In plain words
Men and women of good qualities are very much needed. Only when there are students, girls and boys, of good qualities will the country be for the welfare of the world.
Students! What you must recognise is a transformation of the mind. There is plenty of political transformation taking place. Economic transformation is taking place. But we are not developing in the right way the sacredness of our Bhāratīya culture. Spiritual transformation is most urgently needed. It is only for lack of spiritual transformation that, in this world of darkness, we are falling prey to unrest, to wrong conduct, to Asatya. In the Hindu tradition, satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara: these two alone are as dear to us as life. These two we have rooted out. We believe that money alone is what matters. For today's students money itself is God. Bad qualities themselves are the offerings of worship. Humanity itself is the sacrifice on this altar. Once humanity has gone, where will man be? We must strive as we should to increase these human values. We must strive as we should for the sake of increasing this humanity. For this we must pursue education. It is this that we must nourish today. To sow the seeds of Prema, to make the flowers of forbearance blossom and to offer the fruit of Śānti to society: that is the student's first duty. Students who are the world's well-wishers are doing harm to the world. This is not the chief value of education. The place where students are should be filled with an atmosphere of calm. They must strive to foster the country's peace and security. But the place where today's students are is turning into a place of great unrest. So we must bring about many kinds of change in the system of education too. We must foster a character joined with morality and honesty. Feelings of helping others must grow in us. That itself is the chief essence of the eighteen Purāṇas. Paropakārāya puṇyāya, pāpāya parapīḍanaṃ. Our hands must always be helping hands. Our hands must never enter into doing harm to others. We must try to recognise the principle of the Paramātma that is in all. The faith must grow in us that, whomever we harm, it is the Paramātma Himself we are harming.
Students! We are not students merely because we have received degrees. On the day we give our help to the people, on that day we become true students. We must take part in service to the people. Education is what is studied for the sake of service. What is studied for the sake of earning money is not education. You must become compassionate of heart. A heart with compassion is the temple of God. So it is students themselves who will become teachers in the future. Today there is one great problem. Is it for want of good teachers, or for want of good students, that this system of education is taking this wrong path? What I mean is this: today's teachers too were students before.