Manavas or Men are full of Prema or Love. Their hearts are
springs of Mercy. They are endowed with True Speech. Peace is the
characteristic of the mind of Man. That is the innate quality of
the mind. In order to search for Peace there is no need to go
anywhere else. As gold and silver lie hidden under the earth and
pearl and coral under the sea, Peace and Joy also lie hidden in
the activities of the Mind. Desirous of acquiring these hidden
treasures, if one dives and turns mental activities inward, then,
he becomes full of Prema or Love. Only those who have so filled
themselves with Love and who live in the light of that Love can be
called Men. Those devoid of Prema are Danavas, Monsters,
Sub-humans. That holy quality of Love will not remain unmanifested
off and on; it will be ever present, without change. It is one
indivisible. Those saturated with Love are incapable of spite,
selfishness, injustice, wrong and misconduct; but, in those who
have no Love, the above qualities are always above everything
else. Danavas are those who trample on Love and consider inferior
qualities as important, while Manavas are those who consider those
inferior qualities as snakes to be destroyed and Love alone as the
quality to be fostered. Bad conduct and bad habits distort the
humanness of Man. Hearts filled with the nectar of Love indicate
the genuine human in man. By Prema or Love is meant Love which is
unsullied, unselfish, devoid of impurity and continuous.
Between Manava and Danava, the difference is only Ma and Da!
But the letter Ma is soft, sweet and immortal in symbolism, while
the sound Da is merciless, lawless and burning. Are they men, who
have no sweetness in them and who endeavour to suppress the
craving for immortality? Theirs is the nature of Danavas, though
the form is human! For, it is not the form that is primary; it is
the character. How can those with human form be called men, if
they have no kindness and no rightness, and if they have the
nature of Danavas? No; they cannot be called so. Now, the
sentences in my discourse are not addressed on the basis of form;
they are based on the qualities of men. Among men, there are
Danavas in plenty! They both look alike but their qualities make
them distinguishable as Manava and Danava. The Manavas engage
themselves in the soft and sweet deeds of kindness, rightness,
love and truth and they are witnesses to the possibility of
realising and manifesting one's immortality. Their good nature is
resplendent on their faces as Anand; but without that goodness,
even if he is infatuated with joy his face will indicate only the
destructive fire of the Danava; it will not have the Grace of
Ananda.