Swami teaches... Renovating education is a part of Swami's Mission. Part 1

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 16 - 18 May 2006

Renovating Education Is a Part of Swami's Mission. Part 1

 

The motto:

Joy is your birth-right. Santhi is your inmost nature. The Lord is your Self and support.

 

Human contains within all the powers and all the substances that exist anywhere in the Cosmos. Human values are born with human.

The Call of the Divine echoes in every heart; it provokes the reaction of awe, reverence, affection, love and sacrifice - all ingredients of bhakthi (devotion). It translates itself into acts of worship, of praise, of adoration and of rituals and symbolising the majesty of God. Thus the mind gets saturated with the Divine thoughts, it is recast in the Divine Mould, until the flow of Ananda is unabated.

(There are some who talk of unifying religions; but religion is a mode of the mind and there are as many religions as there are minds. If you can unify minds, you can unify religions; but, it is an impossible task).

 

Swami declares that he has come to illumine the human heart with the Light Divine and to rid human of the delusion that drags him/her away from the path of santhi (peace), the perfect equanimity.

Swami also tells that this task of renovating and recasting education is a part of His Mission and before long you will find Swami engaged in it and chastising those who simply talk loud and long, of reconstruction and the preservation of spiritual values.

 

Education is a slow process like the unfolding of a flower, the fragrance becoming deeper and more perceptible with the silent blossoming, petal by petal, of the entire flower.The base all educational efforts on building up the character of the students and then you can confidently think of raising on it the super-structure of curricula, etc. (The best time to lay the foundation for this quality and perfect habits is young age).

 

Truth, the Principle of Truth, is immanent in every being; knowing this, the seeker or the student has to be loving and friendly with every living being. This is the message of the scriptures of all lands.

Today education is oriented to jobs, to secure a living, not to lead a life. Education must teach a person what life is, and what its goal. It must purify the heart and clarify the vision. It must prevent pollution of the hand, heart and head by habits injurious to the individual, society and the nation. It must promote virtues and raise the moral and spiritual standards of the educated.

There is an ancient axiom which says,

"Education imparts humility;

humility ensures credibility;

credibility brings wealth;

wealth induces charity;

charity confers peace and joy,

here and hereafter."

Nowadays, all educational institutions emphasise the need for riches. "Become wealthy through the easiest and quickest methods;" that is the slogan. Unfortunately, today the human being, is devalued and degraded. Human today is all humility, all obedience until the wish is fulfilled. Once it is satisfied, one tries even to ruin the person who helped to realise the wish.. Today, as a rule, human by pomp and pride, egoism and conceit reveals that he/she is ignorant of own reality and therefore undeserving of that name.

Aeons change. The world is changing. But human's heart is not getting transformed. Why is the human's heart not broadening at the present time? The reason is the secular education that is prevalent today. This educational system is diverting student's attention on worldly and technical knowledge.. There is practically no attention to knowledge of spiritual and ethical importance. (Consider, what most students are contributing today. Instead of resolving problems they are

multiplying them. Far from alleviating suffering, they are worsening it. They have themselves

become sources of anxiety).

Every boy and girl and also adult learner must attain unblemished character and lead a life of strict moral discipline. Students will obtain this skill through the ancient discipline and Swami's Teaching which tames the instincts, controls the impulses and assures steadiness of character. Such is Swami's Will.

Sikshana (training, learning) is a process in which the teacher and the taught co-operate and it must be a pleasant experience for both, a useful and heartening endeavour. For example, when the teacher enters the classroom, children should salute teacher; that is a lesson in humility, in respecting age and scholarship, in gratitude for service rendered. The teacher should decide to deserve the salutation of the children entrusted to his/her care by sincere work and selfless service. The student should not respect the teacher through fear, but be moved more by love. Example, not precept, is the best teaching aid.

Students should stand on their own feet, exert independently, produce through their own effort enough and to spare for themselves and their parents and be useful to the poor, the illiterate, the diseased and the distressed. Those who practise this ideal sincerely and to the best of their abilities can claim to honour the maxims: "Duty is God" or "Work is Worship."

 

Teachers and parents must see that students learn certain good habits and attitudes during these formative years. What is read from books must be contemplated upon, thought over in quietness, reflected upon in silence. There is nothing like silence to still the waves of your heart.

This is a very good exercise in intellectual development and in the acquisition of mental peace. The instinct to quarrel and fight over all misunderstandings must be regulated and sublimated.

Do not waste time in idle talk and empty scandal. Continuous conversation saps one's energy. Swami would advise to talk only when you must and only to the person with whom you have to talk.

Communicate with the minimum words and make them as sweet and pleasant as you can.

