Sai Inspires - 16th September 2007 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

DELETE button is history. Unlimited mail storage is just a click away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Reader,

Loving Sairam from the Heart2Heart Team.

 

Prasanthi

Bulletin is updated till 15th September 2007.

 

Scroll Down to read our Sunday Special:

 

" The World Is What It Is Because We Are What We

Are "

 

How can we ensure our peace and happiness? Swami guides us

today.

 

 

Did you read the article

" Sai-chiatric Shock " ?

 

Click

here to read now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sai Inspires -

16th September 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your peace and happiness are linked with the world's

peace and happiness. Any act of hatred or violence committed by you will

pollute the atmosphere of the world. Adore any living being; the adoration

reaches God, for He is in every being. Insult any living being; the insult

too reaches God. So, expand love towards all, everywhere.

- Divine

Discourse, August 15, 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only he is a true human being who recognises the

indwelling divinity within the shrine of his body. -

Baba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The World Is What It Is Because We Are What We

Are

 

 

 

Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. For this Sunday, we have an article by Dr. Rajeshwari Patel, a former

student of Bhagavan’s college and currently a Reader in the

Department of English, Sri Sathya Sai University , Anantapur campus.

 

In the far distant horizon, if you look with care, you will see the slow

formation of a shrine of future glory and prosperity. But do you know that

every brick piled upon another makes a shrine? Brick by brick, the future

is taking shape, is being brought to form, and you must know that

“your brick,” “my brick,” “every brick”

will count in the building of a better India and a happier world.

 

You know that in every country that has a tale of glory to tell, it is the

tale of a few great men, the few that rose above the philistine multitudes,

and made a mark in the history of the world. It is these few that we need

desperately in our country today.

 

How pitiable it is that much of the pride that we take in belonging to a

great nation like ours has its roots in the grand achievements of our

ancestors. That country is not worth its name whose people sing the glories

of their ancestors while they themselves have ceased to do anything for

which they may be remembered with reverence after their time.

 

Simply because a nation has precious minerals in the bowels of its earth

does not make it wealthy. The ore has to be extracted, refined and, then,

placed in the hands of the “valiant.”

 

Many of our young people hardly recognize the value of the rich culture

that we have inherited. I am reminded of something I read several years

ago, of how foreign students at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies

in America used to be very much in demand for speaking engagements at clubs

in the area. After one of the Indian students had given a particularly fine

talk on Indian Culture, he was congratulated. The student replied,

“Frankly, I learned most of it here in the U.S.A. I was asked so many

questions about India I couldn’t answer that I decided to read up

about my country in your Public library.”

 

We should be like the Indian who, when he was once asked by an Englishman

why he was spending such a lot of time on the Dvaita,

Advaita and Visistadvaita philosophy, replied, “Why

do you spend so much time and energy trying to climb mountain peaks? How is

it going to help mankind?” When the Englishman insisted that his

efforts were a proof of man’s conquest over Nature, the Indian

promptly added, “You conquer peaks, we conquer ideas!”

 

Swami Vivekananda defined education as the manifestation of the faculties

already latent in man. But the process of manifestation is not an easy one.

It often requires a proper “Guru.” If we say that these days we

don’t find a Guru who is ready to teach his pupils with selflessness,

we will also have to admit that these days we don’t have pupils who

have the humility and readiness to sit at the feet of the Guru and listen

to him with reverential devotion, in quest of knowledge. Instead, like the

archangel Satan, we consider ourselves self-created, self-taught and

dependent on no man and nothing for the education of our souls.

 

We wash our car; polish it well daily, so that it may shine better than our

neighbour’s car. We spend hours each day in things of external value

merely. Sometimes we even waste our minutes in trying to reform the next

man but with our own self, we take it easy. We seem to think that there is

enough time for ourselves. As Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of

changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

 

Our life is so uncertain, so divided, we are often so much at war with the

different voices within us that Unity of Being is an impossibility to

realize. In a world that is expanding day-by-day, with the improved

communication system, we have, ironically, narrowed ourselves down. As

Edmund Burke wrote in one of his letters to the gentlemen of Bristol :

“The world is large enough for us both. Let it be our care not to

make ourselves too small for it.”

 

It takes more time to make a thing than to mar it. A 20-storey building may

take four years to be built but to destroy it you only need a time bomb

that will make a neat job of it in less than five minutes. To build a firm

relationship with a friend worth having may take perhaps years but to break

the bond requires only one or two unkind words. To build a nation, then,

how much youthful energy, how much hard work, and how many centuries may we

need? India became a republic six decades ago, and we are still making

ourselves! In the meantime, it is expedient that our young people engage

themselves in constructive schemes and do not spoil what has already been

achieved.

