You must expand your love to as wide a circle as possible. That is how kulabhimanam, matabhimanam and desabhimanam, that is affection for the community, the religion and the country, becomes desirable and commendable. If, instead of love, these create hatred of other communities, other religions and other countries, then they become poisonous. Love your religion, so that you may practise it with greater faith; and, when each one practises their religion with faith, there can be no hatred in the world, for all religions are built on universal love. Love your country, so that it may become strong, happy and prosperous, an arena for the exercise of all the higher faculties of man. Feel that Delhi or Calcutta is as much a part of yourself as your own town or village; any pain in the toe is as much a matter of concern for you as a pain on the top of the head. Strive to make India strong and happy so that it may not be a drag on other countries, or even a temptation; she was once the Guru of Humanity. Let her assume that role again.
– Divine Discourse, Oct 02, 1965