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Loving Our 'Living Gods' PDF Print E-mail
Written by Sri Ram   
Sunday, 07 February 2010

  Loving Our 'Living Gods'

 

 

 

The air conditioning in the flight was a little too strong for Surya’s comfort. But, it was just a matter of a couple of hours before he would reach his hometown. He couldn’t wait to meet his friends after so many years. He had already arranged for a small party later that night. His secretary had called the best hotel in town, fabulous food was ordered and the tables were to be adorned with choicest flowers.

 

 
Sai Get Inspired

  After all, Surya had never settled for anything mediocre in his life. He was a successful investment banker working in one of the country’s leading banks. He drew a salary that would exceed the sum of all his friends’ earnings. In short, he was proud of his perfect enviable life.

Gowri could not contain her happiness. Her son was returning after three long years. She had spent sleepless nights after he called to tell her about his trip home. She had prepared his favourite food.

Everything was planned to suit his taste. The house was cleaned, the garden was manicured and even the dogs were given a wash. She had so much to tell him. After her husband passed away, she had been left alone. But now, her son was coming to be with her. He had promised to stay for a week. She was so excited!

The doorbell was music to her ears. She ran to the door and there he was standing tall with his face shining against the twilight. “Hello mother! How are you?” said Surya smiling at her.

Over the course of the conversation, however, Gowri’s heart sank. “I knew you would be upset, mother! That’s why I didn’t tell you before. I have to leave in two days. Anyway, I will probably try to make another trip in six months. I will still be calling you once a week, mother,” said Surya trying hard to sound re-assuring. But Gowri could not hide her tears. “You’ve come all this way just to see your friends. And you’re leaving me just as alone as ever,” she cried as she ran upstairs to shut herself away in her room. But Surya was unmoved and cold hearted. He was in a hurry. It was getting late for his dinner meeting with his buddies. He quickly collected his things, took a shower and left with his friends.


 

 

Sai Get Inspired
 

  Loneliness wasn’t new to Gowri. But, today she was heartbroken too. She gave away all the dinner she had painstakingly prepared for her beloved son. She was not hungry anymore. Even her dogs, Ramu and Moti were surprisingly quiet today. “Maybe, they understand me better than my own son!” she murmured and switched off the lights for the day. 

On his way to the hotel, Surya wondered why his mother had to blow this whole thing out of proportion. He was tired from the long journey and had not seen his friends in years. After all, didn’t he deserve the long awaited break from work?

Anyway, he would try to talk to her tomorrow morning, he thought. He was trying to have a great time with his friends. But, felt disconnected. “Maybe I was a little tough on her” he said to himself.

He decided to send a flower basket to his mother to pacify her, and in return, feel less guilty. On seeing a florist, he asked for a bouquet to be sent to his mother. Just as the florist was about to start packing his flowers, a young man rushed to him and said, “If you don’t mind, can I get my bouquet done before you? I am in a great hurry! The flowers are for my mother and she is waiting for me.” While the florist was packing the man’s flowers, Surya was curious and asked him, “Sorry, but I couldn’t resist. What’s the occasion? Is it your mom’s birthday today?”

 

 
Sai Get Inspired

  “No brother, today is the day she made a permanent place for herself in our hearts. Today is her death anniversary!” he answered unwaveringly. Surya was left speechless. Here was a man rushing flowers to his dead mother, and here was he who had left his loving mother alone.

The simple and heartfelt love for his mother was conspicuous by its absence in his life. Surya was about to leave for his home when he heard the man’s fading voice, “Thanks a lot brother! I am very grateful to you! Sairam!”

The bystander’s unflinching love for his mother had touched a cord in Surya’s heart. He had, in an instant, realized how some unforeseen divine power may have been at play here, for how else could he explain the co-incidence of him meeting someone like that in today’s age!

 

Without wasting any further time, he took the bouquet and went straight to see his mother. The mother, whose love had been his bastion during his struggling days; the mother who had borne the brunt of his swelling ego and confidence, and countered it with more love for him; the mother, who had waited all these years, for her son to come back home. And what a homecoming it was.

 

Time and again, Bhagavan Baba has impressed upon all of us the importance of loving and respecting one’s mother. The mother, who gives us life and selflessly takes care of our every need as a child, has to be worshipped as nothing less than a Living God. It, truly, is in loving that we receive, as there is no other way to express gratitude to our mothers for their unbridled, fathomless love for us, than by loving them back in return.

~ Illustrations: Mr. S. Sai Aditya

~ Heart2Heart Team

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 February 2010 )
 
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THAILAND SAI SCHOOL VISIT

  A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE TO THAILAND SAI SCHOOL

Day 1 – 14 March 2010 (1:00pm – 6:30pm)  

 

