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| Prof. V.E. Ramamoorthy with Sri Sathya Sai |
Vidya Vahini is Bhagavan Baba’s Divine response to the compelling need for rehabilitation and re-orientation of education as an effective instrument for universal peace and progress. It is a precious gift of nineteen essays, a Treasure Chest that provides the framework for a system of education that focuses on devotion rather than on desire, on sacrifice rather than on self-gratification, on giving rather than on getting. It further contains clear guidelines on the ways and means of pursuing the search for Truth, Unity and Purity and eventually attaining the Awareness of Supreme Universal Consciousness.
Starting with the Divine affirmation that Vidya, at its highest level, the Supreme Wisdom, will enable the visualization of the sovereign secret underlying the captivating beauty of the Cosmos, the stream of illuminating thoughts in Vidya Vahini, takes us through the need for purity of mind for grasping its sublime significance; the present day sad state where education prepares mendicants in search of money and is marketed; the role of valid education in promoting right living and faith in the ONE God and in creating awareness of the Truth; the two facets of Vidya, one conferring the means of living and the other the goal of life; the sanctifying influence of selfless service or Seva; the significance of non-attachment for spiritual progress; the essentials of Guru-Sishya relationship and the potential of Vidya to overcome the beast in man and help him earn Sattvic happiness. Then there is the Divine exhortation to acquire Amrita Vidya, Education for Immortality. The final seven chapters of Vidya Vahini shine forth as a one-to-one, heart-to-heart talk to the students on the art and practice and the basic rules and ideals of right living.
Man is Divine
For decades, Bhagavan Baba has been repeatedly drawing our attention to the pristine glory and pre-eminence of Bharat in proclaiming, demonstrating and reiterating the innate Divinity in man. In His Benedictory Address to a conference on Values Education, Bhagavan Baba declared: “In fact, you are not human; you are God, as God is present in all beings. You will remain a human being so long as you think so. Have the firm conviction that you are God.” (Divine Discourse, 25.09.2000).
The Upanishads, an integral part of our most ancient body of knowledge, declares:
“Ishavasyam Idam Jagat.” This world is the residence of the Lord, the embodiment of Ananda (Bliss). By intense and ceaseless efforts, many of our ancient rishis, sages and seers visualized the fundamental secret behind the captivating Cosmic Beauty and by communicating their experience to humanity, kindled the yearning for experiencing the Bliss. In addition, Bharat has been the hallowed land of the Avatars, the highest manifestations of God in human form, who had incarnated from time to time, for restoring the erring humanity to the path of Self-Realization.
Atma Vidya
“Adhyatma Vidya Vidyaanaam (Among all the Vidyas, I am Atma Vidya)”, declared Lord Krishna to Arjuna. Bhagavan Baba, the Avatar of our Age, defines Vidya as that which illumines; as the search for and understanding of the Atmic Truth, the Supreme Principle. He describes the Supreme Principle thus: “That which has no origin, knows no beginning. It was before everything or anything was. There was nothing prior to It. For that very reason, It has no end. It expands as far as It wills, progresses as diverse as It feels, and through Its Fullness, It fills the Universe too.” (Vidya Vahini, Reprint 2004, p.i.). Bharat’s cherished ideal, “Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu” (May all the worlds be happy and prosperous) is an expression of this eternal Universal Principle.
Value Orientation
Bhagavan Baba reminds us: “Man is endowed with Pancha Pranas (Five Life breaths), namely Praana, Apaana, Vyaana, Udaana, and Samaana. These are the Divine powers latent in man. The human values, namely, Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema and Ahimsa are nothing but the manifestations of these five life-breaths. But man is wasting his human birth, as he is unable to recognize these subtle principles.” (Divine Discourse, 26.09.2000).
