Speech by H.H. Swami Vishweshwarananda Saraswati,
President, Omkarananda Ashram
on the occasion of IX Inter-House Athletic Meet 2005 & Art & Craft Exhibition at Nirmal Ashram Deepmala School, Rishikesh on 28th November 2005

Pujya Shri Swami Jodh Singhji Maharaj,
Honourable Director Mr. Waryam Singh,
Honourable Vice-Principal Mrs. Dr. Bhupinder Kaur.

Most respected Children,
most respected Teachers,
most respected honourable guests on the dais.

My heartfelt adorations to the Divinity in all of you.

First of all I would like to congratulate all of you for joining such an extraordinary institution.

I am absolutely surprised, the way I have been received. I have been received so wonderfully by Swamiji, I have been received so wonderfully by the Teachers, and a special honour has been given to me when all these children in a highly military style were walking here, it was just phenomenal. So much honour and so much praise you have given to me and I don’t know how to thank you for all that. I appreciate very much that all of you are capable to do such wonderful works here.

Already two years before I have seen this Nirmal Ashram School and I could also see the amount of progress which has been made over here when we went through the exhibition at that time.

When I read your school magazine, I saw how Dr. Kupendra Kaur was writing: “Only hard work and dedication can make us progressive!” I really appreciate her words, and I personally feel, this is what I can see in this school, really hard work and dedication, dedication done by two extraordinary Saints, Swami Ram Singhji Maharaj, Swami Jodh Singhji Maharaj. It is a dedication which you children have to take serious. It is not everywhere the case where extraordinary personalities put their selfless spirit into action, where Saints are dedicated to the cause to bring up the children in a very excellent way. These two wonderful Saints are not only Saints in their living and carry their Guru Nanak and other Saints in their heart, but they want to see all of you blooming in an extraordinary way. They do not hesitate to sacrifice everything for the progress of you. And you in turn have to give the thanks to them, because of their hard work. You have to show your gratitude to them with intense hard work and trying to do your level best. The only thanks both of these great Saints want is that you are progressive in your life, that you get out of this school with tremendous learning process and that you can master life excellently. If you achieve this, then I personally feel, Swami Ram Singh and Swami Jodh Singh will be definitely most happy.

See, education is a very important part in our lives. Some people say education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. In fact it is true. Education without Wisdom has no power. Sometimes, unfortunately, education – if it has not incorporated that Wisdom –can be seriously misused. There are scientists, who are definitely very well educated, who are working on the destruction of the world. We know there is a great amount of people who are highly educated, but many of them may misuse their excellent education in creating serious difficulties to the society. This is not the way we should use education. We should be educated to understand the true meaning in life. We should be educated to realize that there is something more than the pure learning process. We are being educated, my dear Students and Teachers, to learn that our life has a higher meaning. If we are not thinking of this certain meaning of life, even with the best education, life has not the proper purpose and life is maybe even wasted. Swami Jodh Singhji and Swami Ram Singhji, both of them are excellently educated, but they understand, along with their education, that their life should be beyond mere book knowledge and so they have joined a life of great self-sacrifice, of high dedication, dedication towards their Guru and dedication towards all of you. I repeat it once again, that for all of you it is a very great blessing, that you are going into a school, which is headed by spiritual personalities. Spiritual personalities always have a sense of bringing their spiritual power into exercise, into life, and that spiritual power gives you a better understanding, makes you better learning.

Education is a process. Everybody who is born, is supposed to go through it. Education has two meanings, on one hand it should make you highly learned, educated, excellent people with wonderful thorough knowledge. But on the other hand it should produce in you a fantastic character, a character based on spiritual principles. And that is exactly what you definitely can find here in this school.

Dear Students, when I saw you going here around, I was really touched. Your discipline, I truly feel, has to be appreciated. You have done wonderful things here, and I have also seen this in the exhibition. I have seen you are seriously dedicated. Over and above, you see, “to be engaged” is the key word. All of you may agree with me, that the empty mind is a “devil’s workshop”. If we are not engaged in one thing or the other, or mind is going to drag us down. And when our mind is going to drag us down, we are going to do certain things and certain actions, for which we may have to pay very seriously, for which we are creating problems for us, for the parents, for the society and even for the country. So, dear children, be very very careful.

