Summer Course in Indian Culture and Spirituality

Aum Sri Sairam

Summer Course in ‘Practical Spirituality’ at Sathya Sai Gram, Muddenahalli.

29-31 May, 2015.

The Summer Course on Indian Culture and Spirituality was envisaged and initiated by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the early nineteen seventies to awaken young men and women of India to the rich cultural traditions this country that have stood the test of time and the eternal spiritual values that have been the pillars of this great nation. 

Over the past four decades, a number of summer courses have been held in the presence of Bhagawan Baba, during which many youth from all over the country have participated and benefited.

This year Summer Course was hosted by Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Trust from 29 to 31 May, 2015 at Sathya Sai Gram (Muddenahalli) and organized by the Swami’s old students from different campuses, under the guidance of our beloved Swami. The theme for this year's Summer Course is "Practical Spirituality".

Excerpts from Swami’s discourses during this Summer Course:

May 31, 2015 Evening

• All the western cultures have come and gone. Indian Culture is the only permanent one.
• God’s love is only true love and permanent love.
• All wish to be near to God. If we want to be near to God, first we should be dear to God. We can be dear to God by doing what He likes.
• True devotion is not saying that “Swami is in my heart”. Swami should say that “you are in My heart”. To be in Swami’s heart, we should “Love all, Serve all”.
• Whatever we do, be brushing teeth, wearing clothes or working at the office, everything should be done for the love of God.
• Past is past. Forget past. Present is omnipresent.
• I look after your future. All your lives are secure in My hands.
• We must manifest love into silent service. Service requires no reward. We should work for our own happiness.
• Man - desires = God. God + desires = Man
• Have the confidence that God is with me and in me. He will take care of me.
• Don’t differentiate between Swami’s work and my work. All are His work.
• Marjala bhakti: Mother cat looks after the kitten completely. Kitten goes wherever it mother takes. Markata bhakti: Mother monkey moves without worrying about her child. Baby monkey clings on to the mother tightly with fear. Develop marjala bhakti and leave everything to Swami.
• Worry comes only when we have not done our duty properly.
• Do food-prayer before eating. Don’t eat food while watching television. Prayer cleanses the food of the three impurities; caused by the absence of cleanliness of the vessel, cleanliness of the food stuff, and cleanliness in the process of cooking.
• No need to come here to ask questions, do some meditation and ask at your place only, I will give the answer or be in Sathsang, answer comes from it.
• Prasanthi Nilayam is maya. Muddenahalli is maya. Don’t come here to attach to a new form. Realize that God is within you. This is the truth.

May 30 2015, Evening

• Swami has 3 vows: 

             1. To give happiness and bliss to everyone. 

             2. To give the people what they lack. 

             3. To bring all of us onto the Divine path.

• True happiness comes from our heart.
• All of you who had not got the chance to be My students, I am now making you MY Students through this summer course,
• Knowledge has to be put into practice as skill.
• Everything happens because of God’s will. Think whatever is coming our ways as Swami’s Divine Prasadam.
• Courage comes out from love. When there is love, there is faith. When there is faith there is love.
• I am ready to do anything but you must pray like Bhagiratha.
• I do not have a body,  your body shall be My body,  your hands shall be My hands, your sight shall be My sight, your words shall be My words and your song shall be My song.
• By your service, people should think that if the devotees are so good, then how much great their master must be?

May 29, 2015, Evening

• Love with no desires is the true love.
• God alone is hero and rest are all zeros. Though Kauravas are hundred in number, the only reason for their failure is Pandavas had God(Lord Krishna) with them.
• God alone is our true friend. So, first do friendship with God.
• Swami says not to give importance to physical beauty. Character is the actual beauty of person.
• Once we make friendship with God, even if we leave Him, He will never leave us.
• Heart is our master. Follow the heart not the mind. The difference between what the mind tells and what the heart says is that heart will tell us the same thing irrespective of time, place and circumstances. It will never change. Heart will tell us what is good for everybody not just for ourselves.
• Our goal is God not the world.
• All our actions should be selfless without any expectation. Sowing of seeds is our duty. Do not expect fruits.

May 29, Morning

• There is only one religion, the religion of love.
• There are three very important things. First to have human birth, second desire for liberation, third shelter at the feet of the God. God as your teacher. You are lucky. You have got all three of them.
• Love cannot be confined to words. It will never sit quietly, it will manifest itself to service. Love in thoughts is Sathya(Truth), Love in action is Dharma.(Righteousness), Love in understanding is Ahimsa(Non – violence), Love in feelings is Shanthi.(Peace).
• Practical spirituality is nothing but the practice of ”Love all Serve all “.
• Our mind is like a lock and key. If we turn it to the world(left) it will be locked and it takes us to the bondage. If we turn it to the God(right), it takes us to the liberation.
• Love should not be in only words. It should be in actions also.
• When there is unity, there is purity and when there is purity, there is Divinity.