The Johor State Coordinating Committee organized an educational tour to the Sathya Sai School of Thailand from March 14 – March 17 2010. There were 18 of us, 17 from Johor and 1 from Perak.  The bus ride from Svarnabumi Airport to the School took almost four hours with a convenience stop for lunch and petrol refill. On nearing the school, a loud applause broke out as the bus took the corner into the gates of the School. Seeing Swami’s name “SATHYA SAI SCHOOL” on the entrance wall brought a surge of great happiness and pride and every one clapped! The school is situated in the district of Lopburi, some 154 km north of Bangkok.  The Sai School is situated in a vast 300 over acres of land. It was close to 5:00 p.m. when we alighted the bus.  We were met and welcomed by some diploma students and Sis. Loraine Burrows was soon on hand to welcome us. We were given our rooms where we soon refreshed ourselves and got ready for dinner which was served at the school canteen.  During dinner,  Sis. Loraine and Bro. Dr. Art-Ong Jumsai came and welcomed us with such love and humility.  We were all very touched.  After a lovely dinner (all food served at the Sai School are purely vegetarian), Dr. Jumsai took us to see some of their energy-saving inventions and contraptions.  Among them is an energy saving incinerator which uses twice the combustion process that burns down wastes which otherwise cannot be sold or recycled; a bio-gas bin to reduce the use of cooking gas at 800kg/year; an energy health park with specially constructed stationary bicycles capable of producing 200 watts of electricity each time the bicycles are being pedalled (this in turn also doubles up as an exercise area for the students); bio-energy fuel stoves used for cooking using the traditional Unglo stove which saves energy; a bicycle which is used to pump water out from a man-made pond to irrigate the land, and lastly, a mud house which was built by the students using bricks made entirely from mud. This mud house has a very cool interior.   It was getting dark so we called it a day and went back to our rooms for a much-needed shower and rest and to get ready for the next day’s   sessions. Day 2 – 15 March  2010  (6:00am – 8:00am)  The next morning, 15 March, we assembled at the big prayer hall at 6:00 a.m.  Dr. Jumsai was already there chanting the “Om Mani Padme Hum”. The whole atmosphere was so serene and peaceful and it is no wonder that one could feel so close to Divinity in that state.  Dr. Jumsai concluded the Kuan Yin Mantra and 3 OMs were recited followed by 3 times the chanting of the Gayathri Mantra. Dr. Jumsai then verbally guided us through the Light Meditation with the accompaniment of very soft, soothing music.  It was a beautiful journey inwards. After the meditation, Dr. Jumsai once again welcomed us.  Sis. Loraine, together with a few Year 11 and Diploma Course students sang to us their song of welcome. As Dr. Jumsai played the piano, the rest of them sang with so much love and sweetness and our hearts totally melted!  Dr. Jumsai then told us a story, one which was infused with human values.  It was about a scientist whose painstaking collection of data for over 20 years was ignorantly taken and burned by a replacement maid who thought that the papers were old and useless. On learning of this catastrophe, the scientist, however, was not angry. Not only was he not angry, he also did not reprimand the maid. The scientist understood that this had to happen for a reason and so he accepted it wisely. We learned from this story that there is a reason for why things happen even when they seem so wrong and unjust.Sis. Loraine and the students then sang a medley of EHV songs, “Start The Day With Love”, Smile, Smile, Smile”, and  “Rejoice In The Lord Sai Always”.  This was again accompanied by Dr. Jumsai at the piano. Everybody then stood up for the Thai national anthem.  We all then adjourned for breakfast.  It was such a beautiful first morning at the school and we eagerly awaited Dr. Jumsai’s lecture scheduled for half-past eight that morning.          Day 2 – 15 March 2010 (8:00am – 12:30pm)  DR. ART-ONG JUMSAI’S LECTURE The session started with 3 OMs and 3 times  Gayathri  Mantra. Dr. Jumsai presented his work, “A Development Of The Human Values Integrated Instructional Model based On Intuitive Learning Concept”, a model which they use in their Sai School and which is also being given to many countries around the world.  Some years ago, he was told by Swami to take charge of education around the world.  It was about 2 to 3 years ago, and according to the wishes of Swami, that the World Foundation was set up in Puttaparthi. The World Foundation then set up its Education Committee of which Dr. Jumsai and Sis. Loraine are members. This committee is headed by Mr. Kalyan Ray who also takes care of education around the world.  Dr. Jumsai is still going around the world working with this committee training teachers in Human Values Education. On world consumerism and the fast depletion of resourcesThe country of Bhutan is looking for some methodology that can be used in their country.  They want to change their country’s outlook to have Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than Gross National Product (GNP) as a principle for their education. They can see that the world is going along the wrong way by concentrating so heavily on consumerism.  The   whole  world  believes in consumerism  and therefore is creating  problems. Our  world  cannot support the way we are using resources and we are fast running out of resources. We only have about 35 years left of oil/petrol and other sources of energy also would be gone. We would be left with coal for another two to three hundred years and coal as we all know is the worst culprit in creating global warming. We do not have enough food to feed everyone because the world population is now 6.7 billion. About a million people are starving every day, especially in Africa. There is actually enough food for everybody if we learn to share.  However, the rich countries are using a lot more food than the poor countries and as a result, there is not enough food to go round.  If we live the way we live, in order to feed everybody and to have enough resources, we need about 1.5 worlds. That means half a world more than what we have now in order to sustain the whole world. So we are already over the limit. If the whole world lives like how the Americans live, we need at least 5 worlds in order to sustain that type of living.  We are not able to sustain the world anymore. The world is getting into trouble so that is why Bhutan decided that they are not going to go in that direction. They want to measure the progress of their country by using Gross National Happiness. If their people are happy then they say they are successful. The impact of Sathya Sai EducationBhutan made a decision to use the model which is used in the Sathya Sai School of Thailand and would send 50 teachers there to stay for a month to learn how to teach children to be happy because the children in Sathya Sai School are very happy children, Dr. Jumsai said. Kazakhstan had also changed their education system to base on what is happening in Thailand’s Sathya Sai School. The First Lady of Kazhakstan had visited Swami many times before and she is instrumental in getting her teachers trained in the Sai School model.  Dr. Jumsai had visited many parts of that country to train their teachers.  Although Kazakhstan has the third largest land area in the world it is mostly desert and its desert was used by Russia in the old days to test nuclear bombs. The children are affected by the radiation and Kazakhstan is now looking for ways to help its children.  Dr. Jumsai also trained teachers in Saudi Arabia, which is something that is unheard of because it is a Muslim country.  When he was first invited to go there, the authorities would not give him a visa. They would not allow a person who is not a Muslim to go there to talk about values.  At that time, Dr. Jumsai was Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Thailand.  He went to the Embassy to get permission and as they could not refuse a visa to a Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, they gave him the visa. With this, he left for Saudi Arabia with Dr. Judo.  On arrival, they were given a thick book on what not to say. They were not allowed to speak about values or about almost anything.  He was told there would be religious police listening carefully to every word he said and that he could be arrested and face severe punishment if the rules were not adhered to. This was hard as they were there to train teachers on values.  So he sang in his heart “Why Fear Why I Am Here?”  He delivered his talk and at the end of it, everything was fine. He was not arrested and some of the teachers were in tears as they said that that was  exactly  what they needed. Dr. Jumsai spoke about his experience in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was invited to go there to give a talk. However, its Ministry of Education said that as a non-Muslim, he could not train teachers who are Muslim in a Muslim school. They would not allow that but told him that he could train the teachers in the International Schools where the teachers were not Muslims. So he chosed an Indian International School where its students were Indians. They invited the Minister of Education, Sheikh Nahayam, who opened the Conference. Sheikh Nahayam told Dr. Jumsai to speak for 15 minutes as he had to leave for other important engagements.  Dr. Jumsai gave his introductory speech for 15 minutes and then made a sign to the Minister to take his leave.  The Minister in return made a sign to him to carry on! Dr. Jumsai repeated this at intervals of 15 minutes but each time Dr. Jumsai signalled the Minister to take his leave, the Minister beckoned him to go on!  This went on for 3 hours and 15 minutes and the Minister ended up listening to the whole talk. He eventually asked for a microphone and went onstage. He said that the instructional model presented was exactly what they needed for all their teachers in the UAE. He invited Dr. Jumsai to train all his teachers which Dr. Jumsai did.  Later on, he sent Dr. Jumsai a letter inviting him to go back to the UAE to train all the professors in their universities.  Dr. Jumsai accepted that invitation.The universality of Sathya Sai EducationDr. Jumsai said that Sathya Sai Education in Human Values is universal.  It was initiated from Swami by Swami and can be used in any country in the world. Sis. Loraine and himself had travelled to Spain and carried out training in the Church. The Catholic nuns, Fathers and Sisters were in tears after receiving these teachings. They were so happy.  We can see that this type of education has gone all over the world and is being accepted.  Countries in South America have more Sai Schools  than in any other parts of the world. Education is Swami’s most important projectDr. Jumsai told us that Swami spends some 70% of His time on education. Swami views education as  the most important part of His Divine Mission. He spends a lot of time with the students and have prayers with them. He would often visit the schools and university and, as Chancellor of the University, He would meet with the professors and talk to them.  Swami is working in such a way that He is changing many countries around the world through education.  In a related incident, Dr. Jumsai asked Swami, “How about the communist countries?” and Swami said, “Come you next!”  (Swami often likes to play with words)  Dr. Jumsai deduced that it means the communist countries will follow next!  Soon enough, Dr. Jumsai was invited by Gorbachev to go for a meeting in Russia.  Gorbachev was very happy with the meeting and made the important decision to break up the Soviet Union and to allow freedom to its various countries. Things started to change very quickly after Swami said, “Come you next!”  Still, China was still a stronghold at that time, after Soviet Russia.  In 2003, UNESCO was going to help arrange an education meeting at Puttaparthi and Dr. Jumsai was involved in this but at the last moment, UNESCO felt it was not suitable for them to be involved with the Sai Organization in a meeting, let alone in Puttaparthi.  They thought this would be detrimental for UNESCO so they pulled out at the last moment.  Educators from around the world had already been invited and they came anyway, even without sponsorship from UNESCO. From amongst them were 2 high-level Chinese officials from China. They were sitting very close to Dr. Jumsai on the verandah during darshan time. Dr. Jumsai observed that when Swami came out, they would put their palms together and they would be shaking all over. They were watching Swami and Dr. Jumsai could see a big change coming within themselves. The two officials went back to China firmly convinced in Swami and started to invite Dr. Jumsai to go and train their teachers in China, which he did. China gradually is now opening up.  It is no longer like in the old days. Now, they could go there and train their teachers and talk about human values. This is all happening after Swami had said, “Come you next!” The whole world is being changed and Swami has said it very clearly that His message will be known all over the world through education.   The situation of education in our world todayHe then narrated a story which was told by Swami about “The Graduate and the Boatman.” He told of how the graduate had boarded the boat to take him back to his home in the village.  Feeling bored as the journey was slow; he asked the boatman some intellectual questions which the boatman could not answer properly.  The graduate took the boatman to be a very ignorant person and told the boatman that a big part of his life had been wasted.  Suddenly, a big storm came and rocked the boat to and fro. Water was getting into the boat. The boatman shouted to the graduate, “Sir, can you swim?  The graduate said, “I can’t swim! I can’t swim! Please help me! Please help me!”  The boatman said, “In that case, a 100% of your life is wasted!” Dr. Jumsai lamented that this is the situation of our education in the world today. We teach our children to become great people but we have forgotten the human values aspect.  He said that in Thailand, many of their students at universities are very clever but when their grades go down, they sometimes resort to committing suicide. They are lost because they do not know how to control their emotions. Then there are graduates who go out into the world and create a lot of problems for the world. This has all come from very clever people who do not have the human values background. The Vision of Sathya Sai School and how it can be achievedThe vision of our Sathya Sai School here is to create good people above everything else, he said.  The world has enough clever people already. What we need are more good people. It is usually the clever people who create problems in the world.   Clever and great people usually do not like other people to be greater than they are. They try to control; they try to be above others.  Good people on the other hand have less attachment to themselves; they start to think about others; they start to think about society and about the world. When you are good, you think in a different way from the clever and great people. You start to think about other people before yourself. This is why we want to create good people above all else.  In time, good people also become clever because we train them in meditation where they develop a calm mind and are able to concentrate. Swami once asked Dr. Jumsai in front of everybody, “What is EHV?”  Dr. Jumsai  answered, “It’s Education in Human Values.”  Swami said, “No, no, no, no.”  Dr. Jumsai gave a few more answers and when Swami kept on saying no to them, he stopped answering and Swami said, “EHV is 3HV.” In other words, the 3Hs – the Head, the Heart and the Hand.  Then Swami asked, “What is the essence of education?”  