Passage 5

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

In the world of today, help is nowhere to be seen. Wherever you look it is self, self, self! Narrowed by the feeling “mine, my people”, man forgets the welfare of others. In truth, there are no others at all. “The universe is the form of Viṣṇu.” “God comes in human form.” So you must look on every man as God. You must not hurt anyone, in body or in mind. Hurting another may give you some satisfaction for the moment. But in the days to come you cannot escape tasting its fruit. You are failing to see this truth. Eat a cucumber and the belch that follows will not taste of mango. Whatever we eat, that is what the belch brings up. In the same way, whatever you have done you must taste one day; there is no escape. So do good, see good, speak good, experience good, and be good. If you follow what God has said, only good will come to you.

All hardships are like mirrors. In them our own reflections keep appearing. Embodiments of Prema! You keep forming some desire or other, and when it is not fulfilled you simply suffer. Give these sorrows no room at all. “There is some cause for these troubles that come to us. Without a seed no plant comes up. In the same way, without a cause no effect takes place.” Recognise this. Whoever you see, hold to the feeling “These are our own people.” See yourselves in them. If someone asks you, “Who are you?”, you say, “I am so-and-so.” Asked, “And your name?”, you reply, “I am called Nāgappa.” So each person goes by a name of his own. But let the whole world come and ask God, “Who are You?” He says, “I am I”, “I am Brahman.” This whole universe is filled with Brahman. There is no place anywhere where Brahman is not. So whomever we revile, praise or reject, all of it reaches God.