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Date : 22 November 1999 --- Occasion : Eighteenth Convocation of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning --- Place : Prasanthi Nilayam
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Education for Life
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One may master all forms of knowledge,
One may vanquish one's adversaries in debates,
One may fight with valour and courage in the battlefield,
One may be an emperor reigning over vast kingdoms,
One may offer cows and gold as an act of charity,
One may count the countless stars in the sky,
One may tell the names of innumerable living creatures on the earth,
One may be an expert in the eight forms of yoga,
One may even reach the moon,
But can anyone control the body, mind and senses?
Turn the vision inward
And achieve the supreme stage of equanimity of mind.
Embodiments of Love, Boy and girl students,
You can call yourself a student only when you know the significance of education. Education does not mean mere acquisition of bookish knowledge. There are many that are experts in bookish knowledge. Many have become educational wizards and scholars. What services do these pundits and scholars do to the world? Having been born and brought up in society, having acquired their knowledge from society what is it they have done for the society? What is the use of their scholarship and education, if they do not show their gratitude to society?
Sri Aurobindo once told at the university in Calcutta, "Students! Why do you acquire this knowledge? This learning is not for your selfish ends. What is the use of your learning if you do not serve the community, wherein you have acquired your knowledge? If you do not repay your debts to society by using your talents, it is better you burn all the books that you read."
Knowledge of science is on the increase today. In fact, various scientific techniques are taught to students. Is this knowledge imparted for the benefit of the society or for personal gain? In fact, such students are called intellectuals! What transformation do you find in them?
Churchill once said, "Man has conquered all but himself." The scientific knowledge of today helps you to learn about many things but not about your own reality. Man makes efforts to learn all about the external world. Such is the pursuit of physical and secular knowledge. Having known everything, he does not know anything about his own self. You can establish true relationship only when you know about your true Self. Everybody asks others, "Who are you?" But no one seems to be interested to put to one's own self the question, "Who am I"? There are two aspects of your personality - one is physical and the other is spiritual. Only when the relationship between the physical and spiritual aspects is established intimately, that the real personality will blossom. Physical knowledge is negative [polarity] and the knowledge of the Self is positive [polarity]. Only when there is a blend of the positive and negative, human excellence will blossom. Education should help one to blossom into a total person. Man should be transformed into a compassionate person. What is the use of education when it cannot make one compassionate? Modern education is makes a person hard-hearted. Just as you want to acquire secular knowledge, you should also try to acquire the knowledge of the Self. The heart should melt at the suffering of others. If one has no such heart, of what use is the intellectual faculty? Along with the heart, the mind also should be transformed.
In this sacred land of Bharat, great sages have been making many changes and modifications in the education system since ancient times. Before the coming of foreigners, there were very few educational institutions in this country. Each of them specialised in one branch of knowledge or the other and helped the students to achieve excellence in that branch. Kasi (Benaras) University specialised in the study of grammar. Alankara Sastra (rhetoric) was the speciality in Kashmir University. Ujjaini University specialised in mathematics. Similarly, there was a small town known as Navadweep where Nyaya (logic) was the speciality. Amaravati, the capital of the kingdom of Bharatha, brother of Sri Rama, specialised in Ayurveda (medicine) apart from other sciences. Ayurveda was also a speciality in the Takshashila (Taxila) University. One of the most famous universities of ancient India was Nalanda, which specialised in grammar, Nyaya, medicine and Yoga Sastra. Valabhi, Mithila and Vikramsila were other well-known universities of ancient India. In all these universities, apart from the specific disciplines, general ethics and proper moral conduct in life were essential part of the curriculum.
