In plain words
Every one of them was beautiful. He called his minister. ‘Minister! Decide which one is fit to be given the prize,’ he said. The minister said, ‘Prabhūjī! Forgive me; I shall come back in five minutes.’ ‘The statues are here; why go outside? What work do you have?’ thought King Bhoja. Meanwhile the minister went inside and brought an iron wire. He put the wire into the ear of one statue. It came out through the other ear, that wire. He pronounced it worst. Then he put it into one ear of the second statue. It came out through the mouth. ‘2nd prize for this one,’ he said. He put it into the ear of the third statue. It went inside. ‘1st prize must go to this one alone,’ he said. What does that mean? Taking what you have heard inside is itself 1st prize. Repeating in words what you have heard, like a parrot's talk, is 2nd prize. Hearing with this ear and letting it go through that ear is worst. In these modern times people repeat things again and again. Like a parrot's talk. Some others take what they have heard inside and digest it. What is the difference here? A difference of Prakṛti? No. Prakṛti remains just Prakṛti. This change lies in your liking. Where does this liking come from? It comes in from the taint of company.
Our welfare lies in the welfare of society
Each person keeps wishing, ‘I must be well; my family must be well.’ What madness this is! O madman! You keep saying you must be well and your family must be well. Where are you? On whom do you depend? You are dependent on your family. On whom does your family depend! It depends on society. Only when society is well is the family well. Only when the family is well are you well. So not just you and your family; the whole of society must be well. So we must wish for the welfare of the community. Our welfare lies in the welfare of the community. That is why they said, ‘Lokāḥ ssamastā sukhinobhavantu.’ Only when all are happy can we be happy.