In plain words
Today we have no need of words without heart. Wherever we go, we try to see only the bad. No. No, we must try to see the good. Even after entering the Nandana garden that spreads its fragrance with fine fruits and flowers, a pig, they say, goes about looking for filth. But it does not long for the fruit. Where? Even in the Nandana garden. In the same way, why come into this sacred place and try to search out only the bad? You need not go looking for the good. Here it is to be had as much as you want. So take hold of the good. For having come here, give your mother and father the joy they deserve. That is gratitude. Mātṛdevo bhava. Pitṛdevo bhava. Only after these two, gurudevo bhava. We must give our guru the gratitude that is due. But many children do not give the guru the respect that is due. That is very wrong. You must recognise just this one thing well. The citizens of today, the officers of today: who are they all? Before, they were all students like you. Today's students themselves will become the citizens of tomorrow, the officers of tomorrow. So whatever respect we give citizens and officers today, tomorrow we shall be ready to receive such respect. If today you give no respect to elders, how will others give it to you? Students! This is not just one way traffic; it is give and take, the principle of giving and receiving. Such sacred ways of conduct, our good qualities, are far greater than learning. It is no wrong if learning does not come. But we must never give up good qualities for the sake of learning. So if we have character, there is a place for us anywhere in the world. Without character, however much learning we have, we can win no honour in any way. But with both together one can rise further still. So within our institution we must develop sacred human values. To nourish this humanness, we must set ourselves at this time to enter every field, mix and mingle with all, and grow the principle of Prema, the principle of patience, and fellow-feeling.