Students are the Future Saviours of a Country

Iron gets rusted when it keeps lying in dust, but its rust is removed when it comes in contact with fire. In the same way, man is affected by the company which he associates himself with. 
(Telugu Poem)

Rain water gets absorbed when it falls on sand. When the same rainwater falls on fine clay, it becomes sweet. In the same way, devotion of a person shines according to his deservedness.
(Telugu Poem)

Never Make Friends With Those Who Have No Character

Students, Embodiments of Love!

Human life by itself is very sacred. But it becomes good or bad according to the company it is associated with. When you keep iron in dust, it gets rusted. But the same iron, when it is put in fire, gets rid of its rust, becomes soft and starts shining.

Particles of dust rise up in the sky in the company of wind, but fall down into ditches when they are associated with rainwater. The dust particles do not have wings to fly up in the sky, nor have they feet to jump down. Both their rise and fall happen by the effect of the company. Your good or bad depends upon the type of company you join.

Satsangatwe Nissangatwam, 
Nissangatwe Nirmohatwam, 
Nirmohatwe Nischalatattwam, 
Nischalatattwe Jeevanmukti.
(Sanskrit Shloka)

(Good company leads to detachment; detachment makes one free from delusion; freedom from delusion leads to steadiness of mind; steadiness of mind confers liberation.)

Good Company Makes a Man Noble and Divine

Good company makes you sacred and divine. On the other hand, bad company gives rise to bad feelings and bad thoughts which prompt you to perform bad deeds. Therefore, it is essential for man to join good company and develop his humanness. Good company can elevate man to the level of divinity whereas bad company can degenerate him to the level of an animal. Animal level is below human level and divinity is above; human level is in between these two. You should make efforts to rise above human level. No effort is needed for your downward fall. To become bad is easy, but it is difficult to attain higher level. Though it may be difficult, yet man should make efforts to reach higher levels. But, unfortunately, man today associates himself with bad company because of which his good feelings are turned into bad feelings and good actions into bad actions, and ultimately his life becomes miserable.

Cultivate Friendship With Persons of Good Character Only

Your thoughts are the root cause of everything. Therefore, you should have only noble, sacred, pure, and meaningful thoughts. But young people today entertain bad thoughts, bad feelings, and perform bad actions, thereby wasting their precious young age. When the iron is kept in dust, it acquires rust and loses its strength. When it undergoes the test of fire, it gets rid of the rust and regains its strength. In order to get back its strength, the iron has to get rid of dust. What is this dust? This dust is nothing but the bad feelings of man which arise out of bad company. One acquires all sorts of bad feelings due to bad company. As is the company, so you become. Therefore, it is said, "Tell me your company, I shall tell you what you are." There is no harm in taking time to enquire whether the person with whom you want to make friendship is good or bad.

When you have high status and good position in society, everyone will run after you, saying, "hello, hello!" But when you lose your position and fall on bad days, everyone will run away from you. This is not true friendship. What is true friendship? A true friend is one who will follow you like a shadow in times of both pleasure and pain, profit and loss. When the tank is full of water, thousands of frogs will come into it. But when the tank becomes dry, even a single frog will not be seen there. Similarly, when you have a good position and high rank, everyone will follow you. But you will find none in your times of difficulty. Such friendship is not true friendship. A true friend is one who remains with you in joy and sorrow and in prosperity and adversity. You should make friendship with only such persons with proper discrimination. Don’t make friendship with everybody who says, "hello, hello" to you. This is a great mistake. You should know the background, habits, behavior, discipline, and other qualities of the person with whom you want to make friendship. You should also try to know with whom he associates and what type of company he keeps. If you come to know that he is in bad company, you should not even look at his face. Even if he says "hello" to you, you should move away from him saying "goodbye" because such company can even endanger your life. But today due to the effect of modern education, students develop friendship with all types of people. It cannot be called true friendship. Such a type of friendship is temporary like passing clouds. You should entertain such friendship only to the extent necessary.

