Swami teaches... Part 1. Education, Science - With Love

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Light and Love Swami teaches... 16 - 19 January 2008 Part 1. Education, Science - With Love We build our future thought by thought, For good or ill, yet know it not. Yet, so the universe was wrought. Thought is another name for fate; Choose, then, thy destiny and wait, For love brings love and hate brings hate. (Henry Van Dyke)

 

There is only one royal road for the spiritual journey. Love for all being, as manifestation of the same Divinity that is the very core of oneself. This faith alone can ensure the constant presence of God with you, and endow you with all the joy and courage you need to fulfill the pilgrimage to God. Love alone can root out the weed of pride from the heart. Love all, as so many forms of God, appearing in these various roles. A heart without Love is as dreary as a town without a temple. What is the one thing that you crave for most? Grace, is it not? Favor, is it not? So long as your words and deeds are in conformity with Sathya and Dharma, so long as your words and deeds are sweetened by Prema (Love) and lightened by Shanthi (Peace), you need have no worry; you have the Grace in ample measure.

 

Every country, wherever it may be and whatever its stage of progress, must have three requisites material resources, protective power and a proper educational system (producers, security personnel and teachers). The peace and prosperity of the world depend on the work of these three classes of people. They form the legs of a tripod. Even if one leg is weak, the other two cannot sustain. When production is plentiful, it has to be guarded against loot and plunder. When soldiers and security men become powerful, they turn into a menace to the country while production declines. When production and protection are adequate, if the educational system takes a wrong track, the country is weakened.Teachers decide the prosperity or poverty of a country. Their profession is the most responsible. Teachers have the task of sculpturing the leaders of peoples.Teachers should not descend into politics; their status is far too high. Teachers of past ages were embodiments of renunciation; they had no illusions; they saw clear and deep. (The instructors of today do not often deserve the appellation of teachers or preceptors or gurus). The development of material resources and the defense of the country ultimately depend on the kind of education that is imparted. But a tripod is not only three legs. How can one sit on three legs? There should be a plank, resting on them - the plank of love, that is to say, love of the Country. (Country means the human community inhabiting the territory). Love here means the sense of inter-relationship and involvement of the individual with that community. (This degree of love is absent now in many highly educated, highly placed persons. As a result, the process of education too is suffering from misuse. And since education affects the other two sections too, even the money spent on the producers and protectors does not yield full fruit).

 

Teaching ends with the school, but learning ends only when life ends. Vidhya (spiritual education, spiritual knowledge, learning, that which illumines, that which gives light, supreme teaching) does not mean mere attendance at school or college, mere study of some books, or mere mastery of a few subjects. Living, not for the sake of food but for the sake of an ideal, that is the goal of education. The human personality must blossom into enthusiasm for work, into eagerness to raise society to the highest level. When one's interest is rooted in some field of knowledge, attention on it becomes firm and memory will enshrine it in the mind. Steady interest is essential in order to master worthy knowledge.

However, the human values should be regarded as basic requirements for every human being. In spreading the message of these values to the world, you should cooperate with each other and act in harmony. Whatever may be the experience in everyday life, the basic inner Truth should not be forgotten. Together with worldly education, cultivate the human values and undertake spiritual discipline. Oil imparts life to a lamp to keep it burning. Love animates the entire life. Love is like oil. People who work toward achieving their goals, also build their confidence at the same time. People needs not only to set goals, but also to stay motivated. You'll be filled with inspiring energy and motivation to start successfully setting and achieving your highest goals which have a kind of magic of their own. However, know that the real criterion of moral conduct is harmony between one's profession and one's practice. Morality consists in acting up to the rules of right conduct prescribed by society at a particular time and place for an individual or group. If there is no connection between what one professes in words and his actions, morality cannot exist.

 

Fill the reservoir with water; then, when you turn the taps, the buckets will be full. Cultivate love and devotion; then your activities will be saturated with compassion. and charity; they will yield the golden harvest of joy and peace. The water must be pure; the Love must be unselfish and universal. Are you content with your achievement? Examine it yourself - pronounce the verdict on yourself, by your own discrimination. Purity of motive is the best guarantee that you will have peace. An uneasy conscience is a tormenting companion. Righteous action will leave no bad effects, to disturb your sleep or health. But never forget the words Gandhi, "Knowledge without character is a powerful evil." All education must be oriented towards the attainment of character for leading clean simple lives. Only practice promotes vidhya. Without character, human becomes the plaything of every passing whim, a kite whose string has broken, or a counterfeit coin, without benefiting any one.

