Opening Address

20 May 1976, Summer Course 1976 - Indian Culture and Spirituality, Ooty

Published English.

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Without getting rid of your and your anger, how are you going to understand the spiritual background?

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Without getting rid of your and of your temper, how are you going to take any interest in spiritual aspects?

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In fact, the best of the three or qualities is the , and that itself promotes or devotion and that is the best .

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, boys and girls, who are the future citizens of this country,

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Today, man’s way of living is such that he becomes dependent on others. Man is always in a hurry, he is simply spending his time in running from one thing to another. He runs for a seat in a bus, he runs for a seat in a cinema hall, he runs for a seat in a college, he runs all his life for acquiring one thing or another. Even while undertaking to do things in such a hurry and running for everything, they have the misfortune of having to wait for everything. Our life appears like the life of a bird or of an insect dependent on others for everything. We spend all the time today in reading useless stories. One does not find time to read useful history and useful aspects of one’s culture. Not only this, man also wants to take a short cut for everything that he wants to achieve. Man does not want to make an effort in growing crops. He wants to go and steal the harvest prepared by someone else. He does not want to take the trouble for anything. He wants to earn his money by picking the pocket of someone else and such are the shortcuts that he wants to adopt for everything. How is the breadth of vision of a man going to enlarge if he wants to lead a life like that? A man whose has not blossomed and a man whose spiritual background has not blossomed will never understand the whole purpose of his life. Today people think that acquaintance with a large number of books is education. Acquaintance with books can never be called education.

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Children are not understanding even the meaning of education. For the root word “” if you add “” then you get . Here “” stands for illumination and “” stands for that. Therefore, that which gives illumination and light is . That which gives you light and sheds your ignorance and that which gives you wisdom and superior knowledge can alone be called . What promotes ignorance and darkness cannot be called . From time immemorial, our country had been the leader of all the countries in the world. It had enjoyed the position of leadership in this world, and that is the kind of sacredness that we have enjoyed in the past. Because there are no leaders today who can set an example of such ideal life and who can hand on such ideals to other countries, we have fallen on bad times. The main reason for this is that in the people, there is no co-ordination between the words that they utter and the acts that they do. You are all the future citizens of . You are the citizens who will bring up the welfare of . The entire prosperity and welfare of the country rests on your shoulders. Your lives and your hearts are pure and sacred. They are unwavering. I am hoping that you will not allow the confusion and anarchy prevailing in the country to confuse your pure, unwavering, and sacred minds; and I am hoping that you will develop into ideal citizens of this country.

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Students, after having a degree in their hands, should undertake to be of some service to the community. If, on the other hand, you search for a job or beg for a job, it is not correct. For the chariot of this body, the axle, namely the , has become very distant. It is for rectifying this defect - namely to remove the distance between the body and the axle, we will have to undertake . does not mean that one should give up his family and his house. It does not mean going to a forest and sitting in meditation. Today man faces many problems in the community that he lives in. To be able to face those problems courageously, and to meet and solve them, is the true meaning of . Every man aspires for happiness and a peaceful life. Every man wants a respectable position in the society in which he lives, and every man wants good health; but to be able to deserve this happiness, this health, and this peaceful life is a part of . To be able to enjoy this peace and happiness, we will have to adopt a path, and the path that we have to adopt for this will constitute the of which we are talking.

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In the the that was taught to was to give him the strength by which he does not turn his back on the problems that he was facing. The lesson that was given to was that he should face the problem and find a solution for the problem. This kind of , which the students should undertake in their lives, should enable them to face the country and community and the problems thereof. You find the solutions to the problems, and by God’s grace, these problems will be solved. One should regard the country’s problems as one’s own problems. Put away the selfishness and ego in you and regard the problems of the society as your own problems, and you must solve them. It is necessary that students take the lead in solving such problems. I hope that those of you who are students will be able to imbibe the messages given by the older people in sacred congregations like this, and that you will shape your lives in such a manner that you will become useful citizens of the country. I hope that this will be possible for you.

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In the first instance you must give satisfaction to your father and mother. According to our traditions, mother and father who have gifted us this human body are to be treated like gods; and if we cannot show them gratitude, our lives are meaningless. Many great saints have sacrificed everything else in order to satisfy their mother and father. Saints like and have sacrificed everything to be of service to their parents. In the first instance, you should show gratefulness and provide satisfaction to your mother and father. Then you can make an effort to serve the country. You should be sure that the kind of work that you undertake does not cause waste of time. Everything is time for us, in fact, time is the very basis of all that we see in this creation. If we waste time, we will be wasting our entire life and body. The significance of our commencing the summer classes today is that we recognise the spiritual strength in us. We should take such steps as would promote this spiritual strength and let it blossom out and become useful to others. In the world there are many organisations which are devoted to the service of the community; but our organisation, the - should have something specific and distinctive - showing an ideal to other organisations. We are commencing our summer classes today and many experienced and elderly people will come, and they will give you their messages. I am hoping that you will imprint their messages in your heart. Not only imprint them in your heart, but also try and put them into practice. I bless you all and bring this discourse to a close.