President of India quoting Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Feb 17, 2004

[Guest guest]

 

ADDRESS AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONCLAVE ON BUDDHISM AND

SPIRITUAL TOURISM VIGYAN BHAVAN, NEW DELHI  17-02-2004 : New Delhi  Universal

Unity and Understanding

I am indeed delighted to participate in the inauguration of the International

Conclave on Buddhism and Spiritual Tourism. Spiritual tourism is quite

different from visiting the places and seeing various physical dimensions. The

spiritual tourism means visiting the hearts and minds of the intellectuals in

different places and places of enrich civilizational environment. After his

enlightenment, Buddha visited 45 places in and around Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Every place is a place of enlightenment and provides the beautiful message. The

message flows from “The University of Universal Unity and Understanding.

 

Four noble truths

 

University of Universal Unity and Understanding should experience four noble

truths. What are the four noble truths, you are all philosophers, theologists,

thinkers, and may be tourism marketers also, you know what are those truths.

However, I felt that I should narrate these noble truths, which are ringing in

my mind in divine form, where Buddha got enlightenment.

The first truth is Dhukka, which states that the world is transient and it is in

Dhukka. The second truth is the root cause of Dhukka, desire (Samuthaya). If we

eliminate desire dhukka will cease, is the third truth (Norodhaya). Fourth is

to follow the Eight-Fold path (Makka).

 

Nalanda – The university of Enlightenment

 

Dear revered monks, scholars and thinkers assembled here, I would like to

narrate the incident which took place in Nalanda, when I was there in May 2003.

I have spent hours and hours in Nalanda. I saw the place, where the hundreds of

scholars assembled and discoursed. I saw, how a university was vibrant in the

Nalanda area in 7th and 8th century with theology-teaching classrooms,

discourse rooms and monks hostels. What attracted the scholars from 90

countries to Nalanda long ago? This is the place where the thoughts were

transmitted, discussed and integrated towards a good way of life, which people

were looking for from many countries. Friends, at this critical juncture of

universal turbulence and instability, arising out of mutual distrust and hatred

leading to violence, world needs a university of peace, enlightenment and great

thoughts.

 

As I said earlier, after enlightenment Buddha walked and walked in 45 different

places in and around Nalanda, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Every place is very

important for Spiritual enlightenment. To commemorate this great event, it is

essential to reestablish a university in Nalanda, dedicated to the philosophy

of Buddha to cherish and find new meaning – a University of Universal Unity and

Understanding. I would suggest this conclave can give a recommendation and the

Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Tourism and Culture can spearhead the

establishment of this University of Universal Unity and Understanding. Now I

would like to share with you some of my personal experiences in search of unity

of minds.

 

Experience at Bodh Gaya

 

What a great experience? When I visited Bodh Gaya and sat under the great Bodhi

Tree with monks assembled all around. I said “Buddham Saranam Gachami”. It was

echoing every where, this I did after visiting the great Buddhist temple where

Buddha was radiating peace and enlightenment. Under the holy tree a discussion

started. One young monk asked me? Mr. President, President of India you are

sitting in the place of great enlightenment. How do you feel? I told them, that

I felt, as though I am a student, looking for a message for the troubled world -

the message of peace. Another young monk asked me, “Do you think Mr. President,

Is Buddhism a religion or spiritual force or a code of conduct?” I said, let me

share with you my experiences after my extensive travel in our country and

abroad.

 

Religion transforming into spirituality

 

A message, I have received is that most Indians experienced and old, energetic

and middle-aged, young and innocent, they all look to religion for solace and

safety. I have also visited great many religious places and houses of worship

throughout the length and breadth of this great country and I have met many of

our religious leaders. The religions are like exquisite gardens, places full of

surpassing beauty and tranquility, like sacred groves filled with beautiful

birds and their melodious songs. I truly think that religions are beautiful

gardens. They are enchanting islands, veritable oasis for the soul and the

spirit. But they are islands nevertheless. How can we connect them so that the

fragrance engulfs the whole universe? If we can connect all the islands with

love and compassion, in a 'garland', we will have a prosperous India and

prosperous world. With this background, I have come to Bodh Gaya. I realize in

Buddhism spiritual content is very high.

 

Strength and peace

 

The third question - a very important question was asked by the youngest monk.