The great scientist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888 - 1970, the Nobel Prize in physics 1930 for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the “Raman effect”) is known all over India and world. When Sir Raman was the director of the Indian Institute of Science he had to interview candidates for jobs. One young man did not give the correct answers to some of his questions and so, Raman advised him to try his luck somewhere else and asked him to leave. The candidate descended the steps and stood alone in the foyer. After sometime, when Raman came down, he noticed that he was still hanging around. He repeated him once again that he should give up all hopes of being taken for the job. The young man replied, with folded hands: "Sir, I am only waiting for the office to open. I have been paid five rupees extra by them as fare and daily allowance through wrong calculation. I shall return that amount and leave." On hearing this, Raman's heart melted; he patted the candidate on his back; accepted him and gave him a job. Character is the best qualification. /Briefly about Raman's work. He sought to find the explanation of the anomalies in asymmetry observed in the molecules. During these studies Raman made (1928) the unexpected discovery that the scattered light showed not only the radiation that derived from the primary light but also a radiation that contained other wavelengths, which were foreign to the primary light. Raman investigated the universal character of the phenomenon by using a large number of substances as a scattering medium, and everywhere found the same effect. The explanation of this phenomenon, which has received the name of the "Raman effect", helps of the modern conception of the nature of light. According to that conception, light cannot be emitted from or absorbed by material otherwise than in the form of definite amounts of energy or what are known as "light quanta". The energy of light would possess a kind of atomic character. A quantum of light is proportionate to the frequency of rays of light, so that in the case of a frequency twice as great, the quanta of the rays of light will also be twice as great. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman's years long experiences brought to discovery of the Raman spectrum what has extraordinarily great importance for knowledge of the structure of molecules and indirectly for atoms/. There are various types of pramanas (experiences) in this world. They are pratyaksha pramana (direct experience), anumana pramana (experience based on inference, presumptive experience), dvaita pramana (experience based on duality), and advaita pramana (experience based on non-duality). As God is beyond all these pramanas, He is known as Aprameya (immeasurable and indefinable). God is present in the heart of every human with all His Divine powers. Love is the pratyaksha pramana (direct experience) of divinity in every human being. God is Love and Love is God. Similarly, Truth is God. Countries may be different; Truth and Love is one and only one. When you see smoke emerging from the hills, it is an indication that there is fire. When you see the fire directly, it is called pratyaksha pramana (direct experience). If you see only the smoke and not the fire, you presume that there is fire behind the smoke. It is only a possibility. It is anumana pramana (presumptive experience). It is possible that sometimes fog appears as smoke and, actually, there may not be fire in the hills. Scientific researches are mostly anumana pramana (presumptive experiences), especially in the area of research work subatomic particles. Anumana pramana gives rise to doubt. God's Creation is most wonderful and mysterious. Since He is the Creator of all beings, He is called Prajapati. Since He is the most intelligent One, He is called Dakshinamurthi. In this manner, God has infinite names. Human attributes names and forms to God based on the limited understanding and worships Him. God is attributeless, pure, final abode, eternal, unsullied, enlightened, liberated, and embodiment of sacredness.

(When such a Divine Principle is present within his/her own self, why does human consider him/herself to be small and feeble)? The stories of God cannot be described in mere words. Human imagines and describes Him based on own estimates. All that you have seen and experienced in life will appear before you in your mind, the moment you try to recall them. This means that the entire Universe is within you. All that you see is "a reflection of the inner being." All that you speak is a reflection of inner thoughts. All that you do is a reflection of inner action. Hence, to act according to your inner impulse is Dharma. There is no greater being than the human being. The power latent in human is not found anywhere else.

When you have the very embodiment of fearlessness installed in your heart, why should the slightest tremor of fear affect you? Many ones are considering such a sacred human birth as trivial. As you think, so shall it become. These petty thoughts are the result of ones petty mind. The inner individual reform and reconstruction and not outer reform and rebuilding are essential. The task of Swami's devotees is not to game of word-building, (where out of one big word a number of small three-letter words are derived and paraded) but the the real world-building where out of a large number of straight and sincere individuals the new human community is ushered in. Try to find out your own measure, your limits, your bounds, and act, do not develop jealousy towards others, whose measures are more, who have less limitations, less narrow bounds. Hold firm the step which you have reached in sadhana. Have a clear vision of the goal. When you are engaged in the simple operation of threading a needle, note how much concentration is needed for success. The same care has to be taken when any other operation is to succeed. So, be righteous; avoid all prejudices against others on the basis of caste, creed, color, mode of worship, status, or degree of affluence. Do not look down on any one; look upon all as Divine as you really are. (Spiritual pride is the most poisonous of all varieties of pride; it blinds and leads the person suffering from it into ruin). If there is righteousness in the heart There will be beauty in character; If there is beauty in character There will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home There will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world. These Swami's famous verses, are as hymn for all Swami's devotees and spiritual aspirants over planet. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7. "Limbs of the Divine Body," Chapter 14; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. "Pride and the fall," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "Character training," Chapter 18; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 19. "Human values are for everyone," Chapter 5; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 36. "Strive for Unity, Purity, and Divinity," Chapter 1. Les Prix Nobel en 1930, Editor Carl Gustaf Santesson, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1931). Namaste - Reet