In plain words
She is the Lakṣmī of the home. She is the mistress of the house. She is the wife in Dharma: with certain rules such as these, they bind them. So, in keeping with these rules, we must go on keeping certain decisions here. In keeping with these decisions, we must follow certain traditions. He laid down marriage for man alone; He did not say it of anything else. He laid down certain punishments for man alone; for the rest there are none. This law works for man alone. But for others the law does not work. If you leave the door open, a dog runs inside. It goes into the kitchen, eats up all the cooking there nicely and comes out. If they can catch the dog, they give it a couple of blows, but they do not take it off and file a court case. They do not give a report, “So-and-so's dog from next door came and ate a meal in my house.” For it there is no law either. But for man there is law. Law and order are for man alone. Animals, birds and beasts have no law and order. Today, when they say law and order has gone, what does it mean? The law and order within man has gone. So, first of all, one who is a man must follow both law and order. Only then do we become human beings. There is one small thing as well. A beast has no wisdom of its own kind. They may have discrimination power, but it does not use it as the moment needs. A man is going along some road. As he comes near a house, the dog there bites him. When it bit him, he took a stick and, out of fear, hit it on the head. The head split open. The dog died. The owner came out and looked. “Ore! Did you kill my dog?” With that, he filed a case against him in court. When he filed the case he said, “My dog bit your leg. Why did you hit my dog on the head?” This fellow went on arguing. You could have hit its tail, could you not. Besides, if my dog bit your leg, could you not have hit its leg? What need was there to hit it on the head? All these are questions asked out of narrow, mean feelings. They do not come with the morality and honesty that truly arise in human nature. It is a beast. Man today is sinking lower than a dog.
The young must enter society. Someone may well be your personal enemy. But in society he is an individual. You must enter into it with an eye on society. You are an individual in society. One tree is not a forest. One house is not a village. One man is not society. Only when many individuals come together does it become a society. Only when many houses come together does it become a village. Only when many trees come together does it become a forest. You are a member of society. The welfare of society is your welfare. All your welfare depends on society. So you must serve society. In society, as far as possible and to the limit of your strength, you must help those in pain, hardship and sorrow, and try to put an end to those pains, sorrows and hardships. There are eighteen Purāṇas.
In the eighteen Purāṇas, Vyāsa's words are two: doing good to others is merit, hurting others is sin.
To read these eighteen Purāṇas is not possible. Each Purāṇa is like a big pillow. Reading them is not possible. So Vyāsa said, “help ever, hurt never. Do not hurt anyone. Do good to anyone. When you are unable to do good, do no harm. That itself is a great good,” he said. So recognise this secret, and take care to hurt no one, as far as you can. It may happen that they speak ill of you in many ways, or try to mock you. Do not get agitated at it in the least. Your silence is your protection.
The five Pāṇḍavas met with many humiliations. It was not that they lacked strength and ability. They had all the strength they needed. If Bhīma alone stood up, he could seize them with one hand and smash them as one cracks a coconut. It was not that strength was lacking in him. Then Arjuna. He was a man of great power. That is why they gave him titles no one else had. Were Arjuna here today, he might have received many Padma Bhūṣaṇs and Padma Śrīs. He won all these titles: Arjuna, Phalguna, Pārtha, Kirīṭī, Śvetavāhana, Bībhatsu, Jayakṛṣṇa, Savyasācī, Dhanañjaya. If such an Arjuna merely opened his eyes, they would be burnt to ash. He had the great power that had mastered all weapons. He did tapas for a year on top of a single pillar. Where did all these powers come to them from? From the grace of God! Though they had everything, with Dharmaja it was Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. One must stay calm, my dear. Hardships will come. When they come, one must be ready to face them, but one must not fight them. Fighting them makes them grow still more. This is not good for us. We played dice. Gambling itself is a great wrong. We did a wrong thing. The fitting punishment for that wrong has come. We must shut our mouths and bear it. He said one must not turn against this. Through that very feeling of calm they stood firm, very gentle. In the end that calm itself became the root cause of their victory. Then the Kauravas thought, “They have all lost. They have lost their strength. They have lost their valour. They cannot do anything any more.” It was not that they could not. One must act as the time and occasion require.