 

The young often have their grievances against society – that it is

corrupt, that the older generation is not setting a good example, etc. But

society is you and I. Have we made ourselves fit to take respectable and

responsible positions in various fields? The older generation is passing

out, yes, and we are coming in to take their place. But, let us not be

proud of toppling them down, of replacing them, unless we are going to

leave behind us - to the generation that will come after us - a different

society and a better world to live in.

 

There is talent, no doubt, in young people. But we somehow lack human

understanding. We fail to put ourselves in the other man’s place and

know how he feels. And yet, one might say that it is easier to live with

others than with ourselves. It needs greater courage to know oneself and

like oneself. Few of us would be happy to meet ourselves “face to

face.” We are always trying to escape from ourselves every time we

find it difficult to face the truth. Some of us hide behind groups so that

we can cease to be individuals. It is easier to melt into a mob. How many

of us dream of becoming heroes, and yet are unable to step out of our

social selves and walk fearlessly on our own feet.

 

Not that everything looks bleak around. We have immense potentialities

within us if we can only actualize them. As Ruskin has said, “The

weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar

to him, and which, worthily used, will be a gift to his race

forever!”

 

With the teaching and training that Bhagavan has given us, let us hope that

a few at least will rise, from among us, that will uphold human values and

human dignity. A shrine of future glory is taking shape in the distance.

But I would like to affirm once again – “your brick,”

“my brick,” every brick will count in the building of a world

of our dreams.

 

Jai Sai Ram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Love and Regards,

"Heart2Heart" Team.

 

 

Subscribe to

Sai Inspires

 

Sai

Inspires Archives

 

Tell A Friend

about Sai Inspires

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heart2Heart:

 

RadioSai:

Videos on

Sai:

Other

Links:

 

 

 

Read current issue

Download

Current issue

Read previous

issues

 

Download/Listen

Again

Listen now on the Internet!

See the

schedule here

 

Newest

Sai Video on Saicast Index of all Sai

Videos

 

Thought For The Day

 

Prasanthi

Bulletin

Photo

Album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

For any comments, suggestions or queries, please write to us at

h2h.

 

To update your details (change of email id, country, etc.) or to

visit this

link

 

powered by phplist v 2.10.4, © tincan ltd

[Guest guest]

Dear Reader,

Loving Sairam from the Heart2Heart Team.

 

Prasanthi

Bulletin is updated till 15th September 2007.

 

Scroll Down to read our Sunday Special:

 

" The World Is What It Is Because We Are What We

Are "

 

How can we ensure our peace and happiness? Swami guides us

today.

 

 

Did you read the article

" Sai-chiatric Shock " ?

 

Click

here to read now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sai Inspires -

16th September 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your peace and happiness are linked with the world's

peace and happiness. Any act of hatred or violence committed by you will

pollute the atmosphere of the world. Adore any living being; the adoration

reaches God, for He is in every being. Insult any living being; the insult

too reaches God. So, expand love towards all, everywhere.

- Divine

Discourse, August 15, 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only he is a true human being who recognises the

indwelling divinity within the shrine of his body. -

Baba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The World Is What It Is Because We Are What We

Are

 

 

 

Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. For this Sunday, we have an article by Dr. Rajeshwari Patel, a former

student of Bhagavan’s college and currently a Reader in the

Department of English, Sri Sathya Sai University , Anantapur campus.

 

In the far distant horizon, if you look with care, you will see the slow

formation of a shrine of future glory and prosperity. But do you know that

every brick piled upon another makes a shrine? Brick by brick, the future

is taking shape, is being brought to form, and you must know that

“your brick,” “my brick,” “every brick”

will count in the building of a better India and a happier world.

 

You know that in every country that has a tale of glory to tell, it is the

tale of a few great men, the few that rose above the philistine multitudes,

and made a mark in the history of the world. It is these few that we need

desperately in our country today.

 

How pitiable it is that much of the pride that we take in belonging to a

great nation like ours has its roots in the grand achievements of our

ancestors. That country is not worth its name whose people sing the glories

of their ancestors while they themselves have ceased to do anything for

which they may be remembered with reverence after their time.

 

Simply because a nation has precious minerals in the bowels of its earth

does not make it wealthy. The ore has to be extracted, refined and, then,

placed in the hands of the “valiant.”

