Article by Dr. Pal Dhall, Vision of Future Prosperity - Sathya Sai Education

Sai Schools around the world are manifestation of a new vision of future prosperity across all the countries with such schools. The seeds of this prosperity are sown through the system of education that combines mainstream education with human values. This year, 2011 is the beginning of a new phase in Sathya Sai Education. It is the culmination of 70 years of teachings of Sai Baba. Over this time Sai Baba had poured out a most glorious stream of concepts that amalgamate mainstream education with selfless love and service, a philosophy of life of purposeful striving, metaphysics and spirituality. He demonstrated powerfully the validity of these concepts in the highly successful and widely acclaimed educational projects that included a university, several colleges and dozens of secondary and primary schools around the world.

His consistent message was that every single individual whether a child, an adolescent or an adult is a spiritual being with infinite potential. Further that every individual must happily accept an appropriate level of responsibility for personal wellbeing in all personality domains - physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual - by consciously evolving spiritually. It is only a community of such evolved individuals who can solve the several challenges that humanity faces in social, ecological, interreligious and commercial arenas.

Sai Baba's concept of prosperity for the students is not just their economic wellbeing. Prosperity has many dimensions and material wealth is just one of them. Among the very long list of dimensions of prosperity the wealth of health, of positive emotions, of good relationships, of good leadership, good community and family life, of sharp intelligence and of discriminating faculty, of inner and outer peace are some of them. Still another dimension of prosperity is working to solve crushing and foreseeable problems to avert predictable catastrophes. These skills, attitudes and capacities are all based on cultivating attributes of character through Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (SSEHV).

Sathya Sai philosophy that underpins SSEHV does not make any distinction between the experience of lived daily life, the philosophy and spiritual practices. According to Sai Baba spirituality is neither confined to temples, churches and mosques nor to schools with any special program of values education. Spiritual practices should permeate everything in our lives and the basic spiritual practice is the practice of human values. This includes applying human values in all relationships whether with people, with animals, plants or even inert matter.

However, although human values are the very foundation of spirituality, the concept of spirituality is broader than the practice of human values. Spirituality which, in addition, includes transcendence, relationship to Higher Consciousness and mystical experiences is not confined to any one religion, any one ritual or any special devotional practice or to any specific time or place.

To develop spiritually we have to elevate consciousness by purifying our hearts and clarifying our minds through the practice of human values and through devotional practices. Both these remove negativity of thought, feeling and attitudes and cultivate positive character attributes, attitudes and skills. When education is combined with spirituality as in SSEHV then the end of education is character.

SSEHV should not be confused with Values Education nor with a secularized version of human values based on humanism. This is a total misunderstanding. Sai Baba's SSEHV has its origin in the concept of Divinity (or Universal Consciousness) as the core of our very being and the whole of creation. His core teaching is to learn to live in conscious awareness of our fundamental unity with Divinity (or Universal Consciousness).The five human values of Love, Peace, Truth, Right Conduct and Non violence are an expression of this unity. Realization of the unity of our essence with all is the goal of human life. Unless these key concepts become a part of the educational process we are not looking at the authentic teachings of Sai Baba. Humanism is undoubtedly commendable as a philosophy but it is NOT Sathya Sai Education in Human Values.

SSEHV establishes awareness that every activity, every moment of time, every relationship can be sanctified. It raises awareness of the workings of the mind and heart and enables elevation of consciousness to a direct connection between individual consciousness and Universal Consciousness. SSEHV utilizes the teachings of Sai Baba in preparing hearts and minds through educational activities and through the atmosphere of human values that permeates every facet of the Sai School. By preparing students as fine exemplars of human values SSEHV is a tool to serve the world through active agents who have the power to develop a prosperous future. The students' hearts and minds are the very epicenter of future prosperity of the planet. SSEHV places onus on every adult, whether teachers, parents or other members of the community involved in the Sai School, to sow the seeds of prosperity in the heart and in the mind of every child. And this starts with making a change within ourselves first.

D.P. Dhall
Director,
Institute of Sathya Sai Education, Australia
December 2011

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