Wealth of Virtuousness

A plastic ball can never be submerged 
However much one may try 
An ignoramus can never imbibe 
True teachings of ethical values.
What is Integrated Life?

Embodiments of love! Girl students! Teachers! 
This world is confining us all within its fold along with our thoughts and intellect. Having been immersed in joys and sorrows brought by senses, man is unable to look beyond his surroundings; just as a rat is attracted by the smell of bait and is trapped inside losing its freedom.

Every single person is known as vyakti. Vyakti is he who expresses out. It means expressing divinity that is dormant or immanent is the mark of a human being who is the embodiment of love! Also an individual must realise the reality that humanism is indivisible aspect of oneness.

Every individual has his own personality or identity. But, some personalities are like beacon lights. True education must bring out spiritual knowledge of an individual so that his personality shines forth bringing light to his surroundings.

True education is that which liberates the individual, who in turn helps towards emancipation of others. The Veda says, “Svayam teerthvää paräm stärayati.” Education in fact is beyond the domain of selfishness. Individual does not mean selfish man. Every individual is a part of society. Therefore, the welfare of society depends on the quality of every individual.

Education means not only knowledge. The end of education is character. Purpose of life is not confined to a joyful family atmosphere. This is only a part of life, and not the end of it. Humanism is a trinity of body, mind and atma. Therefore along with body and comforts; mental peace and ätmic bliss are essential for every individual. Only then it can be called an ‘integrated life’. Life is full of challenges.

Life is a challenge, meet it 
Life is a game, play it 
Life is a dream, realise it 
Life is love, enjoy it

Unity implies unity of humanism and divinity. The eternal aspect is termed in Veda as, ‘Akshara’. In the alphabet, every letter is known as akshara. Combination of different letters of an alphabet leads to making of words, sentences and texts. This is unity in diversity. Words may be made or broken. But, a letter cannot be broken.

Therefore the indestructible, eternal principle of paramatma the Almighty lord is known as akshara. The individual self is a part of the universal self. There are different faculties in education- Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc. but the education that is common to all faculties is the spiritual education. It is an inner and invisible stream, like the river Saraswati, of all aspects of life.

The material science is being extolled as a means for all comforts or joys. In fact, science is bringing more sorrow than happiness to the world. Every deed and everything is prone to reaction, reflection and resound. Physical sciences are confined to knowing about the nature of things and about making use of those properties. But, they are not concerned about the cause behind all existence, or about the creator of all this material world. This knowledge is possible only through spiritual education. The ätmic principle is attributeless, passionless, primordial, baseless, eternal, truth, all powerful, ‘knowledge’, unattached and pristine. When these aspects are grasped, then the things of material world look trivial; and mastery over worldly things comes along with this, unasked. But, today people are ignoring the very base and are harping on the objective world, thinking it as real. We see so many buildings and other things in a dream. But, when we wake up all these things of dream are vanishing. All that we see during day time appear to be true until we go to sleep. In sleep all these things disappear, until we wake up again. The Veda has described 25 aspects pertaining to the body that is perceptible – five senses of action, five senses of perception, five sheaths and five faculties (tanmatras) and the 5 basic elements. Also the body is a product of various combinations of five basic elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether (sky). Each of these five combinations, in turn is a mixture of five sub-combinations. Therefore, again there are 25 aspects, basing on natural elements. Therefore, any thing that is perceptible to man is a product of these physical elements; and is subjected to change, decay and destruction.

Inside this gross body, there is the subtle body, which has 17 aspects, namely five senses of perception, five faculties, five sheaths, mind and intellect. All these 17 belong to the dream state.

The third is the causal body. This consists of only two aspects, namely mind and intellect. When these two causal aspects are merged into the universal causation then we are rid of all the physical perceptions, and we experience ätmic bliss. Its form is sat, chit and änanda (Being, Conscience and Bliss). This is our true form. Sat (Being) that is eternal and chit (Awareness) together produce Bliss of oneness. This is our goal. We must endeavour to attain this goal. The divine power that is dormant in man must be brought out by self effort. All actions are done through the physical body. Therefore body is the important tool for attaining eternal bliss; and it is essential that this body be maintained in a sacred way. Character, ethical way of life and discipline are prescribed for the sake of this purification and glorification.

Gratitude is a Divine Quality

The expression ‘Persona’ is used in reference to Jesus Christ. This means a person filled with divinity. In fact there is divinity in every human being. But, men are running after mirage of comforts and fame, and as a result they are entangled in endless worries, ending life in dissatisfaction.

