Sai Inspires - 12th February 2006 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

Society?' What should our attitude towards service be? Swami tells us today.

Did you read "Moving Empathy...".Go here to read it now. Sai Inspires -

12th February 2006 Serve society according to your capabilities. Do not

try to show off. Do not be corrupted by egoism. Transform yourself into a divine

servant. Without serving the Master you cannot become a master. Without

utilizing your human qualities, you cannot become divine... If leaders want to

shape the universe, they should develop noble thoughts, sacred ideals, and

selfless desires. Never entertain selfish thoughts, or perform self-beneficial

acts in the name of service. - Divine Discourse, 21st Nov 1988. Self gets

and forgets, Love gives and forgives - Baba. What's The Right

Education For A Right Society? Loving Sai Ram and greetings from

Prashanti Nilayam. This year, 2006, marks the Silver Jubilee of Swami’s

University, namely, the Sri Sathya Sai

Institute of Higher Learning. While the University itself formally came into

existence in 1981, the seeds were sown by Swami as early as 1968, when He

established a college for women in Anantapur. Since then, Swami’s mission in

the area of education has come a long way. There are many things unique about

Swami’s University. The free education part no doubt figures prominently in the

list of virtues but there are other aspects that are more important which,

unfortunately, receive far less attention. Today, we would like to focus on one

of these.

TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> Swami often reminds us that a human being is a composite

of the body [thatisgross], the Mind [thatissubtle], and the Atma [that is

primordial and the source/cause of everything, including Creation]. Education,

Swami says, must therefore address all these three aspects of a human being. If

it fails to, then the education imparted would not be balanced, and lack of

balance in a human being can cause not only a lot of problems to the individual

concerned, but indeed to Society as a whole. Thus, in Swami’s University,

everything is done according to the philosophy of what is called Integral

Education. Integral Education means nursing in balanced proportions, the body,

the Mind and also the Heart. If there is such a balance, then the student

blossoms as a person of character. Thus

it is that Swami often says that the end of education must be character. Time

there was, when teachers and parents took character moulding very seriously.

Indeed, this was true in all societies. In India of course, there is a strong

tradition in this respect to which Swami often calls attention. In England, the

great public schools were supposed to train students to become leaders with

character. In

America, there is the shining example of George Washington who as a boy dared to

tell the truth, unmindful of the punishment he might receive. There is also the

inspiring example of Abraham Lincoln, to whom Swami often makes a reference.

Things have changed dramatically after World War II. Many factors have

contributed to this almost abrupt change, and we need not go into all the

painful details; in any case they are well known. But this much can be said;

almost everywhere, education has become a business. One might give all kinds of

socio-economic reasons for this phenomenon

but the question remains: If character development is considered irrelevant in

the scheme of education, then where does it leave Society, especially in this

age of Science and Technology? Few bother about this; even if some do, they

brush aside concerns and join the rat race. Parents may say money is

important; educational establishments may say money is important; graduates

also may say money is important. But there is something far more important and

that is morality. If parents, educationists and Society all abandon moral

values, then what would happen to humanity? Science and technology are awesome

tools and if humans use them without compunction, then Society and indeed the

environment can get into all kinds of problems; in fact, this is already

happening. Just to give an example, in the UK, they wanted to pass a bill

prohibiting the screening of TV ads promoting fast foods and soft drinks during

children’s programs, because they were considered harmful to children. Parents

and health authorities were deeply worried by the alarming rise in child

obesity and juvenile diabetes; hence the

idea for such a ban. But the big corporations fought the idea of the ban tooth

and nail. The point here is that the corporations peddling these items couldn’t

care less about the damage to Society; market share is all that matters to them.

One can multiply this example many, many times. Wherever we look, it is the

educated who are disturbing Society in umpteen ways, ranging from generating

computer viruses to inventing all kinds of weapons that promote conflict and

violence, not to mention unwanted gadgets that fuel unnecessary and sometimes

dangerous desires. All this has happened in fifty short years. These days,

there is a lot of corporate fraud and people say it is all because people have

lost a sense of values. To correct the situation, more laws are being passed.

However, if there is no individual character, then Society as a whole would

lack character, which means that frauds would go on and even multiply. In turn,

one would have to increase the police force, appoint more judges and so on.

Society has to pay for all this. But even if Society does this, what is the

guarantee that the result would be favourable? After all, policemen and judges

without character would compound the problem! How can one suddenly expect

judges and policemen to be very honest, when they too have come

through the same, “de-hydrated” educational system? Yes, as one educationist

in the West lamented, today’s universities produce clever devils! Many years

ago, addressing the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Victor

Weisskopf, a professor in MIT declared, “Knowledge without compassion is inhuman

while compassion without knowledge is ineffective.” In its own way, the world

secretly realises this but caught up as it is in the rat race, it makes every

effort to ignore the writing on the wall. Indeed, and it is only in Swami’s

Institute that instruction in worldly knowledge is beautifully blended with

basic human values. That is what makes Swami’s University so important. Dear

Subscriber,

mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;

mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">The question is often

asked: “OK, students in Swami’s Institutes get a good grounding in values and

all that; but does it work in the wide world out there? Where is the proof?”

Dear Subscriber, there is ample proof and be assured we would write about that

in later Sunday mails. Meanwhile, we pray that Swami’s Grace be showered on you

and your family, and that you may continuously enjoy Bliss. Dear Subscriber,

Jai Sai Ram With Love and Regards, "Heart2Heart" RadioSai's e-Journal

Team, In Sai Service. To see the complete schedule of today's

RadioSai programmes, Visit us at www.radiosai.org to know more

about RadioSai and our e-Journal "Heart 2 Heart".

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