In plain words
Who is the lesser? Seen truly, the poor man who writhes for want of food is the greater. Millionaires, though they have crores of rupees with them, will not take a naya paisa out of their pocket and give it. They give no help at all to works that are holy, worthy and for the good of others. Yet for their name and fame they have their photos printed large in the papers. And if we look at the deeds they do, those are not worth a naya paisa. To set this state of things right, the young must step forward eagerly today.
If the country is to be set right, young women and young men are the very ones fit for it. The strength of body, of the senses and of the intellect that is in them is in no one else. If they set their minds to it, they can achieve anything. They must use all of it for society: the strength of the senses, of the mind, of the body, of the intellect and of the Ātma within them. Guarding their own strength of the senses, they must labour for the welfare of society. They must protect the country. But the young men of today give in to petty things and are growing weak. Look at a boy of sixteen: he is very thin and weak. What is the reason? It is not for want of food to eat. He misuses his senses and weakens himself by his own doing. To weaken the strength of the senses in this way is a very great mistake. When the senses grow weak, a man becomes wholly weak. The strength of the senses is equal to life itself. Today's young men are misusing it. In keeping with this, the parents too put money without limit into their children's hands and so indirectly encourage them to take the wrong road. What parents are doing in this way is a great sin too. Children are going astray through their parents themselves. You should give children freedom only as far as it ought to be given. Freedom beyond limit and money beyond limit bring ruin to the mind. Too much money makes many wrongs. We must put money to good use. Don't waste money, misuse of money is evil. Don't waste food, food is God. Don't waste time, time waste is life waste. The young people of today are wasting money, food and time. That is exactly why they are going completely to ruin.
What is the gaze of today's young people like? It does not stay steady for even a single moment. Like a crow, they keep looking this way and that, that way and this. Whatever they see, they long to have it. What kind of desire is that? A bad desire. First of all, the young must keep their gaze under control. The eye itself is our great śāstra. As the vision is, so is the creation. So you must not look at anyone with a bad eye. You must not long for everything. I am telling it just as it is. Do not take it amiss. Boys who ride to college on bicycles, if they see women anywhere on the road, even let go of the bicycle and keep looking only at them. This is exactly why motorcycle accidents too have increased so much today. What they ride is a motorcycle; what they watch is the women walking in the bazaar! When they go past a girls' college, their whole gaze is on that college alone. Was it for this that God gave the eyes!
Do you know why the eyes were given? To look at everything? No, no, no. To behold the Dweller of Kailāsa to your eyes' content, my friend!
And if we look at their words, no good word at all comes out of their mouths. It is all foul speech! Let three boys meet in one place, and all they talk is nonsense! How sacred our tongue is! With such a tongue we must not speak foul words. God gave us the tongue precisely to speak sweet words. We must use the tongue in a sacred way. The young people of today talk about beauty, saying, ‘Is this one beautiful? Is that one beautiful?’, but never about the Ānanda of the Ātma. The beauty that is in Ānanda is in nothing else. Ānanda itself is beauty. If you want to experience Ānanda, you must rein in your gaze. Whenever a bad feeling arises in the mind: ‘Chi! This is not good for me. I have taken on humanness. God gave me eyes to see the wonders and marvels of creation, not to look at bodily charms’: so each one must counsel himself. With the eyes we must behold the beautiful form of God. Some young men are like this: the temple on the road does not catch their eye; only the women coming and going at the temple do. Is this the vision a human being should have! Through wasteful seeing, wasteful talk and wasteful hearing like this, man is turning into a demon.