Sacred Use of Infancy Instruments(SathyaSai Speaks on 22/07/1991):
                                       TODAY, in the name of promoting education, all kinds of bizarre developments devoid of morality are taking place in the country. There is no trace of humility and discipline which are the hallmarks of true education. In the place of character and good conduct, which should be prevalent among students, we notice today the spread of materialism, ostentation and arrogance amongst them. With the rapid advance of science and technology in the world, there is a corresponding decline in peace and security. Developing insatiable desires, the modern student is vitiating his mind. He lacks the capacity for introspection. But his external vision is turned in all directions. The primary thing students should seek to know is: Who is a man and what are the qualities that distinguish a good human being? "Man" means an individual with faith. One's faith gets developed when one lives upto one's beliefs. The sacredness of the human being should be recognised. There is no use in attempting to establish a new system of education or a new social system. By these means the current problems cannot be solved. We have to bring up a generation of purehearted boys and girls. To rear such a generation, there should be a climate of purity and sincerity. This calls for the development of morality and devotion to truth. Character and truth lead to the emergence of spirituality in the divine human personality. Hence, spirituality is the basic foundation for producing a generation of pure-hearted boys and girls. Only when we have such pure young persons, will the nation experience peace and prosperity. To lead a good life students will have to give up their selfishness. Unfortunately, the spirit of sacrifice is not to be seen among students today.

Students suffer today from some mental weaknesses. One of them is the feeling that wealth and position are essential for personal happiness and these alone should be sought after.It is true that you need material wealth for a living. But wealth should not become the 'be-all and end-all' of life. Human life has come from the divine. When you dedicate your life to God and adhere to the path of righteousness you can sanctify life and achieve peace, happiness and prosperity

The first requisite, therefore, is 'self-management.' In this, there is no room for self-interest. No one can be an island unto himself. If a man is asked, for whose sake he is living, he may answer that he is living for himself. When further questioned about his job, he will say he is working for the sake of his wife and children. When he is plied with further questions he will admit his dependence on society for meeting various needs of himself and his family. No individual or family can exist without depending on society.

Today, there are lakhs of people in authority or engaged in politics, business or other walks of life. Almost all of them are concerned only about themselves and their families and few are imbued with a social consciousness. What is the cause of all the evils plaguing society? It is the lack of sense of social responsibility. Every individual has to recognise his duty to society and understand that without society he cannot lead a family life.

Students, therefore, should develop a social consciousness. They should ask themselves how by each of their actions they can promote the welfare of society rather than the interest of themselves and their families. Everyone should feel: “I am a part of the society. My well-being is bound up with the well-being of others."

Understand that without society it(he/she) can't live a family life.

It is the decline of spirituality that has led to all the disorders and maladies in the country. In the world today, beginning with the human mind, everything, the air, water, etc., is polluted. All the five elements are contaminated. Man's life is based on these five elements. Hence, he is the embodiment of pollution in these elements. The sacredness of human life has been desecrated. Moral values are going down the slope everyday. The animal instincts in man are rampant. Only by fostering the divine nature in man, can this animality be destroyed and the human can rise to the level of the divine. For this, men must get rid of their selfishness.

Education is essential as a preparation for serving society. For instance, the MBA students are hoping, after getting their degrees, to become managers of big companies and lead a comfortable life. Managerial jobs carry high salaries. The reason for the high income is inflation in prices caused by the failure of production to keep pace with the demand. Rise in income has been followed by a decline in morality. With the collapse of morals, the nation has become a prey to violence and disorder. Those receiving large incomes should ask themselves whether the work they do is commensurate with the salaries they get. In many enterprises, the expenses exceed the receipts. The absence of work ethic--the spirit of work--is responsible for this situation. The position in India is worse than in some other countries. Laziness is on the increase. Let the students compare the situation in Japan and Bharat. The Japanese have the 'spirit of work', they work hard. Hence, their productivity is high and they are able to keep the prices low. They do not abstain from work even during 'strikes'. In India, there is a clamour for high wages but there is no willingness to work harder. It is because of this attitude that the Indian economy is in a deplorable state.

