In plain words
But does the sandalwood tree that gives such fragrance get angry, thinking, ‘He has struck me with this axe’? It gives its fragrance even to the axe. What a good turn!
The Good We Do Never Goes to Waste
A small example. When Baba went to Shirdi, there was nothing there. There was only a tumbledown rest house. There a small neem tree had been growing. It gave shade on one side only. The branch went this way. Baba used to sit in the shade of that neem tree and rest from His fatigue. Even when He came back after going for alms with great toil, He would sit in that same shade. Later, Lakṣmībāyi's son-in-law had a small pavilion built. He began to sit in it. Sitting there, He looked at this neem tree. Looking at the tree that had given Him cool shade for so many years and done Him so much good, He said, ‘O tree! May your branches and leaves, which gave Me comfort and joy, always be sweet!’ That is why, if you go to Shirdi, the leaves on that one branch taste sweet, but the other branches and leaves do not. That is, for those who do good, it always turns to good. So we must sacrifice to any extent in doing good. In doing good, good alone comes to us. Do good even to those who have done you harm. Then a fine result comes. The good we have done never goes to waste. We must not grieve, ‘Good has not come at once!’ After some time that result surely comes.
The Secret of Learning Is for the Book and the Head to Become One and Be Put into Practice
Students! Not only must you learn all kinds of knowledge, you must put them to use in the world in the right way. Through it you must take a vow to give any one of the powers in the five elements to many people, in a way that does good to all. If you merely read books and do not put them to use in practical life, education becomes useless.