Advice to Students

“Ekam sat; viprah bahudha vadanti,” “The One alone exists; wise men speak of it as many‑facetted.” This is the harmonizing, unifying truth that India teaches through the ages. Another lesson that Indian culture embodies and Indian thought em­phasizes is: When the process of living re­volves around the body, it is steeped in misery; when it revolves around the atma (self), the divine spark within, it is resplendent with joy.

When the years of life are spent out and man has not discovered at least who he is, surely that life is a barren waste. Search for one’s reality, for the witness within, and the Divine that animates; this is the first duty of man to himself. Indian culture calls on all to discover for themselves the special nature of one’s `is‑ness,’ and its sacred consequences and to shape one’s activities and attitudes accordingly.

Ayam Atma Brahma—This atma is Brah­ma. The individual is the universal, pre­tending to be separate! The individual exists, cognizes and is cognized, delights and confers delight because it is the uni­versal. The tiny flame of a candle can light a thousand other candles and yet burn with undiminished strength. The other flames have to acknowledge that they have with them only the flame of the first one. The One has lit the many; the One is shining in and through the many. Ekoham bahushyam: the One decided to be many, to enjoy its own manifoldness. The One appears as all this diversity. That is the truth.

Air, which is but one, appears as storm, whirlwind, breeze, and simoom, assuming vari­ous forms by change of speed in movement. The names too differ from form to form. The insistence on the fundamental unity of all creation is the special feature of Indian thought. It is faulty vision, to see variety as variety, the world as composed of disparate elements and forces. In spite of this great heritage that Indians have come by, they are today disparaging and devaluing it by their behavior and beliefs.

The beliefs of man must be free from asuya (jealousy), as the [Bhagavad] Gita declares. Asuya is the evil nature that cannot tolerate the happi­ness and prosperity of another, that pre­vents man from loving his neighbor, from serving the distressed, and seeing in all the same Divine motivator that he himself has as his inner charioteer. It makes man eager to pick holes in the activities of others and renders them blind to their virtues and excellences.

This is a college, an institution that imparts education and prepares the rising generation to be better women and better citizens. Education must open the eyes and enable them to recognize the one behind the many. When that one is known, the many can be known easily and clearly. Pursue the vast, the cosmic, and the all‑inclusive truth; do not be satisfied with paltry trivial scraps of information; seek the knower behind the knowing process. That is the real victory.

Educationists must concentrate on me­thods by which unity will be imparted and distinctions relegated to a subordinate role. But unfortunately at the present time, in the name of individuality and the sheer fan­cy for distinctness, every encouragement is given to idiosyncrasy, adventurism, foppishness, and flippancy. Parents and elders have to hang down their heads in shame at the vagaries of their children.

Education must promote peace, security, and happiness. But as a result of the edu­cational process through which they have passed, youth are causing anxiety, fear, and unrest in the society of which they are a part; neither have they any peace, joy, or security. The Kaurava brothers [from the Hindu epic Mahabharata] sought power, fame, selfish gain, and competi­tive victory. They loved separatist divisive policies. Their thirst for power could be quenched, as Krishna [the Divine incarnate] said, only by a rain of arrows that wiped them off the face of the earth. In order to remove the terror that stalks the land from end to end, an immediate reform of the educational system is called for.

Roots hold the tree firm; the foundation keeps the building from collapsing. Aware­ness of one’s responsibilities, detachment from entangling bonds, and confidence in one’s own sense of righteousness—these have to be fostered in the colleges. Integrity, sincerity, and the desire to use one’s skills and intelligence for the service of one’s fellowmen are essential in youth.

At present, educated people are wanting in the grit necessary to act according to their convictions; they know a thing is right but lack the will to carry it through. Teach the students to discriminate in a detached manner and arrive at right conclusions, and encourage them to fearlessly put their faith into prac­tice. Now that the cultivation of the spirit is in the name of secularism, be­yond the ken of the system, teachers who are themselves unaware of higher values are leading youth into less and less firm grounds and into fear and fickleness. How can such peo­ple, who have no inner strength, no vital faith in themselves, lead others? What can the country expect from this method of bringing up the young, this foolish and futile round, where the blind lead those un­willing to open their eyes in a series of fallow circles?

“Nayam atma balaheenena labhyah”: the atma cannot be won by the weak. That is the pronouncement of the Vedas [Hindu scriptures]. Without awareness of the source of all strength—the atma, man is basically weak and he can only lead men into further weaknesses.

There are many who swear that they have infinite confidence and faith in themselves, but they assert they have no faith in God. How then could they have faith in them­selves? Who exactly is “I”? Is “I” the bundle of bones and muscle? Is “I” the name?

No. The reality of I is God; the I is a wave of the ocean of divinity, endowed with the same sublimity, taste, and depth. How then can defeat descend on I?

Man has to be continually examining every desire that emerges in his mind, so that he may suppress or destroy or by‑pass or obey. He must learn from parents, elders, teachers, friends, and the leaders of the land, besides the books written by wise men worldwide, and the standards by which he can test his desires. He has to accept them or reject them. There are some who are willfully wicked, who at­tempt to justify by specious argu­ments the iniquities they perform. But even then they know that they are on the wrong path. The God within does not fail to warn and counsel.

Students! If you are drawn into evil in pursuit of momentary pleasure, you will have to suffer misery a thousand‑fold as a consequence of the impulse. Wicked though­ts, wild schemes, and frolicsome escapades might give pleasure at the moment but in the long run they are sure to land you in irretrievable ruin.

Your role is something far higher. You have to correct and transform those who behave like blind men though they have eyes, those who move about as lame men though their legs are strong and straight, and those who behave like insane men though they are equipped with bright minds. Such men are in all fields now. There are hypocrites who talk `peace’ and practice `war.’ Your task is to expose them and educate them back into normalcy and virtue. Become instru­ments in the great effort to re‑establish righteousness throughout the world.

This college has not been established just to prepare you for earning degrees. The main purpose is to help you to cultivate self‑knowledge and self‑confidence, so that each one of you can learn self‑sacrifice and earn self‑realization. The teaching of the university curricula and the preparation for presenting you for the university exami­nations and the award of university degrees—these are only the means employed for the end, namely, spiritual uplift, self‑discovery, and social service through love and detach­ment. Our hope is that by your lives you will set shining examples of spiritual aware­ness and its beneficial consequences to the individual and society.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1974