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Seminar of Vice Chancellors on
Value Education and Etichs
Sitting with
Bhagavan (from left to right) Justice Ranganath Mishra, Justice
Malimath, Sri S. V. Giri and Dr. G. Venkataraman.
SRI SATHYA SAI INSTITUTE of Higher
Learning was requested by the University Grants Commission to host
its Golden Jubilee Seminar of Vice Chancellors devoted to "Value
Education and Ethics".The historic Seminar was inaugurated by
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Revered Chancellor of Sri Sathya
Sai Institute of Higher Learning in the morning on Tuesday,
October 28th with His Divine Discourse. The inaugural function was
also addressed by Dr. Arun Nigavekar, Chairman, University Grants
Commission, Sri S.V. Giri, Vice Chancellor, SSSIHL, Dr. G.
Venkataraman, former Vice Chancellor, SSSIHL and Justice Ranganath
Mishra, former Chief Justice of India. Dr. Nigavekar' expressed
his gratitude to Bhagavan, and prayed for His blessings for the
success of the Seminar. He also stressed how SSSIHL which had the
unique distinction of actually putting into practice a
value-oriented educational system under His Divine guidance, was
the most suitable venue for the Seminar.
In His inaugural Divine Discourse, which gave the most appropriate
direction to the deliberations of the Seminar, Bhagavan declared
that education without values was not only useless but certainly
dangerous. He emphasised that Love was the basic ingredient of all
human values be it Dharma, Sathya, Santhi or Ahimsa. Love is God
and God is Love. Clearly, no system of values is meaningful unless
it is God-centred. Drawing a distinction between information,
knowledge and wisdom Bhagavan explained how the power of
discrimination leads a student from one to another, through a
system of true education. Only such a system of education aiming
at character building would ensure a happy world. But today man
had forgotten that he had three layers of existence - mind, body
and Atma (MBA). While most are only conscious, some experienced
conscience, and very few live in consciousness. The Atma indeed is
consciousness. It was indeed reassuring to hear Bhagavan's
declaration that spiritual knowledge and self-transformation were
within everyone's reach. Education must inspire students to
enquire "Who Am I?" This was the key to everything else. With
these inspiring words, Bhagavan blessed the deliberations of the
Seminar.
The Seminar was attended by 25 Vice Chancellors from reputed
universities across the country from Himachal Pradesh in the north
to Kerala in the south and from Orissa in the east to Maharashtra
in the west. The variety of universities they represented was
quite rich in many ways. Women's universities, agricultural
universities, deemed universities (State and Central
universities), and open universities were all represented at the
Seminar.
In addition to the inaugural and the valedictory functions, the
deliberations of the Seminar were spread over several sessions
devoted to policy framework and an operational model; integral
approach to education and educational philosophy; science,
technology and value inculcation; service orientation and
responsible citizenship; management education and value
orientation; and the basic role of teacher education.
The afternoon programmes on the first two days held in Sai Kulwant
Hall in the Divine Presence of Bhagavan Baba consisted of
recapitulation of the day's proceedings in the Business Sessions,
followed by presentations by the students of SSSIHL These
presentations showed how inculcation of values formed an essential
ingredient of the Institute's educational process. On the first
day, three students Sri Deepak Anand, Sri Sanjay Mahalingam and
Sri Jaipreet S. Bhandari led by one young faculty member Sri
Srinivas Srirangarajan made a marvellous presentation of the
purpose, modus operand! and spiritual dimensions of the "Grama
Seva" programme involving teachers and students of all the three
campuses. On the second day, five students of the Institute Sri
Shashank Shah, Sri Y. Sriranganatha Raju, Sri V. Jagannandan, Sri
S. Jagadish Chandra and Kum. Deepti Bhagia spoke in English,
Sanskrit, Telugu and Hindi.The loftiness of the thoughts, lucidity
of expression and the emotional touch of the feelings flowing from
their hearts held the entire audience in rapture and total
admiration. The students outlined what they were learning at the
Institute to enrich their lives and how this type of education
would make them better citizens of tomorrow in the service of the
country and the world.
On the third afternoon (on 30th October), Prof. V.S. Prasad,
Director NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) and
two of the Vice Chancellors Prof. K. Sudha Rao and Prof. N.
Jayasankaran expressed their sense of fulfilment on visiting
Prasanthi Nilayam and how much they had learnt about true
education during their three-day stay in the Divine Presence of
Bhagavan. Afternoon functions in Sai Kulwant Hall started with
soul-stirring vibrations of exquisite Veda chanting on all days.
The Vice Chancellors were of the unanimous view that Sri Sathya
Sai Institute of Higher Learning should be recognised as the
National Centre of Excellence for Value Education and, in a
step-by-step process, the success story of Integral Education of
the Institute should be disseminated for wider adoption in the
country's Higher Education system.
From Sanathana Sarathi, November
2003, Page 351-352
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