In plain words
Today cleverness has gone on growing, but the standards of education have gone on falling. Look at students anywhere: they are forever looking at some papers or magazines that have come from foreign lands, but they give their own textbooks little attention. They give no thought at all to their own traditions and ways. In this modern age, cleverness of this kind has grown a great deal. They say, ‘Such-and-such an author has written such-and-such a book; how wonderful it is!’ They hold discussions and debates on such matters, but they forget what is in their own textbooks, what they have to learn and the ways they ought to study. So they keep adding to their cleverness, but do not keep the special worth of education in mind at all.
We must not give up the doing of karma in the least. The Bhagavad Gītā too teaches, “To action alone is your right, never at any time to its fruits…”
By karma a creature is born, through karma alone it grows, and through karma it dies; karma itself is God to man; karma itself is the cause of joy and sorrow in this world!
Our own karma is the root cause of all the pleasures and pains we go through. When we do good deeds, we reap nothing but good results. When we do bad deeds, when we think bad thoughts, the results we reap are only bad. We cannot do good and reap bad. Likewise, those who do bad cannot enjoy good. The one who does bad reaps bad alone. The one who does good reaps good alone. That is precisely why: ‘Do good, be good, see good. This is the way to God.’ If we bring good thoughts to birth in ourselves and do good karma, we will experience nothing but good results. Recognise this clearly: the fruits of our own karma are the root cause of our joys and sorrows. All our elders followed the ancient traditions and, through them, enjoyed great happiness and contentment. But children today forget the path the elders followed and the sacred deeds they performed, study modern subjects, and fall prey to unrest of many kinds. Not only to unrest: they fall into discontent as well. They fall victim to ill health too.
The root cause of a person's ill health is his own thoughts! The root cause of unrest is one's own qualities! So in every matter of ours, our thoughts must be good. Look anywhere today: when a person drinks pure water, eats good food and breathes good air, his health stays sound. When he drinks dirty water, eats impure food and goes about breathing polluted air, his health wastes away. The root cause of man's ill health today is polluted water and impure food! Everything we take in must be pure and good. The Dasara festivities are meant to foster good qualities in us. When we bathe well, do pūjā in our homes, eat pure food and drink clean water, we are very happy. Our faces shine ever so brightly. If at home we eat impure food, drink polluted water and go about in a polluted atmosphere, we forget our very humanness.