In plain words
We are not. I teach that at least some of it must be put into practice. But it is only because we do not put it into practice that the children cannot follow our path. A small example. We say that little children should be taught with calm and with Prema. But that very calm we lose at certain times. We teach the children to say ‘Rāmā’. When we say ‘Rāmā’ and the child says ‘Lāmā’, we get angry. While teaching, the first two times he says ‘Rāmā’. The third time, in anger, he says ‘Rrāmā’. As soon as he teaches in anger, that child too learns only ‘Rrāmā’. So teachers must never show their weakness in front of the children. It is by following our weaknesses that children go astray. The reason is that the agitation in our instruments stirs up their instruments too. So if before the children we slander others, or discuss the faults of others, or speak to them in agitation, or fail to teach Satya with affection, then after doing all this, however much we teach the children, it is of no use. We must never display the weaknesses in us before the children. Above all, this is a great sādhana. Even if we cannot do any japa, tapas or smaraṇa, there is no other tapas than to set on the right path our senses: this word, the Manas and work, these three. All these karmas exist for the purity of the Manas alone. ‘Cittasya śuddhaye karma,’ they said. All the karma we do is for purity of citta alone.
So our teachers must do one thing and show it, rather than say a hundred. We must put it into practice. We must not think it is for the sake of others. You must practise it for your own sake. Do you eat for the sake of others? No, you eat for your own sake. Only when we put into practice the sacred and essential principles of spirituality can our teachings and our ideals win a complete victory. Education does not mean only teaching the chief meanings of words. What opens the doors of our Manas, that alone is true education. So we must make the right effort to open the doors of the Manas. First of all we must see what human life is. On the day a man recognises, ‘The things and powers in the world are no greater than I am,’ on that very day the doors of his heart open. On the day he thinks, ‘This wealth, these riches, this learning, this knowledge: these are what is great,’ on that very day he collapses. All these face outward. We notice only the outward circumstances. We do not notice the inward principle. ‘Paśyatīti paśuḥ,’ they said. What sees the outward is a beast. To say, ‘I have studied this much,’ is worldly honour. We must never utter it at all. To think, ‘I have given so many lectures,’ is worldly. These are not the marks of your greatness. The day you forget all these, that is the true mark of your humanness. We must recognise the Satya that there is nothing higher than humanness.
Today, for humanness, we cite eighty or ninety points. Compassion is humanness. Self-control is humanness. Forbearance is humanness. Śānti is humanness. Sacrifice is humanness. Forgiveness is humanness. Sixty qualities lie within these six alone. To develop the humanness in us, we must develop qualities such as these. In the world today we think intellectuals are very clever. Through this very cleverness the world has sunk in so many ways. The man of less cleverness can learn more things. The man of more cleverness falls prey to more doubts. As cleverness grows, doubts grow too. What is the great cleverness in man today? He ignores the simple Satya. He does not understand the hard Satya. Then what is the use of growing cleverness? He makes his own senses slide down the easy paths. A small example. If the house catches fire, one can run out and save oneself. If the senses themselves catch fire, where can you go to put it out? Wherever you go, you cannot escape its pain. So we must see that the senses do not catch fire. When we teach children, we must teach with a smiling face. We must gain the patience to say a thing even ten times. We must teach with Prema. For in the world today the young imitate what they see in their elders. So, if we are not right, the children too cannot be right. The root cause of children going astray today is the elders themselves. It is these teachers who are the chief cause of moral strength collapsing in today's system of education.
So the teachers in our Sathya Sai institutions must become right and exemplary teachers. This is not just for the children's sake. It is for your own sādhana. You must regard it as a sādhana. We must not think on the level of low and high: ‘We are the ones who teach; the children are the ones who learn.’