HUMAN VALUES and

Educare

…from teachings of:

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Human Values and

Educare

Compiled by:

Dr. M. Thirumaleshwar

Introduction

• Sri Sathya Sai Baba always exhorted people to become ‘good people’ rather than ‘great people’

• For this purpose, He emphasized the need to develop and nurture the ‘Human values’ that are innate to all human beingshuman beings

• He said: Sathya (Truth), Dharma (righteous conduct), Shanti (Peace), Prema (Love) and Ahimsa (non-violence) are the main human values and are like the ‘five life breaths’ to all

• This lecture is based, largely, on His teachings

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What is the purpose of Education?

• Some answers from modern youth:

• To get a good job

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• To achieve a high status in society and become powerful

• To go abroad ..

What is the purpose of Education?

• Some answers from modern youth…

• To pay back loans

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• To pay back loans

• To build a good house, own a big car

• To get knowledge and be respected

Amassing money is not the purpose…..

• With money….

• You can buy food, but not hunger

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• You can buy clothes, but not beauty

• You can buy a house, but not home ..

Amassing money is not the purpose…..

• With money….

• You can buy medicine, but not health

• You can buy luxuries, but not

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• You can buy luxuries, but not peace of mind

• You can buy a book, but not knowledge

• You can buy a temple, but not GOD

What is the end of Education?

• Sri Sathya Sai Baba says:

• End of culture is Perfection

• End of knowledge is Love

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• End of knowledge is Love

• End of wisdom is Freedom

• End of education is Character

What is character?

• Every one has qualities of head and heart:

• Qualities of head: thinking, analysis, logic, planning etc

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analysis, logic, planning etc

• Qualities of heart: compassion, love, affection, fear etc

• Net summation of all these qualities is character of the individual

What is character?Swami Vivekananda says:

• What we are every moment is determined by the sum total of the impressions on the mind.

• This is really what is meant by

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• This is really what is meant by character.

• Each man's character is determined by the sum total of these impressions.

Three great examples….

• Sri Ramakrishna..

• Simple, unlettered, rustic, but great intellectuals of

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but great intellectuals of the day sat at his feet to listen to his words of wisdom

Three great examples….

• Sri Ramana Maharshi…

• Left home when he was barely 14 years old to do

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barely 14 years old to do penance.. no education worth the name, but his teachings became a subject matter of many a Ph.D.

Three great examples….

• Jesus Christ…

• Son of a poor carpenter, hardly educated, but more

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hardly educated, but more than half the globe follows his teachings

Some thing common to all of them….

• They personified certain values

• They practised these values in their lives

• They had the courage of their

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• They had the courage of their convictions, and did not deviate from them under any circumstances

• These values are known as ‘Human Values’

Human Values…

• Desirable human values are…

• Love, affection, care, sharing, service, charity, friendship, equality,

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friendship, equality, dedication, sympathy, humility, cleanliness, helping the poor, old and the sick, giving food and education,…etc.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba says:

• Main Human values are:

• Sathya (Truth)

• Dharma (Righteous conduct)

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• Dharma (Righteous conduct)

• Shanti (Peace)

• Prema (Love)

• Ahimsa (Non-violence)

Sathya (Truth)..

• Truth…is unchanging at all times, i.e. past, present and future

• Entire world is perceived by our

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• Entire world is perceived by our senses

• However, perceiving by senses may be misleading

• It is said: ‘seeing is believing’…

• But, is it?...

‘Seeing is believing’…is it? Focus on the dot, and move your head forwards and

backwards:

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‘Seeing is believing’…is it?Good contains evil….?

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Sathya (Truth)…

• The only thing that is unchanging is the ‘seer’ or the life principle within each one of us…..this is ‘Truth’…this is ‘God’

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us…..this is ‘Truth’…this is ‘God’

• With the power of Truth, the heart beats, the lungs breathe and the system works

Sathya (Truth)…

• The same Truth pervades every other person and object

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• It persists and pervades the whole cosmos

• It is this Truth which is the basis of every other thing

Greatness of Truth…

• From Truth emanates all creation

• In Truth everything dissolves

• There is no place where Truth

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• There is no place where Truth does not permeate

• The unsullied primordial Truth

• …….Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Dharma (Righteousness)

• Truth, put into practice, is Righteousness

• Truth is expressed in words;

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Righteousness, in action

• Vedas: ‘Sathyam Vada, Dharmam chara’

Dharma (Righteousness)

• Truth is the foundation, Dharma is the mansion

• No Dharma higher than

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adherence to Truth

• This Dharma is uniform to all human beings

Dharma …

• Dharma also means innate nature;

• For ex:

• Dharma of fire: warmth, light

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• Dharma of fire: warmth, light and to burn

• Dharma of sugar: sweetness

• Dharma of rose: fragrance

Dharma …

• Similarly..

• Man’s Dharma:

• To love and serve

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• To love and serve fellowmen, practise Truth without causing injury to others

Shanti (Peace)..

• Shanti (Peace) is the reflection of Dharma

• So long he has desires, man can never attain Peace

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can never attain Peace

• Mind is the basis for desires

• So, one has to control the mind to attain Peace

Shanti (Peace)..

