In plain words
Only then will you become a true human being.
Students! You think the words Swami speaks are very simple. Yet the essence of all the Vedas lies right in them. The essence of all the scriptures lies in My word itself. Why the pride that says, ‘I have read the scriptures’? However much man may study in the world, he must stay humble and obedient. One who has knowledge must be humble. In the working of your mind you must be desireless. Only then will you be a proper human being. Too many desires are a great danger. You must not foster needless longings. Through this, time too goes to waste. He who wastes time turns into one who has wasted life itself. Time is God, don't waste time. Time waste is life waste. So you must not waste time. Whenever you get the least bit of time, remember in that time the principle of ‘So'ham’. Only then will true humanness take shape in you. If you just sit reading newspapers all the time, nothing but ‘nuisance’ gathers in your head. Nowadays, wherever you look, the newspapers are all ‘nuisance’. They print everything we have no need of. Have you seen those pictures? Have you seen all those matters? Chī, chī... One does not even feel like looking at that paper. That is not what we need. We must have the vision of God, who is beyond forms and names. Sweeter by far than plantains, dates and all such fruits is the name of God. What do all these festivals come for? Every festival comes in order to bring God to mind. The people of every religion have festivals. “All religions together taught only the good. Know this, and move about with discernment”: they all teach only the good. Religion is not bad. So you must respect the people of every religion. Only when the mind turns bad does religion turn bad. When you keep the mind good, all religions become one.
Students! Do not waste time. Make time sacred, and through it experience Ānanda. Man is full of Ānanda. You must be in Ānanda at all times. You must not hold on to desires and sink into dejection. Happiness is union with God. So you must keep laughing and stay joyful at every moment. Whatever exams come, whatever troubles come, you must not put on a castor-oil face. Always keep a smile. The more cheerful you are, the more the Ānanda within you grows. What need is there for you to worry? None at all. When the exams come, only those who have not studied worry. If you have studied, why fear the exams? If you study, you will surely get good marks. Without fail, study well, pass, and uplift the country.
Today's festival has come only to cheer you on. These Dasara festivities are meant for curbing the ten senses. At Dasara, Cāmuṇḍī slew the demon. What is its inner meaning? We must not let demons come near us at all. You are a human. He is a demon. What has a human to do with a demon? A human must keep ties with humans alone. From good company, non-attachment; from non-attachment, freedom from delusion; from freedom from delusion, the unmoving state; from the unmoving state, liberation in this very life. Be in good company. If you mix with bad company, you too turn bad. So we must not make friends with the wicked. The moment you see them, say goodbye and go away. No hatred either. Whoever you see, regard them as embodiments of God and bow to them. Even when those who hate you come, bow to them too. Ask, ‘How are you, brother?’ They too, they too will ask, ‘How are you, brother?’ Do not turn your head away on seeing one who hates you.