From among all these wonderful people here, learn from these great men, like Mr. Singh, Swamiji and all these respectable people over here. They are all working very hard. Any hard work will pay. Laziness also pays, but it pays the other way round. So, kindly be always engaged in good and constructive works. That keeps your mind away from certain dangerous actions, and it also keeps you happy. And if at the same time you can learn from all the scriptures from the greatest Saints, may it be Guru Nanak, may it be any great Saint or Avatara from Lord Krishna to Buddha, whosoever it may be, if you are going through those spiritual books, in combination with the learning, it will make you an ideal personality. Once you are entering into a very great job, people will appreciate, if you are filled with that spiritual power and with that presence of the Divinity, which you are carrying in you, you will be an attractive person. If you are engaged in worldly things, in demoralizing things, even people don’t like to stay with you. But if you have that great spirit, that spirit like Guru Nanak was carrying, an embodiment of the Truth, that, my dear Students, makes you different. And you will be a shining personality wherever you go. And people would like to stay with you. People would say, “This is my friend.” Don’t search for the company of bad characters, it makes you bad. Search for the company of great personalities, wonderful personalities, excellent people, saintly people, search their places, search those friends. There is a saying: “Tell me with whom you are going, and I tell you who you are.” If I see these nice gentlemen here, definitely I can appreciate them, they have joined Nirmal Ashram, they have joined a spiritual way. Naturally, their heart will become more pure and they have done a great thing in their life. So, with whom you are going, that you are.

Therefore, my dear children, use the life, it is very precious. Every second you have once wasted, you can no more get back. So, do your maximum within the minimum of time. Time can no more go back here. What once you have lost, you can not get it. So, use this opportunity to be with great Saints.

Thousands and thousands of children, not only in India, but all over the world, would be very glad to have such a school here. So, when you have this chance, given by your good Karma to you, use this chance in a proper way, as a thanks, to give your maximum efforts. See, I know that it is definitely not so easy, but it is not so much the question whether you may be shiningly excellent, it is a question that you have tried for it. As Madam nicely said, it is not so important that you are winning the whole thing, but that you have participated. It is the endurance, the power, the energy, which you are putting inside, that counts and that keeps you fresh and always young, and always attractive.
You see, let us remember Einstein. Once he was telling: “It is not that I am so smart, it is just that I stay with the problems longer.” See, these were the words of one of the greatest scientists we ever had. He did not consider himself to be somebody extraordinary, but he was humble and he was constantly working very hard. Night and day he wanted to achieve something. He put his whole energy in his work and got something, something very very extraordinary.

I have seen when I have been to this exhibition, that these youngsters already spoke an excellent English. You may be going abroad, you may become Managers, you may be Doctors, but you have another advantage with you. You are having the spirit, the spirit of one of the greatest heritage, that Indian culture. And that Indian culture together with your education makes you an excellent person. I would like to repeat it, what I maybe have said last time also, many times when people from abroad are coming over here, I ask them about the Indian Doctors. People abroad prefer to have Indian Doctors. Why? Because of their excellent behaviour, their warmth, their kindness. So, dear Students, this is what I like to hear. I feel proud, when Indians go abroad and when we hear of their excellent behaviour, and this is what you, too, definitely can achieve and realize because of this most extraordinary school.

See, Gurudev Swami Omkarananda has shown us a lot of ways how to improve our lives. Education was the first motive, which he has given. Therefore, he has started, like your school, also so many schools in the Garhwal area. The Omkarananda Schools carry the spirit of the great Mystic and Sage, Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati. Therefore they are so special. The same thing is the case in this wonderful school, which carries the spirit of great Saints like Swami Jodh Singhji, Swami Ram Singhji etc.

My dear Teachers, I have no intentions to teach something to you, but please let me give you some small inspiration. The child is like a tender, precious creature in the school and you are declared the Gurujis. So, whatever you are doing, whatever action you are doing, every child will pick it up. The child starts learning from you. So, your behaviour, your guidance, your appearance, will be very important for the children. The children are always looking at you and expecting your guidance. And the children will also remember you in all respects, the way you are teaching them, the way you are behaving with them. And you are the persons, my dear Teachers, who can seriously motivate them, who can make them ideal, because this is the beauty of your profession and this is what Dr. Kaur very nicely said, a dedication. If a dedication is there, nothing is impossible. With dedication we can conquer the world. It was hard work of so many excellent

personalities, who have put dedication in their works, and the outcome was tremendous. Don’t think that sometimes the matter goes so easily. We see before us maybe great people, great managers, extraordinary businessmen. The things have not just fallen into their laps, there was hard work behind, and with that hard work and very good Samskaras, finally they managed to be successful.

My dear Children and Teachers, I wish you all the best. I am very thankful to Swami Jodh Singhji and to honourable Director Mr. Waryam Singh and Dr. Sahab to bring me over here.

I would like to conclude with the holy words of H.D. Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati: “Think Like a Genius, Work Like a Giant, Live Like a Saint.”

Thank you, thank you very much. God bless you!