True Education Liberates

One may master all forms of knowledge,
One may vanquish one's adversaries in debate,
One may fight with valor 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 eight forms of Yoga,
One may reach even the moon,
But can anyone control the body, mind and senses?
Turn the vision inward
And achieve the supreme state of equanimity of the mind.
(Poem in Telugu)

Embodiments of Love - Students, Boys and Girls!

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 who are experts in bookish knowledge. Many have become educational wizards and scholars. What is the service these intellectuals are doing to the world? Having been born and brought up in the society, having acquired their knowledge from the 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 the society?

Sri Aurobindo once told the students of Calcutta University, "Students! Why do you acquire this knowledge? Is your learning only for your selfish ends? You have acquired all these skills expense of the society. If you do not repay your debt to your community by using your talent for the society, it is better you burn your books."

Man should be transformed to become compassionate. Of what use is that education which does not melt the heart of the student to the plight of others? Modern secular education is making man hard-hearted. Just as you try hard to sharpen your intellect, you should broaden your heart also. If this fact is not realized, of what use is your intelligence and learning? With proper education, both the mind and heart 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 specialized in one branch of knowledge or the other and helped the students to achieve excellence in that branch. Kasi (Benaras) University specialized in the study of grammar. Alankara Sastra (rhetoric) was the specialty in Kashmir University. Ujjaini University specialized in mathematics. Similarly, there was a small town known as Navadvipa where Nyaya (logic) was the specialty. Amaravati, the capital of the kingdom of Bharata (brother of Rama) specialized, apart from other sciences, in Ayurveda (medicine). Ayurveda was a specialty in the Takshashila (Taxila) University also. One of the most famous universities of ancient India was Nalanda, which specialized in grammar, Nyaya, medicine and Yoga Sastra. Valabhi, Mithila and Vikramasila 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.

Sathya (truth) and Dharma (righteousness) were the guiding principles for all students. Besides, vocational training for various trades like carpentry, pottery, blacksmithy, etc., was given so that the pupils may be trained for life and may become capable of earning their livelihood in a righteous way. What is the point in learning subjects which are not useful in daily life? Learning professional skills is therefore essential. Fine arts like music, dance, drama, etc., were also taught in these universities. Amaravati University included in its curriculum all these subjects and their branches. Careful investigation indicates that there were only nine or ten such universities in those days.

Due to his obsession with external knowledge, man today is immersed in self-interest and forgets his responsibilities to the society. When you engage yourselves in the welfare of the society, your welfare is automatically ensured. There are hundreds of thousand wealthy and learned persons in the world. But they are all engaged in selfish activities. Do you find anyone who has put the interests of the society above self-interest? In fact, they confer prestigious awards and honors on those persons who are engaged in selfish pursuits and seek their own advancement. It is apparent that they do not know the real meaning of education. Persons with numerous degrees are thought to be highly educated. Such proliferation of degrees is mere quantitative attainment. But what we need is quality. One teaspoonful of cow's milk is better than barrels of donkey's milk.

That is why in olden days, each university specialized in one area of knowledge and imparted the knowledge of the highest quality to its students. The university in Kasi (Benaras) specialized in grammar in all its manifold aspects so that the acquired knowledge could become useful and practical in day-to-day life. The Amarakosa - probably first of existing lexicons in Sanskrit was a subject of study and even through this study of grammar the teachers of those days were preparing their students for Amaratva (immortality). In these universities, each student was himself a great scholar. Who were the teachers? Often, the resident preceptor was himself the faculty and indeed the Vice Chancellor. The whole process of education was carried out independently without any interference or control by any government or other agency. Saraswathi, the goddess of learning, was honored and given complete freedom. The students received her boundless grace to attain high standards of excellence. Generally, the teachers did not take any salaries for teaching nor did the students pay any fees. There was no fixed timetable for the teaching; the preceptor taught as and when he was so inclined as the spirit moved him. He might wake up a student at night and impart knowledge. Irrespective of his own convenience, he would clarify the doubts of his students. And where were all these instructions carried on? The classes were held in natural environment on the banks of holy rivers, under shady trees or in temple verandahs in a pure and sacred atmosphere.

