Swamiji Speaks at Campus Day 2012
April 28, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri spoke to the Amrita fraternity during Campus Day celebrations at Amritapuri on April 27, 2012.
The thousands of students enrolled in various programs offered by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham at this campus sat in pin-drop silence as they listened to Swamiji’s powerful words.
Given below are some excerpts from Swamiji’s talk.
Salutations to all my divine sisters and brothers here. All of you are very fortunate to be part of Amrita University, as members of the large Amrita family. Amma tries to break the walls of caste, religion, country, trying to unite us as one family.
Your Chancellor Amma is a Self-realized Master. It is not very common to study in such a special university. Do you know the educational qualification of your Chancellor? Amma has studied upto the fourth standard. But the State University of New York gave Amma an honorary doctorate degree. All the professors in that university listened to Amma’s speech, when she spoke for about an hour there.
Amma’s knowledge is not coming out of her intelligence; it is coming from intuition or the Cosmic Intelligence.
When some French movie makers came to the ashram for making a movie about Amma, they went to the teachers who taught Amma during her school days. They wanted to know what was special about Amma, when she was studying. Was she was a special child? Many teachers recalled that Amma had the habit of accepting the punishment on behalf of other students, who might have done some mischief.
Before the mischief-makers could own up, Amma would usually say that she committed the mistake and happily accept the punishment.
When the teachers finally understood what was actually happening, they questioned Amma. To their surprise, the small girl replied, “I love to suffer for the sake of others. My life is for others.” Remember Amma was very young then. Even now Amma is suffering for the whole world.
It is not very easy to suffer for others. But Amma demonstrates through her life and actions. She also shows us how to overcome all the suffering of life.
Amma says, “Our life can become a celebration.”
All of us want happiness. But throughout our lives, we are engaged, we never really get a chance to enjoy life. We may think that after all these exams are over, we can relax. When we get a job, we can finally relax.
But actually after you get a job, you can never relax.
Some might say that they are going to relax after marriage. But is that going to happen? Ask the people who have married.
After I have children, I will relax, some others might think. But again, it won’t happen.
You will never get a chance to relax and enjoy life unless you learn certain secrets of life. These secrets can be learned through spirituality. Spirituality teaches us how to live in this world, how to face the problems of life and how to lead a blissful life.
Life is so precious. Each and every moment can become a celebration.
Amma says that to enjoy life, we should be able to invoke our divine nature. In the olden days, in the gurukula system of education, when the student was sent to the gurukula, the teacher gave the first teaching. Matru Devo Bhava. Imagine your mother as God. Try to see goodness in your mom. Pitro Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in your father. Acharya Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in your teacher. Atithi Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in a person who comes to your house, even without an invitation.
Gradually try to see goodness everywhere. When you have the purity of mind to see goodness everywhere, you will reach the divine state.
Before giving intellectual education in those days, this kind of knowledge was given to invoke the divine nature. Unless knowledge is given to a pure heart, it can be misused. Purity of our heart is much more important than our intelligence.
Intelligence alone is not enough in our lives, we need intuition.
This whole world is the result of the flow of divine energy. This is what the scientists as well as our rishis say. This divine power is flowing through each and every object of this world. The stones cannot express it. Trees express it a little bit. Animals can express a little more. Human beings can express much more. But the body of a mahatma like Amma can express it completely.
So when we become a good conductor for that divine energy, we can reach the state of perfection. This world is designed for that to happen.
Amma says when you live in this world, try to become a giver of love. Don’t run after love. Try to give more and take little. When we live in this world, we have to take. But there should be some contribution from our part also.
In nature, we consume so many things without paying a bill. Sunlight. Do we pay a bill like we pay the electricity bill for it? No. We use oxygen without paying any bill. We use the natural resources without paying anything. But they are not free. We are supposed to give something back, otherwise nature knows how to charge it with compound interest. That is suffering.
We are supposed to do good and selfless actions. That is why Amma says, “take minimum and give maximum.”
Whatever is natural is beautiful. When we become closer to nature, we become more and more innocent. In the olden days, education was imparted in such a way that one could become closer to nature.
In today’s world, we have lost our connection with the sand, the earth, Mother Nature. We have become like machines, like robots. Robots can do some work even better than human beings can. But they cannot give love. Amma says that the world today is filled with intelligent robots, not loving human beings.
Human beings have become like robots.
If you try to give, more will come to you. If you try to love everyone, more and more love will come to you. Blessings will come to you.
Life will become a celebration, you will enjoy every moment of your life. Through purity, through innocence. May Amma bless all of you to attain the Supreme state. Om Namah Shivaya!