In plain words
How far away Ānanda stays from one who has no self-confidence! Such people may act out Ānanda, but they cannot experience true Ānanda. So only when there is this self-satisfaction do we make ‘self-sacrifice’. When a man is not happy himself, what kind of sacrifice will he take up? So for this sacrifice, ‘satisfaction’, contentment, is essential. When he makes this ‘sacrifice’, then ‘self-realisation’ comes to us.
That is why we must recognise the secret of life that lies in the four S's.
First S-- Self Confidence, Second S--Self Satisfaction, Third S-- Self Sacrifice, Fourth S-- Self Realisation.
Four Fs 1st F- follow the master, 2nd F- face the devil, 3rd F- fight to the end, 4th F- finish the game.
First F, follow the master. Who is meant by the master? Is it our Bal Vikas guru, or the guru in the school? These gurus are ones who change. Your own heart, your consciousness, is your master. Only when you follow your consciousness does your life reach a safe place. That is why: follow the master. You have to put away, at least to some extent, your bad qualities, evil intentions, wicked thoughts and evil feelings. Then the third, fight to the end. The fourth, finish the game. You must keep all these four F's in your heart always. The day we recognise the secret of these four, only then shall we dedicate our life to the four F's.
Because you recognise these sacred secrets in childhood itself, you will have every chance to offer an ideal life in the future. So I hope that you, the boys and girls of today, will grow into the citizens of the future, remove to some extent the sorrow of this holy land of Bhārata and become darling children who give that mother the joy she deserves. First of all, try to satisfy the mother of your body. Your body, your food, your clothes, your life: all of it is nothing but your mother's gift. So these boys and girls must first of all vow to satisfy the mother who gave them their body. Only those who pass through that path become fit to satisfy the motherland. How can a small and weak man, who cannot satisfy even the mother of his body, satisfy the motherland? So, as the Veda says, ‘Let your mother be God to you, let your father be God to you, let your teacher be God to you, let your guest be God to you,’ the boys and girls must take up today the way of honouring first their mother and father, honouring the gurus, honouring the gurus, honouring the guests who come to the house, and winning their goodwill with good, sweet words, with humility and with obedience. Above all, students must grow in humility and obedience. They must not behave carelessly or with Ahaṅkāra. All children must love one another as brothers and as sisters. You must not quarrel with one another over any small matter. Your quarrel starts as something small, then grows big and spreads over the whole cosmos. A banyan seed is very small. When you nurture it, it grows into a mighty tree. So when you do not try at once, at the very first, to check your hatred or your envy while it is the size of an atom, it grows into a mighty tree. So, our life: Start the day with love, Spend the day with love, Fill the day with love, End the day with love. We must try to fill our hearts with this principle of Prema. You are the ones who will uplift the Bhārata of the future.
Swami has deep faith that the boys and girls of Sathya Sai Bal Vikas will give the country ideal lives in the future. The Bal Vikas boys and girls are the very ones entitled to slay the monstrous ghosts now rampant in the land, injustice, wrongdoing, misconduct, Asatya and Adharma, and to bring Śānti, happiness and well-being! Winning this right and stepping forward in life with joy, you yourselves are becoming the great heroes, the holy ones, the valiant, the devotees, the renouncers, the yogīs and the sages too, pledged to uplift Bhārata. I hope that the teachers too, to guide the future of these tender boys and girls along the right path, will make fitting effort, give them fitting zeal and encouragement and, calm in mind, take up the fitting sacrifice to uplift them.