In plain words
Do you see! Even a little boy remembered his mother so deeply. If you hold your mother in your thoughts and give God a place in your heart, the mother's greatness, too, grows all the more. In ancient times, when sons were immersed in the thought of God, the mother would be overjoyed. “My son is keeping to the good path; he will earn a good name”: with these words she would rejoice greatly. But today such mothers are very rare. If a son so much as enters the spiritual path, they are afraid: “Alas! What will become of him!” This is a great mistake. In the light of present conditions, parents must be large-hearted and wish that their son should enter the spiritual path.
Students! Your parents alone are the foundation of your body. But the foundation of your very life is God. Keeping this truth in view, you must follow the path that makes your birth worth while. There are many tasks that must be achieved even at the sacrifice of life itself. At the very last, you must attain God Himself. That is the final goal! One who has won God's grace lacks nothing at all. This is just what Āryāmbā told Śaṅkara at that time. “My son! You have won the Devī's grace; what more can you lack? You will become an ideal for the whole world and win a good name,” she blessed him. Not a good name alone mattered: Śaṅkara also won Śānti, lived always in Ānanda, and made his victorious tour before the age of thirty-two. The reason for this was the Devī's grace alone! Win God's grace alone, and there is nothing left that you cannot achieve. So, hoping that you will strengthen your faith in God, win God's grace and make your lives worth while, and blessing you, I bring My discourse to a close.