immortal renown all around the globe;
The Battleground, which witnessed the fight of
heroes from the West who ruled;
The Bharat-land which shone so brilliant with
seers and scholars, each a gem;
The Happy land which fostered and brought to
fame songsters and poets, thinkers and teachers;
The Birth-land of the beauty and charm divine
through master artists of brush and chisel;
This mother Bharat to guard her Dharma
treasure, O! student! yours is the bounden task.
The world is the manifestation and expansion of the five fundamental elements. Its innate nature is duality-the entity and the result, the cause and its effect. This duality is evident in the alternating experiences of joy and grief, praise and blame, victory and defeat, profit and loss. These are the consequences of the right and wrong we indulge in. It is not wrong, if you slip into wrong: repeating the wrong is the thing to be condemned. One must learn lessons from the mistake, repent and resolve not to commit it again.
The history of India holds forth before us the folly of repeating the wrong already done. The French, the Portuguese, the Moghuls and the Afghans have all warned Indians against this characteristic. Duplex has recorded that he was able to establish French rule in the then Karnataka region with the help of the Nizam. Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur helped Clive to conquer Bengal. Raghunathrao Ballal Peshwa helped the foreigner to conquer Maharashtra. Foreign rule was established in India, with the help of Indians themselves. Inhabitants of an island, eleven thousand miles away, were able to conquer India, sixteen times its size having eight times its population, and rule over it for one hundred and ninety years, because of one basic defect, disunity caused by mutual suspicion, selfishness, jealousy. Union is strength: disunion brings disaster.
Purity, Unity and Divinity
You have to be leaders of this country in a few years’ time. So I insist on the development of the sense of Unity, a bond of Brotherhood. and an awareness of Divinity. One should strive for unity of minds, unity of hearts, not the temporary association of the moneyed people or persons in positions of power. Unity must result in unity of thought, word and deed.
Love for one’s motherland is good. But it should not lead to hatred towards the motherland of others. Your prayer has to be, ‘May all the world be happy and peacefu.’ For, only when the world has peace and prosperity, can India be peaceful and happy. It is only when India is peaceful and happy, that Andhra Pradesh will be peaceful and happy. It is only when Andhra Pradesh has peace and happiness that Anantpur District can have peace and happiness. It is only when Anantapur District has peace and happiness, can Puttaparthi be peaceful and happy. It is only when Puttaparthi has peace and happiness can you have peace and happiness! Your peace and happiness are linked with the world’s peace and happiness. Any act of hatred or violence committed by you will pollute the atmosphere of the world. Adore any living being; the adoration reaches God, for He is in every being. Insult any living being; the insult too reaches God. So, expand love towards all, everywhere.
The flag is the symbol of victory, of the joy of Independence. Each nation has a flag for itself. Pay attention to another flag to symbolise another laudable victory over one’s lower instincts, impulses, passions, emotions’ and desires, the flag that has to be unfurled on every human heart. When you achieve that victory, you will become the true inheritors of Bharatiya Culture. (SSS Vol.18, pp. 94-98)