In plain words
The right comes only when the duty is done
Does duty come first? Or does the right come first? That is the question we must enquire into. Does the stream come first? Or does the rain come first? When you enquire so, you find that the rain itself comes first. Only when rain falls does a stream form. So we can compare the rain to duty and the stream to the right. Many people keep up a ‘fight’ for a ‘right’. Without a mother, where would a child come from? In the same way, if you do not carry out duty, you will not gain the right. So first of all you must carry out duty. Only then will the right, the fruit of duty, come to you. To tell the truth, man has no right of any kind. When he carries out his duty, its fruit itself turns into a right.
Worldly learning and spiritual learning are both needed
Students! You are studying and gaining great degrees. But however many degrees you gain, you cannot attain peace of mind. “To be happy here, the learning that wins gold; to be happy hereafter, the learning of Brahman.” For happiness in this world you must learn the physical sciences; for happiness in the next you must enquire into the spiritual principle. Spiritual knowledge is not something gained through the physical sciences. “Among all learning, the learning of the Ātma.” “That is learning which leads to liberation.” But students today give room to many doubts about spirituality. They cannot recognise the truth that humanness is joined with divinity. Only when you first enquire, “Who am I?” will the truth become clear.
Man today thinks science is very great. But how did science come by this greatness? It arose only from physical learning. This science sets out in detail the state of nature. How did it come into being? How did it grow? How does it go on? Such are the matters science teaches us. But there is a principle that is its foundation.