In plain words
If we want to bring down the prices of these goods, what must we do? We must increase production. Another matter. Who buys gold? People buy it. Who buys gems? People buy them.
The value of man, who gives value to all things, has gone down today
Who gives value to these gems, to gold, to silver? Man gives them value. But the value of man, who gives value to everything, has gone down today. On the contrary, the value of things has gone up. Think it over well. If we can raise the value of man, the value of things comes down; you all know this, children! You play a game called ‘see-saw’. In it, suppose there are things on one side and a man on the other. When the value of man goes down, the value of things goes up. When the value of things goes down, the value of man goes up. So today, must we raise the value of man? Because man is what matters most. Men are more valuable than all the wealth in the world. Because there are so many people all round Prasanthi Nilayam, the price of one cent of land is 10,000 rupees. Do you see? One acre comes to one crore. What is the reason? Because there are so many people, the value of the land has gone up. But go and look near some other village, and they will give you an acre for 10 thousand rupees. If here one cent is 10 thousand, there one acre has come down to 10 thousand. What is the reason? There are no people. Wherever people are, that is where the values are, that is all! Along with those values grows its shadow, that is, Ajñāna. Wherever we go, our shadow comes right behind us. We cannot stop the shadow and go on ahead. If we are the reality, our shadow is the reflection. Right behind us come reaction, reflection, resound, all of them; so if we make a good sound, the resound too comes back good. If you go near a hill and call ‘O’, the hill too says ‘O’. The resound depends on the sound we make. Then there is reflection.