• Peace resides in hearts free from pride and greed

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greed

• Peace is shore less ocean - it is the light that illuminates the world

Shanti (Peace)..

• Peace can only be won the hard way, by eliminating violence and greed from the hearts of individual.hearts of individual.

• Desire is storm, greed is whirlpool, pride is precipice, attachment is avalanche, ego is volcano. Discard desire and you are liberated.

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Prema (Love)..

• Love is the manifestation of Truth

• ‘Ekatma darshanam Prema’.. i.e. experience

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Prema’.. i.e. experience of oneness (non-dualism) is Love

Prema (Love)…

• Love hates none, unites all

• Love must reach out to all mankind and to God

• Love lives by giving and

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• Love lives by giving and forgiving, and

• Selfishness, by getting and forgetting

Prema (Love)…

• Man without Love is like a lamp-less home, barren cow, runaway kite and a counterfeit

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kite and a counterfeit coin

• There is only one religion – religion of Love

‘Love’ – the central value..

• Love as thought is Truth

• Love as action is Right Conduct

• Love as feeling is Peace

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• Love as feeling is Peace

• Love as understanding is Non-violence

• There is only one royal road for the spiritual journey...Love

Prema (Love)…

• Duty without love is deplorable• Duty without love is deplorable

• Duty with love is desirable

• Love without duty is Divine

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Prema (Love)…

• A man who has no love in him is as barren as a cloud with no moisture, a tree with no fruits or a cow yielding no milk; he is ever far from God and can never earn His Grace.

• In the innermost recess of your heart there is a reservoir of peace where you must take refuge.

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Love – its importance..

• Start the Day with Love

• Spend the Day with Love

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• Fill the Day with Love

• End the Day with Love

• This is the way to God.

Ahimsa (Non-violence)..

• Ahimsa – undercurrent of other four values

• ‘My reality is the reality of all’ – is the Truth

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– is the Truth

• So, idea of violence can never find a place in the heart

• Non – violence is the zenith of human achievement and perfection

Ahimsa (Non-violence)..

• Non-violence means:

• Amity, harmony and understanding –- with reference to human beings

• Non-injury --- with reference to

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• Non-injury --- with reference to plants and animals, and

• Adherence to the law and balance –with respect to nature and ecology

‘WATCH’– the sacred Mantra on the wrist

• W…Watch your Words---let them be truthful

• A… Watch your Actions---let them be righteous

• T… Watch your Thoughts---

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• T… Watch your Thoughts---let them be peaceful

• C… Watch your Character---let it be saturated with Love

• H… Watch your Heart---let it be full of non-violence

Human Values and Educare

• Human values are not to be obtained from outside

• They have to be developed in the heart

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the heart

• ‘Educare’ means to ‘elicit’ or ‘bring out’

• Educare manifests the latent human values in the heart ---hence, its importance

Education and Educare..

• Education must implant elevating ideals and kindle the lamp of wisdom

• Education must equip man

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• Education must equip man to live happily without making others unhappy, and to evaluate things, pleasures and possessions correctly

Education and Educare..

• Humility and an attitude of reverence are essential for man. They are not promoted by the educational system today

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educational system today

• Education fosters desires and leads to rebirth, but educare confers immortality

Result of Educare..

• Children must grow in the awareness of the brotherhood of men and the fatherhood of God

• They should become street lights

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• They should become street lightsserving as an example and guiding others

• They should emulate the pole starwhich is a light unto the whole world

Human Values…

• Politics without principles,

• Commerce without morality,

• Wealth without charity,

• Science without humanity, and

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• Science without humanity, and

• Education without character..are not only useless, but positively dangerous.

• …….Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Human Values…

• Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema, and Ahimsa…these five

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Ahimsa…these five human values are nothing but manifestation of five vital life breaths.

Swami says:

• A true human being is one who practices the five human values -practices the five human values -Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love, and Non-violence.

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Swami says:

• Religions are many but goal is one;

• Jewels are many but gold is one;

• Stars are many but sky is one; • Stars are many but sky is one;

• Cows are many but milk is one;

• Beings are many but breath is one;

• Nations are many but earth is one;

• Flowers are many but worship is one.• Sathya Sai Speaks, vol. 33.10, July 16, 2000

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Swami says:

• Love All, Serve All

• Ego lives by getting and forgetting; Love lives by giving and forgiving; Love is expansion; Self is contraction; Love is expansion; Self is contraction; Self is lovelessness; Love is selflessness.

• Help Ever, Hurt Never

• Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.

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Swami says:

• There is only one religion, the religion of Love;

• There is only one language, the language of the Heart;

• There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;

• There is only one law, the law of Karma;

• There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.July 2016 49

Swami says:

• Desire destroys devotion, anger destroys wisdom, greed destroys work - hence these bad qualities must be sacrificed. these bad qualities must be sacrificed.

• Living with God is Education Living for God is Service Living in God is Realization

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Swami says:

• The play is His, The role is His gift, The lines are written by Him, He directs, He decides the dress and decoration, the gesture and the tone, the entrance and the exit.entrance and the exit.

• You have to act well to receive His approbation when the curtain falls

• Earn by your efficiency and enthusiasm, the right to play higher and higher roles;

• That is the meaning and purpose of life

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Dedicated at theLotus feet of

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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M. Thirumaleshwar