Passage 45

In English

Grief follows happiness like a shadow

Dear devotees! All actions should be done with a view to achieving (purity in thought, word and deed). Everything is in the heart of man. Divinity is installed in the heart. A foolish person is carried away by the wealth and pomp of the outside world. The conceit that accompanies the fascination for these possessions is not recognised. Grief follows happiness like a shadow. Under the shadow of (Authority) flourishes the demon of (egotism). Do not be carried away by the lure of power. Self-conceit, which comes in its wake, will overwhelm you. Beware of its presence. Only then you will be well. Do not gloat over wealth and possessions. There is an ogress that will submerge them. That is (self-conceit). You must take note of such dangers. When there is a lightning, you see a sudden burst of effulgence. This is followed in the next moment by intense darkness. Darkness lurks all the time behind light. Hence, man is advised to treat pleasure and pain, profit and loss, victory and defeat with an equal eye. There is nothing in the world without these opposites. This is termed (duality). Darkness and light, heat and cold, good and bad, sin and merit, truth and falsehood - these pairs are always there. Man has two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils in one nose. Thus the world presents a picture of dualism. And because of this, we have the phenomenon of constant" change in the (world).