In plain words
A certain king, it seems, questioned many scholars, asking, “What is the whitest thing of all?” Some, it seems, said cotton is very white. Some said milk is very white. “The crane is white,” said others. But one scholar, it seems, saw the point. “Day is white, night is black,” he said. This is true. Day itself is white. That itself is the sāttvic. Black is the night. It is rajas and tamas, the guṇas, combined. We must turn these guṇas, rajas and tamas, into the sāttvic. In the Bhagavad Gītā they speak of the marks of the sthitaprajña. They keep saying that a sthitaprajña means one who sleeps when everyone is awake, while everyone sleeps when he is awake. If one takes it that way, station masters stay awake all night. They sleep all day. Gurkhas stay awake all night. He who lives with an even mind, constantly thinking of God, unshaken by good and bad, is the sthitaprajña. When it is not possible to spend every day so, then on at least one day in the year, such as Śivarātri, one must make the time worthwhile by sacred contemplation of the Name through the night. What we must chiefly recognise today is that we must drive all negative thoughts out of our heart. These six inner enemies, desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and envy, all fill the heart. Through them many angers, hatreds, jealousies and the like arise from within. Not even a trace of Prema or kindness is seen in man. Only when we fill our heart with Prema will it be full of Prema at all times. All these are full of Prema. This is the positive. Man must cultivate positive qualities, but must not cultivate negative qualities. The more negative qualities they cultivate, the more life goes to waste. Always bad thoughts, evil ideas. He does only evil deeds. Wherever one searches, no positive is to be seen. His whole life turns into a negative mind. This is not the natural quality of man. Once one is a man, positive qualities must come in him. Qualities such as kindness, Prema, forbearance and sympathy must come. Whenever one looks, it is some desires or other, some cravings. They are wasting life through physical desires.