One feels shy to enter a gathering of elite in dirty clothes. In fact a person with filthy thoughts is not fit to be in the midst of pious people. So then, how can such a person aspire to reach God who is a repository of purity? When we intend to install such a God in our heart, then how much pure the heart should be. So, the main aim of education is to purify the heart with the faculty of discrimination between good and bad. Wisdom cannot be stolen by thieves, cannot be scorched by fire, cannot be drowned in water nor can it be shared between brothers. Country prospers only when sense control, fostering of divine thoughts, truth, love and character are cultivated by all individuals.

Dear students!
 You are all potential leaders of the future. Our present life needs proper sharing for a great future. Foremost thing is that you must show gratitude to your parents. Life without gratitude is worse than that of wild animals. The food we eat, the head we developed, the blood that circulates in us and the dunu (money) we are spending– all these are due to our parents. Therefore, we are all immensely indebted to our parents. Your principal, Hemalatha had described Swami as, ‘King of Kings’. Not only this. Swami is your father and mother as well! When you are unable to recognise the love of one mother, then how is it possible to understand Swami’s love that is more than that of thousand mothers put together. Parents may be lacking in education, property or position, but they are certainly good and loving to you. Like the candle or like incense stick everyone must dedicate life to the society even at the cost of self-interest. Only then you are eligible to call yourself ‘man’ (ma-na-va) ma is ignorance, na means without and va means to conduct oneself. Therefore man is one who conducts himself devoid of ignorance. People give respect to educated person. But, they love the one endowed with salubrious qualities like compassion, love, tolerance, etc. All the wealth, comforts and name that one enjoys are all due to the society we live in. Therefore, one should repay this debt to society by way of selfless service. Instead of showing gratitude to those who help people, we seek to harm them unmindful of humanism and its fulfilment. This tendency degrades our status to worse than that of the animals. This is totally against the concept of education.

All of you should keep in mind that emancipation of society is possible only through students like you who are endowed with ideal qualities. Students are capable of bringing out revolution and are capable of achieving peace and prosperity. They possess immense power within them. They are like double edged knives. Talents can be used for either good or bad. They can make or break the society with their physical and mental abilities.

A Healthy Society is Based on Truth and Love

Man must display humanism by setting society on the path of brotherhood. If on the other hand, he is engaged in acts of destruction, it means he has comedown to the level of demon. However, our students of Sathya Sai educational institutions are striving to emulate high ideals and good practices. We must always keep in mind that our life should always be dedicated to constructive deeds but not destructive pursuits. You must understand the truth of life. Our love should not be confined to body or its attributes. It must extend to all living beings and all forms of life. Love should be our motto of life; and life is to love life. Normally we think we are earning money to live. But we must understand that we are earning so that we may fulfil the sacred purpose of our lives.

There were mighty kings who lived on earth displaying ostentation and arrogance of their might; but where are they now?

There were any number of multi millionaires, kings, rulers and leaders. Are there any traces of them left on earth now? Have they taken away along with them the pomp they displayed on earth, or the power they wielded over people? No. This is a fact that we are witnessing everyday. Even the body that one grooms with great care, passion and ego will one day perish and turns into a handful of ash.

Therefore we should learn to put this body into good use as far as possible. We must impart sacredness to this body before it perishes.

There is no use of supercilious talents, parroting of fancy words or display of pomp. Miles of desert land yield not a single fruit; only a fertile land yields fruits. Our life should become a useful tool in the development of society. To this end, Sri Sathya Sai College provides all necessary knowledge and opportunities to you. Truth and love are two qualities that are most essential for fostering a healthy society. Nothing equals love. Love is God. The image of our individuality depends to a large extent on the quality of love we display. Love should be fostered in the right path. It is necessary to keep away bad qualities from the heart. When we learn that a snake had entered the house, can we spend the night peacefully in that house? Bad thoughts are like the snake that destroys peace.

Shrunvantu vishwe amritasya putraha. Being children of immortality, you should develop thoughts of immortality and nectarous attitude. Mortal and morbid thoughts must be curbed. Talk lovingly with whosoever you come across. Love always gives; but does not expect any reward. There is no selfishness in pure love. There is no ego in love. Ego is an indication for lack of self-confidence. When self confidence is developed, ego gets destroyed. I conclude my discourse with the blessing that all of you will shed meaningless ego, pomp and jealousy; and that you glorify your lives with qualities of love, tolerance and amicability.