Every child born must be blessed with Balvikas…
Friday, February 8th, 2013
Every child born must be blessed with Balvikas classes, urged a young Santosh from Jharkhand addressing the Balvikas Alumi Meet held last month. Santosh’s speech was from a youth perspective, talking about the tremendous impact the Balvikas brings in a student’s life. Santosh is currently working in IBM Hyderabad as a UNIX Administrator.
Om Sri Sai Ram!
My humble pranams at the lotus feet of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters,
I feel privileged to share my experiences and views regarding Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas classes. I have been associated with Balvikas right from the childhood and it did start from the divine classes of Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas. Truly speaking, I did personally enjoyed a lot going to Balvikas classes. I remember, in fact I cherish those good old childhood days when my mother used to take me to Balvikas classes on a weekend accompanied with a group of friends. We used to do a lot of fun loving activities. Just to put few activities into perspective – games, chanting slokas, enacting plays, listening to great epic stories which were simply amazing and trust me it did not have space for boredom at all. But there were few questions which always used to strike my mind. I remember these questions asking to lot of my gurus during my Balvikas classes.
What is Balvikas all about? What is the aim of Balvikas? What are we expecting out of Balvikas? I am reminded of the answers stated by my gurus. Balvikas in fact is a Sanskrit phrase which means – blossoming of child and its aim is to foster character development and inculcate spiritual transformation and at the same time, it also inculcates self respect in the students like me and the students who are all sitting here – a matter of self-respect so that students like us to become the masters of mind and not the slaves of senses and moreover, we have absolute control over sense organs.
‘Love All Serve All’ was Swami’s one of the prominent teachings throughout His existence in physical form. Let me tell you one of the perpetual memories which I gathered here at Prasanti Nilayam. I was a Balvikas student and belonged to Bihar and Jharkhand Seva Samiti. Every year we used to come during Holi to celebrate the festival with Swami and it was then I was blessed with a chance to portray spiritual drama way back in 2006. The drama went on really well. Swami liked it. As soon as the drama got over, we all assembled near Swami to just take a photograph which we could carry back to our home and keep it as memory for the rest of our lives.
Swami came close to us and suddenly all the characters started interacting with Him. There were lot of interactions going on between Swami and the characters. Swami suddenly looked at me and smiled and asked me a very simple question – What is your name? to which I humbly replied – Gopi. Swami smiled again and nodded His head and says in telugu – Chala Baagundi. I was extremely delighted to listen to such wonderful words from Swami. Swami’s graceful love and shower of love made me feel so special. This signifies that individual like me, individuals like you all sitting here look out for love. We expect people to shower love. We expect people to be graceful. We expect people to be polite. Because Swami also says – Love can create miracles.
All the learnings that I have gathered in Balvikas classes is in fact became fruitful when I grew old and I had lot of challenges to face – may it be my education career, choosing the right college for my institution, commencement of professional career – I think Swami played a very vital role and helped me take very crucial decisions throughout my lifetime. I passed out my Year 12 in 2006 and let me tell you something more on this…
I had two desires in life – I wanted to pursue engineering degree and secondly I also wanted to study in Swami’s institute which was completely impossible because Swami’s Institute does not have engineering courses. But still I made my mind that I would do B.Sc because Swami’s institute had B.Sc courses and only if I get admitted in Swami’s Institute or else I will go for engineering. I came to Puttaparthi and gave my entrance exams but unfortunately I was not selected. I was dejected and was literally crying sitting inside the Mandir that particular evening. That is why I carried a lot of worries when I entered into my engineering course. Worry as to how will I proceed? How will I do? Will I be placed as soon as I pass out of my engineering courses? But I did not lose trust and faith in Swami. That trust and faith did pay me back – I was awarded the gold medal for securing first class honours degree in my engineering. That is what Balvikas can do. As I said – it can create miracles. What better could I have asked from Swami?
Talking something about modern education, modern world which is progressing at a very rapid pace. Every individual is aiming high to have a great and a very lucrative career and I would say that is completely ok. We should aim really high in life. But dear brothers and sisters, I would also say that why not have intelligence in combination with spiritual knowledge. Intelligence and spiritual knowledge – the amalgamation – not only helps you to progress at a very faster pace but also helps you to take very crucial decisions in life and become an excellent team member which I am sure everyone sitting here would desire to.
To all the youngsters, brothers and sisters, what do we aspire in life? What do we want to become? What expectations do we have from life? A good career, decent job, stability in life? I think Yes. Everyone would at least aspire for these three things and trust me all these things can be received through Balvikas. Having said that, let us not become hypothetical. Merely attending Balvikas classes will not fetch you so many things. You should in fact ask a question to yourself. What is it that Balvikas is going to offer me? What does Balvikas have in store for us? Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas classes would enable you to stay focused till you reach your goals and that is the most important thing when you actually want to reach your goals. All of us sitting here know what we want in life. We know our goals but we never stay focused or determined. Balvikas enables you to do it.
Balvikas overall has got a tremendous impact on my life. Let’s inculcate the virtue of setting examples rather than impressing the younger generation by mere preachings. Balvikas – let us be a part of such a wonderful education movement laid down by Swami which has got so many things to offer at no cost.
Before I end, I thank Swami for making me a part of His wonderful education system and I dedicate all my achievements at the Lotus Feet of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I urge all the parents across the globe that every child born must be blessed with Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas classes.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Speeches in Prasanthi |
