SPEECH OF DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM ON THE OCCASION OF CHIDANANDA SEVASHRAM DEDICATION CEREMONY AT BANGALORE. WAYS TO ACQUIRE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES: I am delighted to participate in the dedication function of Swami Chidananda Sevashram and share some thoughts with the followers of Swami Chidananda who are seeking the paths of divinity by serving the humanity. My greetings to all the distinguished guests, devotees and monks. Citizens will be happy that “Swami Chidananda Sewasharam has a mission to teach individuals a holistic approach to the modern society. The Ashram also seeks to nurture, rejuvenate, improve their wellbeing and maintain harmony and joy in the midst of today’s, stressful life, and ultimately leading individuals towards enlightenment”. In 1948, Swami Sivananda blessed Swami Chidananda as the General Secretary of The Divine Life Society and said “Chidananda is a Jeevanmukhta, a great saint, an ideal Yogi, a param-bhakta and a great Sage. He was born to fulfil a great mission. He is the torch bearer of my mission”. What a great blessing by a Guru! Dear friends, when I study the mission of Swami Chidananda Sevashram who are seeking the paths of divinity by serving the humanity. I would like to share one incident, how the music and art which are indeed the freedom of choice to shape human lives to be as close to the Almighty as possible. Yesterday I participated 10th Chennaiyil Thiruvaiyaru” function at Chennai. When I entered into the big hall, I heard a beautiful music recitation of the Thyagarajar Keerthanai “எந்தரோ மகானுபாவலு அந்தரிக்கே வந்தனமுலு” in Sriragam, it entered into me, I couldn’t move. Badma Bhusan Sangeetha Kalanithi P.S. Narayanasamy and his group has recited this keerthana, which engulfed the entire audience. Great music and great art work is indeed God’s gift to the human life. My greetings to all of you friends. Swami Chidananda Sevashram The Swami Chidananda Sevashram is a monastery for the modern world that integrates the ancient Vedic concepts with modern technologies, bringing together science and spirituality, it’s a blend of ancient wisdom and the modern science which is required to face the challenges of present life. The Holy Mission of the Sevashram is guided by the inspiring words “SEEK DIVINITY, SERVE HUMANITY”. This principle was given by Sri Adi Shankaracharya to Parama Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda, and to Gurudev Sri Swami Chidananda and the current generation of spiritual savants, all serving humanity in pursuit of divinity. Swami Chidananda Sevashram is a collective vision to promote the teachings of this lineage—to achieve universal well-being through Vedic Knowledge. While I am addressing this divine gathering of disciples of Swami Chidananda with so many youth present, I would like to share my thoughts on how to facilitate youth to have spiritual experiences, how parents and leaders can foster opportunities. I will talk on the topic “Ways to acquire Spiritual Experiences”. Origins of Life: Life originated 600 million years ago and continental drift occurred 200 million years ago creating five continents. Mammals evolved 140 million years ago, Hominids that is the human type, evolved 26 million years ago but modern man only arrived on the scene some 200,000 years ago. He migrated and colonized the world only in the last 50,000 years. The spoken language is some 10,000 years old while writing evolved only a few thousand years ago. All this phenomenal progress has been achieved only within the short span of 200 to 400 generations that is in just 10,000 to 5,000 years. Newer DNA technologies have given us better insight in retracing the history of man. ‘The DNA of a human being is his history book ever written’. Nowadays intelligence, cognizance, drug response, behavioral problems everything is related to genes: disease gene mapping is progressing at a faster pace with new age DNA technology. It is probably during the 50,000-30,000 years of co-existence that societies have evolved adopting newer innovations and cultures. Challenges of Modern Society: Advances in genetics demonstrating great similarity in the genome of man and animals shows that the limbic brain perhaps is the cause for all conflicts within and outside. So far human society, from origin until now has always been at war within and between groups and has led to two World Wars. Presently, terrorism and low intensity warfare are affecting many parts of the world. Can we find methods by which we can remove these conflicts? Unity in Diversity: India is a country which has over the years learnt to evolve and maintain a unique unity amongst diversity. It has become an inspirational model and an example to emulate for every region in the world. India supports a social form of economic development and encourages a model of growth with equity. We are conscious of the need for growth to respect the environment and make it sustainable for future generations. With this valuable experience of centuries behind India, we can bring a doctrine of global cooperation built over the foundation of regional collaborations and core competencies of people and society of many nations. In this context, I am reminded of the dream of the Indian poet who articulated 3000 years back in the Tamil classic: which means I am a world citizen, Every citizen is my own kith and kin”. This feeling itself, I am sure, can be the foundation for the way of human thinking on unity of minds. Evolution of Enlightened Society: With this spirit of universal brotherhood, I would like to put forth to this important gathering, a methodology for evolving a happy, prosperous and peaceful society in our planet, which I call as “Evolution of Enlightened Society”. How do we create such an enlightened society, which will have three components (a) Education with value system (b) Religion transforming into spirituality and (c) Economic development for societal transformation. Let us discuss. A) Education with value system: We have seen that the seeds of peace in the world have their origin in the righteousness in the heart of every individual. Such righteous citizens lead to the evolution of enlightened society. Education with value system has to be so designed that the righteousness in the heart is developed in young minds. That should be the mission of education. The prime learning environment is five to seventeen years of age. This reminds me of an ancient Greek teachers saying,Give me a child for