Passage 1

Also in his talks (29)

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In plain words

This world is a mixture of good and bad. It is a blend of good and bad. In it there can be no such thing as good alone or bad alone. What seems good to one person may seem bad to another. What one person knows as good, another may know as bad. This good and bad are only man's feelings; they are not the doings of Prakṛti. A fitting example of this you may all know already. Once Droṇācārya called Dharmaja and Duryodhana: ‘My children! You must go about the whole kingdom and find out the good and the bad in the way this kingdom is governed,’ he commanded. Dharmaja and Duryodhana went about and came back. Hastināpura. He called them in one at a time: ‘My dear! How is the kingdom being ruled?’ he asked Dharmaja. Dharmaja, with a smile: ‘Guruji! Wherever I looked in the whole kingdom, I saw only good. I saw no hatred at all. There is no bad in the kingdom,’ he said. ‘Very well, go,’ he said. Next he called Duryodhana. ‘Duryodhana! Have you been round the whole kingdom? How is the kingdom?’ he asked. Duryodhana told him. ‘Guruji! Wherever I look, only bad is to be seen. There is no peace to be seen at all. There is no contentment to be seen.’ So he said. ‘Very well, go,’ he said. Droṇācārya laughed to himself. This is only in the feelings of the persons; it is not the good and bad of the kingdom. Dharmaja's feeling was nivṛtti. Duryodhana's feeling was pravṛtti. In God's creation everything is good.

Wondrous, and pure for the three worlds, are they; sickles for the creeper of worldly life; true friends; springtime to the forest of the sages: such are the stories of Lord Viṣṇu.

This whole world is something wondrous. In it everything is sacred. It is according to man's svabhāva that things appear as good and bad. This must not be called svabhāva. Sva means the Ātma. The feeling of the Ātma is itself svabhāva. That is pure at all times. In the thinking of Prakṛti there are impurities. There are sorrows. Wrongdoing itself is the form of the world. So this has nothing at all to do with svabhāva. Air is cool. Water is cool. Fire is hot. The sun is