What is the mark of a cultured and educated person?

Inner cleanliness, keeping the mind and the intellect serene and sacred, free from dirt, is very important for a seeker. When thoughts and feelings are impure and agitated, you cannot be calm and happy. When the mind is polluted, reactions are polluted. To keep the mind clean, you must empathetically analyse situations involving others and their activities, and then decide on how to respond to them. Do not rush to draw conclusions. Following others’ reactions is not desirable. One must resolve on any action only after intelligent discrimination and inquiry. “Some of our people are doing this, so we will do it too” — this attitude is mean and demeaning, it is a sign of weakness. It is the consequence of basic ignorance. Sheep behave in that manner. Born as people, moving about as educated persons, yet stupidly following others as sheep do and polluting the minds with ideas borrowed from the lips of others — these things are to be avoided.