Sai Inspires - 12th February 2006 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

SAIRAM.

 

MESSAGE FROM H2H, RADIO SAI E-JOURNAL TEAM, PRASANTHI NILAYAM BEING FORWARDED....

 

SWAMI BLESS US ALL

 

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Dear Reader,

 

Loving Sairam from the Heart2Heart Team.

 

Scroll down to read our Sunday special 'What's The Right Education For A Right 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.

 

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, 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.

 

 

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Visit us at www.radiosai.org to know more about RadioSai and our e-Journal "Heart 2 Heart".

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