Education is the foundation on which individual character is built and the social life patterns are evolved. Hence, it should be so designed as to set out a system of values embracing and enhancing personal and social life. Today, we are silent witnesses to a deepening crisis in values and a sense of meaninglessness or emptiness of the heart amidst material abundance. Two members of the alumni of Harvard University were exchanging views, and one said that it has in its curriculum all branches of knowledge, to which the other responded: “Branches are fine. But, what about the roots?” Learning today is for earning money and not for higher and better life. Academic brilliance coexists with spiritual bankruptcy. Yassin Sankar affirms: “The search for human excellence via education can only be realized, if education is Value-based. Education must impart the basic Human Values that lend meaning to our work and life.” (Yassin Sankar, Education, Human Values and Ethics – Imperatives for Information Society, Canadian Scholars’ Press, Toronto, 1992, p. ix)
Blending the Dichotomy
Education should transcend the bounds of Lower Learning which is confined to mere information, theories, inferences, concepts and conjectures and must evolve into a process of transformational Higher Learning that enables one to acquire the universal human values of Truth, Morality, Peace, Love and Non-violence and thereby know and become Truth, Goodness and Beauty; Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram.
Bhagavan Baba refers to the two fields of knowledge that man has to acquire in order to grow and attain fulfilment. One is the knowledge of the phenomenal world, the manifested universe, which will confer the means for living (Jeevana Upadhi) and the other is the knowledge of the other world which is concerned with the goal of life (Jeevana Paramavadhi). He calls for an integrated education system with a proper balance between secular knowledge (Education) and spiritual knowledge (Educare). He further clarifies: “Educare is that type of learning that brings out the purity latent in the Heart, confers Bliss, and allows one to spread joy and happiness among others. Education is associated with knowledge pertaining to the ephemeral world and can at best lead only to worldly pleasure that is invariably transient. Educare, on the other hand, confers inward Bliss that is eternal in nature.” (Divine Discourse, Summer Course on Indian Culture and Spirituality, 15.05.2000).
On the need to combine ‘Education’ with ‘Educare’, Bhagavan Baba explains, “Education is like insipid water; Educare is like sugar. Merely adding sugar to water does not make it sweet. It is only on stirring, does the sugar mix with the water making it sweet. The heart is the tumbler, Divinity is the sugar, and secular education is tasteless water. With intelligence as the spoon and enquiry as the process of stirring, we experience the all-pervasive Divinity. That is true wisdom, which enables us to recognize the unity of all creation.” (Divine Discourse, 20.11.2001).
He also further explains the dual aspects of knowledge, the patent and the latent, the direct and the indirect, the apparent and the real, the Pratyaksha and the Paroksha, the Bahya Vidya and the Brahma Vidya or Atma Vidya. The patent, Pratyaksha, apparent knowledge or Bahya Vidya is derived through the sense perceptions and presents a multi-directional view of the distinctions and differences in the Universe, thus registering plurality or diversity in a unified world. The latent, Paroksha, real knowledge or Atma Vidya illumines and purifies the mind, destroys the inner darkness, expands the vision of the heart, and captures, focuses and unifies the multiple perceptions in one direction, converting the Many into One, and affirming the underlying Unity in Diversity. This shows the way for joy in present life and Bliss in the life beyond. When this is reinforced with Tapas, involving purity and harmony of actions, utterances and mental resolves, the goal of realization of the Absolute is attained.
The conventional modern education fails to recognize that man lives in two worlds: the world of facts and the world of values. It imparts only textual scholarship which makes one ‘literate’, but not necessarily ‘educated’. It stuffs the brain, without training the mind, and invests the individual with a puffed-up ego, a degree of arrogance and a flair for self-aggrandizement. He is driven by whims and fancies, tends to fall a prey to his senses and is mostly immersed in materialism. He ends up as a menace to himself and the society. Bhagavan Baba compares such pretentious scholars to match-sticks which have fallen into water and cannot yield fire when struck, however vigorously you try. True education should lead to elimination of ego and pride, should inculcate humility, tolerance and discipline and should destroy arrogance and envy. The roles of spiritual, moral and behavioural values as the very pinnacle of human achievement need to be recognized. Bhagavan Baba has also ordained that the worth of man is to be judged by the harmony of his thoughts, words and deeds (Trikaranashuddhi).
