Passage 9

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In plain words

Students! At this age it is natural for you to have this Ahaṅkāra. As long as there is strength of muscle, the strength of Ahaṅkāra goes on shining in the eyes. The blood of the young is always running and rushing. It never has a calm flow at all. They care for nothing. Because this is covered over by the layers called Ahaṅkāra, they care for no one and do not weigh good and bad. In children the sense of discernment is not to be seen at all.

Students! You must regard humility and obedience as the chief learning.

Learning gives humility; from humility comes worthiness; from worthiness wealth, from wealth Dharma; from that, man gains the joys of this world and the next.

Do you see! If God is to be ours, He comes to us through humility alone. If you merely neglect God, or through Ahaṅkāra neglect the things of God, such divine feelings will not come to you. So, students, this age is a most sacred age. You must make this body and karma worthwhile. Study well. Pass in a good class. Put this learning to use in society. You need not study merely for degrees. There is no benefit at all that comes from these degrees. Our forefathers studied none of these kinds of studies. But the more studies grow, the more Ahaṅkāra keeps growing. If Ahaṅkāra grows, the strength of our Ātma dwindles. If divinity grows, Ahaṅkāra dwindles. These two are like the see-saw that children play on.

Students, the spiritual path is most necessary. It is because there is no feeling for God that men in the world today behave cruelly and basely. For us, wealth is not the chief thing.