Fearing that he might again give a wrong answer, Dr. Jumsai did not answer this time and Swami continued, “The essence of education is concentration. Without concentration, you cannot study.” So this is the basis on why we get out here to learn to concentrate. The daily schedule for the children, he said, was getting up at 4:30 a.m., meditation at 5:45 a.m. followed by story-telling by Dr. Jumsai; they sing some songs and say some prayers and the session ends at about 6:30 a.m. So the children are in the prayer room for at least 45 minutes every morning.  Before they go to bed at night, they also have their prayers and meditation. Before every class starts, there is also prayer and meditation. So the children have about 9 times of meditation a day. He said that this is a very special school because they lay stress on meditation as they want the children to have good concentration.  Meditation calms their mind and they become more peaceful and become  better  children as a result.So we now see that just being clever does not mean that we can live peacefully in the world.  Clever people who have no human values background have often created more problems in the world and so we need to change the education system.  Being an advisor to many education committees in the country, Dr. Jumsai added that that has helped him to help the government gradually change the education system. The Ego at playDr. Jumsai advised that what we need is a lot of peace of mind. We say “I want peace”, and Swami says that in order to have peace, we have to get rid of the “I” and get rid of the “want” then, only, can we have peace. “I” is the ego. We must not have any ego in ourselves. In life, as devotees, we have to go through various workshops in order to learn this. He told us how he was put through such a workshop by Swami. He narrated that at one time, he was a very successful man in Thailand. He was a Member of Parliament, three times elected to the House of Parliament. At the same time, he was also a very successful businessman and was president of several companies and also managing director of several companies and he led a very good life.  Then of course he met Swami and Swami had to put him through workshops to teach him lessons of detachment and also the ego. One day, he suddenly lost everything. Somehow, the shareholders decided to get rid of him. He became jobless and was almost penniless. Then Swami sent a telegram to him telling him to go quickly to Puttaparthi to help with the training of teachers there. So he went there and after his talk, Swami gave him a private interview. He was alone with Swami so he thought that that was a good opportunity to complain to Swami why this had happened to him.  Swami said, “No need to talk. I know everything. You have lost all your jobs. You have lost your positions. You don’t have any money.  I know,  I know everything. I just want to test you.”  He said that these were the words of Swami; that Swami was testing him by taking everything away from him. When he got back to Thailand, everybody decided to give him back his positions! He then understood that Swami wanted him not to have wants and desires and to get rid of the ego in hims elf. To demonstrate on how Swami further taught him a lesson on how to get rid of the Ego, he told about how Swami had one day invited him to talk to the students at the Summer Camp in Whitefield. He started to have an ego that now that he was a guest of Swami, when he arrived, people would be there to welcome him and there would be a car waiting at the airport to take him to Whitefield. But when he landed, nothing happened. Nobody was there and he had to take a taxi. When he arrived at the ashram at about 6 p.m., the gates were closed and he told the sevadals that he had been invited by Swami and a room had been reserved for him and he asked to go in. But the sevadals refused him entry. They told him that there were no instructions to allow anybody to go in. As he stood there wondering what to do, a crowd had started to gather outside the gate and they were whispering to one another, “Swami is coming out, Swami is coming out,” so he thought, “Well, Swami will see me then.”  So the car came out. Swami was sitting in it and Swami was . . . looking the other way! He could not get Swami’s attention and Swami was gone! The sevadals still would not let him in so he had to rent a little room outside. He suffered a great deal the whole night because the mosquitoes were biting him and he could not get any sleep. By morning, his ego was completely destroyed so he decided he would go and queue up to go into the ashram just like everybody else. As he was queuing up to go in, the person who was in charge of the ashram saw him and came running to him, “Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you last night. We had already arranged the best room for you to sleep. You’re the guest of Swami. Where were you?” He said he just smiled. What could he say? This is how Swami breaks up your ego, he said.  He added that this world is full of wants and desires that is why it is so full of problems today. The more wants we have, the more disappointments; the less wants we have, the  less disappointments;  no wants, no disappointments, he concluded.  Get rid of the wants.  That’s the best thing to do.  (“When there’s Ego, He goes” - Swami)Seeking happiness at the wrong placesDr. Jumsai then told us the story of “The Old Lady And The Needle”. An old lady who had lost her needle went out into the street light to look for it. Some boys came along and asked her what she was looking for. She told them that she had lost her needle so the boys offered to help her search. They searched and searched and searched but could not find it. Then, one of the boys asked her, “Aunty, where did you drop your needle? If we know where you dropped it, we could go there and search for it. The old lady said, “I was sewing my clothes in my room and I dropped my needle there but my room was so dark I couldn’t see anything.  Outside here there is a lot of light so I have come here to look for it. When the boys heard this they laughed and told the old lady, “Aunty, you go back to your room because you dropped it there. You have got to go back and find it there.”  We are like the old lady. We are all searching for happiness in the wrong places and we cannot find it. We have to ask the same question that the boy asked the old lady, “Where did you drop your needle?” Well, where did we lose our peace, our joy and our happiness? We all have peace, joy and happiness before but where have we lost it?  If we know where we lost it then we have got to go back there and find it. We could not have lost it in Chiangmai or Kuala Lumpur. We lost it in our own heart so we have got to go within and search for it there. Once we find it there, we start to find our true potential as well. Not only will we find peace, joy and happiness but when we find our true potential, we start to find out who we are, why we are here and where we are going. All these are in our heart.  So all we need to do is to go back to our heart, to go within. Finding our true selfIn the Sathya Sai School of Thailand, three questions are given to all the children to answer and they must be able to answer them before they leave the school.  The 3 questions are :  Who are we?  Where are we going? What is the purpose of our life? These are the questions which we too have to be able to answer in life  otherwise  we  are completely lost in the world. The Education ProcessDr. Jumsai explained about the Education Process. He stressed that the aim of the Education Process is to produce people of human excellence. That means human values must be there.  When we ask teachers all over the world “What do you teach?” they will say, “I teach Science” or “I teach Mathematics”, and all kinds of other subjects. Then we ask them, “But who are you teaching?” That is very important because sometimes we forget that we are teaching children.  As a teacher, we must never forget that we are teaching children and not just teaching subjects. Many teachers in this country teach subjects but here in this school, we have to care for the children too. We have to teach the children to become persons of human excellence. That is the process that we want here.  There will be evaluation and feedback but this evaluation is not really to evaluate the children. It is a process whereby we want to improve the way we teach. If we do not have any feedback then we cannot improve the way we teach. When we test the children, it is mostly a feedback for the teachers. If all the children fail, for example, then obviously we are not doing it right. So the need to evaluate the children is actually a process for feedback to improve on the way we teach.   Swami has given the purpose of Education from the spelling of the word  EDUCATIONE stands for Enlightenment: That means to have self-wisdom and self-knowledge.D stands for Duty & Devotion: If you ask the children here “What is your duty in life?” they will say that their duty is to serve others. We have to devote our life to doing this.U stands for Understanding: It does not just understanding the subjects being taught but we have to understand the purpose of our life.   C stands for Character:  Swami says very clearly that “The end of education is character.” and this maxim is the school’s philosophy.A stands for Action:  Put everything into action. No need to talk about it. Do your service and be detached from the results of your work. T stands for Thanking: We have to be thankful to our parents and teachers; to be thankful to the food we eat and the people who make possible the food we eat. We have to be thankful to Mother Nature. I stand for Integrity: A person who has integrity is honest; someone we can trust. O stands for Oneness: We should feel as one. There is no difference between you and I. We are all basically the same. We have the same atma. We are part of God. There is only one God, You cannot have any separation. We are part of the same Oneness. N stands for Nobility:  We are not talking about noble birth, blue-blooded people. A noble person is one who has all the characteristics of the above. Then we say that he is a noble person.  Basically a noble person is a good person who has a good heart. IQ, MQ and EQIn this country, they say the purpose of education is to have high IQ – Intelligence Quotient but we say that what is more important is MQ – Morality Quotient and EQ – Emotional Quotient. We have to first learn to control emotions so that we have more peace and morality and become a good person and intelligence will become a part of our life. The Mind vs The BrainDr. Jumsai revealed that he received a part of this Integrated Instructional Model through meditation in the mountains north of Thailand after he got to know Swami. One day, while sitting in meditation, he asked Swami on how he was going to train all the teachers so that it becomes more scientific; so that it becomes clear to the educators because he was not an educator himself but an engineer. He was thinking that we have to be very scientific in this world in order to convince people. When we go to the West, they will propose the brain-based learning. They believe the brain is the most important part. But the brain is not the most important part. If you have to prick your finger for example, how do you do that? You have to start with the mind. The mind controls the brain and the brain will send signals towards the muscles of your finger. That will tense your muscles and you can prick your finger. Everything starts with the mind. The mind controls the brain.  In the West, they create very clever people but they believe in the brain. The children in America for example, realize that the brain starts to develop when in the womb of the mother. As we grow up, certain parts of the brain start to die away because we don’t use every part of the brain. The parts that are not in use finally die away. When we die, all the brain dies. It has nothing left in you. So if we believe in brain-based learning, then we believe in a very short lifetime – that we exist because of the brain. Children in the United States feel that life is very short so they stimulate the brain to get the most out of it and get all the enjoyment of life and so on. So they start to use a lot of drugs. It is a normal thing for students in universities to use marijuana or cocaine to stimulate the brain and stimulate themselves to think that they can have more joy or more happiness in life as a result.   We know that the mind is far more important. To have real peace, you do not have to depend on the brain. You depend on the mind. You cannot say that the mind is here or there because it exists everywhere. Finally, you will find that you are a part of the Universal Mind. That Universal Mind is everywhere. It is omnipresent. Why, because God is omnipresent and you are a part of God. One day you are going to realize that you are omnipresent. There is no secret in the Universe. That is the power of the Light Meditation. You spread the light everywhere, throughout the Universe. When we tell ourselves, “I am the Light. The Light is in me. I am the Light”, and at that time you remain silent and if you have any questions before about the Universe, there is no more secret because the light is everywhere. Your consciousness is everywhere. You are omnipresent. During that silence, you start to get inner knowledge, wisdom and understanding about the whole universe. Any secret you want to know, you will know because that light is everywhere. It is also existing in the minds of great people so all their thoughts become your thoughts. What they know, you also will know. That is why when we ask where the mind is, the true mind is everywhere - omnipresent. It is not in our body. But the thoughts that we are aware of is from our conscious mind. This conscious mind is not yet omnipresent. It is what we use for controlling our body. We use this conscious mind in our studies. We use it to be aware of everything; to understand everything but this is only a small part of the total mind. We need this in order to learn as a student, to listen to the teacher, to see what is going on, to receive information, to become aware of it.  In order to be able to concentrate we must make sure that this mind is with us all the time, that it is not wandering around. For it to be useful, it has to be constantly steadied within. If your conscious mind is at home in Malaysia and you are listening to me here, you won’t understand anything. So you need to have concentration. This conscious mind is what you are now using to listen to me. We learn by interacting with our environment, with the outside world, to bring outside stimuli by using our five senses to receive information. We then store all that knowledge that we have received in our sub-conscious mind. Our sub-conscious mind is our memory. It contains all our past experiences which are stored there but it is unknown to us. In order for us to know and remember, we have to retrieve this into our conscious mind, then only can we remember. A lot of information is available in our sub-conscious mind but we are not aware of it. We do not remember it. The memory in the sub-conscious is unlimited, unlike the computer which has limited memory. Throughout our life, we can continue to learn and learn and learn and when we really delve into the sub-conscious we find that we have so much information. The information is not on this life only but on thousands of years ago. All that memory is stored in the sub-conscious and we know of that.  