What Truth have we realised from this large scale mushrooming of universities? What help has the society received? What is the proof that we work for the advancement of society? With the development of modern education, knowledge of the Self has declined. Vidya is called 'education.' What is the meaning of this word? This has come from the root word educare. What is meant by educare? The meaning is 'to bring out'. All powers physical, mental and psychic are within the individual. We should acquire the sacred education to bring out what is within us and serve society. There are two things. Educare is a Latin word. The inner meaning is as follows. We have to bring out [two] things that are latent - one is to bring out external feelings. Head is the instrument for doing so. The other is to bring out what is inside the heart (Hridaya). When both the inner and outer faculties are made to manifest, life will be ideal. One is 'life' and the other is 'living'. All that come from the head will help you in carrying out works to earn your livelihood such as reading and writing. This is called bookish knowledge. They say Masthaka (head) absorbs the knowledge from Pusthaka (the book). Things from the head have gone into the book and in the reverse order they go back to the head. Bookish knowledge is superficial knowledge. Only after this, we need general knowledge and later, we need discriminatory knowledge. It helps you judge what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is bad. After this only comes practical knowledge. All the others pertain to mundane matters. They are for external (Pravrithi) not for internal (Nivrithi) wisdom. Man engages only in selfish pursuits and does everything for self-interest forgetting the welfare of society at large. You can be safe and secure only when you work for the welfare of society. There are hundreds of thousands of intellectuals and highly learned scholars. What do they do? They work for their own self-interest, to earn money for themselves and their families. Are you able to find any person who work for the welfare of society? In fact they give awards like Nobel Prize only for people who seek their own upliftment and engage in selfish pursuits. It is apparent that they do not know the real meaning and significance of education. One who acquires several degrees is hailed as a great scholar. All these constitute only 'quantity'. But what we need is 'quality'. What is the use of one barrel of donkey's milk? A teaspoonful of cow's milk is enough. That is why in olden days, each university used to take one speciality and impart knowledge of the highest quality. The subject of grammar was developed in manifold ways in Kasi University. They taught all the rules of grammar, Amarakosa, in such a way that they could make practical use in day to day life. The principle of immortality (Amruthathva) was taught with great clarity to students so that they could blossom as real ideal human beings that could realise their lives. In those days, there were not many schools and in each institution of higher learning there would be only nine or ten students. The resident teacher would be the vice-chancellor. They were independent institutions, which had no connection with the Government nor were bound by their laws. The Goddess of Learning, Saraswathi was honoured and She showered Her boundless Grace on the students to help them attain a very high standards of excellence. They did not take any salary for teaching, nor did students pay any fee. There was no fixed timetable for the classes and at any part of the day the students would be taught at his residence by the vice-chancellor. At any time in the night the student would be woken up and taught some important lesson. They used to clear the doubts of students at any time of the day. How did they study? They did not have imposing buildings. They would have their classes somewhere on the banks of a holy river or under the trees. They used to have their classes in any temple where students would sit on the floor. Nowadays universities need imposing structures to house the colleges and offices. Besides, lots of instruments are bought at great cost. When they sat under trees in natural surroundings, they kept good health because the trees absorb the carbon dioxide exhaled by people and give oxygen for their inhalation. The students were hale and healthy. There is no comparison between students and teachers of those days and the present. Present day students have a number of textbooks but many have no time to read them.
Students - boys and girls!
In those ancient days there were no written books. It was only through oral communication from the teacher, that the students absorbed important instructions and were able to retain them in memory. Though there was no printed matter, whatever the students heard from the teacher got imprinted in their minds. Nowadays, a student is unable to remember what he is taught an hour earlier. The power of retention is very poor because the students fill their minds with unnecessary and undesirable material. The students in those days were able to control their minds properly and concentrate on their studies. Only when you control the mind can you assimilate what you read or learn. That is why it is said, "Mind is the cause for both bondage and liberation."
This eternal Truth is forgotten today. The practice of compassion and love in daily life is absent. Education is not put into practice. What is the use of such education? All the ideals were practised by students of ancient times. There is no objection to your obtaining secular education. But you should not neglect fundamental knowledge. You should expand your love. It should not be narrowed down to you so it becomes 'contraction' of love. We have forgotten the ancient knowledge of our reality and taken to the pursuit of worthless mundane knowledge. You must bring out your inner feelings. Whatever you have learnt from the books is not so valuable as that which you learn from within yourself.
Today, due to the advance of science and technology, people have dug deep into earth causing its imbalance. That is why we have a lot of earthquakes and other dangerous natural disasters. What is it that science and technology are doing to you? Everything is within the human being. If you inquire deeply, everything comes from within you.
For example, science teaches that water comes from a combination of two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen. You make water by this process. But are you able to distribute it to the society? You have to supply to the society, keeping the welfare of all humanity in view. What is the use of your education if it is not serving society? They have spent crores of rupees in attempt to convert seawater into potable drinking water. We are spending lot of money, which goes to waste. You have to spend five thousand rupees to get a glass of water. You have lot of fresh water in the rivers Ganges and Yamuna. You should devise ways and means of pumping this water and supplying it to people. You have to formulate such viable schemes. What you are doing now is like paying twice the cost of peanuts to transport it to your home.