 

(Cats roam from house to house; dogs run through highroads and byelanes.. Do not reduce yourselves to those levels with meaningless chatting with whom happens).

Do not wander about like ownerless street dogs, enjoying endless wrangles and quarrels. If you

fall into that company, you commit the sin of sacrilege. Avoid that fatal path. You must equip yourself to be the guides, teachers and leaders of nation and even of the world.

Just as every day you engage in exercises, and consume tonics, calculating the intake of calories

and vitamins, paying meticulous attention to the nutritional value of the food, pay attention also to the intake of impressions into the mind - whether they debilitate or strengthen, whether they add to the power of resistance of the mind against the viruses - greed, envy, hatred, pride, malice, etc.. Have a meal of good acts of service, divine thoughts, and drink the juice of Love, so that they may be washed down, and digested well.

Students should not enjoy the infliction of pain or be allowed to suffer physical pain or mental anguish. They must have a sense of responsibility at least for the safe custody and proper upkeep of

their books. They must not take delight in showing off their dress or ornaments or status or wealth before less fortunate children of the school. They have to be taught sensible habits of personal

cleanliness and more important than all, the habit of prayer at regular hours. At school, the day's work should start with prayer for five minutes which should be taken seriously by one and all, and not reduced to the mere formality or farce that it has become in most schools. Treat the prayer as the very foundation of the entire edifice of schooling.

 

Prayer is the very breath of religion; for, it brings human and God together and with every sigh,

nearer and nearer. Dhyana (meditation) is the process of listening to the Song Celestial, the Flute of Krishna, with the mental ears alert on the melody. Yoga is the merging of the mind in the bliss of self-forgetfulness, when the music fills the consciousness. Words like these do not completely denote that inexpressible ecstasy which one gets while back home, after this long exile.

 

Chandromouli Sastry spoke of mantras, the mystic formulae, which are potent with spiritual enlightenment, the sound and the vibrations they generate have a way of affecting the emotions and impulses of the individual, cleansing them, accelerating them, fermenting them, agitating them, dealing with them in subtle ways known only to the adept. (Mantra means that which saves, when meditated upon. The name of God is like the goad that can tame the elephant in rut and make him bend his knees and lift the log on to his tusks).

 

See your Self as yourself unrelated to others or to the objective world.. When you know your Self as yourself, you are liberated: that is moksha. It is not a five-starred hotel, or a deluxe tourist home. It is just the awareness of your reality and the rejection of all contrary conceptions. You can recognise yourself quickly and clearly, if you purify your heart by mantra or by the singing of the glory of God. Both will grant the boon.

 

You can pronounce the word "come," in a number of distinct ways, producing as many distinct reactions on those to whom it is addressed. Sounds emanate from the throat, the tongue, the cavity of the chest, the navel, the heart, out of the silent experience of aroused yogic force. But, more than the repetition of mantras and the dispersal of vibrations through tune, beat and feeling, imbibe the meaning thereof tasting the sweetness. The sweetness of the mantra is beyond the reach of amateurs and beginners; but, the sweetness of sankerthan (melodious singing of spirituals) captures even at the very first sitting.

 

Modem civilisation is based on technological advance, but, there is a higher technology, the

understanding of the consciousness and the transformation of that consciousness into a source of

power, through that understanding. This is sujnana (experiential spiritual knowledge), as different from vijnana, which science is. There is again Prajnana, which transcends even the consciousness, and takes human into the realm of the One All-Pervasive, All-embracing Principle that is God. This is the Adwaitha jnana (nondualism or monism, the Vedantic doctrine that everything is God; Unitive integral knowledge), the culmination of the journey of the spirit.

(Many complain that it is difficult to achieve ekagratha (one-pointedness) of God, embodiment of the Divine Love. But the fault is in themselves; they have no adequate faith and steadiness. The steadiness they exhibit in the pursuit of worldly goods and worldly comfort they do not transfer to the pursuit of inner calm. They complain of lack of time, as if all their waking hours are now utilised for worthwhile purposes).

 

Narada, the sage who is immersed in the bliss of song, had once a problem. He was in

a quandary, where to get audience with God, where to go? "Shall I go to Thirupathi, Bhadhrachalam, Kashi, Badhri, Puttaparthi or Pandharpur?" Then, Narayana answered, "Do not worry about any particular place, Naradha! Wherever My devotees sing, there I install Myself!" (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.1. "Shikshana," Chapter 16; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 5.. "The immortal guide to immortality," Chapter 29; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. " Recognise your Self." Chapter 25; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 14. "Why this College?" Chapter 28; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28. "Fill your hearts with love of God," Chapter 10).

 

Namaste - Reet