Hypnosis and the sub-consciousThere was an American lady named Helen Wambach who wanted to know about the sub-conscious mind because she believed that past experiences are stored in the sub-conscious so she started to interview people. She asked a question on what we were doing at a certain time and in a certain place when we were a child of four years old. Nobody remembered anything. Helen Wambach realized that she was talking to the conscious mind and not to the sub-conscious mind The conscious mind has not got any memory. So she decided to go directly into the sub-conscious mind bypassing the conscious mind. In order to bypass the conscious mind, you have to hypnotise the person. When you use hypnosis, you are actually depressing the conscious mind so that the person is not aware of what is happening around him. When the conscious mind is depressed, you can talk directly to the sub-conscious mind. That person will now be able to answer that question of exactly what he or she was doing at that time as a child of four. Your sub-conscious knows the answer but not your conscious mind. The mind is not in the normal dimensions that we know. The normal dimensions that we know are the x-axis, y-axis, z-axis. These 3 axis are the 3 dimensional space that we are living in and we also have the time as part of the dimension that we live in – the dimension of time and space. That is what we know but actually, we have many more dimensions  which  we are not aware of and the Mind is one such dimension. With the mind, you can go into another dimension and you can actually go backwards in time or go forward in time. We have that capability because we are not normal human beings. We have unlimited capabilities but we do not know ourselves. One day, we will have all this information and understand that we are truly God and when you are God, there’s no limit to what you can do.  (Remember how Swami is always telling us that He is God and we are also God, only we have not realized it.)Dr. Helen Wambach was so interested to find out when the beginning of life took place so she decided to regress further in time to the womb of the mother. Strangely enough, the sub-conscious mind contained all the thoughts of the mother at that time because you are a part of the mother.  Whatever the mother liked to do, read, eat or watch is also stored there.  So that tells us that education starts from the time of pregnancy. Information is stored in your sub-conscious so it is very important that women who are pregnant should read good books, see good movies and they should remain calm. The child that comes out will also have these good characteristics. Helen Wambach, determined to find out when the beginning of life was, regressed even further back in time in her hypnosis but she was so surprised to find that there was no beginning. Through her hypnotic studies of people, she came to accept that there is such a thing as reincarnation, a belief she had never held before. However, she never went beyond 2000 years of the person’s sub-conscious mind during their hypnosis. We now understand a little bit more about the sub-conscious, that it contains all the information about past experiences. Controlling the five sensesHow do we transfer these knowledge into the conscious mind so that we can remember? For that, we need to understand the 5 senses first. So Dr. Jumsai told this story: There was a king who had 5 wives. Each wife would come and make a lot of demands on him. The king was afraid of his wives so he had to comply. This made him a very unhappy man as had 5 wives to please.  He decided to consult his cabinet ministers who were all male. “Tell me, how can I not be afraid of my wives?” They replied, “Sorry Sire, we cannot advise you because we are all afraid of our wives. They were all very unhappy so they made a plan to invite all the male population who were married. They put up two tents, one for those who were afraid of their wives and one for those who were not. On that day, the tent for those who were afraid of their wives overflowed while the tent for those who were not afraid was empty. The king got very upset. Then suddenly, one man came to the tent for those who were not afraid of their wives. The king was so happy. He went to welcome this man and said, “Tell me your secret. How is it that you are not afraid of your wife?” The man said, “Sorry, Sire, I am also afraid of my wife. The king  became very angry and said, “Then why are you in this tent?” The man said, “Sire, you can punish me in whatever way you like but I won’t go to the other tent.” The king asked again, “Why, why won’t you go?” Then the man replied, “Because my wife told me to come to this tent.”So we are the king and the 5 wives represent the 5 senses. The eye sees something beautiful and it starts to make demands, creating desires and wants. The other senses too make all kinds of demands and we have become slaves to all our 5 senses. They control us. We have got to become king once again and control our 5 senses. Do not allow them to control us.  What are we using in order to see things? We use our eyes to see. We look at something and say, “Oh, that’s bad!” How can we see something bad when what is entering our eyes is light and light is but electro-magnetic waves. There is nothing bad in electro-magnetic waves so how come we see something bad? There is nothing bad coming into our eyes so if there is nothing bad coming into our eyes and we see something  bad, that bad must already be in our own mind.  So, when we point a finger, Swami says there are 3 fingers pointing back at us. When we say “Bad!” we are telling ourselves we are bad, and not what we are seeing is bad. Three fingers are pointing back at us so we have got to realize that it is something already inside of us so, don’t point your fingers at everybody! We use our ears to hear. People swear at us. They say bad things about us and we get angry. What is it that makes us angry? What is it that’s entering our ears?  It is sound waves and sound waves is vibration of air. So how can vibration of air make us angry? So if you are angry, it is something that is already in your own mind. So from now on, if people say bad things at us; if they swear at us, we smile and say it is only vibration of air. That’s all it is.  This shows that whatever that is stored in the sub-conscious mind is being used for interpretation. Children and fundamental discriminationChildren start to understand life in a different light when they start to understand fundamental discrimination. When having to make a choice, they have to ask themselves, “Is this good for me? Is this good for everybody?” If they can pass these two tests, then they can make the correct decision. They start to think good, be good, do good all the time because we integrate human values into all the subjects they learn, be it science, mathematics, social subjects or sports.  In this way, we can change the habits of children. Unfortunately we don’t get any help from our society because in our society there is a lot of negative influence on television like violence, sex, jealousy, anger and all sorts of emotions. The children see all this and they put all this into their sub-conscious so it is very dangerous. Society does not help. So in a school atmosphere, we must bring in a lot of counter measures.  We have to put in a lot of love and a lot of peace for the children so that it becomes part of their lives. The enemies are within usWe must also understand that the enemies of man are within us. They are all inside us and what is inside us, we can change. What is outside of us in other people is not within our control. We cannot change everybody. We also cannot point our fingers at others because Swami says that when you point a finger at others, three fingers are pointing back at you. But if we change ourselves, then we’ll start to see good in everything. What we need to do is simply to put in a lot of positive thinking. Problems are goodDr. Jumsai advised that when you wake up in the morning, start to program yourself immediately. You tell yourself, “I am so lucky today. I have so many problems in life. I will learn from them. I will progress. I will overcome all the obstacles and I will become stronger in life and become successful.“ Tell yourself in a positive way that all problems are there to help you and they are  there to help you. We would not have any problems if they are not there to be of any use.  For example, when you study mathematics at school, teachers have to give you a lot of problems to solve. If you don’t have any problems in mathematics then you won’t learn mathematics so problems are good. We need problems in our lives in order for us to learn and to solve things.    How to change negative into positiveIn this school, a teacher was teaching the first grade children very simple mathematics. They use a book given to them by the Ministry of Education. Dr. Jumsai happened to visit that class. He saw what was written in that book and this is what it says, “A farmer had 10 cows. 7 cows were stolen. How many cows were there left?” He said that when he saw this he was shocked because if you teach it in that way, then you are saying that stealing is a normal occurrence. It goes into the sub-conscious mind of the child and the child will take things from others without asking because they will feel it’s normal. Dr. Jumsai said he was observing that teacher because that teacher had already been trained in human values education. That teacher took the book and he started to read to the children, “A farmer had 10 cows.” Then he stopped to think. Then he continued, “The farmer had a son whom he loved very much. Because of his love for his son, he decided to give 7 of the cows to his son. Now, how many cows does he have left?” On hearing this, Dr. Jumsai said he heaved a sigh of relief because the teacher had changed it to something about love and about giving instead of stealing. Dr. Jumsai said that he  went to the Ministry of Education and told them the problem they were creating for the children. They understood and they changed all their books and now, there is no more negativity in the books and that was a great help.  As a teacher, we must bring out values in everything that we teach. We must interpret human values into every class. If we do this, we will change the children. When we teach mathematics or any subject, we have to interpret values into these lessons. This is very important. Drawing out the values from within the childrenAs a teacher, we must try to get the children to think for themselves; to find out answers for themselves as much as possible. Our job is to use the principle of Educare to bring out the values from within the child. Do not just teach them, rather, get them to think. Bring it out from their own mind. Give them situations that will help them to move in the right direction. The idea of instilling good values is to allow good values to enter the sub-conscious.Dr. Jumsai said that it is very easy to change the habits of children in this school because it is a boarding school and therefore it is easy to have control of the children.  He said that here, it is possible to change children’s habits within seven days.  But in the normal schools it may not be so easy because after school, the children have to return to their own homes where negative influences are easy to come by especially via the television. Dr. Jumsai noted that in general, children in Thailand are not very brave. They lack courage.  From the point of view of a normal school and not just from the Sathya Sai School, the first activity in all schools in Thailand is the morning assembly. They assemble in front of the flag and sing the national anthem. The teacher will go in front of the children and the teacher will tell the children, “I want you to repeat after me,” and the teacher will lead in this manner: “From now on”, and the children will repeat, “From now on.”  Teacher: ”I will be brave.  I will walk forward bravely with self-confidence. I will overcome all obstacles with self-confidence and courage. I will be successful in my life.” The children then repeat after the teacher, sentence by sentence.  All these positive thoughts will go into the sub-conscious of the children. This is re-programming the children. Throughout the week, the children will have these two values of courage and bravery infused into every lesson they learn, be they indoors or outdoors.  Dr. Jumsai then sang us a song that was written by Sis. Loraine.  It is sung to the tune of “Clementine”.  It goes:-“LET US BE BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS,   MAY WE FOLLOW WHAT IS RIGHTLET US FAIL NOT, LET US AIL NOT,   USING ALL OUR STRENGTH AND MIGHTIN OUR LIVES ARE MANY PROBLEMS,   MANY OBSTACLES IN SIGHTWE MUST DARE TO,  WE MUST CARE TO,  TRANSFORM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT”  How to effect a permanent change in the childrenSongs with positive thoughts like this one will programme the child to change for the better. The child will be able to draw this from his sub-conscious for future interpretation when met with challenges in life.  Dr. Jumsai said, however, that this is not a permanent thing. We change a child and the child goes back to watch television and he starts to see so many negative things and then they go back again into their former habits. So what are we to do?But he says we can still change them permanently. In order to change a person permanently you have got to put in immunity to the outside world.  Just as when we were young we were given immunization to protect us from various diseases, so in the same way we have got to give immunity to our children so that they won’t fall by the wayside.  So what we do is to raise their consciousness mind and as we raise the consciousness mind, we start to be in contact with the Higher Mind which we call the Super Conscious Mind. This Super-conscious Mind contains all knowledge, intuition, wisdom and understanding.  It has a conscience. The conscience will help us and guide us. The conscience will tell us, “This is good. That is not good. You should do this. You should not do that,” and so on.  An inner voice starts to speak to you and that is the inner conscience. So the Super Consciousness is now part of the Universal Consciousness. You start to get wisdom and understanding. You start to get intuition and knowledge about so many things that are around us because the Super Consciousness is the Atma.  It is the Buddha Consciousness. It is the Christ Consciousness.  Once you start to be in contact with the Super Consciousness, you become a knower. You become enlightened.  You start to know things for yourself. All knowledge becomes yours.  It is not within the body. It is everywhere. It is omnipresent.  This consciousness becomes part of the consciousness of the saints. You suddenly have the same consciousness as Jesus Christ, the Buddha or even Swami.  If you realize the true being that we are then we become one with Swami; we become one with the Avatar; His knowledge becomes our knowledge.  Before starting every class for the children, we always start with prayers and meditation. We bring the children for meditation in the prayer room or sometimes we would go up the mountain and sit there for meditation.  Sometimes we bring the children and sit by the river and meditate. They are very small children from the first grade but they are able to participate in every activity.  Once we give them meditation to raise their consciousness high, they start to be immune to negative  environment. A lot of research has been done for EHV.  There are a lot of experiments and evidences and all that can be found in Dr. Art-ong Jumsai’s book, “A DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN VALUES INTEGRATED INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL BASED ON INTUITIVE LEARNING CONCEPT”. He noted that children who have been with them for at least three years are full of immunity when they go out. They won’t change anymore. They won’t become an ordinary person full of vices or full of problems. They remain immune to these other negative factors. We can see that by raising the child’s consciousness we are giving immunity to the child permanently.  (Below is a diagram showing the relationship between the Learning Process and Human Values Integrated Instruction.) :-  
The Learner
Super-consciousIntuitionConscience
Conscious MindUnderstandingAwarenessConscience
Outside Stimuli
FiveSenses
Interpretation
       


