May 11, 1977

The building of our life is starting, and childhood is the center stone for the foundation of the life of man. If we are wholeheartedly studying the studies which we are being taught here, and if we make our life pure, that will help us very much in our future because when we go up for further studies, the effect of this time will be on our hearts. That will not allow any bad thoughts to come in us, and that will prove very good for us, to make our future. We can get the qualities of our teachers if we respect and obey them; because if a student is obeying and respecting his teacher, the teacher gives that student much of his attention, and he helps him, and he loves him very much. That proves very good for his studies. We are studying for our own selves, and that’s why we should not be angry or displeased with our teachers.

In future you will realize how much these teachings would have been helpful if you had obeyed them. Master Sawan Singh Ji used to tell about his childhood – when he was studying in school. He was living in a village named Mehmahsingwala, and he was going to Nanangwal, another place, for study. And when he was going there to study, first of all he would go to the teacher’s home and clean the house and wash the vessels, and in that way he was respecting and doing service to his teacher very well. Even when he was getting the Engineering education in Roorkee College he was respecting and obeying his professors very much. After getting the degree, his teachers greeted him with very much respect and said, “Now there is no difference between you and us, because you also have become like us.”

Very often he would talk about a fellow student whose name was Kartar Singh, who didn’t like to study at any time. What was he doing? First of all, he was not ready to start from home to come to school, and he would always cry and make excuses. Sometimes he would lie down on the floor and in that way he was not coming to school. But if anybody took him to school, with any pressure or something like that, when he came he would not obey his teachers; he never was doing his homework, making excuses, and he never was respecting the teacher. Once he (Kartar Singh) saw that one dead man was carried in a coffin by four people, and there were many other people who were following them. And because he knew that he was always carried by some people to school (because by his own self he would not come to school), so he thought that this man is also not ready to go to school, that’s why they’re carrying him. So he asked them – because he had that quality, that’s why he thought that everybody was like that.

We should obey our teachers and respect them because whatever they are teaching us, that is for our own good. It is said that in Rajasthan once a man was carrying four bushels of wheat on one side of his horse, and four bushels of sand on the other side, and in that way he was carrying a lot of weight on the horse. One wise man was coming from the other side and he asked the man, “What are you carrying on the horse?” He replied that, “On one side there are four bushels of wheat, but to equalize the weight I have put four bushels of sand on the other side.” So the wise man told him, “Oh fool, what have you done? You should have put two bushels of wheat on either side. Why are you carrying the dust here?” But instead of accepting the wise man’s advice, he became angry with him. We should not do that, because whatever wise people – whatever teachers – are telling us, that is for our own welfare.

So we are studying for making our own success; we are not doing any favor to our teachers. So if our teachers start telling us to do anything, we should do one extra thing for them. If they are telling us to solve one question, we should solve one more question, because whatever we are doing, that is for our good. We are not doing any favor for our teachers. So we should always respect our teachers and obey whatever they tell us to do.

In our days in India there weren’t any very good arrangements of school and education, but then also we were three who were sent to school. One was the son of a weaver from the village, and two of us were farmer’s sons. So when we went to school, our teacher gave us some lessons to learn, and then he went away for some other work. So out of the other two boys only one joined me, and we both learned that lesson very well. But the other one, he sat on the wall of the school, and he was enjoying the cool breeze coming from the other side. So when the teacher came back, he asked whether we had learned our lesson or not. We both had learned that, so he was very much pleased with us. But the other one, he said, “No. I was enjoying the cool breeze while sitting on the wall. It’s very good to sit there. Why should I learn the lesson? If I want to learn the lesson I will learn by my own self. Why are you worried about me?” I have seen him when he was grown up, and he was suffering a lot, and repenting that he hadn’t obeyed his teacher.

In America it is not the usual thing to give punishment to the children, but in India it is exactly the opposite. Children are given a very good beating if they are not obeying the teacher. So when that son of the weaver didn’t obey the teacher, and he didn’t learn the lesson, the teacher gave him punishment. He told him, “You catch your ears.”^* And when he told him to do that, instead of catching his own ears, he came to the teacher and caught the ears of the teacher. So that teacher was very much upset, and at last he told him to leave the school, and in that way he was thrown out from the school.

So with love we should study wholeheartedly, and we should respect our teachers, because whatever they are teaching us, that is for our own good, and if we will obey them, it will make our future bright.