In plain words
‘Son, the price of this sari is 4 rupees,’ he said. In those days everything was cheap. Compared with the present time, it would have come to four thousand rupees. That boy was the birthplace of rashness, its very name. He took up the sari and, like one about to buy it, tore it in half. ‘What is the price of this?’ he said. ‘For this, two rupees,’ he said. A change came over the boy. ‘Even though I tore so precious a sari, he did not grow angry with me in the least. Even though I insulted him like this, no agitation arose in him at all!’ Greatly astonished, he bowed to that trader: ‘Sir, what I did was very wrong. Through the strength of my wealth this strength of pride grew, and through this strength of pride bad qualities grew strong, and I have stooped to all this wicked behaviour. Forgive me,’ he said, and he went to his father, brought back the fitting price of that sari, laid it at his feet and bowed down. That man was none other than Tirukkaḷai.
All these many great souls of this kind became ideals in this Tamil kingdom and went on creating a special, new Veda. But unfortunately, today the government of that Tamil land makes no attempt to recognise the principle of such great souls. But they set up their statues on the beach and show them off. It is not the statues that matter. Their teachings are the great support. Sacred sayings are our support. To put the sayings into practice and rejoice in them: that is our duty. The human body is made up of limbs. The legs, the hands, the nose, the ears, the mouth are the limbs of the body. This body is one of society's limbs. Society is a limb of humanness. Humanness is a limb of Prakṛti. Prakṛti is a limb of the Paramātma. It has kept protecting Prakṛti, a limb of God, and the power called humanness. That itself is the human value. That itself is: speak Satya, practise Dharma. Humanness is what rests on Satya and Dharma. Within society we must take this humanness as what matters most. Without the individual there is no society at all. Without society there is no nation at all. So for society the individual alone is what matters most. For this individual, the limbs themselves are the support. So you must set all the limbs you have in good conduct and do good deeds. With the hands you must do good works.