Swami teaches... Spiritual and worldly aspects. Instructions to the teachers. Part 2

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

Swami teaches...

Spiritual and Worldly Aspects. Instructions to the Teachers. Part 2

The Motto:

Regard all humanity as one family. "Let us live together, strive together

and rejoice together."

Swami is always specially interested in the service done to the young

generation. Here is several of His instructions with explanations and

pictorial stories as examples to the teachers.

 

What does the word student mean? It means a person dedicated to study. He is

called vidhyaarthi because he seeks vidhya (knowledge). Vidhya means proceeding

from darkness to light, that is to say, from ignorance of the Atma (Divine

Self) to the awareness of the Atma. People usually do not seek the jyothi

(light) that can lead them from thamas (inertia) into wisdom. The reason is

they have no steadiness in their sadhana (spiritual effort).

To what extent are you putting into practice Swami's Teaching? Practise

silence for at least ten minutes in a day. Meditate on Swami's Teaching at that

time. Realise that in this transient world the Eternal is immanent. Hold fast to

God. Experience the bliss of union with the Divine. Make love your life-breath.

With love of God in their hearts the ancient sages could transform - even the

wild animals in the forests.

In order to escape the nefarious influence of this ego, cleanse the heart

with constant contemplation of God. Contemplate the vast, so that your heart

too might overstep its limits and become vast. How much bliss will you derive

from devoting five minutes out of the twenty-four hours of a day, to

worshipping God?

Promote love in your hearts and share it with others. That is the best form

of worship. Remember that the Divine Love is Swami's only property.

The important directive Swami gives is to be more concerned with own

progress, own correction. How it is possible to teach without it?

 

Teaching is no imposition from above; it is an inspiration from within as for

teachers so for students. Human virtues cannot be acquired from others. They

cannot be nourished from mere study of books. Nor can they be got ready made

from teachers. They have to be cultivated by each person individually.

1. As soon as you rise from bed in the morning, examine for a few moments

your thoughts, plans, habits and attitudes to others, which are about to pounce

on you and decide the shape of things to come, throughout the day. Identify in

the motley crowd the vicious, the wicked, the evil, the harmful, the one that

are born in anger, that breed on greed and assert that you are not willing to

be led by them. Throw your inclination on the side of the good, the

constructive, to renounce, and rise up a purer, stronger and happier person

than when you went to bed.

 

2. Three basic changes should take place in tiny or adult student and in the

whole humanity. That is the truth contained in the Sai principle. S" stands for

Spiritual change. "A" stands for "Associational" (or National) change. "I"

stands for Individual change. By this triple change the nation will prosper.

Explain this to the students through pictorial examples from your own country.

 

3. Of all human values, three are most important. The foremost is love of

God. Where there is love there is sacrifice. There arises purity of heart.

There should be a fusion of love, sacrifice and purity. They are not mere human

qualities. They constitute vital organs of a human being. They are as essential

for a human being as the head, hands and legs for the body.

Love and devotion to God illustrates the ancient story.

One of the Tamil kings was very fond of horses and sent his Prime Minister

to buy horses. During his journey the minister came across a holy man named

Thirukannan. He was attracted by the teachings of the holy man. Inspired by

these teachings, the minister decided to give up his mission (of purchasing

horses) and used the money given to him to build a temple for Shiva. Meanwhile,

the king was worried about what had happened to his minister and why he had not

come back. He came to know that the minister had used the money, given to him

for purchasing horses, to build a Shiva temple. He had the minister arrested

and put in prison. The minister was unaffected. Later the king realised his

mistake. Minister explained: "Oh King! I used the money for God. What God had

given, I gave it back to Him. Without the grace of God no one can have

anything. Without the power of the Divine not a cell in the human can move, not

a blade of grass will move. It is out of a realisation of this truth that I

offered the money, given to me for buying a horse, to the Divine." The king

ordered the freeing of the minister and allowed him to lead a spiritual life

after his own heart.

From that moment he started composing hymns in praise of God. This work is

known as "Thiruvachakam." The author is known as "Maanikka vaachakar." His

writings are spiritual aphorisms containing the sublimest spiritual truths.

4. A baby has no I or mine. It easily gives up anything from its grasp; the

I hardens with the increase of intelligence, and it does not part with a doll or

toy. Do not allow the role of the separate I to damage the springs of love and

sacrifice, in your heart and in the hearts of tiny students.

