In plain words
The young must be very careful. They must master their senses. Then they may look at everything. There will be no fault at all.
Embodiments of Prema! I speak this strongly only out of the Prema I have for the children. You may keep all such things hidden within yourselves. But it is not possible for Me to hide them. Only when man recognises Satya and acts on it can he live as a man. Elders and parents too must take due care in this matter. ‘Son, son,’ the parents keep fussing. Show your Prema to your son, but you must not show it to his bad habits. If a boy goes bad, who gets the bad name? The parents!
The Veda says, ‘Revere your mother as God, revere your father as God, revere your teacher as God, revere your guest as God.’ Parents are the root cause of one's birth. So, whatever the circumstances, children must love their parents with all their heart. ‘Mother is my very first deity. Father is my God. Parents themselves are protecting me’: they must recognise this Satya and act on it. If we forget our parents, the gods before our eyes, what use is it, however many great deeds we achieve! Our Seva Dal members and the young must carry this kind of teaching far and wide, and check the evil in society. However many obstacles come before us, we must overcome them and, staking even our life, set society on the right road.
Students! Young men! You must not waste money. In the same way, you must not waste words either. Keep silence. ‘In silence there is no quarrel.’ Our Srinivasan (President of the All India Sai Organisations) said, ‘The young must get proper training in technology.’ But what man is learning today is not ‘technology’ but ‘trick’nology! Through these very ‘tricks’ man is going badly astray. All of you must conduct yourselves with great care. We must uphold our good name. We must guard the honour of our family. We must recognise the bond between vyaṣṭi and samaṣṭi and act on it.
Hiraṇyakaśipu sent Prahlāda to Caṇḍa and Amarka for his education. The teachers taught him many branches of learning. After some time Hiraṇyakaśipu sent for Prahlāda and, seating him fondly on his lap: ‘My dear boy! How far have your studies come? What have you learned?’ he asked. Then Prahlāda said:
My teachers have taught me; I have studied the chief śāstras, of Dharma, Artha and the rest; there are many things I have studied; I have studied the whole secret within learning, father!
‘Come, then: any one of the things you have studied,’ said the father. ‘Good character is the chief thing for everyone. One who lacks good character is no better than a beast,’ said Prahlāda, and at that his father grew angry. Everyone in the court was greatly astonished. Then Hiraṇyakaśipu had a woman brought in. ‘Who is she?’ he asked. ‘My mother,’ said Prahlāda. In fact she was not his mother but a servant. Hiraṇyakaśipu called all the women there. ‘Who are all these?’ he asked. ‘All the younger ones are my younger sisters. All the older ones are my elder sisters,’ answered Prahlāda. The father's head spun. In his anger at his son he sent for the teachers too and rebuked them. ‘Is this what you should be teaching children! When they grow up, they will naturally take this very road. So you must not teach children such things at all,’ he warned. He commanded them to make Prahlāda give up remembering the name of Hari. Caṇḍa and Amarka were badly frightened. Back at the gurukula they scolded the boy, beat him, punished him in many ways, and tried to make him give up remembering the name of Hari. Then Prahlāda: ‘Revered teacher! Is a teacher who teaches not to remember Hari a teacher at all! Father! The father who bids you reach Hari, he is a father. In the same way, teachers too must teach their pupils to dwell on Hari. Rather than teach such sacred things, you are trying to plunge me into worldly cravings for the things of the senses. I have no need of this,’ he said. Singing ‘Hari bol, Hari bol, Hari Hari bol…’, Prahlāda left that place chanting the name of Hari.