Character is very important for a student. A student without character is like a living corpse. Never make friendship with those who have no character. One who does not have individual character will not have social character also. How can a person without social character have national character? Therefore, first and foremost, man should have individual character. He should develop steady vision and unwavering mind. You should not even look at the face of someone who has a wavering mind like the pendulum of a clock. Such students are very bad boys. You should develop no intimacy with such bad boys. Otherwise, you will also ultimately become a bad boy. Develop friendship with only those who are good. As I have already said, if iron is kept in dust, it loses its strength. Iron is a very hard and strong metal. But when it is put in dust, it loses its strength. When it is put in fire, it becomes bright and soft. All its impurities also get removed. When it becomes pure and soft, it can be changed into any shape by beating it with a hammer. It can be made into a circle or a semicircle or any other shape. All types of instruments can be made from it. Good company is also like fire which makes your heart pure by removing the dust of all impurities. Only when your heart becomes free from all impurities is it possible for you to overcome all your sorrow, grief, and misery. So long as your heart is full of impurities, there can be no transformation in you.

Education Should Lead You to the Goal of Life

Everyone should undergo the process which is called Samskar (refinement). What is the meaning of Samskar? Samskar means to get rid of impurities and cultivate good qualities. Many edible food items are produced in their natural form. We eat rice and many types of pulses. However, we do not partake of them in their raw form, in which they are harvested. Take paddy, for example. First, you have to separate the paddy plants from weeds. Then you have to remove the husk to get rice. After getting rice from paddy, you have to put it on fire to cook. Only then it becomes fit for eating. In the same manner, precious metals like gold and silver have to be refined. They cannot be used in the form they are obtained from mines because they are mixed with dust and other impurities. They have to be made pure by putting them in fire and by various other means. Only then can they become pure metals which can be made into many types of ornaments. Therefore, refinement is necessary for everything.

This is a cloth. First, it is in the form of cotton, mixed with seeds. If you want to make cloth out of it, you have to separate seeds from the cotton and make yarn out of cotton. For cotton to become cloth, it has to undergo many processes of refinement. Similarly, it is only when man undergoes refinement can he attain purity. Whatever you study today is limited only to bookish knowledge. Refinement is required in respect of your studies also. Howsoever highly educated you may become, your knowledge is useless without refinement.

In spite of his education and intelligence, a foolish man will not know his true Self and a mean-minded person will not give up his evil qualities. Modern education leads only to argumentation, not to total wisdom.
(Telugu Poem)

Modern education only makes you fit for argumentation. This is not the purpose of your education. Education is not meant merely to fill your belly. Agriculture is for food, culture is for wisdom. But you entertain wrong thoughts and consider that education is only for eking out a livelihood. Education is of two types, one is for life and the other is for a living. Besides providing the means of a living, education should also lead you to the goal of life.

Leading a purposeless life and ultimately meeting one’s end is not the goal of life. You should lead an ideal life and set an ideal for others to follow. Man may die but his ideals always live. Therefore, all of you should become ideal students. Ideals never die; they are immortal. For generations together, high ideals will be followed by others. But people today do not know what ideal life means. They acquire some high degrees and become egoistic, considering themselves to be highly educated. So long as a person is beset with ego, ostentation, and jealousy, he will be of no use to society. Society will also not respect him. A foolish man is respected only in his house. The head of a village is respected in his village only. The king is respected in his kingdom. But a cultured man is respected everywhere in the world. Therefore, you should first of all make efforts to imbibe cultural values and protect Indian culture. To whichever country you belong, you should protect the culture of that country. That is the real purpose of education.

Respect and Serve Your Parents

You should maintain your relationship with others on an even keel. There is no need for you to hate anyone. But you should use your discretion to choose your friends. It is better not to have any friend at all instead of developing friendship with a foolish person. Cultivate friendship only with good persons. Who is a good person? Manasyekam Vachasyekam, Karmanyekam Mahatmanam (Those whose thoughts, words, and deeds are in perfect harmony are noble ones).

