In plain words
In all this, discipline is very necessary, above all in our own organisations. This discipline matters most for life itself. We must live well in discipline. We must carry out well the Dharma of the householder. We must bring up our children well. We must try to teach our children good qualities. This is the chief duty of mothers and fathers. What are people doing today? A small example. It is common in the towns and much rarer in the villages. The moment the child is born, the mother hands it over to an ayah or a nurse. The lady of the house goes about as she pleases. By the mother's nurture, by the mother's touch, by the mother's breathing in and out, the span of the child's life grows longer. No one recognises this secret. If the mother keeps the child at her side and her hand is on it, the child's well-being grows a great deal. What is happening today? They hand it over to an ayah, a nurse, a maid. These nurses and ayahs look to their own feelings; they do not look to the child's welfare. They may look after it for money, for wages. In the end, because he grew up in the ayah's hands, he weeps when the ayah dies but does not weep when his mother dies. People are coming to this state. We must not bring up children this way. The child must always be with its mother. The child is a part of the mother. Without the mother the child cannot live. The branch is a part of the tree. If you cut the branch from the tree, the branch cannot live. The fish is a part of the water. Leaving the water, the fish cannot live even a moment. In the same way, man is a part of Nārāyaṇa. Man cannot live even a moment apart from Nārāyaṇa. We must keep nurturing this principle of being a part. Each one is a part of God.
We must recognise this truth. We must believe it. Faith is what matters most. Without faith, life becomes a life without breath. People say, ‘I have no faith in God.’ You may have no faith in God, but have you faith in yourself? One who does not trust himself is the very one who does not trust God. You came to Puttaparthi. Without the trust, ‘I will go and reach Bezwada tomorrow’, you could not even sit in the bus. Without the trust, ‘I will go to the market, buy vegetables and come home’, you could not even go to the bazaar. Without the trust, ‘I will come back home in the evening’, you could not even go to the office. Are you doing all this with trust or with distrust?