Selfishness is at the bottom of this evil. It is growing on account of disregard for moral values. Morality means good conduct. Good conduct is based on recognition of right and wrong.There is no trace of humility and discipline which are the hallmarks of true education. In the place of character and good conduct, which should be prevalent among students, we notice today the spread of materialism, ostentation and arrogance amongst them.

SathyaSai Speaks on 27/05/2006:

Modern youth are hankering after this type of education. They go to foreign countries like Germany, Japan and America to pursue this type of education. The education that is not there in Bharat is not available anywhere else (loud applause). Yanna Bharate, thanna Bharata (what is not there in Bharat cannot be found anywhere else). Some people have a mistaken notion that those who are educated abroad are great. In fact, many of them come back after acquiring evil qualities, evil thoughts and evil habits.

In Bharat, the students acquire sacred education; it begins with the thoughts of God. Even an illiterate driver in Bharat salutes the steering wheel before starting the vehicle. Similarly, a musician offers salutations to the musical instrument before playing on it. In fact, all type of learning in Bharat begins with the name of God and prayer to Him and every activity is done as an offering to God without any artificiality and ostentation. People educated abroad come back with big degrees. What is that degree? It is only a piece of paper. They do not understand the essence of education. The students of Bharat have a pure and sacred heart. I feel blissful when I see Indian students. One can see the goodness of education reflected on their faces. The Bharatiyas are not inferior in any way; they are endowed with immense sacredness. Every individual in Bharat is imbued with divine feelings. Forgetting this type of sacred education, people these days are running after worldly and materialistic education. Today there is an influx of gadgets like calculators and computers. They are mere yantras (machines). These yantras do not stand any comparison with mantra (incantation). The real mantra is the name of God which gives immense bliss. The Bharatiyas are not able to understand this truth because of their delusion. But their heart is very sacred.

People today are ruining themselves by craving for worldly and materialistic possessions. Even those responsible for conducting the affairs of the government are treading the evil path.They want only worldly type of education to be promoted in our country. They talk about science and technology. What is this technology? It is only trick knowledge. They say it is technology, but what they do is ‘tricknology’. Many people in Bharat are indulging in dirty business; they are cheating others and doing injustice to them. No Bharatiya should take to this type of business. Everyone should have divine feelings in his heart. All actions should be done to please God. When you start all your activities with prayer to God, you are sure to be rewarded with bliss. Today if you invite a music artiste to sing devotional songs, he will ask, “How much will you pay?” In this manner, all our activity has become business-oriented. Even food and drink have become a big business.The sacred land of Bharat is annapurna kshetra (land of plenty). The tradition of Bharat is to offer food free to every hungry person and water to every thirsty person. This sacred tradition seems to have disappeared these days. By imitating the culture of the West, the Bharatiyas today are casting a blot on the fair name of Bharat. It is the land of great culture. There is hardly any other country which can stand comparison with her so far as the sacredness of the culture is concerned. Having been born in this sacred land of Bharat, we should live like true Bharatiyas. The land of Bharat which is known for tyaga (sacrifice) is being turned into a land of bhoga (pleasure) in mad imitation of western culture. That is why Bharat is facing many problems these days. What is needed in this country is not bhoga but tyaga.
Money is the root cause of many evils. Money makes many wrongs. The first priority of the moneyed people today is to send their children abroad for education. Even elders are encouraging the youth to go to foreign countries for the sake of earning money. Too much money leads man to the path of evil. Money comes and goes, morality comes and grows. So, we have to develop morality. The very foundation of Bharat is based on sathya and dharma. This is what we have to propagate. The Bharatiyas should consider adherence to truth as the greatest dharma. sathya and dharma are most important in the life of man. The youth should strictly adhere to them. What is sathya? It is the harmony of thought, word and deed. Where these three are in harmony, sathya is present there. People speak something on the platform, they have something else in their mind, and their actions are entirely different from what they speak and think. This is the worst sin.
Even animals like goats and monkeys can learn many things. A monkey can be trained to ride a bicycle. Man is much superior to animals. His conduct should be such that manifests his superiority. It is said, Jantunam nara janma durlabham (out of all living beings, human birth is the rarest). Man should therefore not behave like birds, animals and insects. When money is lost, nothing is lost. Instead of putting our faith in money, we should have more faith in love and should develop love to love relationship with others. When you have this type of relationship based on love, love will develop more and more. Only then will we be able to love everybody. We should not observe such differences as so and so is mine and so and so is someone else. We should develop the feeling that I belong to all and all belong to me. All are the children of the same mother. Being the children of the same mother, all should live like brothers and sisters. There may be some differences, but they are temporary. They will come and go like passing clouds. The only thing that is permanent and eternal is love. There is nothing great in acquiring education and amassing wealth.

