Sunday, Nov 24 2024  

END OF EDUCATION IS CHARACTER - 8 MARCH 2004

Our humble Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Swami. Sai Ram everyone. I am Deepika from Group 3 and I will be giving a talk on "The End of Education is Character."

I would like to draw your attention to the kind of education given to students nowadays. Today, the education being pursued by students is only academic. Mere academic education is not enough. It must be supplemented by spiritual education. Spiritual education teaches human values like truth, right conduct, love, etc, which brings about transformation of the heart. Academic education is for making a living, whereas spiritual education is for reaching the goal of life. Therefore, it is the duty of students as well as educators to harmonize academic education with spiritual education.

At this point let me quote the Divine words of Swami: "When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; When health is lost, something is lost; When character is lost, everything is lost"

Many people say 'knowledge is power', but I think this is not true. Character is power. Even the acquisition of knowledge demands a good character. So, everyone must yearn to attain a flawless character, without any trace of evil. Without character, wealth, education, social status, all these are of no avail. Poets, painters, scientists may be great, each in his own field, but without character, they can have no standing in society.

And now for some famous examples:

Buddha, Jesus Christ, Shankaracharya and Vivekananda, great sages, saints and devotees of the Lord were all treasured in the memory of man even till this day. What quality has made them so memorable? We would definitely agree that it is the good character of each one of them.

How can one work towards achieving a good character?

• Love all because God is in all beings
• Cultivate self-discipline
• Follow Swami's "Nine codes of conduct"

I would like to conclude by thanking Swami for the wonderful opportunity of being a student in the EHV programme. The programme has given me a valuable insight into what I need to do to achieve a good character while it instills in me the knowledge that it is our duty as students to do our best in school thus making us good in both the academic and spiritual aspects of education.

Jai Sai Ram

Sis Deepika
SSEHV Group 3