In plain words
‘Anudvegakaraṃ vākyaṃ satyaṃpriyahitañca.’ We must not speak Satya harshly, thinking, “We are speaking Satya.” Nor must we speak an unpleasant Satya, saying, “Is it not Satya?” Nor must we speak a harmful Satya, saying, “Is it not Satya?” Even Satya we must speak so that it is gentle, beneficial and pleasing. We must learn the way of speaking too. This too must take shape as Satya pure in thought, word and deed.
Now the third, asteya. Under no circumstances whatever must we take away in the least either the things of others or anything that is theirs. Even the thought of stealing it must not arise in us. Nor must we say with our lips, “Steal it.” So, with purity of thought, word and deed, we must not set out to take the things of others. That too is a value of humanness.
Brahmacarya. Do not think it is brahmacarya merely because you stay unmarried. Brahmacarya means this: whatever karmas you do, whatever thoughts you think, whatever words you speak, with purity of thought, word and deed, these must be of a piece with brahmacarya. You must do all karmas with the feeling that they are for the pleasure of God. To act, in mind, in word and in deed too, only in the feeling of Brahman: that, they said, is brahmacarya. Whatever work you do, do it thinking it is offered to Brahman. You need not give up the work itself. So the work we do, the words we speak, the thoughts we think must be bound up with the feeling of Brahman. To move in the feeling of Brahman is brahmacarya, they said.
Now aparigraha. The Veda said that parigraha is very bad. From no one at all must we accept any object, whether as a gift or in any other way. But the Veda laid down certain rules. From mother, from father, from the guru, from God, we may take anything at all. There is no wrong in this. This is duty. It is their responsibility. But if from others we take some object as a gift of one kind or another, we fall into debt to them. It is impossible to clear that bond of debt. This is the chief law in the law of karma. Every karma has a fruit. Take this karma to be a mirror. Whatever we do in this world comes back to us as its return. If you go before a mirror and salute it, the image in that mirror gives that salutation back to you yourself. If you go before a mirror and strike that image, the image too strikes you. In just the same way, all Prakṛti is simply like a mirror. In this world, which is like a mirror, whatever you do, those reflections come back to you yourself. So all the karmas we do must be karmas free of fault.