Passage 8

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In plain words

When you strive for the noble, the citta grows steady: it is true! Drunk and lost in delusion, Yama strikes you down here: it is true! Hari Govinda, Hari Govinda, say ‘Hari Govinda’, you dullard!

If we are to draw out the demonic that lies within humanness, we must remember God with a feeling of Ānanda. God is not in some other place. You yourself are the reflection of God. The echo of that reflection is your cry, and the actions of the echo are your own Dharma. So you must put into practice the joyful sound of the inner voice and prove your humanness to be divinity, in an exemplary way.

Boys! Girls! Our state as human beings is one that will offer a great ideal in the future. Human birth is so very exalted, sacred and divine, and worth living. Through the power of this science, man has learnt even to roam the sky like the birds. He has learnt even to swim the boundless ocean like the fish and keep himself safe. But unfortunately man has not learnt to live as a human being who dwells on the earth. When man has not learnt to live as man, what fulfilment is left in his humanness? It is no greatness for man to be born as man. Greatness lies in shaping oneself into a good human being. We must show ourselves to be exemplary human beings. We must make good qualities shine within us. We must bring a good name to the parents who gave us birth. Our birth must make us truly blessed. We must offer our gratitude to the land we were born in and to the mother who gave us birth. This is the principle of Dharma that the Rāmāyaṇa gives. ‘Jananī janma bhūmiśca svargādapi garīyasi.’