Sathya Sai Service Organisation Scotland Thought For The Day

 

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Sathya Sai Education in Human Values

 

As parents, God has given us the greatest gift – our children. With that gift comes a great responsibility.  Children are born with innocence, with curiosity, with love and with joy within them. We are entrusted with the duty of nurturing these young beings, bringing them up with love and tenderness, and teaching them to live in the world as decent human beings. But how can we do this? And does our duty end there?

 

Sai Baba, also known as Swami to devotees, has said, “ The character of children must be made strong and pure.  Give them all the confidence and courage they need to become good, honest and self-reliant children.  It is not enough that they learn something by which they can make a living .  The manner of living is more important than the standard of living.  The children must also have reverence towards their religion, their culture, their educational attainments and their country.  They must learn their mother-tongue, so that they can appreciate the great poetical works and epics written by the Seers of their land.  This will give them valuable guidance in the stormy days ahead.”

But how can we as parents, bringing up our children in a western world, do this?  We strive and work hard to send our children to the best schools, so that they can achieve the very best of academic qualifications.  Swami encourages this, by telling His students that their duty is to study and do the best that they can.  But He also tells them that “ Your future does not depend completely on your examination grades.  It depends more on character, willpower and the grace of God”, and parents play a vital role in developing these qualities.  By giving encouragement and support and by instilling the love of God at an early age, parents can set their children on the right path for a bright future.

The Birth of SSE

Swami introduced to the world, the Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) programme, or what was initially referred to as ‘Bal Vikas’.

 

The Education Wing of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation in India was formed in 1969 and called ‘Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vihar’. In the October 1975  issue of  the Bal Vikas Magazine (India), a Professor wrote, “ We used to call it Bal ‘Vihar’ once, that meant we intended it to be the ‘play-way’ in child education, but Swami changed the name to Bal ‘Vikas’, which meant the ‘flower-way’ of child growth, as ‘Vikas’ is what the bud does when it blossoms into a lovely flower.”

 

The early beginnings of the Bal Vikas movement were quite simple.  During the 1950s and early 60s, Swami had repeatedly urged parents to fulfill the spiritual needs of their children.  He insisted that parents should take up the responsibility of moulding the character of children who in turn would shape the destiny of the nation.  Swami says “ Children  are the crops growing in the fields, to yield the harvest on which the nation has to sustain itself.  They are the pillars on which the foundation of the nation’s future is built.  They are the roots of the national tree, which has to be given the fruits of work, worship and wisdom to the next generation.”

 

Following the promptings of Baba, mothers changed their attitudes from ‘My children’ to ‘Our children’ and opened Bal Vikas classes to all children in the village or neighbourhood, irrespective of class, caste or creed.  In 1974, Swami had galvanized the India Sai Organisation into action when he referred to the Bal Vikas teachers as ‘Bal Vikas Gurus’ and said, “ I direct that Bala Vikas teachers should hereafter be known by the vastly more appropriate name of Guru, so that you may be conscious always of the spiritual role which you have taken on, and its responsibilities and value.  You are the lamps from which their tender hearts must receive Light and Love.”

 

Sai devotees enthusiastically took up the call and by 1975 the number of trained Bal Vikas Gurus throughout India had grown to nearly 3500, with over 50000 students.  In that same year it was decided that Easwaramma Day (6th May, the last day of the earthly mother of Sathya Sai Baba) celebrations should form an integral part of the Bal Vikas program. By 1975, the Bal Vikas program had expanded from informal Sunday home classes to regular structured education classes spanning for six to seven years of a child’s life.  It was now ready to be introduced into countries outside India.  By 1980, there was enough momentum to have Bal Vikas Gurus from all Sai Centres of the world attend their first international world conference held in Prashanti Nilayam.  A second international conference was held at Prashanti Nilayam the following year, with Bal Vikas Gurus from 18 countries receiving specialized training.  When the gurus returned to their own countries, there began a steady growth in the number of children attending Bal Vikas classes at Sai Centres throughout the world, including the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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