In plain words
One small example is enough. They think, ‘I am the Chairman’; they think, ‘I am the convenor.’ They think, ‘I am the co-ordinator.’ Today how many certificates have gone to women, and how many to men? Because the women are all teachers, there is so much progress. You too must take part in it, make progress along that path, and give due enthusiasm and encouragement. Some say, ‘Swami! We have no time; we go to the office; we have so many other jobs besides; where will we find the time to teach children like this?’ But there is time for everything. As soon as you come from the office, what are you doing? Could you not take a little coffee and a snack and try to teach the children? You sit watching T.V. You sit with the radio on. You sit reading the newspaper. Or you go to the club and sit. Where do you find the time for all this? If women too have to do it like this, why should they not do it? But they are not doing it. The women toil very hard, night and day, for those children. If the śraddhā and Bhakti in the women came into the men too, we could change the world to any extent. One small example: take Prasanthi Nilayam itself as the base. There is the primary school. There is the higher secondary school. There is our institute. But there is a great deal of difference between the children in this higher secondary and the children in the primary school. The reason? In the primary school all who teach are women. The teachers do their teaching with a mother's feeling. They think of them as their own children, coax them, love them, fondle them, and teach them. But these men, like fathers, use force, speak harshly, and give them due discipline. Only when teaching turns into the form of Prema will education in human values grow.
Teaching Must Be Gentle and Sweet
A great change has to come in the way learning is taught. Teaching must always be gentle. It must always be sweet. It must be bound up with Prema. But there is no such bond of Prema in the men.