You should choose a person as your friend who has Trikarana Shuddhi (unity of thought, word, and deed). You should not even go near a person who thinks something, speaks something else and acts without any relation to his speech or thinking. Manasyanyath Vachasyanyath, Karmanyanyath Duratmanam (Those who lack harmony of thoughts, words, and deeds are wicked). A true human being is one who maintains harmony between his thoughts, words, and deeds. Try to become such a person. The proper study of mankind is man. But today people do not pay attention to this noble principle. They do not try to understand the feelings of others. Here is a small example. Suppose, there is a dog in a ditch twenty feet away from you. If you go your way without bothering about the dog, the dog will also not take any notice of you. It will not even get up. But if you go near it with a small stone in your hand, it will immediately run away. A dog is able to know the thoughts of man but man today does not try to know the thoughts and feelings of his fellow beings. In this way, man has become even inferior to dog. Man has not to become dog, he has to become God. The three letters that make these two words DOG and GOD are the same. The only difference lies in the way we arrange them. If you start from ‘D’, it becomes dog, and if you start from ‘G’, it becomes God. This is the discrimination that a Sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) should develop. You undertake many spiritual practices like Japa, Tapa, (chanting, penance), etc. But they are not the real spiritual practices. The real spiritual practice is to know the truth.

Neither by penance nor by pilgrimage nor by study of scriptures nor by Japa can one cross the ocean of life. One can achieve it only by serving the pious.
(Sanskrit Verse)

You should serve noble people. Respect and serve your mother, father, Guru, and elders. Any amount of spiritual practices that you undertake cannot be considered as Sadhana in the true sense if you disobey your elders and ignore the words of your parents. Even God will not accept this type of spiritual practices. If you hurt the living beings and worship God, God will not be pleased. First and foremost, have love for all living beings. Only then would you have loved God. Easwara Sarva Bhutanam (God is the indweller of all beings). God is immanent in all living beings. You should respect noble people in a befitting manner with heart full of sacred feelings. All are equal in society. However, you should follow certain principles for your own good. Na Sreyo Niyamam Vina (without discipline, there can be no well-being). You should have no relationship with those people who lack character and good qualities. However, there is no harm in offering your respects to everyone. Sarva Jiva Namaskaram Kesavam Pratigachchhati (whomsoever you salute, it reaches God).

Purpose of Education is to Foster Virtues in Students

A student should not develop a relationship with all sorts of people. There are students, both boys and girls. Neither boys should develop any connection with girls nor girls should develop any relations with boys. Boys and girls who develop such a relationship and go on the wrong path are worse than dogs. Such boys and girls deceive even their parents. They waste their life, and their birth is itself a curse. You should not lead such a useless life. What sort of life you should lead?

A person, who does not utilize his hands in the worship of the Lord, who does not sing His glory till his mouth aches and is bereft of compassion and truth, is verily a curse on his mother’s womb.
(Telugu Poem)

Is the birth of such a person meant only to give pain to his mother’s womb? What is the purpose of all his studies? The purpose of education is to foster virtues. This is the essence of all education. Books are full of knowledge but what is the use if the head is full of mud? Can you call it learning? No, no. First of all, you have to get rid of impure thoughts from your mind.

If the head is empty, one can fill it with something. But if it is already filled with trivial and mundane matters, where is the place for anything else? How is it possible to fill the head with something sacred if it is not emptied?
(Telugu Poem)

This tumbler is full of water. How can you pour milk into it? First, you have to make the tumbler empty of water and then pour milk into it. Moreover, if you pour milk into water, you will spoil both. Cultivate sacred thoughts to love and respect your parents; show them gratitude and give them happiness. There will be no worse sinner than you if you deceive your parents and take to an evil path. If you perform such a heinous act, then what is the use of all your education? Even earning your livelihood by begging is better than acquiring this type of education. Therefore, acquire the education which develops virtues in you.