You waste money in useless things. It is out of ignorance (Ajnaana). You do such unworthy things with the belief that it is scientific (Vijnaana). You think science has progressed. Ignorance has progressed to the same extent, as you believe science has progressed. You spend four times more than what you have to spend. That is why Bharat finds itself now in economic insufficiency. You should have good sense, good conduct, thereby good intellect, devotion and sense of duty while you study. Along with intellectual acumen you should have good conduct also. We find that students are heroes in study but zeros in practice. Such education is of no use. You should shine as real heroes in practice as well. We give a lot of talks and write a lot of good books spreading the message of love and service. It is not enough if these are propagated. They should be put into practice. Only then will we be blissful.
Embodiments of love! Students - both men and women!
Modern education has limited us. You take degrees and pass out of the institute. These degrees also add to your burden. You do not get comfort out of it. At least an uneducated villager leads a more peaceful and happy life. Educated people, who go on hunting for jobs, failing to secure one, sometimes have to starve due to lack of money. Is this the result you expect from your education? You should seek happiness and peace. If you don't get this what is the use of education? Money alone cannot give you happiness. The Earth revolves round the Sun. Man goes around the Earth for money. This is not proper. Even a beggar earns money. We need the wealth of virtue. You are full of pride because of the lack of this virtue. All these actions of getting a degree, settling in a job, earning money, running a family are only earthly or Pravrithi activities. You have to bring out compassion, love, kindness and forbearance, which come from within. That is why it is called - educare - bringing out what is within.
There is no compassion now. We see only passion. Compassion or Daya should come out from one's heart. You should honour everyone, you should respect and help everyone and you should serve your parents with affection. They have provided you with education and given you everything making you what you are now. You know, what a difficult problem it is to educate children nowadays. In our university, there is no fee charged for education. In other places, however, you have to pay a thousand rupees in advance when a child is born for reserving a seat for him in the first standard! You have to pay heavily for tuition fee in other universities. Who will pay all this money? The parents have to struggle hard throughout the day for giving money to the children, as they are very keen to educate them. Such parents you disregard today. If you do so, later in life your son will do the same thing to you. If you respect your friend today, later your friend will respect you. The state of advanced age is frightening. You may not be able to walk; you will become a matter for mockery by others. Remember this, you should develop sacred qualities. You should grow up as an intelligent, sensible and compassionate person with humane qualities. Otherwise, you will not be a good human being fulfilling the purpose of this life. If you join bad company, take to all sorts of vices and bad practices, you will ruin all that you have learnt. You should join good company.
Thyaja Durjana Samsargam
Bhaja Sadhu Samagamam
Kuru Punyam Ahorathram
Run away from bad company
Be in the company of good people
Do good deeds day in and day out
These are the principles that you should follow scrupulously. What happens if you have bad company? You too become bad. "Tell me your company and I tell you what you are" goes the saying. "Love all and do not hate anybody." But you must keep in your heart only [the impressions of] good people. Bookish knowledge is useless. You should acquire practical knowledge. In olden days acquiring vocational education, people were able to learn all types of work such as carpentry, masonry and smithy. Why do you depend on the laundry men for the simple job of washing your clothes? How much extra expenditure you incur and expect your parents to pay for it? By washing your clothes yourself, you can save money, which you can use for some good purpose or to help a needy person. You should tread on the righteous path and shine as ideal persons setting example to the rest of the world. When people extol you as a student of Sathya Sai Institutions behaving in exemplary manner, how much good name you get for the Institute! Uphold your own respect first, without this you cannot uphold the respect of the Institute. Otherwise, you lose your respect, and come with shaven head! Even if you have no food to eat, make your parents happy and give them food. You cannot always oblige but speak obligingly. Nowadays, it is difficult to make out whether a student is talking to his father or mother or someone else. His manner of talking to parents is so reprehensible. When a father in old age calls his son, the son says 'Get away! I have no time!' Is this the way one should treat one's parent? When the son speaks in soft words how much pleased the parent will be! If you cannot make your own parents happy what happiness can you give to the society?