Sub-consciousPast ExperiencesMemory 
                   Data         Storage                                                            Data Retrievel
Sixth SenseInspiration  
 


                                                                                    Reinforcement
HUMAN VALUESINTEGRATEDINSTRUCTION
Friends
School Atmosphere
Community

Parents

Teachers
NationalCurriculum 
        


 

                                                                 Meditation and memory powerWhen we practise meditation, it has some effect on the memory also. An experiment conducted by Prof. Abrams at the University of California confirmed that meditation increases your memory. This helps you to retrieve data from the sub-conscious to the conscious. Dr. Junsai related to us an account of his own life experience to demostrate this:He said that he started to practise meditation when he was 15 years old. At that time, he was studying in England. He recalled about the time when he was a very young boy living in France with his family. He often used to get into fights with the French boys and became some sort of a boxing champion in school.  He was very naughty and very destructive at that time.  Then at the age of 15, he realized his mistakes and decided to change himself. He started to practise meditation because he remembered that he was a Buddhist and that he should start practising meditation.  And everything was changed.  His memory increased suddenly and he became a better student.  From the bottom of the class when he was 14, he became top of the class when he reached 16. He could study well and was a brilliant student.  When the time came, he was able to enter the best university, the Cambridge University, to study engineering. He studied for two years at the Cambridge University. His tutor told him, “You know everything, you don’t need to study anymore.” At that time, he was practising meditation one hour per day.  He only studied for two years at Cambridge and got his Bachelor’s degree and also earned his Masters degree as well.  For studying for only two years, he got both a Bachelor and a Masters degree!  Then he started to practise meditation for three hours a day when he was doing his Ph.D.  For the first two years, he was so busy with various activities. He was President of the Buddhist Association, London University; he was President of the UFO Society and was always looking out for extra terrestrials! He was also President of the Psychic Research Society and he joked about how, whenever there was a haunted house, they would go and camp in the haunted house to study about ghosts. They took all kinds of instruments to try to catch the ghosts using scientific experiments but they never did catch any ghost. The houses were really haunted but they were not afraid because they were always in a big group. He joked that perhaps they had scared away all the ghosts!  He was also President of the Thai Students Association. So for two years, he wasted a lot of time in his studies because he was doing a lot of work outside the university.  The result was that, for two years, he did not achieve anything in his studies. Then one day, while sitting in meditation, a thought suddenly came to him. “You have to finish your studies quickly. You’ve got to go back to your Mother country. You’ve got to serve your Motherland.” So he immediately rushed to University to see his professor/advisor and told him that he wanted to finish his Ph.D as soon as possible. His advisor became very angry and shouted, “Where have you been all this while? I haven’t seen you for two years. Where were you?  Now you come and say you want to finish your Ph.D quickly. How is that possible?” His advisor got very angry with him. So he told his advisor that he would do his best and that he still wanted to finish it as soon as possible. “How can you finish quickly? You don’t even know what you’re going to do your research on.” his advisor shot back.  He said “Alright Sir, I will go back and think about it.”  So he went back to his room and sat there in meditation. His mind became calm and suddenly a picture appeared in his mind. Upon seeing the picture, he immediately understood that it was a machine for amplifying microwave signals. Nobody had built that before. It was something new. So he built it and it worked in accordance with his understanding about it.  He understood the theory behind it and wrote a big thesis and gave it to his advisor. His advisor again became very angry. “I have not given you permission to do this. Why are you doing this?  So he said, “Sir, please read through the book.” So his professor read through the book and thought this was the perfect thesis for citation for Ph.D. His advisor became very happy with it and decided to allow him to proceed. His advisor set up examiners to examine him and all the examiners passed him with flying colours so he got his Ph.D as a result. With his contemporaries, he was the first person to finish his Ph.D in such a short time and it all came about because of meditation. He told the story of Sir Issac Newton and that he was very lucky to have got a room next to the room which Sir Issac Newton used to stay at Trinity, Cambridge.  Although Sis Issac Newton was there 300 years before him, still, he said he got the atmosphere of a great scientist staying next door to him! Issac Newton as a young boy was unlike other children. He did not like to play. He preferred to sit alone under an apple tree and meditate. One day, he was thinking about Haley’s Comet and when it was going to come round again.  He could not find the answer to that and as he sat under the apple tree that day, an apple fell down. He shouted the Greek word “Eureka!” meaning “Oh I know!”  Then he told everybody that Haley’s Comet would come round once every 76 years. At that same time he discovered the law of gravity which became the Law of Newton which we all have to learn.  So this is his greatness. He liked to sit and meditate and he received intuition, knowledge and wisdom. Such is the power of meditation, said Dr. Jumsai.Now let’s look at Einstein, he said. UNESCO gave him the title of the top scientist of the last century. When he was a student, he did not study well. In fact, he was a bad student. He could not go into an university so he studied at a technical college in Berlin, Germany.  Later on in life, he discovered laws that changed the lives of all of us. He changed the scientific thinking and so on. He came up with a wonderful theory which changed the world. Einstein told of how he discovered those laws. He said it all came as an intuition. Suddenly it clicked and he understood and these were his words. He used the word ‘intuition’. It came directly from the heart. That means the super-conscious. That’s part of the heart. If you go inside the heart, you will find tremendous peace, joy, happiness and at the same time that you start to have intuition, you start to have knowledge and understanding within your heart. You start to discover your true potential,  you start to discover your true self. Dr. Jumsai told us his story about the spacecraft which landed on Mars for the first time in the history of mankind. It landed on Mars 35 years ago. Up to that time, no scientist had been able to take a spacecraft and make it land on any planet. They have failed because Mars is too far. The distance between Earth and Mars is 215 million miles. That is a long distance and for light to reach Mars, it would take 20 minutes and this is at the fantastic speed of light. When the spacecraft landed, it took 12 minutes to land so if you receive a signal that it is going too fast, that it is going to crash onto the surface, it is already too late. By the time you get the signal, it has already crashed. There’s no way you can control it. That is why scientist have failed to bring any spacecraft onto the surface of any planet because it is too far away unlike the moon which is very close to us.  So Dr. Jumsai built a machine that helped in the control of the descent of the spacecraft. It was an automatic control machine which controlled itself and that helped in the descent of the spacecraft.  It made a soft landing onto the surface of Mars on the 4th of July 1976. That was the first Viking Spacecraft No. 1. They made it land on the 4th of July to be a part of their celebration of America’s Independence Day. There was a lot of rejoicing.  Viking 11 also landed safely on Mars. Breathing and life span Dr. Jumsai then enlightened us on how to live a longer life. He said that If you want a longer life, learn to breathe slowly. Look at the oxygen consumption. Dr. Jumsai explained that if you do meditation, you can reduce very quickly oxygen consumption to 14 to 16 %.  If you go into deep sleep, you need about 8% less oxygen. The reason is because when you are relaxed, you don’t need so much oxygen. When you are meditating, you are far more relaxed than sleeping itself. It has been proven that meditation improves work efficiency; improves self-confidence and also improves  the ability to get on with others. What decreases are the emotions, seeing bad in others, stress, taking advantage of others, passiveness and fear. A person who practises meditation also reacts more quickly in times of emergency.  Now we see the learning process where we input a lot of human values to be used for interpretation; we have changed the habits of children; we have raised their consciousness to have that immunity.  We have been following our students who have gone to universities. After many years of leaving the Sathya Sai School, they have still retained the human values. This is because we have put in that immunity aspect.The sixth senseWe now look at another type of learning. This is about the sixth sense. We have a sixth sense which receives information directly to the mind. It does not have to go through the five senses.  This sixth sense is the reason why the children can automatically feel the love we have for them. This is how we can inspire children, They can be closing their eyes but they can feel the love. Dr. Jumsai said that he does not teach the younger children but they will come and embrace him. They will come and talk to him because he loves them and they can feel it. It touches their heart. This is the sixth sense - the inspirational part.  He added that as teachers you must know how to inspire. That means you have to touch their hearts and when there is a lot of love, automatically everything becomes right conduct. When you secrete endorphins in your blood, that endorphin will give you tremendous peace.  When you have peace of mind, you start to raise your consciousness high and you start to understand the truth, that you are the Atma, a part of God.  If that truth is understood, and you have love in your life, you become incapable of any violence in your life.  Everything will become non-violent. Love is the basis of all the 5 human values. If you take away love, everything else collapses. You need love as the basis. You must also understand that all the values exist at the same time. If you take away any value, then all will disappear.  Remember that all the values are one. You cannot separate them. In order to convince our children that love has an effect on living things, an experiment was carried out.  The children and teachers grew marigold plants in two plots of land. Equal amounts of sunlight, water and temperature were given to both plots. But the students gave love to only one plot. That was the only difference – the ingredient of love. The rest were all the same.  The plot which received love grew fast and bore many flowers. The other plot which did not receive love had no flowers and was shorter in height. The plot that received love was 49.2% taller than the other plot.  This shows that love does have an effect on living things. So it is very important to help parents to love their children. This is part of the parenting training. As we teach children we also have to teach parents because parents are teachers at home. We cannot teach something in school and the parents teach something else at home. We have to coordinate to work together with the parents. Educare and EducationWe can teach in two ways. One way is the direct method where it goes through the 5 senses. We call this Education. We can also teach through inspiration which goes directly to the heart of the child. We call this Educare.  So we have Educare and Education.  Swami has been calling us to bring out the values from within and at the same time, Swami has also said that we need both Education and Educare for our children.  Education is still necessary to learn about the world; to learn about science and so on but to bring out values, we need Educare.  Spoken message and meta messageTo understand how to inspire children, you have to understand how to transmit the messages. If you use open message, that is, if you speak only, you only transmit 10% of the message. What is more important is what we call the meta method. That type transmits 90% of the message. To be an effective teacher, you’ve got to be able to transmit 100% of the message. The look on the teacher’s face must reflect what he or she speaks. Your action, your thought, your speech, your mind, must all send the same message. This is very important.  Teachers need to coordinate all these in order to be able to transmit 100% of the message.  Only then, can you really and effectively give the message to the children and you become a really good teacher. Swami says that EHV is 3HV. If you can coordinate the head, the heart and the hand then you are a very good teacher.  There are two rules to be a good teacher. Rule No.1 – Be a good example. Rule No.2 – Go back to Rule No.1!The teacher’s roleWe must know that children are not robots. We do not put information into them and make them work accordingly.   Children are human beings. They must be able to learn by themselves. They must have that ability to learn all through their lives. So the teacher’s role  have to change. You are no longer teachers. You don’t teach and teach all the time. Your role is to become a facilitator for the learning process. We help the children to learn. We take them out to observe nature and contact the environment. We talk to them about science and science is a study of our surroundings. It is a study of the environment but then, most classes are conducted within the four walls of a building so how can the children learn about nature if they are not in contact with nature. Science has been misguided. Why? Because we study about everything outside of us but we forget one place where we should study as well to make the picture complete and that is, within. True science has to study everything, including within and that is where science has gone wrong. We teach by example and teachers are examples for the children. If you want the children to be happy, you’ve got to be happy. If you want the children to be good, you’ve got to be good because you have to be an example for the children to follow in every way. That is the way you should teach.  You cannot just teach goodness. You have to bring out the goodness from within them.  Use  Swami’s  Educare as the main principle to achieve this, Dr. Jumsai advised.Cooperation, not competitionWe use collaborative learning. We don’t want children to compete with one another but we want them to work as a group so that they can help one another, Dr. Jumsai said. In most schools,  children compete to be first.  They compete to be the best. They compete for prizes and so on. That  does not bring out love.  It does not bring out cooperation. When  we get children to work as a group, the weaker ones will be helped by the stronger ones.  They learn to help each other. When we test them, we also test them as a whole group together. Listen to the childrenChildren should have full participation in the learning process.  In other words, they should be able to tell us what they want to know or what they want to learn. For example, if the children wished to go to the waterfall, we can bring them there, sit them down and teach them English, mathematics, science and so on and they learn better as a result of their own decision. So give them participation.  If they wished to see a movie, then show them the movie and then discuss the values involved with them.Teachers also have to create a safe atmosphere in the classroom so that children can learn better when they are allowed to express their opinion. Give them freedom to ask questions, to present their views. Children can learn far better if they can have that kind of participation.  In many schools in Thailand, when children start to ask too many questions or when they talk and discuss amongst themselves, the teachers would shout, “Quiet!” and they all have to remain quiet. Then they don’t feel safe anymore to talk or to discuss. They remain quiet and listen to the teacher and the teacher would say that that’s very good. They are being attentive! In order to help them to be intelligent, teachers have to give them freedom to express and participate.     When  telling children stories or lessons, do not end the story or lesson at the negative part. Bring something positive into it before ending otherwise they will retain that negativity in their sub-concious.Dr. Jumsai then related this story : One day, a teacher asked the Grade One students what they wanted to learn. They said they wanted to learn about pizza. Most of these children come from rural areas and they do not know what a pizza looked like although they have heard about it. So the teacher started a class on pizza. The teacher knows she must not tell them everything about pizzas so that the children will have to go and find out for themselves by looking up in the library or by asking friends. They learned about the shape; they learned about what goes into making a pizza and how it is cooked.  There was full participation and it was fun. From learning about pizzas, they also got to learn about agriculture – how the vegetables were grown; they learned about mathematics – how much money it cost to make 10 large pieces of pizza and so on. They learned how to use the oven. When the pizzas were finally baked and ready to eat, the children cut up the pizzas and gave them to their teacher and friends. Then they came running back very happy and excited. They decided to cut the rest of the pizzas into small pieces and ran off to distribute them to the whole school.  Dr. Jumsai  was observing what was happening and asked them why they were giving all the pizzas away and not keeping any for themselves.  They answered that when the teachers and friends received the pizzas, they were so happy and this made them very happy that they decided to give everything away! Just by learning how to make pizza, they learned about love, they learned the joy of giving and sharing and they learned teamwork. They learned art by drawing pictures of pizzas and they even composed a song on pizza which goes to the tune of “I hear thunder, I hear thunder”. It goes :“WE LOVE PIZZAS,  WE LOVE PIZZASWE WORK TOGETHER,  WE WORK TOGETHERTO MAKE TASTY PIZZAS,  TO MAKE TASTY PIZZASFOR ONE AND ALL,  FOR  ONE AND ALL.”Ideal climateDr. Jumsai moved from the classroom climate to the climate of the whole school. He stressed that just as the classroom climate has to be one where the children can feel safe, the school climate should be one of of peace and love. In conclusion, Dr. Jumsai enlightened us with the information that they have already trained more than 100,000 teachers in Thailand and there are still many more thousands to be trained because Thailand is a big country. He explained that when they accept teachers for training, they look for one particular point only, and that is, LOVE.  He said that a teacher who has love is more important than one who has better academic qualifications.(We also learned from Dr. Jumsai that there is always a great number of guests from many countries coming to visit their school. They find that they cannot teach their children when so many guests come to visit so they have decided to limit the number of visitors to a maximum of 2000 a month.) ~ End of Dr. Jumsai’s lecture ~ÿÿÿ What we had also learned . . . Relationship between the Learning Process and Human Values Integrated Instruction1.         The five human values are one. They cannot be separated. When one value disappears, all other values will disappear. When you have love, you have everything. The idea is to bring out all the values in total.2.         In real life, everything is inter-related. Thus, a good learning experience is to have an integrated approach.3.         Integrated EHV (Education in Human Values) gives the learner the opportunity to solve problems from various perspectives by giving varied inter-related experiences.4.         Integrated EHV opens up a wider worldview for both the teacher and the learner, making the learning process much more interesting. Brain research Our brain has 100 billion neurons. Neuron is a unit in the brain that keeps information. The neurons connect to one another. When there is connection, information in one neuron will automatically link up with information in the other neurons. That will give greater meaning. If there is no inter-connection between the neurons, information will be separated and we will not be able to remember them. As soon as a child is born, we should start to help him make a lot of connections in his brain by giving varied experiences to help him to connect all the neurons. Then the child will have a lot of capacity for understanding. He will never forget what he learns in relation to his life experiences. Basis          Example :  when we teach the subject on energy saving, we have to try to make connections by integrating it with Mathematics, Geography, History, English, the environment, Science etc. and in Sathya Sai Schools, Human Values must be an integral part of all the subjects. If we teach Mathematics alone, the child will keep it in only one part of the brain. He will not be able to apply it to his daily life. It is only when we make connections between the subjects and human values that the subjects will become meaningful for the child. Swami said: “You study and you study. You go to the examination room, pour out everything on the examination paper, leave the examination room empty headed and remain empty headed.” This is because we study the subjects separately. When there is no connection, we don’t remember what we have studied. When we make the connections, we don’t have to memorize everything.  It is important to learn to have long-term memory in education. Definition of Integrated EHV “Making connections between various subjects with the Five Human Values as an integral part so as to make one whole subject. Lesson plans are arranged to help the learner to understand it as one whole subject rather than separated facts, enabling the learner to apply what he has learned in his daily life.” This is the oneness we are talking about. There is no need to memorize anything. We become part of the subject. We become one with it.  It becomes meaningful. According to Dr. Jumsai, there are two types of Integration - the Intra-Disciplinary Integration and the Inter-Disciplinary Integration as per below: Two Types of Integration·         Intra-disciplinary Integration – Integrating topics of the same subject. The Five                                                             Human Values must  be integrated into the subject.·         Inter-disciplinary Integration – Integrate various subjects together so that knowledge                                                             will go into our long-term memory. Example:                 The topic of Water is connected with the topic of Environment by subtopics like saving water, causing less pollution and helping to take care of our environment. In teaching English, we get the children to write poetry, poems or essays with words like  water, pollution, renewable energy etc.                               In  teaching Mathematics, an example would be:  Mrs Smith used 20 litres of water last month.  She decided to save water by using it with care in her house.  