Is it not true that the one piteous, the one urgent need of India, today, is a new generation of men and women of character? India, I am told, needs many things. But all those things will enrich the life of India, only if you are able to produce a generation of men and women of character.
Be strong
Character, we have found, is developed through altruistic living, living for others—forgetting oneself in the service of the poor and broken ones.
Sadhu Vaswani’s great word to the youth of India was: “Shakti, more shakti!” Be strong, he said, meet failure with success. “Say not that the struggle is not availeth, say not the labour and the wounds are in vain!”
Have faith
Man is, essentially, a Spirit. He has worn a human body and brought with himself the equipment of the mind. But he is, essentially, a Spirit. Therefore, Sadhu Vaswani said: “Education is essentially a thing of the Spirit. The noblest work is to cultivate the soul!” Every morning, as students meet together in St. Mira’s schools, in what we call the “Sanctuary”, this great message is passed on to them: Cultivate the soul! Cultivate the soul! Cultivate the soul! Therefore, have faith in yourselves, have faith in the universe that is essentially just and good, have faith in God. This triple faith will unite mankind and usher in a new era of peace for which the tortured, the wounded soul of humanity has piteously cried, age after age. Cultivate the soul!
Realise your purpose
Therefore, realise that you are here on earth for a special purpose. Cultivate the soul! Therefore, know that all you are and have is a trust given to you for the service of the surrounding world. Cultivate the soul! Therefore, let everyday of your life on earth be a day of search for the better, for perfection, for that spiritual perfection, which puts aside the mountains, fills the seas, and builds bridges over rivers, so that man can meet his fellowmen not with a bomb or a bullet, but with a warm, loving heart. Cultivate the soul! Cultivate the soul!