Sai Inspires - 11th March 2007 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

 

 

 

 

______________________________\

____

8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time

with the Search movie showtime shortcut.

http://tools.search./shortcuts/#news

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Reader,

Loving Sairam from the Heart2Heart Team.

 

Scroll Down to read our Sunday

Special:

" DOES ANYONE CARE? "

 

How to embed the divine in our being? Swami tells us today.

 

 

 

Did you read the article,

" Tsunami of Love " ?

 

Click

here to read now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sai Inspires -

11th March 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A garland drawn on a piece of paper will never move,

shake, or wobble with respect to the paper. The paper itself might get

tossed violently by gusts of wind but the garland would always remain firm

on the paper and not undergo any relative movement. Likewise, although the

external circumstances and the thoughts of an individual may undergo

changes, the Divinity imprinted within will ever remain steady, constant,

and never undergo any change. All aspirants must therefore cultivate clear

vision and constancy of mind.

- Divine

Discourse, May 18, 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best spiritual discipline is to strengthen the

inward vision. - Baba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOES ANYONE

CARE?

 

 

 

Loving Sai Ram and greetings from

Prashanti Nilayam. We are sure you must have noticed that week after week,

we keep hammering away on issues related to values. And values though

latent in us, have to be patiently coaxed out, at home, in the school and

in the work place. Some who have responded to our weekly specials seem to

feel that we are simply repeating the same thing over and over again. Very

true and we make no apologies about it. And to drive home the point how

important values and good education are, this week we present extensive

quotes from two recent newspaper articles by eminent citizens of India .

The first quote is from Kuldip Nayar, a veteran journalist of great

distinction. Writing in the Deccan Chronicle as recently as March

this year, Mr. Nayar lamented about the declining standards of the Indian

Parliament. Here is how Mr. Nayar begins his piece.

 

Is anyone worried about Parliament, wonders Somnath Chatterjee,

the Lok Sabha Speaker. What torments him most is how negatively the

parliament system is seen. The public, he believes, considers Parliament

sessions a waste of time and the members’ emoluments a drain on the

exchequer. He recalls with remorse the observation a young girl made. She

said that she would never join politics because it lacked honesty and

integrity. “Those words sear me all the time,” says Chatterjee,

while recalling the visit of youth delegation that included the girl.

 

Not surprisingly, Mr. Nayar blames the media for contributing

heavily to the decline in standards. While a majority of the Members of

Parliament diligently do their homework and prepare for the debate , these

days the media chooses to ignore these toilers, focussing instead on a

small majority that has made a habit of raising a rumpus day after day,

almost paralysing the proceedings. This is what Mr. Nayar has to say:

 

The media has come to believe that people do not want to read

anything that makes them think. Today, the print media is suffering from a

mad disease, which has played havoc with our newspapers. It is the

“tabloid syndrome”. You open any paper in the morning, and the

pages are full of pictures of young models and actors in various stages of

dishabille. There are pages and pages on these models, super models, actors

and designers – people you have not even heard names of –

garnished with “information” on what they love to eat, what

kind of dress they like best, what they do when they relax, what they think

of love and sex, and such trivia. The special city pages of the paper look

like a cross between a cheap fashion journal and a purple film magazine,

full of gossip and crude colour pictures.

 

A newspaper is not a dustbin for dumping drivel, film gossip and crime. It

must have news. It must have information. It must educate the public about

events with background information and editorial comments. One of the

reasons why the press has deteriorated is people who run the newspapers in

our country now think that a newspaper is just like any other commodity. It

should be neatly packaged, because then the idea of “nice

packaging” means filling the papers with semi-nude colour pictures of

models and trash.

 

This shallow, unthinking attitude is reflected even in the news stories and

articles that are printed in the papers. Reporters do not always

cross-check the information they get. They often write one-sided version of

events about people who do not matter – about absolute non-entities.

Often, good stories are not followed up properly. Even factual information

given in a newspaper is at times incorrect.

 

May years ago, Parliament was the biggest news. Both Houses were covered

extensively with a weekly roundup of the highlights of the proceedings in

Parliament. Now the press does not devote more than a column on the

subject. Television networks hardly pay any attention. The media is more

star-oriented, whether he or she is in Parliament or on the screen. One

television network shows practically nothing except what actors do while

shooting.

 

Many who feel that we are constantly using the media as the whipping boy

may please note what a journalist of repute has to say about the media of

which he himself is a part. The decline of values, standards and quality is

no accident; in a sense, it is all connected with the decline of education

itself. It is in this context that the remarks of Prof. J. S. Rajput

[former Chairman of the National Committee for Teacher Education and is

also the former Director of NCERT] become relevant. He too wrote recently

in the Deccan Chronicle, and he was commenting on the hype that

India with its huge population of young people is likely to become a major

economic player. It could, agrees Prof. Rajput, but only if we pay proper

attention to various aspects of education. Here is a sample of the issues

that worry him.