Bondage to Liberation
Swami Nithyasthananda observes: “When there is chaos in a personality, without any master to exert control, outside forces like money, power, position or some other person will rule over that personality and this state is called bondage. Freedom from this bondage is Moksha, and this is the ultimate aim of human life.” Man has been gifted with the ability to sublimate his inborn qualities. Mere acceptance of what the external vision conveys is the characteristic of the Pashu (animal). It symbolizes ignorance. One who strives and attains mastery over his senses, withdraws consciousness (Chit) from the objective world (Samsara) and pursues the path of inward vision and Atmic search, gets elevated into Pashupati (master of all beings).
Happiness can be of three types. For the Tamasic person, with dull intellect, the choice of spiritual pursuit does not exist, as he is aware of happiness only from sleep and slothfulness. Rajasic qualities, ridden with passion, breed egotism, pride and selfishness and bind man to the attendant consequences. Drawing liberally from external fleeting pleasures, his senses provide him instant happiness. This, however, is short-lived and the adverse effects of greedy and selfish acts, disappointments and failures soon follow. What seemed to be nectar turns into poison. If he is discerning and succeeds in suppressing his rajasic tendencies, he is ready to acquire and imbibe Sattvic qualities, manifesting goodness and facilitating recognition of inborn Divinity.
Vidya should also show the way for Sattvic happiness. Atma vidya is for immortality, for Divine life on earth The switch from the rajasic to the Sattvic, from bondage to liberation (Moksha) calls for Sadhana, involving initial discipline and sacrifice and practice of renunciation, Tyaga or detachment, not in terms of sacrifice of mere material objects or of seeking the solitude of the forest, as is conventionally perceived, but by giving up desires. These efforts may seem tough to begin with, but once the individual gains mastery over his mind and emotions, he attains Awareness of the Atma and derives lasting Atmic Bliss. What seemed to be poison initially, turns into nectar.
Unbridled desires trigger and inflame uncontrolled anger and greed, pushing man to the point of no return. Moreover, desires translate into wishes and unfulfilled wishes perpetuate the cycle of birth and death. When desires vanish and emotions are under control, one is equipped to achieve Awareness of the Atmic Reality and derive Supreme Peace (Paramashanti).
Vidya helps one in chalking out the pace and process of one’s spiritual pursuits, in identifying the axioms of virtues, in sustaining faith and confidence, in probing the reality underneath the visible forms and in visualizing the Truth that should sustain one’s life. Man is mostly weighed down by his own animal nature and by his human nature suffused with worldly knowledge. Vidya elevates him and helps in establishing himself in his genuine, Divine, Atmic nature.
Vidya upholds Love as the one law that guides and guards the world. Selfless love purifies and sanctifies the mind. It makes man realize that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are his own mental creations (Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati) and that the entire mankind is born out of the same Divine substance and that God is One.
Bhagavan Baba exhorts: “Vidya confers Vinaya (humility). Through humility one acquires the right to engage in professions. That authority confers prosperity. A prosperous person has the capacity for charity and right living. Right living can confer happiness here and hereafter.” (Bhagavan Baba, Vidya Vahini, p.24.)
About the Author
Prof. V E Ramamoorthy, a Cost Accountant by profession, served as Corporate Finance Executive in leading companies like India Pistons and Tube Investment of India. He was a Professor of Finance, School of Business Management, Accounting and Finance, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam from 1994 to 2011. Prior to joining SSSIHL, he served as Deputy Director of Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai; Executive Director, Association of Management Development Institutions of South Asia, Hyderabad; and Professor of Finance and Director, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. He pioneered the field of ‘Working Capital Management’ through his first book on the subject in 1976 and was fondly called the father of the field. His last book ‘Soulful Corporations’ co-authored with his student Dr. Shashank Shah was personally released by Swami in June 2009. He merged at the Lotus Feet in 2013.
Source: Sai Sparshan 2006 (SSSIHL Silver Jubilee Special Issue)
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