SathyaSai Speaks on 22/08/2007

 Truly speaking, the entire world is engaged in business. Right from the Prime Minister of the country to an ordinary worker, everybody is involved in some kind of business or the other and is following the working system appropriate to his occupation. Knowing fully well this reality, our students are making a mark for themselves in all fields of life.Man is endowed with five senses of perception. The functioning of the five senses is also a type of business in which all the limbs are engaged. All the senses perform their business in the most appropriate manner with regard to the limbs they are associated with. Those who give proper direction to their senses so as to lead them on the right path are truly first rankers. Business which is done mainly by reading books, business journals and comparing Indian business with overseas business cannot be called business in the true sense of the term. Indian business should be concerned with Indian traditions and values. It should keep in view the interest and situation of the country. Other countries are making changes in their business ventures just to increase their power. We should not imitate them in any such manner. We should adopt those practices which are appropriate to our culture and traditions.True humanness lies in the integration of culture and country. Culture is not related to your worldly relations.

 Some people today ignore their culture due to the influence of modern times. You should never forsake culture at any cost. What is meant by culture? We should understand and follow our ancient traditions and values. We should never ignore our culture in our business matters. We should enquire into the relationship between culture and country. Culture has its existence due to the country. True humanness lies in the integration of culture and country. Culture is not related to your worldly relations and practices. Culture is concerned with the feelings of your heart and your power to discriminate between what is good and what is bad. Hence, you should develop strong power of discrimination. This discrimination brings about many changes in the life of man. It is due to lack of discrimination that our culture has suffered a decline. And because of the decline of culture our country has become weak. Wrong cultural practices followed by the people are, in fact, the main cause for the weakness of a country. Today people do not follow the true culture of our country. Consequently, the Government also takes to wrong path. As you all know, different political parties today follow different cultural values and ideologies. But if they all work together for a common cause, the results are sure to be good.We should follow our indigenous system and experience the happiness of living in the present. Then our future will also become happy. Many people are worried about their future. Do not brood over the past; don’t worry about future. Past is past; forget the past; do not think about it. Present, is important. It is not ordinary present; it is Omnipresent. Many people worry about their past and future and spoil their present. We should make proper use of our present.
You achieve good results in all subjects when you are present. Therefore, all of you should think about only present. Today many elders have fond memories of past times, thinking, “Our past time was so good, but everything has turned bad in the present time. In those days, children respected their elders; they conducted themselves with great humility. They revered their elders and learnt good things from them. In fact, there was no need to go to teachers; the grandmother in the house taught many good things to children. In ancient times, all led a happy life.” “Old is gold” is a proverb. True to this proverb, people in olden times were like pure gold. By their teachings, they helped the people to take to noble path. But today we have damaged this path. Therefore, we should repair this damage and restore the path again.