This eternal truth has been forgotten today. The practice of compassion and love is absent in daily life. Without these eternal values, of what use is your education? It is therefore necessary to include these ancient values in our modern education system. There is no harm in acquiring modern education and skills, but the blossoming of your heart is the fundamental education. A noble heart and a broad mind are your basic requirements; do not stray into narrow-mindedness. You should expand your love. If you narrow it down to yourself, then it will become contraction love. Instead you should have expansion love. This is the principle taught by our ancient culture. Forgetting this valuable ancient tradition of Bharat, you are engaged in acquiring physical and material education. What is it you are going to achieve? You have to manifest all those ancient values in your life. These values are not something that can be acquired from outside; they are all in you. Your effort should be to make them manifest.

Any student of elementary chemistry will say that water is formed by combining two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen. You know even how to synthesize them. But are you making enough effort to see that water is evenly distributed to all the members of the society? The welfare of the society should be constantly in your view. If all your knowledge and skill is employed for purely selfish purposes, what is the use? In Mumbai, some people are spending crores of rupees to convert sea water into potable water. Crores are being wasted in such futile efforts. By such methods, you may get a glass of drinking water at a cost of about five thousand rupees. This country is served by sacred rivers like the Ganga, the Yamuna, etc. What is needed is to pump up and distribute this water to the people who require it. This will require only a fraction of the cost of converting seawater into potable water. This kind of effort at technology is like buying peanuts for a quarter of a rupee and paying half a rupee to carry it to your house. Such learning is not knowledge. It is sheer ignorance.

Ignorance is very close to knowledge, just as darkness is under a source of light. You imagine that technical knowledge has made rapid strides. You also believe that science has made great progress. But the fact is that side by side with the growth of physical knowledge, ignorance has also grown enormously. You are totally unmindful of this ignorance, and are continually spending four times the money and effort for fulfilling each one of your needs. This is the reason for Bharat's visible poverty.

Along with intellectual acumen, you must have the right virtues. Good behavior, good intellect, commitment to truth, devotion, discipline, sense of duty - these are the six aims of education. Who is teaching all these today? We find that the students are heroes in bookish knowledge and zeroes in practice. This is not true education. You have to become heroes in practice as well. You are writing a large number of good books and giving discourses to spread the message of love and service. It is not enough if these are propagated, you should put into practice what you learn. Only then will you be blissful.

Embodiments of Love - Students, Boys and Girls!

Modern education does not fulfil the aim of life. You gather graduate and postgraduate degrees, but these are mere burdens on your minds. What comfort do you derive from these degrees? Nothing whatsoever! Penniless, illiterate persons go to sleep without a care in the world. But educated persons with many degrees to their credit, acquired at great cost, wander about hunting for a job, almost facing starvation. Education is not solely for the purpose of earning a living. It must lead you to experience bliss. Of what use is the job and the wealth if there is no happiness? Man is in constant search for wealth. As the earth revolves round the sun, man is going round money. Even a beggar can get money. Is that sort of income worth acquiring? Virtue is the wealth that you should go after. In the absence of virtue, wealth merely makes you bloat with pride and ostentatiousness, destroys your humanness and eclipses your human values. Studying to get a degree, getting a job, running a family- all these are worldly activities, emanating from the head. What is it that a learned person should bring out? He should manifest the qualities of compassion, love, forbearance, peace, kindness, etc., which come from the heart. But today there is no compassion, there is only fashion. It is very important to have compassion. You should respect and love all your fellowmen and serve your parents. Parents undergo many privations and difficulties to give you the facilities for acquiring good education.

You know how difficult it is to get good education these days. It is only in our university that you have the privilege of free education. Anywhere outside, it costs ten to twenty thousand rupees to put a child in the 1st Standard. For graduate courses, you know what is the monthly expense. Who bears this cost? Is it not your parents? Out of love for you, with your welfare, progress and future prosperity in mind, they undergo many difficulties, wear themselves out day after day so that you may achieve academic success. You are just not mindful of all this. Today you are a student. Tomorrow you may be a parent. Unless you respect your parents today, your children will not respect you tomorrow. If you respect your friends and fellow students, they will also respect you.

"What will happen to you when you become a decrepit old man, when your body becomes weak, legs stagger and vision fails and you are no better than a leather puppet, and an object of ridicule for the world?"
(Poem in Telugu)

It is imperative for you to imbibe divine qualities. You should grow up as an intelligent, sensible and compassionate person with human qualities. Otherwise, you cannot achieve the purpose of human life. Instead, if you join evil company and take to all sorts of vices, you will dissipate all your acquired good education in worthless ways. Seek good company. Tyaja Durjana Samsargam, Bhaja Sadhu Samagamam, Kuru Punyam Ahoratram (abandon bad company, seek the company of good people, perform good actions day and night). This is the proper way. By evil association you also become evil. That is why it is said, "TeIl me your company and I shall tell you what you are."