In olden days, on the occasion of Convocation the Preceptor used to call the disciples and bless them to lead a happy life and advise them to follow righteous conduct. Consider father, mother, teacher and guests as God and respect all elders. This is the purpose of Convocation - when the student completes education and goes home, he does not respect the parents. But the parents do not mind this and are interested only in the well being and the progress of the son. They bear all sufferings for the sake of their children. The present day students do not understand the culture of Bharat. Our culture is to pray for the welfare of entire mankind. There was a certain old man. He used to do Sandhya Vandanam (daily prayers) in the morning and in the evening. He had a grandson who used to come and sit in the veranda of the house for doing homework. He had an inkbottle by his side and he used to dip his pen in the ink every time and start scribbling. In the evening, his grandfather used to take water in a spoon several times and sip the water chanting a Mantra. One day his grandson stopped his homework and was watching his grand father intently. He asked him, "Why do you take water every time by the spoon and take it into your mouth several times?" Why do you not take in the entire water at one stretch, if you are thirsty?" The grandfather was intelligent. He said, "I am doing my work. You attend to your work." But modern boys are naughty. They argue with elders. The grandson asked him, "Why are you doing like this?" The grandfather said, "Why are you dipping the pen every time in the ink? Why do not you pour all the ink at one time?" Then the boy realised his mistake in questioning his grandfather. You have to dip the pen in ink to write every word. Only then will the script be neat. The grandfather said, "When I chant a mantra and take in water, it reaches the particular deity whose name is chanted. When you write a letter and write the address correctly on the cover, it will reach the right person. Similarly, the mantras are addressed to the respective deities. If you do not understand, you should keep quiet." Modern students do not understand practical knowledge. You should try to learn about our ancient tradition and culture.
Man brings out all metal ores and minerals from the bottom of the earth thinking that everything is created for him. What is earth? It is a globe. It is cylindrical. If you dig on one side the balance is affected, as the other side is heavy. In fact, it is the will of the divine that maintains the balance. You have earthquakes because of this imbalance. Man is not only interfering with the balance of the earth but also meddling with the water in the ocean. All the dirty water from sewage is let into the sea thus polluting it. You have to understand Nature properly.
You know what scientists do. In fact you too are of the same mould. You are all intelligent. You must first know that knowledge is at the top. It comes out of the head. The second is skill, the third is balance and the fourth is insight. I tell you to convert your knowledge into skill and not to kill it. When you remove 's' from skill, it becomes 'kill'. When you kill knowledge, the balance is lost. It means you are not putting the God-given intelligence to correct use.
The human race (Jaati) is the composition of three aspects. They are Neethi (justice or morality), Reethi (Dharma or righteousness) and Khyaati (sacrifice). The human race is the rarest and most sacred of all the species in the world. But you are not living true to this dictum. That is why the world is in such a chaotic condition. Students! Past is past, forget the past. Do not think of the future. Live in the present, which is omnipresent. Lead a good life in the present. The past is like a tree, its seed is the present and future has to grow from this seed. Past is 'tree'. Future too is 'tree'. But present in between is the 'seed'. This present is the most important and it is to be governed by morality. Without morality, human race will be completely ruined. Morality is very essential. I said yesterday, "Sathyam Bruyath, Priyam Bruyath, Sathyam Apriyam Na bruyath - speak the truth and let it be pleasant. If the truth is unpleasant, do not speak it to the affected person." This contains both physical and spiritual aspects. "Speak the truth" is physical while "if unpleasant, do not tell the truth" is spiritual. It is real Tyaga or sacrifice. If some Brahmin sits and chants a Mantra, you make fun. Every Mantra is highly powerful. Take an example. In a wedding, which is an auspicious occasion, people decorate the stage with green leaves and banana plants. If you enquire deeply the purpose behind this decoration, you will realise that it is to ensure the good health of the big assembly of people who sit within the small enclosure formed by four posts. They decorate it with a lot of green mango leaves. These leaves absorb the carbon dioxide exhaled by the crowd who usually comes to attend the function and provide the oxygen for human inhaling. So it is an auspicious sign and it provides healthy environment too. Today you decorate such places with plastic flowers and leaves. Will these provide oxygen or absorb the carbon dioxide? No.
