Sai message for the day

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What is character? Perfect harmony in thought, word, and deed is

character: manasyekam vacasyekam karmanyekam mahatmanam. Whatever you

think, say it and do it. Your thought, word and deed must be one and

the same. This is character. Manassanyat vacassanyat karman anyat

duratmanam, it is only the wicked that think, say and act

differently. This was very well demonstrated by Hanuman in the

Ramayana. Rama commanded him to go in search of Sita, crossing the

mighty sea. He did so with His infinite blessings. Given this divine

assignment, Hanuman said, " Yes, " and immediately jumped from the top

of that Mahendra Mountain.

 

Here three points are to be noted. Hanuman decided to do his Lord's

bidding. This decision is the first thing. Then he declared on the

mountaintop of Mahendra that he was proceeding on His mission. This

declaration is the second thing. Thereafter, immediately he started

his journey flying across the sky over the sea. Action followed the

declaration. This is the third thing. In Hanuman, we find these

three, `decision, thought', `declaration -word' and `action - deed'

or the three " H's " - " Head'. `Heart ` and `Hand " in perfect harmony

and integration. This is Character.

 

There is another important thing you should always keep in mind to

guard your character. I give you `Watch' as the `watch-word'. Here

every letter has a message and an instruction. `Watch' is a word with

five letters. The first letter `W' stands for the `words' that we

use. So, `Watch your words'. The words should be filled with truth.

You speak truth. So, watch that your words express truth. The second

letter is `A' which stands for `action'. `Watch your actions'. They

should be dharmic. The third letter is `T' and represents `thoughts'.

`Watch you thoughts'. They should be calm, never disturbing and

agitating. So, let your thoughts be of s'anti. The fourth letter is

`C', `Watch your character'. Throughout your life, your character

should be perfect. This is possible if you have pure prema. Love will

make you achieve everything in this world. Human character is based

on selfless, pure and divine love.

 

The fifth letter is `H'. It represents `Heart'. `Watch you Heart'.

`Heart' in Sanskrit is h daya. This is hrt together with

daya. 'Daya' is compassion. The one with 'daya' is hrdaya. Where

there is violence, there is no daya, compassion. You should not be

violent in your words, thoughts, or deeds. You should not harm people

by your looks, words, thoughts and actions. You can watch your Heart

with full understanding of your thoughts, words, and deeds so that

your Heart is full of ahimsa. Ahimsa can be achieved by understanding.

 

So the five letters of this word `watch' represent Satya (w-Words),

Dharma (a-Actions), s'anti (t-thoughts), Prema (c-Character) and

Ahimsa (h-Heart). These values constitute `Character'. It is

character that takes humanity to Divinity. Without character, a man

falls to the level of a beast. In certain respects, even animals are

much better than human beings as they have a season and a reason for

their behaviour.

 

We can view character from two angles. One is Individual character

and the other is National character. Individual character emphasises

the code of conduct. The second is National character. Everyone is to

act in the national interest. Today, we have leaders with neither of

the two, or both missing. This is the cause of the present sad plight

of the country. When students have these two, they will mould

themselves into ideal citizens of the country. Nitiye jati, adi

vadilitivo koti kante hinudavu:

 

A true nation should have character. Without that, you are worse than

a monkey. So character is most essential and prevails when there is

total unity and harmony in the 3-H's, as I often say for our EHV.

(Education in Human Values) programme, `Head -word', `Heart -

thought' and `Hand -action'.