Young Adults Corner
In addition to the knowledge derived from the sacred texts, one should gain wisdom through experience. Knowledge without personal experience is futile. Wisdom lodged within us will be of no avail if it is static. ~ Baba
When we are very young, we only experience life, we do not analyze it. As we grow older, our intellect begins to gain understanding of these experiences and we begin to integrate the lessons in our lives. We offer this column as an opportunity to young adults to share their experiences, realize how life is the greatest teacher, and show how Swami’s teachings have helped them. We also hope that the process of writing will enable them to integrate these experiences into their daily life.
A Journey to God Varsha Ghayal
Swami has often said, “Young people should cultivate Divine feelings and qualities, participate in sacred activities and lead a life of exemplary excellence.” “Well, how does one go about doing this?”, I asked myself. As a first-year college student, living away from home and Sai center, I was feeling devoid of these Divine feelings and lacked participation in sacred activities.
I felt as though I had fallen into an abyss of materialism and delusion. I did not have the energy and motivation to pull myself out of this bottomless pit and was utterly confused as to what I should do. However, Swami, Our Beloved, Merciful Bhagavan, cultivated a tremendous desire in me to see Him, to be a student of His…to attend the Summer Showers in Brindavan. This desire was so strong that I prayed fervently to Swami to allow me to attend the Summer Course, to change into a more devoted spiritual aspirant and to live as an example of His teachings.
I went through the necessary application procedures for the summer course, was selected as one of the twelve privileged girls and made all the appropriate preparations for the trip, only to find out that the Dearest Swami had canceled the summer course one week prior to our departure. As I learned of this sad news, many thoughts ran through my mind. How will I survive another year of college without seeing Swami? How will I learn to conduct myself in an exemplary manner? But most upsetting was the thought that I would not have the golden opportunity to be a student of Baba.
Fortunately, all the girls in the group had tremendous enthusiasm and determination to make the trip despite the cancellation. And Swami guided and helped through the entire trip. We made our own summer course which included seva in the canteen, study circles on Summer Showers 1993, lectures given by various renowned speakers and Divine discourses by our Beloved Bhagavan. Through this we learned tremendous, invaluable amounts of information on Indian Culture and Spirituality.
One of the most important lessons was the Unity in Diversity. Swami had given permission to a group from Malaysia to attend the Divine discourses, but when they tried to attend that evening, they were not permitted to enter. They realized that Swami gave permission not only to them, but to us, the American girls, as well, for we had come for the same purpose. From then on, we all prayed together, as one, that Swami would allow us to listen to the Divine discourses and give us an interview. Both of these occurred, due to our unity. We began to see our two groups as one group of students, who have come for the same purpose—spiritual upliftment.
Throughout the trip, Swami, by various means, kept emphasizing the power of our thoughts. 0ur whole life rests on the power of our mind. “We sow the seed of thought and reap the fruit of action; we sow the seed of action and reap the fruit of nature; we sow the seed of nature and reap the fruit of character; we sow the seed of character and reap the fruit of destiny. It is evident from this that our destiny rests on our thoughts.” But how do we control our thoughts to be pure ones, I questioned. It is so difficult to always have good thoughts. What do you do when a bad thought comes to mind? My answer came from one of the Malaysian girls. She said you must uproot any negative thought in your mind and replace it with a good one. You are the only one who can do this. No one is going to remind you to stop having bad thoughts. Then Swami, during our second interview, also demonstrated a method to keep our thoughts pure. When you are angry, say, ‘I am man, I am not dog’. When the mind wavers, say, ‘I am man, I am not monkey.’ Repeat this ten times and your mind will be free of these thoughts.” I tried this technique on several occasions and was quite successful.
I learned another important lesson when reading the book Summer Showers 1993. Swami says, “Students should press forward with patience in spite of stress and strain, the trial and the tribulation which they have to undergo. It is hard in the beginning to move forward, but as you press forward, it becomes natural for you to make your journey towards God.” This passage touched me especially, since the past semester of college was full of stress. I would become nervous, impatient, instead of maintaining patience and peace of mind.
Even after learning all this and trying to put it into practice, I was still left unsatisfied. I saw the Anantpur college girls and the college boys on a daily basis and desired to be Swami’s student. But without admission to a Sai Institute or the Summer Showers course this would be impossible. Then one day Swami answered my yearning through a guest speaker. He said, “Swami’s student is not one who studies in Swami’s institute, but one who is a student of spirituality …. One who puts Swami’s teachings into practice”.
Jai Sai Ram
