In plain words
From time immemorial it has been the custom in our land of Bhārata to recite the Rāmāyaṇa. In our āśram too, as part of the Veda Puruṣa Saptāha Jñāna Yajña, the Durgā Saptaśatī, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Bhāgavata and other texts are being recited.
Above all, we must make our faith in God grow. If we give room to the least doubt, the faith we have is lost. What, after all, is the meaning of ‘man’? It means ‘one who has faith’. But today man is losing that very faith. Only when it takes divinity as its foundation can humanness move forward. You must always speak the truth. You must conduct yourselves according to Dharma. God asks of you just these two. ‘Satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara’. In our sacred texts, the Bhārata, the Bhāgavata, the Rāmāyaṇa and the rest, these two sayings above all are written. But the people of today act in complete contradiction to this. ‘Satyaṃ vadha, dharmaṃ ceṟa’. They are slaying Satya and putting Dharma in prison. Only when we put Satya and Dharma into practice and follow the right path will the country prosper. Truth is God; speak truth. Satya alone protects.
Embodiments of Prema! God is ever the one who protects all; He punishes no one. But, unable to recognise this truth, people think, ‘God is tormenting the innocent!’ God hates no one. Hatred, anger, violence: these are all words He does not know. Some people criticise such a God in many ways. Today many books have come out on the Rāmāyaṇa. But the ideals the Rāmāyaṇa offers, man does not follow. Rāma does not know what hatred is. Rāma spoke the truth ‘I and you are one’ and experienced oneness. He went on ruling the country with Satya and Dharma alone as his foundation. The Russians too have written the Rāmāyaṇa in their own language. Yesterday the wife of the President of Kazakhstan, which was formerly a part of Russia, came here with a few others.