Make friends after proper enquiry. You must love all. Do not hate anybody. But you must keep in your heart good people only. Similarly, mere bookish learning is fruitless unless it is put to practical use. Craftsmen like carpenters, potters and blacksmiths were able to lead successful life in olden days. Today there is no connection between institutional education and practical vocation. Take the simple matter of washing clothes. Why can't you wash your own clothes? Such savings can be put to more sacred purposes like helping a needy person. Money should not be wasted. You should tread the path of purity, humility, divinity and set an example to the world. When people extol you as a student of Sathya Sai Institutions by your exemplary conduct, how much good reputation is earned not only by you but your Alma Mater also! Be sure to uphold your own dignity and respect. Only then can your parent institution have good reputation. Otherwise, it will become a case of empty pocket, bare face and shaven head! (A Telugu saying signifying total ruin).

Never mind whether your stomach is full or empty, but keep your parents and family happy. Speak gently and properly with them. That is why I say, "You cannot always oblige, but you can always speak obligingly." Nowadays, it is difficult to make out whether a student is talking to his own parents or some strangers, because his manner of talking to parents is so reprehensible. If the father is not very highly educated and approaches his son with an enquiry, "My boy, what are you doing?" mostly he is shrugged off with "Go away, don't bother me." Instead of this if you speak sweetly with humility, "Father, I am trying for a job," how pleased he will be! If you can't please your own parents, how on earth will you please the society?

What was the nature of convocation in olden days? After completing their studies, the pupils made appropriate offerings to the preceptor and prayed for his parting advice. Then the preceptor used to advise them, "My children, now you are ready to go back to your families. Support your parents, get married and lead a righteous life." What is the state of affairs today? When children get back home from the educational institutions, they do not treat their parents properly. But the parents still take care of their children putting up with all their misbehavior. Modern students do not have even an iota of our culture. What a sacred tradition it is! Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu (May the entire world enjoy bliss) is the prayer that our culture enjoins us to utter each day.

There was an old man, who followed his rituals strictly and performed his prayers (Sandhya Vandanam) in the prescribed manner early in the morning and at sunset. He had a grandson who used to sit in the verandah doing his day's homework, dipping his pen in the ink bottle every time he wrote a few lines. As he was busy with his study, his grandfather came out and sat on a little stool and started chanting the Mantras, "Kesavaya Namah, Madhavaya Namah, Govindaya Namah," etc. Taking water from a little vessel, he sipped half a spoonful at a time with each Mantra as per the ritual.

The modern lad stopped his study and started watching his grandfather. He started thinking, what a foolish thing his grandfather was doing! If he wanted to drink water why did he not drink it all in one gulp straight from the vessel? He stopped his work and asked his grandfather, "Grandfather, why are you drinking water sip by sip? Why don't you drink it in one gulp from the vessel if you are thirsty?" The old man was an intelligent person and knew the modern mind. He said, "My boy, you do your work in your way, I shall do mine in my way." But modern lads have the habit of arguing with elders. So, the boy questioned his grandfather again. When pestered further by his grandson, the old man shot back, "You simpleton, you dip your pen in the inkbottle every time you write a few words; why don't you just pour the bottle of ink over the paper and be done with it?" Then the boy realized his mistake of arguing with his grandfather. The grandfather continued, "Dear boy, you have to dip the pen in ink to write every word. Only then will it be neat. When I chant a Mantra and take water it reaches the particular deity whose name is chanted. When you write a letter and write address correctly on the cover, it will reach the right person. Similarly, the Mantras are addressed to the respective deities. If you don't understand, you should keep quiet."

Instruction was given in an informal and interesting way in those days. Today's students neither know their own job, nor do they understand the work of others. This kind of general knowledge has to be acquired by direct experience, not from any institutional study. Hence, try seriously to understand the significance of your ancient culture.

Never Forget Your Cultural Values

So long as you are here, you are safe and secure. When you get back to your homes, you are assailed by various distractions like television, video, cinema, etc. All these pollute your hearts. The programs on the television are very attractive, but you must realize that they are shown to you not for your gain, but for the gain of sponsors and advertisers. Only watch such programs which are related to education, or those dedicated to moral values. TV has, in fact, become a disease of modern times. So, it is not TV but TB (tuberculosis). If there are no moral thoughts in you, what will happen when such programs are watched? If you have leisure, take a walk. Don't 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 dinner for you. Why don't you get up to help her and make her happy? This is the main principle of our culture: Help ever, Hurt never.