Unfortunate Children
In the following discourse, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is speaking to inmates of a remand home in Hyderabad about how they should conduct their lives. This is a good lesson for all of us, too.
Student Inmates,
Though you are subjected to a regimen of duties in this institution, you have to regard it as a valuable opportunity to mold your lives and shape your character into perfect models of ideal conduct. The sapling can be helped to grow straight; once it grows into a tree, the trunk cannot be trained to grow straight. It is beyond correction. In childhood you were led astray because you did not know which act was right and which act was wrong; there was no one to guide you along the good path. You fell into bad company because no one warned you, nor rescued you when you succumbed. No one pointed out to you the way to God and goodness. If they had, you would have quickly absorbed the advice for the minds of children are capable of imbibing the good as deeply as the bad. There was no one around you who had faith in your innate divinity; nor had they the compassion to save you and guide you into good ways.
Well, forget the past. It has already passed. The present is the most important time for us. Hold on to truth; follow the right path always: Satyam vada, Dharmam chara—Tell the truth and act righteously—say the Vedas [scriptures]. Do not entertain thoughts of despair or dejection. Be happy you have this chance of rebuilding yourselves as fine boys and girls, with sharp intelligence and loveable manners and behavior. These people are coming to you, teaching you bhajans (devotional songs), and singing songs about God with you. They sanctify the fine atmosphere of love and mercy that prevails here. They tell you of God, the Avatar, and the saints. Have Ramakrishna and Vivekananda as your ideals. Follow their examples. In this institution, they give you the training that will liberate you, not the training you had when you were children that put you to bondage. Absorb the lessons you are taught to the fullest possible extent. Put into practice the guidance given.
Do not have any ill-feelings among yourselves. Help others when they need help and when you can do so. Do not think that it is enough if you sing bhajans when these people from the Seva Samiti [Sai service group] come here and sit with you. Sing with them in your mind, silently, sincerely, even when you are walking or working, writing or calculating. The name of God is like a torch that guides your steps in the dark. Suppose you have to walk through a forest in the night, you may wonder how a little torch can help you for such a long journey through the darkness. Walk with the torch in your hand; the light it sheds will walk with you, every step of your journey. So, also, life is a long journey through the night; keep the name of God on your tongue, bright and clear, it will help you at every step.
Resolve to be good and loveable children from this moment. Do your duties gladly and well to the satisfaction of your well-wishers. If you feel sorry for the wrongs you did, that itself will please God and He will pardon you. If you turn a new leaf and become better and better every day God will shower grace on you. Here you are given both protection and education. This is the time for you to learn how to be useful sons and daughters of our great land. Whenever any idea of hurting others or taking someone else’s belongings or spreading some falsehood about another or uttering what is not true comes into your mind, turn to God for help; ask Him to give you strength, for all these ideas are born of fear and cowardice. Repeat the name of God or hum a bhajan. You will find that the bad thoughts have fled, leaving you free from evil.
When you leave this institution and start living outside in society, you must serve as examples for others in leading useful, active lives. This is a workshop into which you have come, like damaged cars, and damaged through ignorance and neglect. You must leave the institution rid of all defects, in fine running condition, perfect in every way, attractive in appearance and character. Your parents, the elders of your village, your kith and kin, your friends and all who have the welfare of our country in their hearts, must be happy and proud at your new skills, fine character, and great eagerness to serve.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, May 1978
Love should not be rationed on the basis of caste, creed, or economic status, or the intellectual attainment of the recipient. It should flow full and free, regardless of consequence, for it is one’s nature to love. One cannot but pour out love, one cannot but seek out the dry, dreary wastes in order to water them with the spring of love and make them yield a harvest of love.
~Baba
