॥॥ ॥॥ ॥॥
In plain words
Is it in your power to cross karma? O man, is it in your power to cross karma? Whether you dip the pot in a little spring or fill it from the seven seas, the water is only as much as the pot holds; however much you want, no more will come. (Is it in your power …) Does a rich man not become a beggar in a trice? Does a scholar not turn into a beast in a moment? Can a stick not turn into a snake and bite? Karma is the cause; karma itself is the root. (Is it in your power …) However much strength of arm you show, though you exult, calling yourself a champion, it becomes a rope through your nose and pulls you forward: that nose-string is karma; though you read weighty lessons, though you worship the family deities, though you go off to the dense forests, though you do severe tapas. (Is it in your power …)
We must keep this karma within its limit, only so far as is due. ‘Karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke.’ Man is bound by karma. That is why I speak to the children very strictly, saying, ‘Take care, take care.’ If you hold that care carelessly, you will not get hold of it again. So shape your life with great care into something precious, and increase your honour and dignity in society! You must bring a good name to the parents who bore you, to the teachers who taught you and to the College that gave you a home. In our Institute not a naya paisa is taken for anything. We give lakhs of children their education and send them home well and happy. Tuition fee, laboratory fee, games fee, library fee, examination fee: there is none of them. Where is there education like this, in this world? Wherever you go, you must pay thousands upon thousands to study. The moment a child is born, you must put in an application for a school seat. For the five years to come, you must pay twenty thousand right now. Is education like this true education? No, no. The place that gives with Prema, heart to heart, love to love, is this Prasanthi Nilayam. Fools are unable to understand a thing like this. Truly, if you studied in some place outside, how much distress your parents would suffer, how much money they would have to spend, how much worry they would be put to! If there is a strike at the College, the parents' hearts pound.