In plain words
We should not follow such things of our own making. Before marriage you have only two legs! When a wife comes, they become four legs! When a child is born, they become six legs! In this way, as the legs go on increasing, sorrow too goes on increasing. All these you have raised for yourself by your own foolish wishes; they are not given by God. But whatever you get, whatever comes, when you think, ‘This is for my good’, sorrow has no room at all. So long as we are here, we must have happiness. We must live joyfully. Joy itself is our life.
The body is made of the five elements; the body must fall, at some time or other; the indweller is free of all ill; consider it well: for the indweller there is no death or birth; look at the truth, and he bears no stamp of the bonds of attachment; that indweller is the God of gods; consider it in your mind: he is the very form of the Ātma.
You rejoice at seeing those who are born, and grieve for those who die. But you should not give sorrow any room at all. True Ānanda is in your own heart. You must make it come forth. Whatever suffering comes, you must face it boldly, saying, “I am a part of God; I will not shed tears.”
“Better than practice is knowledge; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is giving up the fruit of action; from giving up comes peace at once.”
You must give up the fruit of action. That is true life. So long as we long for the fruit, suffering cannot be avoided.
Everything in this world is of our own making; we should grieve over nothing
Who put on all the events in this ‘sports meet’? You did them. All of it came from you; no one else newly created it. It has given you great joy. So it is what you yourselves create that gives you joy, or causes you suffering. Everything in this world is of our own making. How long can we stay here?