seven years; afterwards, let God or devil take the child. They cannot change the child. This indicates the power of great teachers and what good teachers can inculcate in the young minds. Parents and teachers must inculcate moral leadership amongst children. It requires the ability to have insights into the uniqueness and universality of human consciousness. True education is the acquisition of enlightened feelings and enlightened powers to understand daily events and to understand the permanent truth linking man, to his environment, human and planetary. While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by the highest authority of a Jesuit institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joshep’s college, Tiruchirappalli, Southern India. Every week on Monday, he will take a class for an hour. He used to talk about good human beings present and past and what makes a good human being. In this class he used to give lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. In the moral science class, Father Kalathil used to highlight the best aspect of, how the great personalities have been evolved as good human beings through parental care, teaching and companionship of great books. Even though these lessons were given to me in 1950’s during my college days, they inspire me even today. It is essential that in the schools and colleges, lectures are given by great teachers of the institution once in a week for one hour on civilizational heritage and derived value system. This may be called as Moral Science Class that will elevate the young minds to love the country, to love the other human beings and elevate them to higher planes. This will ensure embedding of righteousness in each citizen with eternal goodness and wholesomeness in conduct. As we say in our country: Righteousness Where there is righteousness in the heart There is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, There is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home. There is an order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, There is peace in the world. This is true, for the whole world. When we need peace in the world, we need order in the nation; we need harmony in the home. The origin is righteousness in the heart. Now, let me take up the area that is transforming religion into spiritual force. Many in the world believe, it is a difficult mission. I would like to share an experience that I have witnessed which has convinced me that it is possible. Religion Transforming into Spirituality: Universal Mind: Religion has two components, theology and spirituality. Even though theology is unique to every religion, the spiritual component spreads the value to be inculcated by human beings for promoting a good human life and welfare of the society, while pursuing the material life. Let me now talk to you on the message of “Giving”. Mahatma Gandhiji Mother’s advice: Only good deeds lead to good thinking, good thinking results into actions radiating love as commanded by Almighty. While talking about good deeds, I am reminded of the advice given to Gandhiji by his mother. She says, Son, in your entire life time, if you can save or better someones life, your birth as a human being and your life is a success. You have the blessing of the Almighty God. This advice has made a deep impact in the mind of Gandhiji, which made him to work for the humanity throughout his life. Every mother has to give this advice to her sons and daughters, so that the whole humanity will be benefited. Economic development for societal transformation: We have a mission of spreading this economic growth throughout the country including the rural sector. Nearly 220 million people have to be lifted by upgrading their quality of life in both rural and urban areas. Even though the GDP growth indicates our economic growth, people’s participation is essential for achieving the required targets. It is essential to ensure that the citizens are empowered with good quality of life encompassing nutritious food, good habitat, clean environment, affordable healthcare, quality education and productive employment, integrated with our value system drawn from civilizational heritage leading to the comprehensive development of the nation that will bring smiles in one billion people. These are indicators for the growth of the National Prosperity Index. To achieve that growth rate, we have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare (3) Information and Communication Technology (4) Infrastructure development such as power, transportation, communication and including Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) and (5) Self reliance in critical technologies. We propose to realize the vision of transforming India into a developed nation before 2020 by energizing and igniting the minds of all the 540 million youth of the nation. Conclusion: I will now share with you five ways, that I evolved out of my experience with youth, to help them experience how useful to the mission of humanity. 1. Give Youth Opportunities to Serve. It is an eternal truth that the greatest satisfaction we find in this life is not that which is done for self but that which is given for the benefit of another. The principle is “what can I give? what can I give?” 2. Connect Youth with the Word of God. Scriptures contain the record of the self-revelation of God, and through them God speaks to human beings. Every home has to have a small library, say about ten books. One of them definitely, on great human spiritual life. 3. Cultivate the virtue of consistency. It does not make sense to occasionally ‘fill up’ with water, with long periods of dehydration in between. The same thing is true spiritually. Spiritual thirst is a need for living water. Every home should have small praying place. 4. Creating family environment where children can learn truths for themselves. Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. 5. Work Together toward a Common Goal. Leaders who provide example, encouragement, and caring can be invaluable to youth at this important time of their lives. As leaders learn about each young man and young woman, they can receive inspiration for how best to empower them. With these words, let me pay my Pranams to the great soul Swami Chidananda and Dedicate the services of Swami Chidananda Sevashram. Best wishes to all the participants of this event. May God Bless you.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 10:36:16 +0000
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