For this month, she used only 15 units. If the cost per unit is 4 rupees, by how much is her water bill reduced? The savings generated from practising this ceiling on desires could be used to serve  the poor.  When creating questions for students we must always remember not to put any negative connotations into it.  For example:  When teaching Science on the subject of Light, we  get the children to tell us the values they learned from light.  The answers could be: a)     It doesn’t wander.b)     It doesn’t waste timec)     We must be like the light. Songs are good ways to teach values to children. It is known as a factor influencing desired outcome. A study was made by Dr Judo called “The Synthesis of School Effects”, based on empirical studies, to identify factors that influence the desired outcome. He gathered information from many schools and the following discoveries were made:- §         School climate has a direct effect on classroom management and character. When you walk into the school, you must feel the peace and receive the love energy. You see children and teachers smiling. As part of SAI2000, we must make sure that love permeates the school; that there is peace everywhere; that children do not fight with one another. Politics is not allowed amongst the teachers. There should not be division into groups. All must be one.§          A school climate of Peace and Love brings out the character in a child. You cannot teach values. You can only bring it out through stimulation by the school climate. With a peaceful and loving school climate, immediately you will have all the values in emotional quotient, emotional intelligence and morality quotient. When there is love, teachers are happy and become good examples. For example we can teach about saving energy through a song composed by ourselves using a popular nursery rhymes tune:-     THIS IS THE WAY TO HELP THE WORLD, HELP THE WORLD, HELP THE WORLD.THIS IS THE WAY TO HELP THE WORLD, BY SAVING ENERGY.LET US SAVE ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY.LET US SAVE ELECTRICITY, BY TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS.THIS IS THE WAY TO SAVE WATER, SAVE WATER, SAVE WATER.THIS IS THE WAY TO SAVE WATER, BY TURNING OFF THE TAPS.THIS IS THE WAY TO HELP THE WORLD, HELP THE WORLD, HELP THE WORLD.THIS IS THE WAY TO HELP THE WORLD, BY SAVING ENERGY. §         When there is peace, there will be concentration, which is the essence of education. If there is no concentration, you cannot study. Children will have very short attention span. School Climate has, to a smaller extent, affect academic achievement. Good teachers have a greater influence on academic achievement.§         A good classroom has some effect on character, but to a lesser extent than school climate. Good character influences academic achievement directly.How Should Our Mind Function Towards Educare? Carl Rogers: The hard part of figuring out how to teach is learning when to keep our mouth shut.  Most of the time in our classroom, we must try to allow the children to speak instead, to talk about their experiences and about their problems. We can divide them into groups to allow more interaction with one another and then ask them to share their experiences with the class. We allow them to think, to bring out their ideas. This is what Educare is all about. It is to allow them to bring out their ideas and bring out everything within themselves. But of course, we have to help them to think in the right way. Children receive information from outside by interacting with the environment, society and everything that is around us. They start to learn from this interaction. Allow them to interact with one another. Allow them to interact with nature. Don’t stay in the classroom only. Use trees, nature as your classroom. We encourage them to learn, to observe and understand the learning process. They learn to interact with the environment through their five senses. Children’s understanding is also based on their previous experiences that are stored in their sub-conscious mind. When a child receives information through the five senses, other information will be drawn from the sub-conscious mind and he will react accordingly. A study on teachers in Thailand shows that the most common word used by them is the word “buffalo”. It means, “You are stupid”. If the child is made to think that he is stupid, he becomes stupid. The idea of Educare is to go deep within and bring out the five human values. Go beyond the conscious. When you go beyond the conscious mind, you go towards the super-conscious mind. When you go into the super-conscious mind, the five human values will automatically appear.               Day2 -15 March 2010 (2.30pm-5.30pm) SESSION WITH SISTER ANGELA LORAINE BURROWS  A New Look At Methodology For SSEHV Sis. Loraine started the session  with a beautiful value song “Love All Serve All”  It goes:-      TAKE A LESSON FROM THE SUN THAT SHINES HIS LIGHT ON EVERYONE,OR THE RAIN THAT FALLS ON EVERY SINGLE SHORE.NO DISTINCTION OF OUR RACE OR THE COLOUR OF OUR FACE,NATURE'S GIFTS ARE THERE FOR ALL MEN RICH OR POOR.LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL,UNDERSTAND THAT LOVE AND PEACE IS WHAT WE NEED,LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL,IN EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT WORD AND DEED.,BEAR ALL AND DO NOTHING, HEAR ALL AND SAY NOTHING,GIVE ALL AND TAKE NOTHING IN RETURN.LOVE IS GIVING AND FORGIVING, SELF IS GETTING AND FORGETTING,SERVE ALL IN THE SPIRIT OF PURE LOVE.LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL,UNDERSTAND THAT LOVE AND PEACE IS WHAT WE NEED,LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL,IN EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT WORD AND DEED. All of us  enjoyed singing the song together with Sis. Loraine.   The session continued.  Sis. Loraine spoke about the situation in our world right now;  about the situation in the environment and global warming. She warned that there is already a global crisis in our midst. We know that God is here and that we have hope but still, we cannot just leave it to that.  As teachers, especially, we have to realise what these problems are.  What we have in our hands are the children and what the children have in their hands is the future.  So we have to help the children become the best leaders that they can possibly become.  Global crisis have come in the forms of wars, immigration (from the country-side to the urban areas and from one country to another causing congestion in some areas), violence, over-population, loss of cultural roots, social imbalance (the rich getting richer), poverty, corruption, unemployment and the crisis with the environment due to global warming. New Direction  It is time to go deeper, to really use our own inner divinity, our own creativity to modify our SSEHV programme in the context of Educare.  The way we teach SSEHV was by following the five human values and the five teaching techniques but Swami is not static.  Similarly, we must not be stuck with the curriculum. Everywhere that we go in the world, teachers complain about the same thing – the Curriculum. We have created so many boundaries. If we look at SSEHV, we have created the curriculum and we are limiting ourselves. The following are some ideas. It is not a package to restrict us. It is simply letting us think a little bit further, be a little bit more expansive, think a little bit more creatively, think a little bit more of the goals rather than just the five values and five techniques. It is not necessary to make it a curricular subject. Values have to be integrated into everything we teach. It does not mean that we do away with EHV class, rather,  we have to address these  questions: How are we going to teach it? How are we going to draw out the values from within the children? “Do not treat “Human Values” as a separate curricular assignment. Then, it will become dry and uninspiring. It must transform the way of life and should not stop with imparting information. It must be imparted more through example and practice than by books and formal teaching.” -  Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. XVl, p.196 “Teaching and learning have both become mechanical routines. They have lost their freshness and joy which vitality alone can give. The value of the teaching process lies in raising the level of consciousness of the learner, in heightening the sense of wonder and awe and in emphasizing the unity of one and all.” - Sathya Sai Speaks XV  Sathya Sai Educare The ideal teacher is the ideal student. To take this a step further, the teacher actually learns from the students. We have to start with the children when they are very young. The children have the divinity within them. It is not for us to put it in there. It is for us to help them draw out the divinity that lies within them. That is really the whole concept of Educare.  In the Sathya Sai Schools, the spiritual aspect is what we emphasize. It is to bring out the inherent divinity within a child. This is the great task before all of us as principals, as teachers, and as trainers. If we look at the education system today, this is what Swami says:  Educare has two aspects, the worldly and the spiritual. Worldly education brings out the latent knowledge pertaining to the physical world. Spiritual knowledge brings out the inherent divinity in man.            Where is this wonder today? Children from the age of two are watching television, playing with computers and video games. There is no wonder. There is no awe. The inherent divinity is being covered very quickly. How do children learn? The quote which attracted our mind was Teachers are remembered more for what they were, than what they taught. All teachers should embed this verse in their hearts. We were told that children learn by direct experiences, actively taking part, doing their own research, discovering the joy in learning, being part of the learning process, discovering their own resources, stimulating their creativity and challenging them to think for themselves. So we have to gear our classes to be “child-centered”. For that we as the teachers need to set three main goals to be achieved with our children which are:§         First Goal - To draw out the latent divinity from within the child.      Our school systems are driven by academic and athletic excellence. However, we need        to balance these by helping our children to develop good hearts and strive for spiritual       excellence.§         Second Goal - To develop discrimination between right and wrong.The child should be taught to think, to study and then to act. Swami says “The essence of education is concentration”. When the child finds peace through concentration, he can listen to his conscience and exercise discrimination. 3HV stands for Heart, Head and Hands. When the idea comes, it is taken to the heart. If the heart approves the action, it will be acted upon. If the heart disapproves the action, the idea will be abandoned. §         Third Goal – To know who we are.“Although young people are filled with questions about themselves, much of modern life keeps them from the search to understand and care for themselves.” One of the greatest problems that adolescents are facing today is they do not know their true selves. Teachers must first search within for the answers to these questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? It is only then that they can help the child to draw out the answers from within him. Teachers should start with teaching the children to be self-reliant. Education should inculcate in the students the spirit of self-reliance and self-confidence. The first thing in life is self-reliance. Second is self-confidence. Third is self-sacrifice. Fourth is self-realization. With self-realization, life finds its final fulfillment.   Thematic Value Education The enumeration of the human values as five: Right Conduct, Truth, Love, Peace and Non-Violence is incorrect. They are all facets of the foundational humanness. They grow together: they are inter-dependent, they are not separable. Rather than just concentrating on just one value for each lesson, we draw out the values in everything we do. One example of a theme for the lessons which span over a period of time could be “From I to we” which is the journey to discover the relationship between the self and the universe. This theme will have sub-themes on the self, my family, society, the environment etc. The sub-themes can be broken up further. Get the children to come up with their own ideas. Continue to expand the theme until you have explored all the values. Draw out the values from everything that we are doing.Experiential Learning Children can learn through silent sitting, storytelling, service projects, prayers, art and creative work, poetry and quotes, games, music and singing, and drama and role play. In every lesson, we should include silent sitting and prayer. These are basics. The rest is up to the discretion of the teacher to decide what she wants to do. We have to do whatever will help the child in this transformation process. To have set lesson plans is quite limiting. Every teacher should create his or her own lesson plans. Every teacher should have the creativity and sensitivity to know what the children need. So all teachers must prepare themselves beforehand in the following areas: §         Create an AtmosphereWhat is the atmosphere that we would like to create in a class? Teachers have to ensure that atmosphere in the classroom is radiating with values.§         Build Trust and Co-operationWe need to build trust and co-operation with the students. With this in place, the learning process will become automatic.§         Be clear of the multiple roles of a TeacherTeachers have to be clear of their multi-faceted roles. They play the roles of facilitator, teacher, mother, father, policeman, doctor etc. They have to realize that it is a tremendous sacrifice to be a teacher.§         Always hold your Goal in MindThey have to always hold their goal in their mind. Draw out the divinity within the child. Teachers as Role Model “If we want our children to possess the traits of character we most admire, we need to teach them what those traits are.” To be exact, the children learn from what we are, not from what we teach or what we say. The following is a checklist that teachers may use as a guideline before preparing their classes and afterwards, as an evaluation:- Water Project in English and SSEHV classes (Thailand) Checklist for effectiveness1.      Does it touch the heart of a child?2.      Does it have practical application?3.      Does it help the child to transform? The children were showed the book “Messages from Water” by a Japanese scientist who had frozen water and did many experiments, by observing the water crystals, to show how the environment and people affect water. This had a very profound effect on the children. Water from the Osaka River and Tokyo River had different crystal formations. Pure water had very beautiful crystal formations while polluted water had dark and distorted crystals. Water was put into bottles and labelled with different words. One bottle was labelled “Thank You” while another labelled “You make me sick. I will kill you.” This experiment showed that these words have a direct effect on crystals. This next experiment had the greatest influence on the children. Water from a dam, before and after prayer, was crystallized. Crystals of water before the prayer were dark and distorted. One child who never saw the importance in prayer and meditation told me, “Today, for the first time, I really understand how important it is to pray and meditate. Our body is so filled with water. What a great influence our thoughts are having on our body.” She had noticed that the figure of someone praying had taken shape in the crystal. The children did an art project that showed the connection between the water crystal that they would like to have in their bodies and their thoughts. In another project, children were divided into groups. They explored and learned about waters of dams, rivers, seas, etc.  The theme on Water expanded to water conservation. The children came up with the uses of water and how to help conserve water. They sang the following song: WATER IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN SILVER.WATER IS MORE VALUED THAN GOLD.WATER IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN DIAMONDS.WE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT WATER. Last but not least…  The Secret of TeachingFrom Heart to Heart and Not Head to Head Day 3 – 16 March  2010 (8.30am – 2.00pm) On the morning of 16 March, we all woke up in great excitement and  quickly  got ready for our morning prayers.  After the prayers, we went to the school canteen for our breakfast.  After breakfast, the Sai School bus took us to the district town of Lopburi for a half-day trip.  Most of us  managed to get some souvenirs from there for our loved ones at home.  After some sight-seeing, the bus took us back to the Sai School where we were served a delicious lunch.  Sister Loraine then told us to be ready by 3.00pm for the next session.Day 3 – 16 March 2010 (3.00am – 5.00pm)             In great excitement, we all got ready to visit the Institute of Sathya Sai Education (ISSE) We were taken to the Institute  in a ‘tuk tuk’ and some went in Sis. Loraine’s car.  The Institute was quite a distance from where we stayed and the ride was such a joyful one.  The setting was very rural and it gave us the feeling of being very close to nature.  Our hosts were very hospitable people and served us delicious dessert on our arrival.  After dessert, we all settled down on the floor of the Institute hall.  Sister Loraine was the facilitator for this session. The First Activity - Lessons derived from the Two MarblesWe were asked to sit in a circle and close our eyes.  A marble was then passed around to every one.  When each participant received the marble, he/she was told to open her eyes, study the marble and feel it and then pass it on to the next person.   A second marble made a similar round. When all have had the chance to study both the marbles,  we  were asked for our opinions about the two marbles.  One of the marbles was smooth, clear and beautiful. The other was dirty-looking and not clear. However, different people gave different comments about the two marbles. The lesson we learn from this is about how differently our minds perceive things or people.  It shows how different people  sees the same object or person in different ways. Second Activity - Good qualities of you, my dear friendWe were asked to sit in pairs and given a piece of paper each. We were then asked to write down the good qualities we have in ourselves on one side of the paper. The paper was then passed to our partner. He or she had to write on the reverse side of the paper the good qualities that he/she sees in the partner.  After this, the partners took back their own piece of paper. The positive and good qualities each wrote about the other made everyone very pleased and happy.  The objective of this activity was for us to always see the good in others.  When others are happy, you are happy too.  Third Activity - Remember  that 75% of your body is waterA bag of pebbles was passed around for each one to choose a pebble.  The pebbles were of two colours.  Those of the same colour pebble belong to one group while those of the other colour pebble belong to the second group. This is a simple method to divide children into groups.  We were thus divided into two groups and each group was asked to sit down one behind the other in one straight line. A bowl full of water was held over the head and passed from the first person in the row all the way down until it reaches the last person in the row, all the time holding the bowl of water over the heads.   If your concentration is not good or your focus is not steady or the act of passing the bowl is not properly handled, then, the  water in the bowl would spill or splash all over you.  The bowl had to make its journey from the first person in the row to the last person and then back from the last person in the row to the first person again.  It is a double journey so one can imagine the amount of drenching that took place!  The process demands that we remain steady and focused. Once we start to laugh and lose focus, the water was sure to come splashing down!  This activity teaches us to be careful with using water; to be aware of the importance of water and not to waste it by using it mindlessly and uncaringly.  Without water, our bodies will wither away and die. In the Sai School in Thailand, they are very mindful of water conservation.  Fourth Activity - I trust you, my friendThis game was very much enjoyed by all of us.  We were divided into two groups. Each group was asked to take position opposite the other.  In our case, our two groups took position on two flights of stairs opposite each other leaving an open space in-between.   Balloons filled with water were given out to both groups. One group would hold out a blanket to catch the water balloon which was thrown at them. Contrary to what we think, it is extremely difficult to handle water balloons, especially big ones. It’s almost impossible to control the way it behaves.  It’s heavy and it wobbles any which way it wants and to lift it up and throw it across to the opposite side often finds it ending up smashed on the ground before it even hits the blanket!  The idea is to save as many balloons as possible. It equates to how we must trust one another in handling life’s difficult situations. It’s also about good coordination and good teamwork, not to mention good fun as well.  All of us, young and old were laughing and giggling like kids!  It was really fun.   Day 3 – 16 March 2010 (5.00am – 6.30pm) It was time to leave the Institute and join Dr. Jumsai in the fields.  Here comes the “tuk tuk” again which took us to the place where Dr. Jumsai was waiting for us. We saw huge fields of paddy.  We were told by Dr. Jumsai that by the end of this year, the rice produced from these paddy fields would be enough to sustain the population of the entire Sai School!  Dr. Jumsai took us on a tour of the farm where pumpkins grew in abundance; where melons, brinjals, chillies and other kinds of vegetables thrived beautifully and  where abalone mushrooms sprout healthily in a specially-constructed hut.   Dr. Jumsai then showed us their school projects on energy saving. The first one was a pump to pump out water from the pond to irrigate the plants. He showed us how they produced their own charcoal without involving any burning.   He showed us a generator which is used to generate electricity for the school’s consumption.  At the moment, they only make use of  the daily waste churned out from their own school and this is not very sufficient. The future plan is to have the neighbouring municipality provide them with their daily waste to be generated into electricity. The school will use the electricity produced and any excess can then be sold to the neighbouring places to generate some income to run the school.   With the field trip over, we all went back to our rooms for a shower.  After dinner, we adjourned to the main prayer hall for a bhajan session organised by our host.  Sis. Loraine, the Diploma Course students and Dr. Jumsai all took part in the bhajan.  Day 3 – 16 March 2010 (7.30am – 9.30pm)We all felt very blessed to be given the chance to participate in this bhajan session.  After the bhajan, Dr. Jumsai gave each of us the book which was written by him on “A Development of The Human Values Integrated Instructional Model Based on Intuitive Learning Concept”.  He even obliged us with his signature on each of our books. Our Johor State Coordinator, Bro. Govindan, thanked Dr. Jumsai, Sis. Loraine and everyone there who made our trip at the Sai School a  very fruitful and enjoyable one. Bro. Govindan then presented a plaque to Dr. Art-ong Jumsai to the Sai School and the Institute as a token of our great appreciation.  This ended our last night there. It was indeed a memorable visit to the Sathya Sai School of Thailand.   Thank you, Swami.  Jai Sai Ram!  š END ›  

