In plain words
Īśvara means the embodiment of all aiśvarya. So we imagine this new year will bring us some new joys and good fortune. The years do not bring our good and our bad, or our fame and standing. Only the fruits of our own karmas reach us. So we must not think the new year is bringing us some good or bad. It hands us only the fruit of the good and bad that we do. If we conduct ourselves well, a good result alone comes; if we behave badly, the result too will be bad indeed. Good and bad are not in time; they are bound up with our own saṅkalpas. So we must foster good saṅkalpas and enter satsaṅga. Today we think of our Bhārata as a poor country. What is the root cause of this poverty? Laziness, nothing else! Of the twenty-four hours in a day we misuse twenty-three hours and fifty-five minutes, and some five minutes we put to good use, after a fashion. This is not humanness. Only when we honour time does time honour us. If we misuse time, time too will torment us.
Unity - Purity - Divinity
The prosperity of a country rests on the conduct of its people. Only when all the people of the land act with Satya and Dharma will the country live in plenty. Shivraj Patil, who spoke a little earlier, said today that unity and purity are most essential. Along with these two, he said, there must be Prema too. Unity, purity, Prema: through the oneness of these three alone does Divinity come about. But today there is a quarrel between home and home, a quarrel between state and state, a quarrel between country and country! How then can unity be possible! If we develop the wide feeling of the one Ātma in all, there will be no room at all for these quarrels. What is in everyone is the five elements alone; everyone is equal. Why then so many differences between man and man! One caste alone exists: the human caste. One religion alone exists: the religion of Prema. One language alone exists: the language of the heart. We must recognise this truth. Today, wherever you look, everyone appears as a devotee. If all are truly devotees, where do these quarrels come from? Where are these differences born from? Where do this envy and hatred spring from? So it is not enough for you merely to call yourselves devotees. You must inquire, “Are the qualities that befit devotees present in us?”
The thirst for wealth and the thirst for power, going beyond all bounds
Today every person asks, “What gain has come to me from this society?” but does not ask himself what help this society is receiving through him. Everyone hopes to get something for himself from society, but is not ready himself to give society anything. On top of this, under the influence of this Kali, the thirst for wealth and the thirst for power are going beyond all bounds. If you go into the cities and look, wherever you look there is the same crush.