Bal Vikas Guru's Conference at Prasanthi Nilayam

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Bal Vikas Guru's Conference at Prasanthi Nilayam

 

"….Let the Beacons never fade; Let the Lamps be ever bright" was the

inspirational message given by Bhagawan addressing the Balvikas Gurus

when the Movement was set in motion way back in 1962. This was not a

mere message, but a huge responsibility, Divinely ordained…to nurture

the little hearts…to blossom them to ideal citizens.

 

Eversince, the Balvikas Movement has been on a roll. Lakhs and lakhs of

children have been blossomed into youth of character over the years and

there are thousands of teachers, known as Bal Vikas gurus guiding these

young aspiring minds to a better tomorrow based on the divine teachings

and guidelines of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

 

Leading up to the coveted 80th Birthday Celebrations of Bhagawan Sri

Sathya Sai Baba, Prasanthi Nilayam has witnessed a unique congregation

of ‘Balvikas Family’ from all over India at His Divine Lotus Feet,

rejuvenating their minds and pledging their hearts in unison at the Feet

of the Eternal Being in human frame…Sadguru…Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

 

It was ‘Children’s Festival of Joy’ that set about the tone for the

celebrations on 22nd October with children from all parts of India

participated in a rare display of outpouring of love and gratitude to

Bhagawan for entering and transforming their lives, and through them,

the lives of their family members and others around them. Over the three

days, the children basked in the love of Bhagawan, presenting a variety

of programmes in the Divine presence on the lessons they have imbibed as

students of the Bal Vikas Programme. There was a significant presence of

students from the far off North Eastern states like Assam, Manipur and

Sikkim, their faces beaming with the joy of being with Bhagawan on this

wonderful occasion.

 

At the backdrop of this wonderful ‘Festival of Joy’ came the All India

Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas Guru’s Conference inaugurated by the Divine

Hands on the morning of 25th October. Delivering the key-note address

Smt. Sarla Shah, National Bal Vikas coordinator highlighted the

evolution of the Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas Movement from its humble

beginning in the year 1969 into the much talked about and highly valued

Sri Sathya Sai Educare and the significance of its application in

day-to-day life. She said, the Movement is aimed at creating Sai Energy

Globules in the hearts of children and parents so that instead of Atomic

Energy, Atmic Energy will be generated resulting in world peace at

large. She further reiterated on the need to make this Movement more

effective for the spiritual regeneration of mankind. Love alone is the

essence of education and where this Love prevailed, it resulted in

transformation which would lead to the manifestation of 5 D’s: purity,

unity of thought, word and deed and experiencing one’s own Divinity. Sai

Education is the only solution for today and the Mission of the Sai

Avatar coupled with our action could alone change the world into a

better place, concluded Smt. Sarla Shah.

 

The next speaker, Sri Nimish Pandya with his rhetoric excellence regaled

the audience on the Glory of Sri Sathya Sai Avatar. Leela of Pure Love

is the essence of the glory of the Avatar, said Mr. Pandya. While

profusely thanking Bhagawan for removing the myth that God was

complicated and that God could be achieved by simplicity and Love

through the means of Bal Vikas, he emphasised that Bal Vikas is the

simplest means for achieving the much talked about World Peace.

Highlighting Bhagawan’s teaching that it is important to change the

individuals and their attitudes before changing the world into a better

one, Sri Nimish Pandya concluded with an optimistic note that this alone

would herald the dawn of the Golden Age.

 

Bhagawan in His short but sweet address to the Bal Vikas Gurus

reiterated that, that which protects Dharma is Real Knowledge and Real

Knowledge is nothing but, Educare which is coming from Atma.

 

The first exclusive session of the Conference was held in the Poorna

Chandra Auditorium in the afternoon, in the immediate Divine Presence.

The first one to address the Gurus was Smt. Kamala Pandya on the

subject, “Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas – Milestones in the Divine Mission”.

Bal Vikas in its 36th Years of sojourn is at the prime of its life, in

full bloom and it is time to take a perspective view of the Divine

Mission; We have to think, reflect and understand as to what Bhagawan is

expecting from us, advised Mrs. Pandya to Bal Vikas Gurus. The next

speaker Dr. Anand Mohan elucidating on the subject, ‘Sri Sathya Sai Bal

Vikas –A Way of Life”, referring to Bhagawan’s famous dictum:

 

If there is Righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character

If there is Beauty in Character, there will be Harmony in the Home

If there is Harmony in the Home, there will be Order in the Nation

 

If there is Order in the Nation, there will be Peace in the World, said,

individual transformation alone can bring about transformation in the

world and this individual transformation should start at the right

time…right age…should be a continual process…that should culminate in

attaining world peace. In her inspiring speech, Ms. Deepali Changkaoti

exhorted the Gurus to be exemplary role models while talking on the

subject “Be, Do and Tell”. The last speaker for the session was Ms.

