness. If we forget the true Ātma, where is the mind? Where is the body? Where is the antaḥkaraṇa? Without this Ātma there is nothing. All these senses are merely inert. The light that is the Ātma enters these inert senses, and through it we get the senses to work. At night you are asleep. You have eyes. A dream comes. Who sees in that dream? These eyes? No! Who speaks in that dream! Not your mouth. Who hears in that dream! Your ears? No. These inert ears hear worldly things. These inert eyes see material things. If today we forget the truth that is the basis of waking, dream and deep sleep, if we forget the quest for the Ātma, we can truly say our humanness is simply wasted. We must not keep wasting our life in the material alone. We must develop the inner eye. Without it, life is not … at all.
For so many years people have been doing sādhanas. They do dhyāna, they do bhajans, they do japa. What is the result of all this? Have we changed even the least bit? Each of us must test himself, asking what change has come about in us.