Students, you should properly understand our ancient tradition. This university was started only with a view to teach about the Atmic Principle along with academic education. You have to broaden your outlook. This is the ancient tradition of Bharat. In those days, friendship also was very deep and tended with pure love. But these days it is only 'hello' in words when money is there, and disappearance when the pocket is empty. There is no love. In olden days, it was like one mind in two bodies. Krishna and Kuchela are good examples of such friendship that developed in an Ashram school in the forest. You should not hate or harm anybody even in thought or in word. It is my desire that all of you should have love and purity in heart and shine as examples and ideals for others. Students! So long as you were here, you are safe and secure. When you get back to your homes, you are assailed by various distractions like television, video and cinema. All these pollute your hearts. The programmes on the television are very attractive, but you must realise they are shown not for your benefit but for that of sponsors and advertisers. Only watch those programmes that are related to education or those which are dedicated to moral values. TV has, in fact, become a disease in modern times. So it is not TV but TB (tuberculosis). If there are no moral thoughts in you, what will happen when such programmes are watched? If you have leisure, time go for a walk. Do not sit in front of a TV set. You become so addicted that when someone intervenes, you lose your temper. Even the sound from the kitchen disturbs you, where your mother is busy making food for you. Why do not get up to help her and make her happy? This is the main principle in our culture: help ever, hurt never. Make efforts to keep your parents happy. That is very important. Follow the principle of Bharat - 'Help ever, hurt never'. Swami does not object to your going abroad, but wherever you are, you should not forget your culture. Be an ideal person. Do good, see good, speak good and be good. Never try to become great but try to be good. Be friendly with good people. Get a good name wherever you go. Swami wants you to be good persons. Lots of sins are attached to great men. Ravana was a great man. Rama was a good man. Both had the same education; but look at the difference, which their conduct had brought about. Ravana strengthened only his desire. Do not give room for desires. Ravana's thirst for desires brought about his downfall. Hiranyakasupu ruined himself because of anger. He was able to control even the five elements but because of anger he perished. Duryodhana was a miser of an exceptional type. He refused to give the land due to the Pandavas. His entire family was ruined. All these demons not only ruined themselves but also ruined their entire dynasty. When each of them was ruined by one bad quality what will happen if you breed all the six bad qualities like lust, anger, greed, pride, envy and hatred?
Think well. When you watch bad men you will recollect your own bad qualities. When you come across a good person, good qualities will come to your mind. Have relationships with all these qualities. Unify every one. See Unity in Diversity then Divinity will be realised.
You should not have company with bad people. Investigate good and bad. You need not discriminate while helping. You must help all. Don't hate any one. It is enough for Me if you behave in such exemplary manner to bring a good name for our Institute. I shall be happy. You are not charged any fees here. No tuition, laboratory, sports, or examination fees. As there is no fee, you enjoy peace. In other universities, they collect fees and so there is no peace but you find only pieces. You should lead a peaceful and good life. Live as exemplary ideal human beings. That is the gift of Swami to all of you on this occasion. Do not forget God. It is your life and everything for you. You will be successful in all ventures. Success begets success. I want you to lead a successful life of happiness and peace. Today's Chief Guest Dr. Goldstein has been coming often to Swami. You may think he is an ordinary person. Don't underrate him. He is highly educated and also wealthy. He has a good reputation. He is Chairman of American Medical Council. He has sterling qualities which even all of you do not have. He does not have the evil qualities that many of you have! He has all good qualities. I should not say so in his presence. There is no dearth of wealth for him. He comes to Prasanthi Nilayam because he says he finds bliss here, which is not there back home. He is very rich. They brought a girl who is the daughter of a big and rich film personality. He could have celebrated the marriage there in America. He does not want grand and great celebration. He wants only to be 'good'. That film personality came here with the daughter. The marriage was done in the interview room. The couple is even now very happy. His second son said that Swami should perform his marriage. Though he wanted me to perform the marriage, I did not do so for six years. I asked him to bring his father Dr. Goldstein. Here at Prasanthi Nilayam there was a girl, who is daughter of another rich man. She is quite good and good-looking. I performed their marriage in the interview room. They are happy. Both of them are good boys. How did they become good? They are associated with the Sai Organisation. Their wives are also good. On their returning after marriage, they cried. I asked them to come here again with child. I blessed them in this manner.
It is not enough if you serve with two hands. You have to serve with four hands, (husband and wife together), one is right and another is left. Right does good work and left is bad. They have come here with their child. They have my Blessings wherever they go. Dr. Goldstein is in-charge of American Sai Organisation. He has all the three sacred qualities - Duty, Discipline and Devotion. You should also lead exemplary lives as good ones in similar manner. Be ideal and get good name, make your parents happy. Don't neglect them. If you disobey your father, later on your son will pay you back in the same coin. Be good, see good, do good and this is the way to God.
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