 


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SHELTER PROJECT REPORT

 

 

Senai -  Shelter Project Report  

 

 

 

Project Summary: Refurbishing Home of Mr. Guna’s Family

Project Location: Lee Rubber Estate, Senai, Johor

Summary:A house belonging to a family of seven (parents and 5 kids between the ages of 13 months to 7 yrs) was refurbished as part of the Shelter Project initiative. We were introduced to this family through the contacts developed by Bro. Tony of the Johor Jesuit order whom we have collaborated with on previous projects.Background: The original plan of this Shelter Project was to provide drains around the rear of the house to remove water which was discharged from the kitchen and bathroom away from the home. We found stagnant water from the kitchen and bathroom outside the house which was a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other vermin’s. Water for domestic use was being piped directly from a pond located just outside the home via an old pump which used to malfunction ever so often. Our contractor built a water tank to collect rain water and this was supplemented by a new suction pump taking water from the same pond. We also installed grilles around the front of the house per the mother’s request for safety reasons. Both the parents work two jobs and are often not at home. The children are left at home on their own most of the time with the eldest son of 7 years being the caregiver for his younger siblings. He often prepares his siblings lunch and bathes them when the parents are away at work. After our first meeting with the family, we introduced members of the JB Sai Center to them who then later included the family into their monthly Narayana Seva program (supply of basic food rations on a monthly basis). From our interviews it was clear that the family was in dire need of help. Both the mother and father appeared to be honest and sincere through our interactions with them. Total cost of the contracted repairs came up to RM5,500. After the contracted work was completed, volunteers from JB, KL and Singapore came together as one united force to share God’s love with the family. On a beautiful Saturday morning (21st of Aug), more than 20 volunteers gathered at this humble home in the rubber estate of Senai to carry out the work that was planned. The youths and male adults painted the entire house (exterior and interior). We also installed new doors for the bathroom and toilet as they were in a state of disrepair and were falling off their hinges. We installed a spare wooden door for one of the bedrooms and installed a new prayer altar in the family hall. Work started around 8:30am and the last group of volunteers left at 4:30pm. The adult ladies who were present cooked a wonderful meal for all the volunteers and family and we all sat down and ate lunch with the mother and her children. After all the physical work was completed, at around 3:30pm, we sat down with the family and said a few prayers to inaugurate the new alter. Volunteers who were present shared their thoughts and feelings. The highlight of the day was when the mother (Mdm. Devi) whilst choking back tears thanked all of us for all our assistance. She agreed for her children to be enrolled in the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values program and they attended their first class last Sunday. Volunteers from JB have agreed to ferry the three children for these classes every Sunday morning. It was a truly memorable experience and one that all of those who volunteered will remember and cherish for a long time to come. Before Construction: Mother and five children at the entrance to the home Rear of house - Note the clogged “drain”, rotting kitchen door & water supply pipeWater for domestic use tapped directly from a pond fed by a faulty pump Mr. Guna with his third son (middle), our contractor with my son (left) & Bro. TonyInspecting a chicken coop which was built next to the house The eldest child (in the middle) is studying in a nearby Chinese school. He is not only doing well, but he cooks and looks after his siblings when the parents are at work!During/After completion:Entrance wall being retrofitted for the installation of the grills Water tank installed to collect rain water. New pump was purchased to tap from the pond which tops up the water into tank. Water from tank piped to kitchen & bathroom.New concrete drains were laid and kitchen door was replaced. No more stagnant water. Drain also removes water from the bathroom to ensure mosquitoes cannot breedMrs. Guna requested for us to provide some new pictures for her altar. Mold and mildew stained exterior walls results a damp & dreary feeling overallA memorable day of sharing:Starting work in the morning, volunteers got to painting immediately! The eldest son helping in the painting workThe third child who is only 3 years old also helped out in the painting! The mother hard at work as well!Our volunteers cutting the bedroom door down to fit the unusual frame before installation. Luckily we had the right tools on hand. Our dearest aunties cooked an awesome lunch for the family and volunteers. Thanks to the girls from Singapore for sponsoring the food!The mother fed the children first as they were getting hungry. Volunteers only ate around 2:30pm once work was almost done Finally we got to eat. Food prayer before hand of course!Sathya Sai Grama Seva vehicle which transported the volunteers from KL who made a day trip just to come and help the rest of us down South. Thank you brothers!  

 


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Free medical camp for the lower-income group in Larkin

Johor Street

 

2010/05/02

 

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RESIDENTS of the Serantau Baru flats in Larkin Gardens, Johor Baru, made a beeline to their community hall for free medical screenings and check-ups at a camp organised by the Johor Baru Sai Baba Centre and the Johor Specialist Hospital (JSH) recently.

 

Sathya Sai Central Council of Malaysia (Johor) coordinator S.K. Govindan said the camp was for the lower-income group.

"We chose more than 200 people in the lower-income group to attend the camp.

"Most of the people avoid seeking treatment at government hospitals because of the big crowd. The camp provides an avenue for them to go for medical check-ups right at their doorstep."


The check-ups included breast cancer screenings, cholesterol and blood glucose tests, eye screenings, ENT (ear, nose and throat) examinations and other general screenings.


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SATHYA SAI INTEGRATED GRAMA SEVA PAHANG 2010
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INCONJUCTION OF

 85TH BIRTHDAY

BHAGWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

SERVED 7 VILLAGES OF SEMAI ASLI ETHNICS

(199 FAMILIES with 2100 POPULATION)

(PAHANG-MALAYSIA)

BANDAR SUNGALA SAI CENTRE AND GRAMA SEVA SAI YOUTHS

WOULD LIKE TO THANK TO ALL SAI CENTRES/BHAJAN UNIT AND INDIVIDUAL, WHO SUPPORT AND CONTRIBUTE TO THIS PROJECT.