 

Many of our young people hardly recognize the value of the rich culture

that we have inherited. I am reminded of something I read several years

ago, of how foreign students at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies

in America used to be very much in demand for speaking engagements at clubs

in the area. After one of the Indian students had given a particularly fine

talk on Indian Culture, he was congratulated. The student replied,

“Frankly, I learned most of it here in the U.S.A. I was asked so many

questions about India I couldn’t answer that I decided to read up

about my country in your Public library.”

 

We should be like the Indian who, when he was once asked by an Englishman

why he was spending such a lot of time on the Dvaita,

Advaita and Visistadvaita philosophy, replied, “Why

do you spend so much time and energy trying to climb mountain peaks? How is

it going to help mankind?” When the Englishman insisted that his

efforts were a proof of man’s conquest over Nature, the Indian

promptly added, “You conquer peaks, we conquer ideas!”

 

Swami Vivekananda defined education as the manifestation of the faculties

already latent in man. But the process of manifestation is not an easy one.

It often requires a proper “Guru.” If we say that these days we

don’t find a Guru who is ready to teach his pupils with selflessness,

we will also have to admit that these days we don’t have pupils who

have the humility and readiness to sit at the feet of the Guru and listen

to him with reverential devotion, in quest of knowledge. Instead, like the

archangel Satan, we consider ourselves self-created, self-taught and

dependent on no man and nothing for the education of our souls.

 

We wash our car; polish it well daily, so that it may shine better than our

neighbour’s car. We spend hours each day in things of external value

merely. Sometimes we even waste our minutes in trying to reform the next

man but with our own self, we take it easy. We seem to think that there is

enough time for ourselves. As Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of

changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

 

Our life is so uncertain, so divided, we are often so much at war with the

different voices within us that Unity of Being is an impossibility to

realize. In a world that is expanding day-by-day, with the improved

communication system, we have, ironically, narrowed ourselves down. As

Edmund Burke wrote in one of his letters to the gentlemen of Bristol :

“The world is large enough for us both. Let it be our care not to

make ourselves too small for it.”

 

It takes more time to make a thing than to mar it. A 20-storey building may

take four years to be built but to destroy it you only need a time bomb

that will make a neat job of it in less than five minutes. To build a firm

relationship with a friend worth having may take perhaps years but to break

the bond requires only one or two unkind words. To build a nation, then,

how much youthful energy, how much hard work, and how many centuries may we

need? India became a republic six decades ago, and we are still making

ourselves! In the meantime, it is expedient that our young people engage

themselves in constructive schemes and do not spoil what has already been

achieved.

 

The young often have their grievances against society – that it is

corrupt, that the older generation is not setting a good example, etc. But

society is you and I. Have we made ourselves fit to take respectable and

responsible positions in various fields? The older generation is passing

out, yes, and we are coming in to take their place. But, let us not be

proud of toppling them down, of replacing them, unless we are going to

leave behind us - to the generation that will come after us - a different

society and a better world to live in.

 

There is talent, no doubt, in young people. But we somehow lack human

understanding. We fail to put ourselves in the other man’s place and

know how he feels. And yet, one might say that it is easier to live with

others than with ourselves. It needs greater courage to know oneself and

like oneself. Few of us would be happy to meet ourselves “face to

face.” We are always trying to escape from ourselves every time we

find it difficult to face the truth. Some of us hide behind groups so that

we can cease to be individuals. It is easier to melt into a mob. How many

of us dream of becoming heroes, and yet are unable to step out of our

social selves and walk fearlessly on our own feet.

 

Not that everything looks bleak around. We have immense potentialities

within us if we can only actualize them. As Ruskin has said, “The

weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar

to him, and which, worthily used, will be a gift to his race

forever!”

 

With the teaching and training that Bhagavan has given us, let us hope that

a few at least will rise, from among us, that will uphold human values and

human dignity. A shrine of future glory is taking shape in the distance.

But I would like to affirm once again – “your brick,”

“my brick,” every brick will count in the building of a world

of our dreams.

 

Jai Sai Ram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Love and Regards,

"Heart2Heart" Team.

 

 

Subscribe to

Sai Inspires

 

Sai

Inspires Archives

 

Tell A Friend

about Sai Inspires

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heart2Heart:

 

RadioSai:

Videos on

Sai:

Other

Links:

 

 

 

Read current issue

Download

Current issue

Read previous

issues

 

Download/Listen

Again

Listen now on the Internet!

See the

schedule here

 

Newest

Sai Video on Saicast Index of all Sai

Videos

 

Thought For The Day

 

Prasanthi

Bulletin

Photo

Album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

For any comments, suggestions or queries, please write to us at

h2h.

 

To update your details (change of email id, country, etc.) or to

visit this

link

 

powered by phplist v 2.10.4, © tincan ltd