Jayashree Bajaj who stressed on Bhagawan’s Message of Purity and Unity

to enable the gurus to experience Divinity.

 

The second exclusive session was on the 26th morning at the

Poornachandra Auditorium. Dr. Ms. Neeta Khanna in her eloquent

exposition on the importance of Thought Management said that our destiny

rests on our thoughts and hence the seed of good thoughts should be

implanted right from the conception in monther’s womb. Smt. Parul

Sachdeva in her emotional rhetoric stressed the importance of

inculcating good habits which she said makes our destiny and when one

follows those good habits he or she is closer to God and when one is

closer to God he or she is at Peace. She posed the questions herself: Am

I of good character? Do I have all those values which a guru is ought to

have? Giving full credit to the Bal Vikas training, she said

transformation started from the very day she has become a Bal Vikas

Guru. The next speaker Ms. Sashibala from A.P. stressed the need for

integration of the five techniques while imparting the course content.

Dr. Mrs. Devi Rajagopal in her lucid presentation gave deep insight on

the benchmarks of an ideal Bal Vikas student. Explaining about the 5

D’s, namely, Duty, Discipline, Devotion, Discrimination and

Determination in details she said these five D’s are not given to the

child altogether, but in gradual doses according to age.

 

The third and final exclusive session commenced with the analysis of the

role of a Bal Vikas guru by Ms. Radhika Trasi. Explaining in detail the

techniques involved in training children in moulding into future

citizens she has a word of caution to fellow Bal Vikas gurus: “plunging

deep into the tumultuous waters of samsara we have emerged heroic with

the rare pearl in our hand and this rare peal is the Divine Grace of

Swami because of which we have become Bal Vikas gurus. So, we must be

very careful and not allow this pearl to slip through our fingers and

fall down to the depths again, because only as Bal Vikas gurus we will

be able to render service and make our lives fruitful”. This was

followed by Ms. Binoti Thakore’s guidelines for parenting and the

crucial role of parents in moulding the children in to ideal sons and

daughters. She stressed that families are to be dwelling places of right

conduct. She concluded her inspiring speech with few beautiful lines on

parenting:

 

Parenting is both Love and Law

Parenting is both Sowing seed and fructification

Parenting is Mutable yet Constant

Parenting is music both Gazal and Classical

Parenting is Mystic yet very Systematic

Parenting is Parenthetic and Paragonic

Parenting is both Practical and Tactical

 

Smt. Vidya Srinivasan emphasized the need for co-ordination of the

different wings of the organization in promoting Bal Vikas.

 

The Valedictory function was held in Sai Kulwant Hall in the Divine

Presence of Bhagawan. Mr. Nimish Pandya summarizing the whole

proceedings of the conference in a nutshell thanked Bhagawan for the

great realization that “we are all perched at a moment in the history of

mankind when the entire world is due to become a Sathya Sai

Organisation, every family is due to become a Sai family, every mother

is due to become a Bal Vikas guru and every child is due and deserves to

be a Bal Vikas student”.

 

The first speaker, Mrs. Usha Nair spoke about Bal Vikas Movement in

rural India. Narrating various inspiring incidents happened across

various villages in Madhya Pradesh wherein Bal Vikas children were

involved, she concluded her inspiring emotional rhetoric with a prayer

to Bhagawan, with a positive note to shower His Blessings to make their

endeavour a success so that the health, wealth and prosperity of these

villages which constitute the real wealth of our nation would richly

contribute to the well being of our country. The next speaker, Smt.

Nimmi Kanwar while profusely thanking Bhagawan for His bounteous

blessings enlightened on the recommendations of the Conference that all

active workers and office bearers should make it a point to attend the

Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas classes so as to make it a way of their lives.

 

Dr. Anil Vinayak Gokak, Vice Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of

Higher Learning exhorted the teachers to be transmitters of impulses to

the children and detectors of their talents. Smt. Jayalakshmi Bajaj who

was specially called upon the dais by Bhagawan said that love should

encompass everything under creation and love is expansion.

 

The programme concluded with the presentation of the recommendations of

the Conference and vote of thanks by Shri Nimish Pandya.

 

Richly inspiring for thousands of hearts and minds of Gurus across the

length and breadth of India, rejuvenated in the Divine Presence and

inspired at the Divine Hands to carry the torch to nurture and guide the

little minds to make them ideal future citizens of our culturally

enriched Mother India - the noblest of the tasks divinely ordained by

the Avatar of Age.

 

Jai Sai Ram