EDUCATION confers humility; endows one with an authority to command that will entitle one to affluence. With the help of this affluence, charity and compassion can be made fruitful, and by this means, happiness in this world and peace in the next can be won. Education is thus a great constructive force for mankind. But, reformers and reconstructionists have tinkered - so much with the process of education that it has now been reduced to a caricature of itself. The effectiveness of the educational system, and the boons it could confer on man have been ignored and neglected; the name is now given to the art 'of collecting information of the objective world. The far more important task of transforming the nature of man into the divine is given up, as beyond its ken.
The difference between the ancient ideals of education and .the modern practices is appalling. Today, the educational process is denied to the aspirant, if he fails to pay his fees; the teacher too feels that he has no duty to...
You may be highly educated, but without culture, how can you expect to be respected?You may be highly intelligent, but without morality, how can you earn value in society?You may be occupying position of authority, but if you cross your limits, how can people respect you?Without charity and righteousness and without following the path of truth, how can you expect people to honour you?It is a great mistake if you conduct yourself without fear of sin. What else is to be conveyed to this august gathering?(Telugu Poem)
Embodiments of Love!
IF you deeply enquire and investigate, you will find that the water level in the earth is going deeper and deeper day by day. If you observe the present political scenario, you don’t find any morality and integrity. The present-day teachers do not seem to possess the invaluable treasure of knowledge. Human values have become totally extinct in human beings. The ancient teachers were extolled as Thyagarajulu, Yogarajulu and Yathirajulu (kings of sacri...
Valedictory Function of First Sri Sathya Sai Seminar on Values
26 July 1999
Sadayam Hridayarn Yasya Bhasitham Sathya Bhushitham Kayah Parahithe Yasya Kalisthasya Karothikim(Sanskrit verse)What can the evil effects of Kali age do to a man whose heart is filled with compassion, whose every utterance is truth, and whose body is dedicated for the service of others?
Embodiments of love! Man should fill his heart with compassion, always speak the truth and dedicate his body for the welfare of society. The thoughts, words, and deeds of man should always be sacred. The heart unpolluted by desire and anger, the tongue not tainted by untruth, and the body unblemished by the acts of violence - these are the true human values. It is because of the lack of these human values that the country is facing hardships today. Bharat (India) has been the treasure house of spirituality since ancient times, but, today, it has lost both sathya (truth) and dharma (righteousness) and is enmeshed in unrighteous falsehood and injustice. It is therefore incumbent upon students to dedicat...
Heroism in speech has grown Heroism in action has declined to vanishing point. Ostentatious living is the order of the day; This is the plight of the student today. MAN'S life is marked by the procession of days and nights. The rising of the sun in the east and its setting in the west are everyday experiences. But when it is noted that the earth is a globe revolving round itself and going round the sun, these phenomena have a different reality. Directions like east and west and north and south and the apparent motion of the sun are seen to be mistaken. Similarly, when we are seated in a moving train, we are moving along with the train, though we may be stationary. Though the earth is revolving at a speed of several hundred miles an hour, we are not aware of its motion at all. It is simultaneously moving in orbit round the sun at 66,000 miles an hour, carrying with it all things on earth. The earth seems firm and unmoving, while the sun and planets and stars appear to be going round the...
The primary virtues that cleanse the intellect,
Steady adherence to truth, devotion to God,
Discipline of the senses, dedication to one’s duty,
These are the things that a teacher ought to seek in order to teach
And the pupil must learn these things in order to be a pupil.
Embodiments of
love! Teachers and students!
In this vast expansive the world, times are becoming worse, and great changes are happening very quick. Man is giving up his body even before he has been able to recognize his primary duty. Every person should recognize why is it that they have been given the body. The body has been given to us in order to do service. In order to do work, this body has been endowed.
And what is work? Work is to be done in order to make time sacred, sanctified. We must try to direct every work of ours in a holy path. Every work has got to be looked upon as a spiritual task. Work has got to be transformed into worship. The teachers must first eval...