Mr. President you have made a weapon, which can carry a nuclear warhead and you

are in search for peace now? How they are compatible? I was taken aback. I went

back to 2500 years in history. I saw in front of me the Emperor Asoka

conquering all parts of India and walking with great pride. When he came to

Kalinga region, the great Kalinga war took place, which is now in the present

state of Orissa. With the mighty army of Emperor Asoka fought and fought and

the Kalinga kings were defeated. Emperor Asoka happily proclaimed and annexed

the Kalinga country. In that great full moon night, with the success behind

him, Emperor Asoka walked in the war ravaged battlefield. He stopped suddenly

and saw the blood flowing over hundred thousand people who were killed, and

many souls crying and moaning. That crying was engulfed with gloom. Suddenly

Emperor Asoka stopped and asked himself, “O!

Almighty, what have I done?” This spark of thought entered into the mind and

soul of Emperor Asoka and the great principle of Ahimsa Dharma was born.

 

He has preached ahimsa, since then. This has been firmly engraved in the

mountains. In the last century Mahatma Gandhi further gave a new dimension to

ahimsa, dharma in the freedom movement of India. I have given this answer to

that young monk. In our case, it was self-defence for which nuclear weapons

were developed and nation had to become a nuclear weapon country. At no time,

we will use them, unless someone uses against us. If every nation possessing

nuclear weapons decides to dismantle completely, India will be the first to do

so. India has always been advocating a total disarmament in the world.

 

The fourth question was asked by another monk, Mr. President, what made you to

come to Bodh Gaya? I said, “I am like Anand in a small way I am in the mission

of search, where is the universal peace and unity of minds”.

 

Experience at RILA Monastery

 

During my recent visit abroad, I visited a Christian Monastery in RILA located

in the hills of Bulgaria. It is the biggest Bulgarian revival, spiritual and

cultural centre with a 16,000 volume library including 134 manuscripts from

15th to 19th century. This holy site played an important role in the spiritual

and social life of medieval Bulgaria. Destroyed by fire due to invasion at the

beginning of the 19th century, the complex was rebuilt later and is now

surrounded by a big fort. While being in that divine environment amidst the

Reverent Fathers aged between 80 and 90, I felt like praying. I went to the

altar and asked permission of the Reverent Bishop John to recite the part of

the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. All the people present in the Monastery

repeated the prayer.

 

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred let me sow love;

And where there is injury, pardon;

And where there is doubt, faith;

And where there is despair, hope;

And where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

 

The silent message in this prayer was felt by the Reverent Bishop, who blessed

me by saying “You work for world peace”. My friends, may this beautiful divine

message of love, enlighten our life to work for universal peace.

 

Celebrating the beauty of other religion

 

On one occasion, as I was leaving for Bangalore, I spoke to a friend of mine and

told him that I would be talking to young people and whether he had any

suggestions. He did not offer any suggestions as such but offered me these

nuggets of wisdom.

 

“when you speak, speak the truth; perform when you promise; discharge your trust

– withhold your hands from striking and from taking that which is unlawful and

bad….

 

What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed

the hungry to help the affected, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful and to

remove the wrongs of the injured. …..

 

All God’s creatures are his family; and he is the most beloved of God who tries

to do most good to god’s creatures.

 

These are the sayings of Prophet Mohammad. My friend who told me this is a great

grandson of a Deekshidar of Tamil Nadu and grandson of a Ganapadigal (Vedic

Scholar). He is none other than Shri Y S Rajan.

 

Righteousness

 

Recently, I heard a hymn in the divine campus of Shri Satya Saibaba at

Puttaparthi, which I would like to share with you. The name of the hymn is

'Righteous and Peace in the World':

 

Where there is righteousness in the heart

there is a beauty in the character.

 

When there is beauty in the character,

there is harmony in the home.

 

When there is harmony in the home.

there is a order in the nation.

 

When there is order in the nation,

there is peace in the world.

 

Friends, we can see a beautiful connectivity between heart, character, nation

and the world. How to inject righteousness in the human heart? This is indeed

the purpose of human creation - that is divinity. We are going through a

complex situation as many of us are completely at war with ourselves, with

society and with nation. At every instant there is a war in our mind, whether

we should go in one direction or another. Whenever there is a dilemma, we must

seek the wisdom from the Almighty to lead us to the path of righteousness

through education with value system.

 

All these four events give personally to all of us a beautiful life with

creativity. Above all it gave me a message to look for the best spiritual

component in every religion.

 

My search

 

Friends, at this point of time, I would like to recall that we had witnessed the

First World War, the Second World War; the UN was created to prevent war and

bring peace. But what is happening now? We all very well know that ignoring

United Nations many wars are being launched in this planet. Take our case, in

our nation nearly 50 years we have been experiencing cross border terrorism. It

has been causing death and suffering more than a war. This pain is in my mind.