REFLECTION OF UNITY AND WORK FOR THE SAI MISSION AMONG ALL SAI CENTRE and MEMBERS.
(TEEN YOUTH AND BAL VIKAS CHILDREN BDR SUNGALA SAI CENTRE.., BAGAN DATOH SAI BHAJAN UNIT.., RAWANG SAI CENTRE..,KAJANG SAI CENTRE.., CHERAS SAI CENTRE.., KULIM SAI CENTRE.., PENANG SAI YOUTHS..,IPOH SAI HAMINDER.. , THONG SINGAPORE.., KUALA LIPIS SAI CENTRE.., BYFORST LOGISTIC..,PEARL WAREHOUSE & LOGISTIC../RADHA TRANSPORT CO./JEGAN DAMANSARA TRANSPORT ,APPARAO METAL CO.(LORRY),PHARMANIAGA,CENTRAL REGION SAI YOUTHS,  ..MELAKA SAI CENTRE, EQ TRAINING)

 



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Invitation - Guru Poornima Celebration

 Dear All

Sairam

On behalf of Taman Universiti Sai Centre, I would like to invite you and your family for
the Guru Poornima Celebration at Taman Universiti. Please refer to the attached invitation for details.

 

This is the first time Taman U Sai center is having such a programme for the public and your presence will make the event a more meaningful and a significant one as it is a

Humble Dedication with love To Our Beloved Swami.

Regards

Noka

 

invitationgurupoornimatmnu.jpg


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Sai Convention 2010
Johore Youth Retreat 2010

Date : 13th June 2010saicouncil2.jpg

 

Time :  8.30am - 5.30pm.

 

Venue : TMN DAYA BHAJAN UNIT, JOHOR BAHRU.

 

            Special Guest & Revered Speaker :  Bro. Dr.Suresh Govind.

 

 WHO CAN ATTEND ? :    All Teen Youths & Youths can attend this programme.

            (Everyone above the age of 16 years and below 40 are encouraged to attend and participate in this event.)

 

The object of this programme is to bring all Teen Youths & Youths of the State together for a fellowship, bonding and motivate them to be good, be good children to their parents, study smartly, be proactive in school activities, actively participate in programmes of the Centres, State and transform themselves into useful citizens and divine instruments of change. It is a Spiritualized Motivation Camp.


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In Memory of Bro.Vinod Naidu
WFV....Lets GO GREEN........ Together.....

 
 
 
 
Om Sai Ram
 
 
Call for 3rd Meeting ....!go_green.gif
 
Sai Ram Dear Brothers & Sisters...
 
Walk for Values  .. Go Green ;
 
 
Next Meeting; 30th Apr 2010
 
 
 
... an exciting event to elevate the awareness on Mother Nature being organised by our Johor  Sai Youth on 18th Jul 2010
 
We need lots of Volunteers..before  ...during  & after  the event. 

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Minute's of Walk For Value 1st Meeting

WALK FOR VALUE

 

Minutes of 1st Meeting held on 23 March 2010 and JB Centre

 

 

Present Uncle GovindanSis. PremaSis. YogamalarBro. P. Prakash Bro. Bharath

 

Absent with apology Bro. Sri RamBro. Prashanth

 

 

 

 

The meeting commenced with 3 Oms.

S/N Matters Discussed Action1 Introduction to Walk For Value (WFV)Bro. Bharath welcomed all members. He shared the experience of being part of the Melaka WFV which was held on 24 January 2010. WFV is based on “Go Green” as its theme.

 

The state program, is to bring about and spread the message to the general public that we need to be eco friendly, save energy, avoid pollution etc. It is a mega project which has been classified under the youth wing by the Sai Care Project, which is being carried out nationwide in conjunction with Swami’s 85th Birthday. Members noted.

 

The Melaka WFV was well received and supported by the Melaka State Town Council and have committed to support more projects such as this to the organizing team there.Info2 Organizing CommitteeUncle Govindan advised that the WFV committee has to be formed, so that all responsibility is made clear to all working members. Sis. Yogamalar had been voted to be the Secretary while Bro. Rajpal to be the Treasurer.

 

 Among the Committee listed for this event are:Registration, Publicity, Safety Team, Photography and Video, Protocol, Program Management, and Creative Team. There are more to be added. 3 Participating BodiesUncle Govindan informed that he can make arrangements to meet the Mayor of Johor at the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB). A project paper and supporting documents which states the organizers needs has to be prepared before meeting him.

 

Bro. Bharath suggested seeking the Melaka Organizing teams Chairperson, Sis. Jolene’s help since they have all the necessary documents. Members noted.Sis. Prema suggested working together with the Waste Management body as well as they have implemented and are working on saving the environment. A program such as this will be well supported by them.

 

Sis. Prema will get the necessary contacts for the team to work with.Other bodies that has been selected for the team to approach are SP Setia Bhd, Ministry of Education (Director of Education, Johor), ILP (Sis. Yoga), Interfaith Group, Ministry of Health, ASTRO, CIMB Bank, Consumer Association and Ministry of Youths and Sports.

 

Bro. BharathSis. PremaAll4 Date and VenueIt was resolved that the WFV be held on 18th July 2010. The venues shortlisted are Taman Setia Indah and Taman Daya. More suggestions shall be obtained from the Mayor as they may have a list of areas where awareness of saving the nature is needed.AllMeeting was adjourned to 11th of April 2010 at 5pm, venue: Taman Daya Bhajan Unit.

 

Meeting was ended at 9.30pm with

one Om and 3 Shanthis.


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Sai Baba Links;

 

 

 

Official Satya Sai Baba Site
www.srisathyasai.org.in
International Sai Organization
www.sathyasai.org
Shri Sai Baba Sansthan
www.shrisaibabasansthan.org
Sri Sathya Sai Books & PublicationTrust
www.sssbpt.org
World of Shirdi Sai Baba
www.shirdisaibaba.com
Greece
www.saibaba.gr
Singapore
www.saicentrekatong.com
Australia
www.saiaustralia.org.au
Brazil
www.humanvalues.org
Japan
www.sathyasai.or.jp/english
Canada
www.sathyasai.ca
www.sathyasaiottawa.org
New Zealand
www.sathyasai.org.nz
Chile
www.saibabachile.cl
Malaysia
www.saicouncil.org.my
Poland
www.sathyasai.org.pl

 
Czech Republic
www.sathyasai.cz
Switzerland
www.sathyasai.ch
Argentina
www.sathyasai.org.ar

 
Scotland
www.saiscotland.com
India
www.dharmakshetra.org

www.hotelsinshirdi.net
Providing information on bookings and reservation for Shirdi hotels.

 

www.floridashirdisai.org
Sri Shirdi Sai Temple - Iverness Florida.

 

www.saipatham.com
Welcome to Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi.

 

www.shirdi.org.uk
Welcome to Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi.

 

www.saibabalinks.org
Comprehensive directory of internet sites.

 

www.ssso.net
Swami is at present in Prashanti Nilayam.

 

www.saidarshan.org
The Penang Sai Centre (Malaysia) Nilayam.

 

members.tripod.com/~SAI
Swami is at present in Prashanti Nilayam.

 

home20.inet.tele.dk/saibabaofindia
Website about Swami's divine life.

 

www.saiomni.com
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of San Bruno.

 

geocities.com/saisite_pittsburgh
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Pittsburgh.

 

geocities.com/seealwaysinside
Links around the world.

 

www.freewebs.com/sathwicfood
Sathwic food- Pure food for soul & body

 

www.premasound.com
Bhajans, Devotional, New Age, Ethno, Ambient music

 

www.kalavani.netfirms.com
Sri Sai Baba - The World Teacher

 

www.godwala.com
A selection of articles, slides, other sites

 

www.saidarbar.org
An informative web site about SHIRDI and Lord SAINATH

 

www.sathyasaigeneva.com
Sathya Sai center in Geneva

 

www.srisathyasai.org.uk
Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisation UK

 

www.ssehv.org.uk
Sathya Sai Education in Human Values UK

 

www.atlsathyasai.org
Sathya Sai Baba Center of Atlanta

 

www.atlsaiseva.org
North Atlanta Sathya Sai Seva Group

 

sathyasaibaba.wordpress.com
Sathya Sai Baba - Life, Love and Spirituality


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Quick Links

 

 

Quick Links ;

 

 

  • Prashanthi Bulletin  
  • Thought for the day as written at Prasanthi Nilayam
  • Ashrams Info
  • Heart2Heart E journal
  • Updates of images, events, discourses at Sri Sathya Sai Books &         Publication Trust  Archivals 
  • Sathya Sai Speaks: Discourses by Sri Sathya Sai Baba 35 volumes
  • Summer showers: Discourses by Sri Sathya Sai Baba
  • The Vahini's, books by Sri Sathya Sai Baba
  • Life History of Shirdi Sai Baba
  • Sathya Sai Baba his mission-An introduction 
  • Sai Baba Gita

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  • askbaba.net   
  • Pro.Anil Kumar- Satsang
  • Kingdom of Sai
  • Puttaparthi.info - Sai Tower 
  • Sai Baba E greeting - cards
  • Sai dedicated site
  • Vahini.org
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  • www.saibhajans.net
  • Sai Baba music cassettes and CDs - Videos -  DVD- videoclips downloads
  • A guide to books on Sathya Sai Baba
  • Bhajans downloads
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  • Bhajan Texts
     

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    2nd - Meeting for WFV 2010
    Sai Ram Dear ALL,
    Good to be back :)
    As the subject reads, we have scheduled to organize this major Sai Care event in July 2010!!! This is a massive program but with a concerted effort, we can make it a success. After all, in the name of Swami, we are carrying this out for a better tomorrow.
    The details of the meeting is as per the following:
    Date: 11th April 2010, Sunday
    Venue: TMN Daya Centre
    Time: 5.30pm
    All please come and join the meeting. It's a youth programme yes, but we need adults too. Melaka carried out this programme eventually well support by the Melaka Town Council with a successful result. It started only with 2 person's effort. LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!
    Thanks & best regards!!
    S. Bharath

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    Health Awareness Seminar : Brief Report
    A brief report and some pictures on the Health Awareness Seminar
    conducted by Bro. Dr. Hitendra K. Doshi at the Tangkak Indian
    Association, Tangkak, on 07-03-2010.
    ___________________________________________________________


    Bro. Dr. Hitendra conducted a very inspiring talk in Bahasa Malaysia
    at the above seminar to a crowd of about 60 people. His genuine
    concern for people to become aware and take good care of their own
    health was very much felt throughout his talk.

    He stressed strongly on how prevention must overtake cure and educated
    the people on how to  prevent  three of the killer diseases which was,
    diabetes, hypertension and the management of high cholesterol. He
    described to them the serious consequences of these illnesses if left
    unchecked.

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    “Right Living In Society – Values in Action”
    Sai Ram Dear All,acm-visit.jpg

     

    I am pleased to inform that an eminent Sai speaker, Air Chief Marshal Nirmal C Suri (Retd) will be in Kuala Lumpur enroute from Singapore on 21st March 2010 (Sunday) to deliver the following talk:

     

    Topic:     “Right Living In Society – Values in Action”

    Date:      21st March 2010 (Sunday)

    Time:      3.00pm – 5.30pm

    Venue:  Sekolah Rendah Sathya Sai, Batu 6, Jalan Puchong, Kuala Lumpur

     

    Sri NC Suri served as the Chief of Air Force in India from 1991 to 1993.  He holds a Master’s Degree in Military History from Allahabad University, India and is a Doctor of Philosophy from the Inter-Cultural University in Netherlands.  He has been a devotee of Bhagawan Baba for many years and had spoken in the Divine Presence on a number of occasions.

     

    This is a talk not to be missed!

     

    Thank you.

    Sai Ram

    Billy Fong


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