In plain words
I hope that all of you will come. Above all, you must recognise what is special about the yajña. Is a yajña something physical, or is it spiritual? This is a spiritual yajña through and through, not a physical or a worldly yajña. This yajña is one lived through in mind, in body and with the whole heart.
Beginning with the question of what kind of dhotis you should wear, I have looked into every single thing Myself and worked at it. Just as a father looks after the welfare of his children at home, so have I gone on providing everything you need. To send you away from here after tomorrow's programme is very hard for Me. For you too, going away from here is very hard. A close bond of kinship like this is itself true Bhakti. To leave Me is hard for you. To let you go is hard for Me. I am always right in your home, right behind you, right beside you, right before your eyes. So, ‘Swami is somewhere far away, in Puttaparthi or in Bangalore. We are far from Swami,’ do not think so in the least. I am right there with you. Our chief priest conducted the proceedings with great Bhakti and śraddhā. He took it as his very own work and did it. Those who work in that spirit are very rare in the world.
Above all, you must teach renunciation. Man has so many desires. Step by step he must offer up all these desires to please God. Do not look to your own interest alone. Helping others is very good. Whatever you do, you must feel, ‘We are doing this for the contentment of our hearts.’ This yajña was performed for the sake of understanding the principle of the Ātma, and was not carried out in some worldly, mundane, physical way. For your welfare, for your good and for the welfare of the world, you have taken part in this sacred yajña. It is not just for you; it concerns the whole world. All the mantras you chanted have entered the air and spread everywhere. These sacred sounds enter our hearts and bring us purity. So do not think that the mantras we chanted were somehow confined to this place alone. They have spread through the whole world. It concerns not our India alone, but every country as well. There may be differences in language. But in feeling there is no difference whatever. Americans, Russians, Africans and all the others took part in this programme with enthusiasm. They too are learning the Vedic mantras. On the 26th of last month, eighty Germans came to Puttaparthi by special plane. All of them, too, recited the Vedic mantras. ‘These very mantras are protecting our country. That is why, from the moment we rise at daybreak until we lie down at night, we keep chanting these mantras,’ they said.
In the chanting of these mantras there is no selfishness anywhere. It belongs to everyone. Every human being has great need of these mantras. They concern not the individual alone, but the collective as a whole. They belong to society, to the nation, to everyone, these mantras. Today even Westerners are printing them. We must share these mantras with the whole world. For foreigners, pronouncing these mantras is certainly hard. For it is very hard for their tongues to turn. Yet, whatever it takes, they hold on and learn them. When a man holds on, he can achieve anything.
Whatever I have taken hold of, I have held it fast: stay just so until the hold wins through. Whatever I have longed for, I have longed for it truly: keep on worshipping until the longing is fulfilled. Whatever I have asked for, I have asked for it in earnest: do not let go until what was asked is given. Whatever I have set my mind on, I have set it there wholly: do not move until the thought is fulfilled. Either He, unable to bear the pleading, must save, or you, lost to the body, must ask; that, and nothing else; but to stop halfway and turn back is not the devotee's vow.