May 28, Thursday

• Have always good company like a magnet for iron but not like air or dust for iron.
• Both animal qualities and divine qualities are inside us. We should know our divine qualities.
• Good company is the one which takes us near to God. Bad company always takes us far away from God.
• Why are we born in this world? What is the purpose of our life in this world?
• We are born again and again. We die again and again. Human beings are born to do something so that they do not have to be born again. There are 84 lakhs of species of living organisms in this universe. Among all these species of living organisms, human life is the most precious one.
•                                          ABC + ABC -----> ABC

          Avoid Bad Company + Always Be Careful ----> Always Be Cheerful

• Many people search for happiness but true happiness lies in union with God. Happiness is within us. It is not from outside.
• Our mind has both good and bad thoughts and also both selfish and selfless thoughts. Whenever a bad or selfish thought comes we should say to ourselves ,”I am NOT an animal. This is not my quality”
• We are not one, but three

             1. The one what we think we are- Body                                            

             2. The one what others think we are – Mind

            3. The one what we really are – Atma

• Three things are essential for women – kattu (dress habits), bottu (the dot on the forehead) and juttu (proper hair). Be smiling and always happy. That is only the true jewel to a woman (alankaram).
• Swami says not to keep castor oil face and says to come five minutes before the speaker arrives and also to leave only five minutes after the speaker leaves.

Interactive session for Transformation from I to We to He:

• Our life consists of many roles. Equal importance should be given to all our roles. Our life wheel should be a complete circle.
• We are all requested to draw our life circle based on our ratings for the different roles we play in our life. Most of our life cycles are not a circle but appeared in different shapes like trapezium, hexagon and so on.
• So, we are all requested to write a goal for each of our roles to make our life wheel as a complete circle.
• A goal is the only one which can be written on a paper and it should be SMART.

S - Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Relevant/Realistic

T – Time bound

• Simple steps to discipline our mind are 

            1. Before today night, list all the activities to be done next day. 

            2. Next day night, you check out how many you have done.

• To accept all others, be non-judgmental. We should always appreciate others instead of criticizing them.
• An activity to experience the happiness and joy in appreciating others: We are all requested to move around and find atleast 15 strangers and to appreciate one good quality of each of them.
• A picture of a man was shown and we were asked to find what does his face conveys? Answers were: An arrogant man, sad person and so on. Then we were asked to close our eyes and to transfer the love of Swami through us to him. Then the same question was repeated. Answers were: A man with satisfaction, A man with confidence, A man with peace. So, Love converts the negativity in us to positivity.
• So, we get what we focus in our life. Swami is always happy as His focus is always on only love.
• A beautiful and wonderful reason was said by brother Vijay Sai for us to be always happy is

“Swami says that your anandam is My aaharam. Do we want to starve our Swami by being unhappy?”

• We should show gratitude to all the persons who helps us in our life directly or indirectly. We should be a team, but not be a group in a family.
• All the participants are divided into region wise groups. Each group is requested to come with a time bounded service activity to be taken up after going to our places.

Excerpts from other speakers discourses during this Summer Course

B. N. Narasimha Murthy Sir speech

• To be with God, be innocent like a child. 
• He recollected Swami’s answer to his prayer to be always with him. 

“ I am always with you. I was with you. I will be with you. But you learn to be with Me”.

Swami Nikileswarananda of the Ram Krishna Math and Mission, Vadodara

• No need to get the power from outside, already infinite power is within us. We are the children of immortal bliss.
• He explained 4 yogas to be practised in our daily life

1. Rajya yoga – Trying to practice moral values
2. Gnana yoga – Finding out who am I
3. Bhakti yoga – Loving the Lord
4. Karma yoga – Converting every work into worship. Every work and its fruits are dedicated to God.

• True spirituality gives us courage, happiness, peace, freedom and success.
• Being always happy and smiling takes us near to God.

Swami Hamsananda of The Chinmaya Mission, Hubli

• Swami Hamsananda defined spirituality as the capacity to smile because of anything, and inspite of everything.
• He says that the following are the main things that takes us far away from happiness.

            1. Regrets of past. 

            2. Anxiety for future. 

            3. Excitement in present

• He gave a set of simple tips to be always happy:Minding our own business by not interfering with other’s work

           1. Don’t worry about past. 

           2. Be alert, awake, available and ready.

           3. Love wherever you are and whatever you are.

Sri Dinesh Godke of Art of Living

• Practical spirituality means having calmness inside and dynamism outside.
• Our brain consists of both pleasing centre and craving centre. Generally a person will have both centres active. But, meditation makes only the pleasing centre to be active in our mind.
• He showed us the importance of meditation by conducting a meditation activity and also the importance of being to be alert and relaxed always through practical games.

Swami (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba) has promised the following projects during this Summer Course:

• Drinking Water Project and a solar energy project for the district of Chikkballapur
• Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital in Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli
• A Music College in Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli
• A general hospital in Kolkata in the next 2 years
• A super specialty hospital in Kolkata in the next 5 years
• A mobile Medical-bus with mini operation theatre to Kolkata youth by this November
• A small medical van for Muddenahalli youths to undertake Medical camp
• Ground breaking ceremony for a new Super specialty hospital in Noida near Delhi in November this year.

                        sSs