Address at the Inauguration of the Jayanthi Celebrations of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Bhagavathpadaru, Bangalore

Spirituality provides dignity for life

"Giving radiates happiness"

I am indeed delighted to participate in the Jayanthi Celebrations of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara Bhagavathpadaru. My respects to His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji, Dr. Sri Sivakumara Mahaswamiji, Sri Balagangadharanatha Mahaswamiji, Sri Siddheswara Mahaswamiji and greetings to eminent scholars, national leaders, technocrats, students, devotees and the distinguished guests.

When I am in the midst of you today for participating in the 1047th Jayanthi Celebrations of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Bhagavathpadaru. Whenever I visit Suttur Math, I feel a great tradition, a divine tradition of more than thousand years engulfing the institution and the lamp of knowledge radiating in the form of educational institutions, spiritual institutions and above all creation of great human beings. In the spiritual gathering I always adore Jagadguru Shri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji for his spiritual knowledge and endowment. I witnessed this while visiting the JSS institutions in different parts of the country. These campuses radiate learning with spiritual way of life in an integrated way. My greetings with reverence to the JSS Mahaswamigal.

Mission for life

When I see the gathering of great human beings born out of Tapas from various parts of the country, I thought of sharing with you how I met a great soul who has attained the 75 years of monk-hood and a beautiful message I received on my mission of life. On this beautiful occasion, I would like to share with you all, since you are all free from passion, anger, and hate.

I still remember, the divinely message which still reverberates in my mind. He said, "Kalam, God bless you for what you have done with your team. The God Almighty has a bigger mission for you and that is why you are here with me today. I know our country is a nuclear nation now. The mission for you is greater than what you and your team have done, and it is greater than any human being had ever done. The nuclear weapons are proliferating in tens and thousands in the world. I command with all the divine blessings, you and only you, to find a solution to make the same nuclear weapons ineffective, insignificant and politically inconsequential".

When I received this great blessings, there was a pin drop silence. Ii looked to me as though the confluence of heavens concurred with the sagical message from Acharya Mahapragnaji. This command shook me for the first time in my life. It had since then become a challenge working on me and has become the motto of my life.

Power of Tapas

On this day of 1047th Jayanthi Celebrations of Adi Jagadguru, I would like to give my respects by reciting one Kural (couplet) from my favorite Tamil classic composed over 2200 years ago by Thiruvalluvar. The Saint Poet has devoted one full chapter of 10 Kurals out of 1330 Kurals to Tapas. It says:

It means, with the power of Tapas, if one discards the attachment to ones own life and "I" the "ahankar" in him, then all lives in the universe will bow before him. I join the lives in the universe to pay my reverence and respect to Adi Guru who was an embodiment of such a soul.

Societal Missions of the Math

During the last seven decades Suttur Math has carried forward the message of Adi Guru, and are engaged in a number of societal missions for improving the quality of life of the rural people through education and healthcare. Today when I am here a scene of Suttur in Mysore appears in front of me, where in the rural location, His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamigal invited me to inaugurate JSS High School, which gives totally free education including food, shelter, medicare to over 5000 children upto 10+2 belonging to the rural area.

The Math today has grown as a centre of learning that guides more than 300 institutions spread over in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and abroad. I met the JSS team at Mauritius and they presented to me their mission in education and healthcare. These institutions are imparting quality education, commencing from nursery to post doctoral courses. In addition there are schools for the physically challenged, mentally challenged and visually challenged children. These institutions help in providing value based quality education to over 50,000 students. This definitely a laudable objective for the nation since India is in the mission of transforming itself into a knowledge society. An important feature of these institutions is that they are generally located in rural areas in a serene environment, which provides an opportunity for our rural population to become partners in the national mission. The schools and colleges run by Suttur Math has produced hundreds of outstanding students, many of whom have risen to the positions of Vice Chancellors, Professors, Doctors and Civil Servants both in India and Abroad. All the teachers and professionals have a unique combination of knowledge and spiritual awakening. Since I am seeing a large presence of youth, particularly students, I thought of administering the Seven Point oath for good and purposeful life.

Seven Point Oath

1. I realize, I have to set a goal in my life. To achieve the goal, I will acquire the knowledge, I will work hard, and when the problem occurs, I have to defeat the problem and succeed.

2. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.

3. I shall always keep myself, my home, my surroundings, neighbourhood and environment clean and tidy.

4.I realize righteousness in the heart leads to beauty in the character, beauty in the character brings harmony in the home, harmony in the home leads to order in the nation and order in the nation leads to peace in the world.

5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a righteous way of life.

6. I will light the lamp of knowledge in the nation and ensure that it remains lit for ever.

7. I realize, whatever work I do if I do the best, I am contributing towards realizing the vision of developed India 2020.

When I see the educational missions being taken up and successfully implemented by the Math, I am reminded of the famous statement of Maharishi Patanjali in Yoga Sutra.

Conclusion: Maharishi Patanjali's Yoga Sutra

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, you will find yourself in a new great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." What a great message for all of us. With these words, I inaugurate the 1047th Jayanthi Celebrations of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara Bhagavathpadaru. My best wishes to all the participants success in their mission of promoting peace, harmony and societal well being. May God bless you.