In plain words
There is no fear of death, yet there is some fear. It is not possible to say what that fear is. It is beyond description. We keep saying, if life goes, let it go, yet the fear is there. Life will go some time or other, after all! But we are afraid. What is this fear? It is nothing but the fruit of actions. Where does fear come from? One who does no wrong has no fear at all. We have done some wrong, committed some sin. That alone is why fear comes. What is this wrong? What have we done that should not be done? If we inquire into this well: I am not living as a man. So a great fault has come about. Fear arises from this fault. If you want to be brave, you must enter into good works. How? Our life is a balance. If the balance goes, life is useless. Walking, talking, running, riding a bicycle: all of it is in balance. We must see that there is no fault of any kind. The student, the young man of today, has a good brain. That has been called knowledge. Knowledge is on top. The head itself is the top. What kind of hair is on the head? Black hair. We go to Tirupati. There we get our heads shaved and come back. Why this shaving? What is the meaning of the shaving? O God! This tamoguṇa has settled on my head and is dancing a wild dance. It means having that black hair shaved off and giving it away to Him, with the words, “I offer the tamoguṇa to You.” We go to Tirupati to offer the tamoguṇa to God, not to give this hair. But what are some people doing? They give the hair and get their base desires fulfilled. We must offer the tamoguṇa to God. When the tamoguṇa goes, knowledge enters.
There is a current in our body. The current pervades everywhere, through the hair, through the nails, through the body. It is very powerful. If the scientists who have understood this well reflect on it, our whole body is current. This current pervades everywhere. This knowledge is like the main switch. Using knowledge well has been called skill. When you turn knowledge into skill, the balance is correct. But the young of today, instead of turning knowledge into skill, kill it. Through this killing alone the balance is lost. Through this loss of balance accidents happen. What does accident mean? Unrest comes about. First of all, we must put this knowledge to good use. How is this to be done? We must put it into sacred, divine work. When we put it into divine work, the strength of society too arises in us. We must build up self-confidence. We must do our work with self-confidence. Whatever work you do, you must do work without words. It has been said that work done by the hands is far greater than lips that speak words. Charity done by the hands is greater than bhajans sung by the mouth. So charity alone is the beauty of the hands. The Name alone is the beauty of the throat, not a necklace. Hearing the Name of God is the beauty of the ear. When there are such unending beauties, such precious beauties, why should we long for petty, trifling jewels? “The ornament of the hand is charity; the ornament of the throat is the Name”: we have such ornaments. We have moved far from these ornaments. That is why abuse comes. The abuse comes to us, “Such a bad fellow, so bad a fellow.”
The power within the young is very great. When everyone makes this power one in feeling, a kind of electric power grows great in us. How? When it is plus, plus, plus…, it becomes plus. If all who are gathered here take up one task, we can achieve anything. Our MBA student spoke. In those days Rāma had the monkeys build a bridge, slew Rāvaṇa and won the victory. And that today we must work like the monkeys in this project. There is no need to work like monkeys. There is one thing the monkeys did. When they carried rocks off and dropped them in, the rocks kept sinking. “How are we to make them float?” they thought. What is the difference between monkeys and men? Vānara..nara. Nara, vānara. The one with a tail is the vānara; the one without is the nara. They thought hard. What is it that floats in this water without sinking? The Name of God is not a thing that sinks. Thinking, “In this ocean called saṃsāra the Name of God does not sink,” they wrote ‘Rām, Rām’ on each one and dropped it into the sea. Each stone went off in a different direction. The waves knocked them this way and that. They floated, but how was anyone to walk? There was one rock there. There was one rock here. They thought again. Then they wrote ‘Rā’ on one and ‘ma’ on the other. Then the two kept joining together. Then they crossed the sea. How great this discrimination is! Such discrimination is the chief boon given to man. That discrimination must be put on the right path. We must enter into works that help everyone. However many works you do, regard all of it as God's work. With this very thing in view it was said: every action for the pleasure of God. work will be transformed into worship. The Name of God with the mouth, the work of God with the hands. Merely saying it with the lips bears no fruit. It must come from the heart. “In mind one, in word one, in deed one: such are the great,” it has been said. Whatever work you do, do it wholeheartedly. But before doing that work, you must inquire, “Is this good or bad?” If you go on like this, the unrest that has flared up in our Bhārata today will very soon die down.