॥
In plain words
Is this what we ought to hope for? No, no. Sacred feelings must arise in us. If we give bad feelings room in our heart, we become wicked people.
Hardships are clouds that pass
Embodiments of Prema! Foster Prema. Live by Prema alone. Bring your life to its end in Prema alone. That alone is true life. The Upaniṣads gave human life the highest value. Man is worthy of honour, and is to be loved. One must welcome hardship and happiness with a broad heart. In China a saying is current: “Hardships themselves are our friends. Let us bid them welcome.” The happiness that lies in hardship is not to be had in anything else. That is why it has been said, “Na sukhāllabhate sukhaṃ.” Many people: “Swami! I am sad, I am in difficulty,” they keep saying. When I hear that, I feel like laughing. “Can those troubles, those hardships not come to Me!” I think. But they do not even come near Me. I keep telling devotees that it is not good to sink under hardships. I give no room at all to troubles and sorrow. This body will soon reach its seventy-seventh year. Up to now I have not been sad for even one moment. Man is full of Ānanda, and thirsts for Ānanda. Ānanda alone is his wealth. When Ānanda is right in his own heart, why grieve? He grieves only because he cannot understand his own true nature.
Embodiments of Prema! Worldly things keep coming and going. But the principle of Prema alone neither comes nor goes. So, as far as possible, try to cut down your worldly dealings. Be happy yourselves, and make those around you happy too. When hardships come, do not lose heart. Recognise that they are only passing clouds. Can the vast sky be without clouds? Our heart itself is a sky. When the clouds called ‘attachments’ come into it, everything looks dark to us.