A son without character, education without purpose, human race without morality, man without peace are like night without moon.
(Telugu Poem)

Your education should make you a paragon of virtues. You should become the ideal leaders of this country. In fact, you are the future saviours of the country. If the youth of the nation go astray, the entire nation is bound to come to grief. If there is a bend in the sapling, there will be a bend in the tree also. The future of a country depends on its students. Students are the very foundation of the mansion of the country. Young age is the foundation of the mansion of life. This is the stage of Brahmacharya Ashram (celibate stage), on which the first floor of Grihastha Ashram (householder stage) is built. The storey of Vanaprastha Ashram (recluse stage) is similarly built on the first floor of Grihastha Ashram. The top floor of Sanyasa Ashram (renunciant stage) is similarly built on the storey of Vanaprastha Ashram. Thus, the mansion of life is a multi-storeyed building. If the foundation of this mansion is not strong, the entire mansion will collapse. Therefore, you should make the foundation strong. Young age is very important and sacred. In fact, it is the golden age. It should be free from the rust and dust of evil qualities. Students should have good qualities. All that they see, speak, hear, and do should be sacred. It is, therefore, necessary that first of all, they fill their heart with love for God. Your heart is like a big tank and your senses are like the taps. If you fill your heart with the water of love, the same sweet water will come out of the taps of your senses. As is your heart, so will be your actions. Therefore, when you fill your heart with love, all your actions will be suffused with love.

Do Not Waste Precious Human Birth

If you throw a stone in a well, it will give rise to waves. How far will the waves go? They will spread in the entire well and go up to its edges. Similarly, when you drop a stone of a good or a bad thought in the lake of your mind, its effect will spread to your entire body. If it is a bad thought, then your eyes, ears, and tongue will see, hear, and speak all that is evil. Your hands will also perform evil actions and your feet will take you to undesirable places. The effect of your thoughts will spread to your entire being right from top to toe. Therefore, heart is very important. But students today pay attention only to art but not heart. Heart is inside, art is outside. Art is worldly and heart is divine. Art is related to Pravritti (worldliness) whereas heart is related to Nivritti (spirituality). The principle of Nivritti is most sacred and sublime. This is described in Vedanta as Nirgunam, Niranjanam, Sanathana Niketanam, Nitya, Shuddha, Buddha, Mukta, Nirmala Swarupinam (It is attributeless, unsullied, final abode, eternal, pure, enlightened, free, and embodiment of sacredness). One should have Chitta Shuddhi (mental purity) to attain this. Chittasya Shuddhaye Karmah (good deeds give mental purity). All the actions that we perform should contribute to purity of heart.

There was a sage by name Thiruthondar Alwar in Tamil Nadu who prayed, “Oh Lord! I worship You with all the purity of my heart. I have attained this precious human birth with great difficulty. It is not so easy to attain human birth. It can be attained only by the accumulated merits of many past lives. Let not this golden opportunity slip away from my hand”. The same feelings were expressed by Mira also. She prayed, “Oh Giridhari! I went deep into the ocean and found this pearl of human life. Please shower Your grace on me so that this precious pearl of human life does not slip away from my hand and fall into the ocean again. If I lose this, my entire life is doomed”.

You are blessed with rare human birth which you have attained as a result of merits of so many past lives. You should make sure that you do not waste this human life by taking to wrong path. Even if man does not attain the level of divinity, he should at least remain at the level of a human being and should not degenerate to the level of an animal. It is very important for students to learn this. Both good and bad are prevalent in the world. You should see to it that you take to good path without bothering about what others are doing. Consider even your small defects as big, and at the same time, do not magnify the small defects of others. First of all, you should get rid of your own defects and cultivate virtues. Only then will humanness blossom in you.

(Bhagawan concluded His Discourse with the Bhajans, “Madhura Madhura Murali Ghana Shyama…” and “Subrahmanyam Subrahmanyam…”)

– From Bhagawan’s Divine Discourse at Prasanthi Nilayam on 8th July 1996.