In plain words
‘Saha nāvavatu, saha naubhunaktu, saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai....’ What is its meaning? They think the Veda taught it. The Veda did not teach it at all.
When the Heart Comes to Ripeness, Sweetness Comes of Itself
The whole Veda has gone on teaching oneness alone. What is the inner meaning of this ‘Saha nāvavatu’?
Together in harmony let us move about, together in harmony let us grow; together in harmony let us increase wealth and friendship, strength and virtue; together in harmony let us nourish the understanding we have gained; together in harmony, with our wealth, let us live as friends; saying ‘Śānti, Śānti, Śānti’, let us perform the worship of Śānti; chanting ‘Oṃ Oṃ Oṃ’, let us sing the Oṃkāra.
‘This is Śānti,’ said the Veda. What a sacred ideal the Veda gave! What divine and glorious Ānanda the Veda gave! But because man, with a narrow heart, thinks in terms of difference, his own difference shows itself. As the food we eat, so the belch that comes. If you eat a mango, does a cucumber belch come? No. If we think only of difference, difference alone comes up as the belch. Under the influence of place, time and circumstance, names and forms too keep changing. The Āndhras know it; there are the Bezawada rasālu. It gives a very sweet juice. There is no sourness in it at all. Rasālu of the true breed! But before it ripens, it too has sourness. And further back, when it is still a raw fruit, it is astringent. Astringency, sourness and sweetness are all in one and the same fruit. But when does the sweetness come? The sweetness comes when it reaches ripeness. Then it shows its own true form. So, if we are to understand the divine Ānanda and Śānti in humanness, we must reach ripeness. So, from today on, we must make the right effort to bring our heart to ripeness.