Hu Shih, (1891-1962), Chinese philosopher in Republican China has said, "India

conquered and dominated China culturally for two thousand years without ever

having to send a single soldier across her border." This is what Buddhist

culture can do- bring people together, bring nations together, and bring peace

at no cost. This is religion that had grown in stature to be the messiah of God

and the advocate of the spiritual role of the religion. When the spiritual role

of the religion is compromised,

the religion becomes a weapon of destruction and a divider of people.

 

Friends with this experience, what I have gone through I am completely convinced

that the religions can come out of dogmas. There is a possibility of religions

graduating into a spiritual force with the use of compassion and love as a

bridge. For sustainable societal peace and happiness, two more things are

essential, one is Education with value system and the other is bringing

economic prosperity. Education with value system definitely a big mission, it

needs a world body, all the youth in the world, up to the age of 20, has to be

taught the education with value system.

 

Education with Value System

 

The best part of a young person is his or her childhood in school and the best

time spent is 0800 Hrs to 1600 Hrs in the school. The prime learning

environment is 5th to 16th years of age. The student spends approximately

25,000 hours in the school campus. Of course, at home, love and affection are

imparted but again most of the time of the day is spent in preparing school’s

homework and study, eat, play and sleep. Hence the school hours for children

are the best time for learning and need best of environment, mission oriented

learning with value system. I still hear the echo from Bestolozzy, a great

teacher’s saying, “give me a child for seven years. Afterwards, let the God or

devil take the child. They cannot change the child.” That is the great

confidence of the teacher. What a golden mission a school can have. All the

more, the teachers are in the center of the mission. We need hundreds and

thousands and lakhs of committed teachers, who can shape the minds

of our youth. Technology can also play a part to propagate good teaching through

tele-education. The best of dynamic triangle is child, teacher and parents. For

parents and teachers, school campus and home have to have an integrated

mission: education with value system. If the child misses the value-based

education in the school, no government or society can establish a transparent

society or a society with integrity.

 

The Nations will target development milestones in a spirited environment instead

of spending tremendous energy and time in problems initiated by small aims. This

is the essential environment need for transforming India into a developed

nation.

 

Developed India: 2020

 

The most vital component for peace is the poverty eradication by attaining

economic prosperity resulting in high employment potential. This model will

vary from nation-to-nation depending on the core competence of the particular

nation. This will be through the second vision for the nation. How we can

prepare ourselves to this challenge?

 

To become a developed India, the essential needs are (a) India has to be

economically and commercially powerful, at least to be one of the four top

nations in terms of size of the economy. Our target should be a sustained GDP

growth of 10% annually for a decade and that the people below poverty line to

be reduced to near zero from 260 millions. Technology Vision 2020 is the

roadmap to realize this cherished mission.

 

The vision identifies five core areas for an integrated action. They are (1)

Agriculture and food processing - The target of 360 million tons of food from

the present 200 million tons and creation of food processing industries with

enhanced productivity. Other areas of agriculture and agro food processing

would bring prosperity to rural people and speed up the economic growth. (2)

Reliable and quality electric power for all parts of the country. (3) Education

and Healthcare - we have seen, based on one experience, education and healthcare

are inter related. (4) Information Communication Technology - This is one of our

core competencies. We believe, this area can be used to promote education in

remote areas and also to create national wealth. (5) Strategic sectors - This

area, fortunately, witnessed the growth in nuclear technology, space technology

and defence technology and we have further programmes in critical technologies.

 

The integrated action on these five mission areas will lead to economic

prosperity for the nation. For ensuring peace in the world every nation has to

have economic prosperity. The value based education and religion transforming

into spirituality are the other vital ingredients for generating enlightened

citizen in a nation. Can we achieve this blend through this conclave?

 

Conclusion

 

The message to the world through this conclave has to be to create enlightened

citizens through the University of Universal Unity and Understanding. In short

the mission of the university based on the Nalanda experience is to attract

many scholars, religious leaders and scientists from various parts of the world

to discourse, discuss and spread the message of love and compassion through the

three principles of Education with value system, religion transforming into

spiritual force and economic development for freedom from hunger through a

three dimensional approach. India with one billion people representing one

sixth of the world population has the responsibility to initiate this movement

of creating enlightened citizens of the world for ensuring world peace.

Friends, it is the great mission for the International Conclave of Buddhism and

Spiritual tourism.

I wish the conclave a great success.

 

Source:

http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/sllatest1.jsp?id=279

 

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