Sri Sathya Sai Advises Students on the Importance of Good Character

March 6, 2002 (Wednesday) 


After the interview, Swami came to the second block and looked at the Ganesha for some time and came where teachers sat. 

Swami : What is the greatest word in the world? 

Prof. A. K. : Single word ‘God’ Swami. 

Swami : You told ‘I’ earlier. 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, if You tell like that, what will be my fate? (He had earlier mentioned ‘I’ as the greatest word.) 

Few students show a card to Swami. One student showed photographs to Swami. 
Swami saw the photographs for a long time. 

Swami : Is Service Commission Chairman big post or a Foreign Secretary post? 

Prof. A. K. : Foreign Secretary, Swami. 

Swami : Last year Foreign Secretary (Sri Lanka) came here. Now that Government is not there. Now it has changed. I told him three years back that you will get a post of Service Commission Chairman. He was hesitant to accept the post because it would mean accepting a post which will be below the current post. Then I told him, “If you accept the post, it would be very shameful. But if you do not accept the post, it will be more shameful. So you accept the post.” He then took Swami’s blessings and left. He came here once with kidney problem, his stomach was swollen. The doctors had given up all hope. I tapped on both sides of the stomach and said that it would be all right. His wife was feeling very sad. His sons did not agree for an operation because both the kidneys were having a problem. I told him to go and get operated. When he went back, everything was fine. Now there is no problem. He is a devotee for the past 11 years. When he came here, I was in Bhajan hall. He found it very difficult to sit down. He did not want to go back because Bhajans were going on. Then I sent a teacher to give him a chair to sit. He felt so happy that he started crying. 

V. C. : He said, “See how compassionate and generous Swami is.” He was shedding tears even then. 

Swami : You are all like small monkeys. You cannot understand all this. But he understood. Whatever I say, you should do. That person followed my command implicitly. That is strong faith. (To Prof. Anil Kumar) You told in awareness class that confidence is important. What is the single letter greatest word, which is the two letter word? 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, You only tell. 

Swami : I and we. Let us move together without any fights, with friendship. Kalimi (wealth), Chelimi (friendship), Balimi (strength/power) are sought by students today. Is it right? 

Students : Yes, Swami. 

Swami : But if you do not have Gunamu (virtues), everything will come to zero. There are a lot of people in the world who have money. When one has money, friendship will follow. Consequently, the person thinks that he has strength. 

Prof. A. K. : But Swami when we are making friends, we may not know their character? 

Swami : Why should you be bothered about others’ character? You should be concerned about your character. Just because the other person’s eyes are good will you follow him? You do not have to see others’ good or bad. You should focus on yourself. That is self-confidence. With that, you can achieve anything. When you have self-confidence, you will have self-satisfaction. Once you have self-satisfaction, you will get self-realisation. For everything, self-confidence is important. Faith is different, confidence is different. 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, is it possible that you have faith and not have confidence? 

Swami : Confidence comes from heart. It is Pravritti. Faith is Nivritti

Prof. A. K. : To have these two, what effort should we make? 

Swami : You have to be fortunate to have both of them. First you do Karma (action). Out of action comes attachment; from the seed of attachment comes faith; from the seed of faith comes character; and from the seed of character you get the fruit of fortune. For faith, Satsankalpam (good thoughts) is very important. From Satsankalpam arises Satkarma (good action). Satkarma bears good fruits which builds up the character, which in turn builds fortune. 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, is it possible to do good actions having bad intentions? 

Swami : No, you cannot do. For action, thought is responsible. 

Prof. A. K. : Swami how can thoughts be good? 

Swami : You will get bad thoughts, but they will come and go. 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, can we turn the bad thoughts into good? 

Swami : Suppose, if you sow 10 seeds of thorny bushes, they will grow into thorny bushes. Suppose you have 100 fruit-bearing trees, you cannot deduct 10 from 100 and say I have 90 fruit-bearing trees. You will have both thorny bushes and fruits. Once they sprout you can throw them away. 
(Here, Swami gave a simile comparing bad deeds with thorny bushes and good deeds with fruit-bearing trees.) 

Prof. A. K. : Swami, then when will there be Parivartana (transformation)? 

Swami : Once you know that it is bad, remove it. Youth think that the thorny bush is a fruit. It is not mistake; but it is out of mischief that they think like that. Ultimately, it will only hang you. But you may ask, “What if it grows again?” 

Prof. A. K. : Yes Swami, I was about to ask that only. 

Swami : Once you know that it is bad, you should throw it very far, otherwise because of the friendship, it grows again. That is why I say, “Tell Me your company, I shall tell what you are.” If you are careful now, in your future you will be happy. If you are not careful now, later you have to suffer. A small example: Suppose you have wheat dough and you roll it into a Chapati. If you do not like the shape, you can always change it. But after it is roasted, you cannot make any changes. You have to eat it. This is a good age to change. If you do not change now, you can never change. Take the example of a snake-gourd. When it is small, if you tie a small stone to it, it will remain straight. But if you tie a stone after it has become big, it will not become straight. Unfortunately, students are not doing like that. This is a good opportunity to change. If you neglect now, you will have to suffer later. That is why it is said, “Tasmat Jagrita Jagrita” (Always be careful). 

Prof. A. K. : By some misfortune, if you do not get good company, what can we do Swami? 


Swami : Only if you are good, good will come to you. You all know Ratnakara. He was a great thief. The seven sages told him, “See you are doing so many sins. You will have to pay for all of them.” Then Ratnakara said, “I am doing all this for my family. They will also take a share of my sins.” The sages told him to go and ask his family members. He went and asked his wife, “Are you happy?” The wife said that she was. He then asked his children, “Are you happy?” The children also said that they were happy. Then he told them, “See, every day I commit a crime and get food for you all. Will you not share my sins along with me?” The wife said, “How should it matter to us in which way you are getting food for us. It is your duty to feed us. Why should we share your sins?” Then Ratnakara realised his mistaken notion and started chanting Rama’s name. Consequently he became a great saint. He became Sage Valmiki. He was the author of the Ramayanam. After he came to know that what he was doing was bad, he left it immediately. He never postponed it to a later date. If you keep postponing it, sins also will keep increasing. They will become like a mountain and ultimately you have to fall under it and die. Many students think that 90 percent of the bad things as good. What Ramamoorthy, how are the students? 
(Prof. V. E. Ramamoorthy (Prof. V. R.) is a senior professor at the School of Business Management in Swami’s University.) 

Prof. V. R. : All students are good, Swami. 

Swami : All are good only, but their minds… If they follow what I tell, it is good. 

Prof. V. R. : Yesterday they sang songs which were having Swami’s teachings. 

Swami : Without knowing the meaning (Artha) if you do anything, it will become waste (Vyartha). It is not enough if you tell once, you have to keep telling it repeatedly. Suppose one small boy is there. In the evening he comes back from school, sits in his house, and is doing his homework. He is repeating ‘Milk, Milk’. Mother comes out and asks, “Where is the rat?” (In Telugu, if you repeat the word ‘Milk’ with speed, it will sound ‘Amma Eluka’ which means ‘Mother, there is a rat’.) So, there is a mistake in learning also. If teachers teach, it will be good. Today, whatever students learn they will remember them until exams. 

Prof. V. R. : The modern students throw away their books along with the facts. 

Swami : Pustakam Mastakam Lo Undali (Book should be there in the head). 

Then Swami narrated few incidents from His early days. 




1 comment:

  1. Excellent doubt clearing effective lesson giving teaching conversation in typical Swami(Sathya Sai) ways...Thank you....Jai Sairam

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