 

Most experts in their discourse talk about greater Indian participation in

the global labour force in the future. The “demographic”

advantage that India has and will continue to have can help the countries

that are facing a shortage of labour. New opportunities are opening up for

the young of India to fill the void being created in ageing societies.

 

This informed discourse, with all its data, facts and figures, invariably

shifts to Indian education. It refers to thousands of Indian IT and ICT

experts who have practically “taken over” the Silicon Valley

and brought glory to India , and a good life as well as a better working

condition for themselves. Many of them are keen to assist India in many

ways. However, at the other extreme, there are more than ten million

children who have never been to school. Even the official figures of

non-enrolment and dropouts present no encouraging picture. It is estimated

that only around 7 percent in the age group 18 to 24 are able to access

higher education. Vocational-technical training is accessible only to

around 5 percent in formal institutional situations.

 

A resurgent India can ill afford to neglect the levels of learner

attainments in schools, the lack of training in vocational and technical

skills, decline in quality at the level of higher education, inadequacy of

institutions of higher education in numbers and also in dynamism. Half of

the Indian population is below 24 years of age. There are around 120

million young persons in India in the age group 17 to 22. Only 7 percent

are in higher education. Every year the system prepares three million

graduates and about 400,000 engineers. The deficiencies of the system are

highlighted by the single fact that only one out of four engineers who

graduate is employable.

 

India ’s present rate of economic growth will perplex anybody who

notices the figures released by the third National Family Health Survey of

children recently. Of children below three years of age, 45.9 % are

underweight, 38.4 % stunted, and 8 % are wasted. In China , only 8 % are

under weight. We still have an alarming infant mortality rate of 57 per

1000 births. Government schemes, wherever available, are grossly

inadequate, particularly for children below three years of age.

Unfortunately, such issues are considered unrelated to the educational

process. It is commonly known that malnutrition impairs both mental and

physical growth. The majority of population does not have any access to

healthcare system and children suffer most because of this. So, for

long-term dividends, it is important to focus on children, their healthcare

and education.

 

Education must come through the acquisition of “knowledge, skills and

values,” drawing the best of head, hand and heart. … India now

suffers from the “marks phobia,” neglecting the education of

the hand and heart. This is the major bottleneck that could retard the

fulfilment of the dreams being created by India ’s economic upsurge.

 

 

The major task before the existing system is that of enhancing the

quality, credibility and suitability in institutions of higher learning. At

each stage of the education, the criticality of the education of the hand

and heart, skills and values has to be realised and the needed components

included in the curricula.

 

Notice that Prof. Rajput talks not only about values in education but also

of paying attention to the “hand and the heart”. That sounds

familiar, does it not? It should, if we have been paying attention to what

Swami has been stressing year after year.

 

Few realise that what Swami says is profoundly important and yet, most of

us seem to be hardly bothered. From the writings of eminent commentators

quoted above, two things should be absolutely clear. Firstly, values are of

paramount importance in all walks of life and in all aspects of

Society. Secondly, values will flourish only if the

educational system does its best to promote the practice and

observance of values. And to make it abundantly clear that an

educational system based on the “hand, head and heart” is

workable, Swami has established a University that combines the pursuit of

academic excellence with discipline, and mind and sense control. It is also

worthy of note that EHV or education in human values is often described by

Swami as 3HV, meaning the harmonious function of the hand, the head and the

heart.

 

Lately, there have been disturbing reports of how organised theft of

personal information is increasing the world over, particularly in the

Western world. Needless to say that much of this being done by people who

are very skilled in computer science and technology. Such theft is a

prelude to sophisticated extortion and cyber crime. In fact, it is reported

that very recently the mafia is actively recruiting computer whiz kids by

offering attractive scholarships to study in the best schools; once these

whiz kids graduate, they have to work for criminals; no escape because the

arm of the criminals is very long. It is also reported that some people are

placed in difficult financial and various compromising situations so that

they would be forced to sell their souls for criminal work.

 

In summary, whichever way one looks, one is forced to the conclusion that

Swami’s teachings are the only hope. The sooner all of us take that

seriously, the better it is not only for us but for humanity as a whole.

 

 

Do you agree or disagree? Either way, we would be delighted to hear from

you. As always, we can be reached at h2h. Thanks for the

privilege of spending a few minutes with you this weekend. God bless and

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 2.10.2, © tincan ltd