Divine Blessing And Words Of Advice To The Outgoing Students

May 1974, Summer Course 1974 - Bharath, Brindavan

Published English.

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This land of ours has earned fame from far and wide, beyond its borders. This land of ours has given birth to men of great reputation. This land of ours has driven away the western rulers and earned for itself independence. This land of ours has given birth to many sons who are learned scholars. This land of ours has shown great capacity and attainment in many branches of knowledge like music, fine arts and sculpture. This land of ours has been the source of . , our motherland had the great fortune of spreading and good conduct. The responsibility of maintaining these and protecting them in the future rests on the shoulders of you young people.

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, Students, Boys And Girls! Other People Who Are Assembled Here This Afternoon!

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Our country, , is one which has handed over spiritual strength to all parts of the world. While civilisation under the pretext of modernity is spreading all over and is bringing about many changes in man’s life, yet we see that the basic spiritual aspects are not undergoing any change. From this we should learn and understand how strong and how very deeply rooted the spiritual facets are. It is not possible for anyone to stop or slow down this flow of or spiritual wisdom. While the lamp of spirituality shines brighter and brighter, we will recognise that the so-called individual freedom, advocated by modern civilisation will lead one only to the darkness of ignorance. How long will this kind of foolishness sustain to obscure the spiritual facets? How long can walls which have no foundation stand? From times immemorial, our ideas and traditions have stood firmly on the foundations of and religious practices.

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That kind of knowledge alone can be called real education which will enable you to open your heart and reveal to you the nature of . Education which does not enable you to understand the divine essence and control your senses cannot be termed education at all.

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Education should inculcate divine feelings in you. It should enable you to understand that the daily events occuring in man’s life are as per the Divine will and that there is what is called “Eternal Truth”, which links man’s life to the environment and community around him. True education consists of character, truth and good conduct. Character, truth, good conduct and the ability to sacrifice are the essential components in any type of education. Devoid of these qualities, it becomes worthless. True education gives you humility; from humility you get the deservedness; from such deservedness you will get wealth; from wealth you will get and from you will get happiness in the material as well as spiritual world.

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is not something that has been created by man. Man’s ideas have no power to shape or change the form of . You can only follow . It is not something that you can change. has been in existence long before you came into this world and therefore you have to follow it. is not going to change for you. A man can select a woman as his companion and vice versa, but no one can select and exercise his choice regarding . is like a mother. One can choose a wife, but no one can choose a mother. is in the same position as one’s mother. We have no choice to change . We have to follow and enjoy the fruits of . If there are people who say that there is nothing like , it is like saying that there is nothing like a mother for them. Man is using such meaningless words and is undertaking to follow a path which is utterly wrong. This country of ours, , which was ever cheerful and smiling is passing through difficult times now. The main reason for it is our modern ideas, which have destroyed all our value systems. The students of today must push aside such foolish ideas which are totally wrong and be prepared to lead our country into a prosperous future by following the prescribed .

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After that, make an attempt to understand the sacred principles of our culture and try to put them into practice. If we simply go on using the word and not putting into practice even a bit of what goes under the name , all that will simply be . Today the situation everywhere is such that we think of one thing, say something else and do something entirely different. Such things are not going to promote peace in the world.

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How can one get peace if one holds the atom bomb in his hand and simply goes on shouting from house-tops that peace is wanted in the world? Similarly if you always practise and keep on shouting that is to be protected, how is going to be protected?

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Your hearts are very sacred and pure. In those pure and unwavering hearts, you have to fill the sacred aspect of the . You are all wearing white clothes and assembled in this Hall in the . Just as you are wearing pure white clothes outwardly, you must also make your hearts pure and white internally. You should remember that the characteristic feature of education that you have acquired here is to make you clean and pure both internally and externally. Further, all of you who have to become the future citizens of this country and uphold the honour and dignity of the country should also uphold . If you find a person who preaches peace and but himself practises violence and , you should be prepared to oppose him with all your strength. Students should be prepared to punish anyone who has his legs and yet behaves like a lame person, anyone who has his eyes and yet behaves like a blind person, anyone who has mental strength and yet behaves like a weak-minded person. The word punish used here should not be interpreted as causing physical harm or trouble. The word punish here means that you must teach them good ideas and good habits to enable them to distinguish right from wrong.

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Having in your mind the sacred aspect of in several forms such as , and , you should see that you do not behave in a violent manner - shouting slogans in the street. If you do so, you will be promoting anarchy and not the divine spirit which you are entrusted with. Do not take to wrong path in the educational institutions. If you find other students doing this, you have to tell them that the purpose of education cannot be what they are indulging in. You should adopt the right attitude and help other students also to adopt the right attitude. It is possible that you have some inconveniences in your college. You should then approach the concerned persons in authority and see that the inconveniences are removed. Instead of this, if you take to the wrong path and turn violent, you will bring disrespect to the very name and avocation of a student. You will be abusing the culture and training that you have received. By following anarchic practices, you are simply ruining the reputation of not only your own Institution, but the whole country.

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Some of you have expressed the feeling that you have spent a very happy one month. Since the time has now come for you to leave , you have tears in your eyes and that those tears have manifested themselves in the form of rain drops. Instead of having a feeling that leaving is causing you pain and hurt, it is better to take a firm resolve that the ideas acquired here should be put into practice in your daily life. Many learned people and scholars have told you several things which made you happy. The best way of showing your gratitude to these teachers is by adopting at least a few of their teachings in your daily life. That is the best return you can give to your teachers. Do not have the idea that is a summer camp and your home is somewhere else. This is not the right type of thinking. You should think that you are in your home when you are in . All people here in constitute one single family. There is no question of having a feeling of separation, when you develop such an ideal. Although from a bodily aspect you are away from each other, from the point of view of closeness of the heart it can always be said that all of us are very close to each other.

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You should not forget all the happiness that you have had here immediately after you reach your home. If you forget all the happiness that you have acquired here for the past one month, it is of no use. After you reach home, you will find that there are doing spiritual work. I am hoping that you will join such organisations and recall to your mind all that you have learnt here and continue to live in this experience. Only when the boys and girls who participated in the summer camp go back to their places and pass on the bliss and happiness which they have acquired here to others with whom they come in contact, can they be said to put into practice what they have learnt here. The kind of happiness and the good ideas that you have learnt here must be retained by you till the end of your life, enabling you to enjoy a peaceful and purposeful life.

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One student expressed the idea that a workshop had been started in on the 20th May and that a large number of cars which were out of order and in need of servicing had been brought and left in this workshop and that during the one month they had all been repaired and they are now returning home. This metaphor should not end in mere verbal expression. You must realise in practice that you are going back as repaired cars. Then only there is some justification for these words. If you can keep them as repaired cars and take the cars along the royal path and not put them back in lanes and bylanes, then you should have really meant what you are saying. If these cars which have now been repaired deviate from the royal road, they will again return to the workshop for repair. Such frequent repairs will in fact render the cars useless junk and they will become irreparable.

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You have now reconditioned the cars of your body and having reconditioned the car, you must also drive it carefully. Because you are not good drivers, the cars were getting frequently out of order. The car can not be kept in a good condition unless you have a good driver. Having now reconditioned your cars, take as your good driver who will drive your car for the rest of your lives. Then the car of your lives will not be spoilt. You have listened to many good things. There is no need for me to keep on repeating these things again and again. I am hoping that you will constantly think of what you have learnt here and put it into practice.