Amma’s acceptance speech for her D.Litt. Honoris Causa conferred by the University of Mysore
Through this honour you have bestowed, I see the interest that the University of Mysore has in upholding the ideal of manava seva madhava seva – “Service to humankind is service to God.” In whatever way the Math has been able to serve society, it is because of the selfless service of millions of Amma’s children throughout the world. Therefore Amma dedicates this honour to their deep sincerity and goodwill.
Knowledge and viveka – proper discernment – are inseparable, like a flower and its fragrance, a word and its meaning, or a lamp and its light. However, today our educational system is limited to the mere collecting of information. The light of discernment is disappearing. When people say, “Knowledge has dawned,” it’s like saying, “The sun has risen, but it’s still dark.”
Imagine a beautiful garden full of countless flowers of all colours, shapes and sizes. If such a garden is pervaded by a foul smell, obviously something has gone wrong. Consciously or unconsciously, a serious misunderstanding has crept into our educational system. We have been led to believe that discernment and information are two separate things. This view is wrong.
In order to manage businesses and companies, many people get their MBA and other such degrees. Learning to manage 500 people really means learning to manage 500 minds. However, despite all our education we fail to manage our own mind. Just as we manage the external world, it is important to learn to manage the internal world of our thoughts and emotions. Otherwise we remain only half developed. It would be like going to a gym exclusively to exercise our arms – the biceps would develop, but the rest of our body would not and the body will look deformed.
Today, most people are aware of the importance of maintaining their health. There are apps on cell phones and watches to monitor calories burnt, basal heart rate, and how many steps taken in a day. But no such gadgets exist to assess our mental health. There is a big difference between physical and mental health. The more we move our body, the healthier we become. But our mental health depends on how still we can keep our mind. Unfortunately, in today’s world, our bodies move little compared to the incessant agitation of our minds. Most vehicles today have a GPS. Using a GPS in our vehicles, if we take a wrong turn it will warn us and guide us back to the right road. Spiritual values are the GPS for our lives. They go deep into our conscience to avoid such wrong turns and thus stay the course.
Our current need to specify an educational institution as “values-based education” clearly indicates that values are not an integral part of education. In fact, that term should be redundant because values are inherent to real education. Instead, we have seen that values and education have been dichotomized. The one factor that strings together life, individuals, society, and nature is missing from today’s education. That factor is spiritual values like compassion, patience, honesty, etc.
The family is the smallest unit of society. Proceeding from smallest to highest, every place and institution has a system and structure. It is the responsibility of each person to follow that structure. Similarly, the universe has a structure. That structure is composed of spiritual values – what we refer to as dharma.
The knowledge of dharma and our adherence to it is essential for the survival of the human race. It is a divine law that no one should break. All man-created laws falter before God’s law. If someone declares, “I don’t believe in the law of gravity,” and jumps off the 10th floor of a building, would such a person be able to defy this law?” Never. If the person survived, the person’s arms and legs would probably be broken. It is our responsibility to educate our children and make them aware of this truth that upholds the universe.
The educational system of ancient India never treated spirituality as something separate from everyday life. Throughout the course of a student’s education, two core principles were driven home again and again:
satyam-vada, dharmam-cara — सत्यं वद | धर्मं चर || – “Speak the truth, walk the path of righteousness.”
Knowledge and values were considered inseparable, like sesame seed and oil.
The rishis of Bharat never considered science and spirituality to be separate. They saw them as two wings of a bird. But today, we have separated science and spirituality into two different streams. This separation is the greatest wrong we have committed towards today’s students. Knowledge is like a river. Its nature is to constantly flow. Wherever it flows, it nourishes the culture. That same knowledge, devoid of values, becomes a source of destruction for the world. But when knowledge and values are merged to one, there is no more powerful instrument for the welfare of humankind.
The path of scientific discovery is the progress from a lower observed truth to a higher hypothesized truth. However, the goal of spirituality is the ultimate achievement of human life. Physicists today, have begun investigating the possibility that the substratum of both the manifest universe and the individual is one and the same. We stand at the threshold of a new era wherein material science and spirituality will move forward hand in hand.
There are two types of poverty in the world. The first type is due to the lack of food, clothing, and shelter. The second type is the poverty or lack of love and compassion. We need to deal with the second type first. If we have love and compassion, we will wholeheartedly serve and help those who lack food, clothing and shelter.
In today’s universities, the professional progress and promotion of researchers and professors depend on the funding they bring in, the number of publications they submit, and their accomplishments through their intellectual prowess. Something else should also be taken into consideration – how their discoveries have been able to help the lower strata of society and how much service they have been able to do to help the poor and needy. If this happens, it would be like gold becoming fragrant.
Amma has adopted 101 villages across India where many projects are improving their standard of living. As a part of the Live-in-Labs, our university students regularly visit these villages and take part in the projects. Amma has seen a great change in these youngsters. This experience has helped them to awaken compassion in their hearts. Amma has this desire – that all universities should send their students to our nation’s villages for at least two months to understand the hardships and problems of the people there; and to document, publish, and deploy solutions. In this way, not only will we help our villages, but the compassion in our youth will be awakened.
If we see the world through the eyes of knowledge, and console the suffering with hands of compassion, we can certainly reach the shore of peace and bliss. It is Amma’s prayer that we develop the expansiveness of mind to embrace both scientific knowledge and spiritual wisdom. If we can merge science and spirituality all over the world, we will find that we are able to create a mighty river.
May that river provide life-giving water to humanity and create beautiful flower gardens of noble culture throughout the world.
|| Om lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu ||
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