The sun appears serene and peaceful. The days have become shorter, and the cool wind is blowing. The fields are ripe with golden crops. Marigold flowers are blossoming like garlands of pearls on the banks of rivers. The farmers are rejoicing and singing. The sweet festival of Sankranti has come in the month of Pushya (a month in Indian calendar), filling our homes with the newly harvested grain.
(Telugu poem)
GOD willed that the Sankranti festival shall bring all prosperity to the people and that they should not feel any inconvenience in the matter of food and other needs. The farmers, having brought home the produce after harvesting it, will be happily taking rest in their homes. Even the agricultural workers will be free, for, the harvesting season will be over by then. Having worked hard day and night in the fields for some months, they will now be enjoying the comfort of a home, by God’s grace. Whatever God does, it is for the good of the people. For, they are all His ‘amsa...
Valedictory Address, Sri Sathya Sai World Education Conference
22 July 2008
All the names and forms are but the manifestations of the Supreme Being, who is existence-knowledge-bliss Absolute and non-dual. He is the embodiment of truth, goodness, beauty (sathyam , sivam , sundaram ). (Sanskrit verse)
Embodiments of Love!
During the last two days, you attended the conference and listened to the speakers sitting here in this hall, undergoing all inconveniences. It is really your good fortune that you could come here from far off countries and participate in this conference. You have come here spending a lot of money and undergoing great strain. This in itself is a testimony to the purity of your heart. There are millions of people in this world. There are lakhs of schools and colleges. But only a few of you are blessed with the opportunity of coming here. You can imagine how fortunate you are!
The educated must manifest human values
Having come here and participated in this conference, what is it that you are supposed to learn? First of all, you must understand ...
CONSIDER, O man, whether you earn any lasting joy at all from your toil from the time of your waking in the morning to that of going to sleep at night, a toil incessant and limitless, a toil which often does not leave you even a moment's interval to call to mind the glow and grandeur of God? No wonder that even though God is everywhere, those who have seen Him are few and far between. Govindha, as the proverb goes, belongs to all, but there are hardly any who actually claim Him as their all. Thousands there are who extol the beauty and majesty of God in glamorous prose or poetry, but a counted few are the souls that share His Grace. For the sweetness of nectar is known only to those who place it on the tongue, and not to those who collect it in cups, caskets or even barrels! There were three Andhra mystics who had nectar on their tongues, so to speak, and so were able to sing of the ecstasy they experienced, the God they realized. They were, as you may guess, Potharaju, Goparaju and Th...
To achieve release, man kneels before A million gods, in frantic pain. If he but blasts the ego within, The goal is reached; he is freed indeed/ It is difficult indeed to understand the ego - its depth and devious ways. It is an inert entity, that is to say, it cannot know itself nor can it know others. It has no fear; it will not bend before others. It degrades man from the golden glory, which is his due, to the level of lowly dust. Snakes hiss, pigs grunt, bulls moo! They are asserting their ego, intent on keeping others away. Of the traits of ego, pride is the most poisonous. But, the pride of the scholar, the pride of pandiths is so thick that it is impossible for them to get rid of it. The dog feels proud of its master's home. So, it barks at strangers trying to enter it. Man too is so attached to 'my home,' 'my people,' 'my property,' that he too keeps people away, from the moment he awakes to the moment he sleeps. But, egoism is contrary to genuine human nature. In fact, it is...
To get at the core of God at His greatest, one must first get into the core of himself at his least, for no one can know God who has not known himself. After seating oneself in a comfortable and stable posture, steadying the breath, prathyahara (withdrawing of the senses from the sense objects)and anga nyasa (purification of all the organs of the body) is to be done. Light is the greatest purifier, for it dispels all darkness. Light is made to traverse throughout the body, purifying all the limbs and senses, and is installed in the lotus of the heart in which is to be enshrined the bhavachithra (mental thought picture) of the Form of the Lord for the purpose of dharana (concentration) which would lead to dhyana (meditation) and ultimately to Samadhi (the state of super conscious bliss). First, when you sit for meditation, recite a few shlokas on the Glory of God so that the agitated mind may be calmed. Then gradually, while doing japam, draw before the mind's eye the Form which...