 

5. You have to inspire and instruct the tiny students to become heroes of

action, whose lives are dedicated to work as worship of the one God who resides

in all. They must be trained to take part gladly and intelligently in "activity

programmes" filled with the spirit of service. In order to make the primary

schools succeed in this endeavour, see that you run them with patience and

love. (Today after spending thousands of rupees or dollars or other currencies

and mortgaging or selling their lands and houses, the parents are happy that

their sons and daughters have got a degree. Instead of education for doing the

work of society, we are having education for jobs which society has to create

to give them work).

 

6.. Treat the the tiny students as your own.

 

7. Don't tax tiny students memory overmuch. Short stories, 20 to 25 lines

long will be the best. Don't make them learn by rote, for, what they learn

under pressure will soon be forgotten. It will not transform the mind by

soaking into it. The incidents and the morals they illustrate have to be

imprinted on the heart. They must learn not 'by heart,' but for and through the

heart.

 

8. When you relate stories to the tiny students,select such stories as have

some reference to thebackground of the children's home life. Tell them stories

which will implant in the mind genuinedisgust for evil sights, evil

entertainments, evil deeds and evil habits. Tell them how they mustforget the

wrong done to them by others and the good that they do to others. Make them

take upsome positive task and the negative attitudes will fall off. Good habits

will drive out bad ones. A story by Swami as an example. A wicked man

once went to a Guru (preceptor) for initiation into spiritual life. The Guru

asked him to give up at least one of his bad habits; he gave up uttering

falsehood. That night, when he went to the Royal palace to commit theft, he

found on the terrace another person, who said, he too was a thief. He too

announced that he was a thief and both broke into the treasury and divided

among themselves the diamonds found there. The other person was none other than

the king; he pretended to be a thief and he knew where the keys of the treasury

were. While the diamonds were shared, the honest thief felt pity for the King

of the realm who was losing his entire stock; he asked his companion to leave

one diamond behind, in the safe. And, it was done. Next morning, when it was

discovered that the treasury was looted, the Minister was sent by theKing (who

had acted as thief the previous night) to assess the loss. The Minister found

thediamond, that had missed the eyes of the thieves. He quietly transferred it

to his own pocket andreported at court that all the diamonds were gone. One

step in the right direction leads to another (and also vice versa). The King

had got from the honest thief his address, the previous night, while they parted

company, with their separate bags. So he sent for him and when stood in court

before the King, he confessed that all but one of the diamonds were stolen by

him and his unknown associate. The diamond was discovered in the pocket of the

Minister and the King dismissed him for the lie.The honest thief was appointed

Minister, instead, and he gave up his other evil habits too andpleased his

Guru, by his fame as a virtuous administrator.

 

9. Instruct tiny students in meditation too, for a short while, each day.

Let that habit be inculcated even at this age. Five minutes of prayers and

another five minutes of meditation will be a good exercise, whose taste itself

will persuade the children to make it a habit. The tender mind has to be fed,

with tenderness.

 

The children of the Sathya Sai Bala Vihaar must know the Sathya Sai that is

residing in their hearts. Teachers also must take it as a puja (ritual worship)

of Sai Rama. How to reveal the Sai Rama residing in their hearts to the

children? That is the problem that must be directing teacher's work. Sai Rama

has to move about in the jungles of your heart; so, render the tracks wide,

smooth, free from thorn and pebble. When teachers serve Sai Rama in these

children, by this service they realise the Self.

From very early years from kindergarten and primary school education must

confirm the result in the development of viveka (wisdom) and vinaya (humility).

Later the adult educated person must be able to distinguish between the

momentary and the momentous, the lasting and the effervescent. The educated

person must know how to keep the body in good trim, the senses under strict

control, the mind well within check, the intellect sharp and clear, unhampered

by prejudices and hatreds, and the feelings untouched by egoism. The educated

person must know the Atma; that is his/her very care; that is the effulgence

which illumines inner and outer selves. This knowledge will ensure joy and

peace and courage for person's throughout life.* (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 1. "Nara and Naaraayana," Chapter 11; Sathya Sai

Speaks. Vol. 11."Prahlaadhas for the present age," Chapter 2 and "Good and

bad, " Chapter 21; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 14. "What is Vidhya?" Chapter 23 and

"Partial education," Chapter 24; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 17. "The most precious

period," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 29. "The triple transformation,"

Chapter 11 and "The quest for truth," Chapter 12).

 

PS: The same qualities of spritually educated person has been described in

one of previous serial in the beginning of April 2006. I repeated this

qualities once more, as the essential outcome of all Swami's educational system

and Swami's Teaching.

Namaste - Reet