God's Creation Around Us Has A Great Deal To Teach Us

June 1978, Summer Course 1978, Brindavan

Published English.

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and Students:

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If man has to attain salvation, he requires and . is of two kinds. One is the relating to the external situation. The other is the relating to the internal situation. The first one enables you to eke out a living and the second enables you to reach your destination. We have to discuss and come to a conclusion as to what constitutes true . The kind of education that we are getting today in the schools and colleges cannot be called true . This will only lead you to occupy some kind of a position and lead your daily life without too much trouble. This may also be described as education that enables you to eke out your livelihood. It relates to the material world. From the sweeper upwards to the Prime Minister, they will all be working to eke out a livelihood. There may be a difference in position and status, but what all these people do will be related to the material world.

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is something that will take man to his ultimate destination. In this world and in the spiritual world, in your life now, and after this life, what gives you happiness and bliss is the . What we call is superior to all other types of education. All types of education are like the rivers while the is like the ocean. All the rivers go and merge in the ocean, all types of education lead us to . What we call demonstrates the aspects of . This teaches you about . But, takes you and merges you in . The ability of an individual to convey the meaning of and to the seekers makes him a guru. A guru really means a great person. When we talk of the greatness of the guru, we mean the capacity of the guru to experience the aspects of and teach them to others. So, when we talk of the position of the guru, it cannot mean what we generally talk of today. Here the “” is something that is above and “” signifies something which is above a form. The guru must thus be able to experience creation without being affected by the form and the in the creation. We should try, through , to acquire the position of such a guru.

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does not mean running away from a home and a family and living in a forest by eating leaves. This cannot be the true meaning of . It also does not constitute if you stand upside down like bats. One aspect of real refers to our ability to bring your thought, word and action into harmony. You should be able to unify your work, mind and talk. gives you the ability by which you can do this. , which we have identified with and will enable one to experience . To a guru, both these things should be like his two eyes. If we want to clean a cloth that has gathered dirt, we need clean water as well as soap. Similarly, if we want to get rid of the dirt that has gathered in our mind, we need as well as . Generally, we think that an ordinary person cannot acquire . gives you the ability to control your mind and action and turn them toward God. It has been established that this creation is filled with . It is not a great sacrifice to give away one’s material possessions. It is truly great to be able to give up one’s self. is sacred in teaching these aspects. The guru that comes in this story and the disciples that sit at the feet of such a guru are good examples; and if we can understand them, it will lead us to the right path. is the central figure for .

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was also a principal character in this play. is an ideal example of a disciple. is an ideal guru. Here, the best of human beings, , is the disciple; and the greatest of Gods, , is the Guru. holding the is the disciple. the is the guru. It is not easy to find another parallel to such a confluence of a guru and a disciple. Bringing such a disciple and a guru together and teaching the sacredness of this confluence to the people of is the basis of . Guru is a person, who can wake up a sleeping and ignorant devotee, by the alarm bell of . The guru keeps saying, “Awake, arise, wake up to the fact that you are not an ordinary human being but that you are divine.” This is the work of a true guru. One who is called a guru should have himself had the experience of .

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Today, we want to cross the river of our lives along with a heavy luggage in the form of a family. There are several who, like the blind and the lame, neither understand the depth of the river nor the effort involved. This is the reason why there are several unsacred actions entering the conduct of the students. If, therefore, we can put the in the proper path, the students will not pursue the wrong path. It is in this context that the , with their sacred hearts and their experience, should train the students carefully. There will no doubt be a good future for . The should take into their minds at least one or two good things and teach them to the children. It is said that for our life, there are twelve . It is not as if these twelve have twelve forms. The different aspects of teaching are to be identified with the twelve forms. To be born is a guru, to live on the earth is a guru, to be happy is a guru, to be strong is a guru. It is not right to have a guru only in the school or college. Even when we do business, there is something to learn. When we cultivate land, there is something to learn. In this way, everywhere there is something for us to learn; and in fact, the entire world is like a university. Not only this, all the creation around us is in the position of an important guru. Without any difference of caste or creed, the tree proclaims equality of every one. The mountains are teaching to us that we should not have so much attachment to and care of our body by showing how patiently they can stand in rain, sun and cold. The birds teach us to be unmindful of the changing days. The world is not permanent. The family is only an illusion. So says the man who is leaving the world after death. You have no right to keep on saying that this belongs to you or that belongs to you. The creation around you keeps on reminding you that nothing belongs to you. If you really want to understand nature, creation is the best school. The guru is himself. All that is contained in the creation - the mountains, the trees, the rivers - are teaching us constantly. The education that nature around us gives us is much more than the education given by a guru or a mother or a father. Therefore, if we can really understand the secret of the creation around us, our minds will not go after the attractions of the material world. There is nothing more wonderful or awe-striking than God’s creation.

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Students: if we want to produce a spoon or a cup, we make a mould and from that mould, we keep on producing more and more copies of the same piece. We try to duplicate everything. In God’s creation there are millions of individuals, millions of insects, mountains and trees. Do we see any one piece of creation resembling identically any other piece? Even twins, born from one mother will be different in some way or the other. They will never be completely identical. There is no similarity between one piece and another. All these flowers are jasmine flowers, but there is no complete identity between one jasmine flower and another. Can there be anything more startling than this? How many lessons can this teach us? Who can create such things? This is great work of God. If we can make an attempt to understand this aspect of God, we can understand everything. A guru who can make us alive to this situation is very necessary today. Teachers, who understand the or the aspect of God are very necessary. The of should make an attempt to teach the students with love, forbearance and with a sacred heart. The guru should not become a lazy person. If our own children are children born to us out of , the children who come to us as students must be treated as children of . We must treat them with more affection than what we show to our own children. We should not treat them differently. Our teachers must have an equalmindedness and should not give place to any difference due to caste, religion and such other aspects. In the training camp that has just been held, you have learnt several new things. You should regard this as a great opportunity. We should regard inculcating the idea of service in the minds of the children of this country as a sacred task. I am hoping that the teachers will undertake to help the students and thus help to re-establish the ancient culture of this country. You must go on teaching the children from the beginning, the essence of our Vedic statement, “.” We should also teach the children that they should conduct themselves with humility when they meet their elders. We should teach them that whatever they eat, they should eat it after offering it to God. In the absence of such practice, the conduct of the children is taking a very distorted path. To some extent, the children are shaping themselves on the lines of the conduct of their mothers. In the ancient days, the ideas and thoughts of the women were very sacred. At the time when the women were in the family way, they used to listen to many sacred stories like the story of , or of , or or . In these days, the situation is such that women in the family way see three cinemas a day. As a consequence, all the bad ideas contained in a cinema enter their mind and the children born are “Cinema Children” full of wrong ideas and emotions. It is very difficult to correct and reform such children. We will have to undergo a lot of trouble in this task, but it is necessary for the sake of our country and of our people. In this large world, each one of you is like a tiny screw or a bolt. We must make an attempt, without ego, to learn our responsibility and do our duty. We should not give room to any ego. When there is ego, you cannot be a good guru. I am hoping that you will be able to put the decisions taken by us into practice and teach good things to the children.