Let us learn the Five Human Values Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has expounded and their significance to the human society. The Five Human Values expounded by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, that have become the foundation of Sathya Sai Education are: Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteous living), Shanthi (Inner Peace), Prema, and Ahimsa (Nonviolence)
Scientists have found that there are 8,400,000 living species in the world. Of this number, man is identified as a unique living being because he is the most evolved of all beings. Charles Darwin presented his well-known theory of evolution which states that living beings evolved from a single-celled amoeba and man has become the end of evolution. famous A question arises about the type of evolution Darwin viewed. The scientific explanation is confined to the biological evolution of man but not to his spiritual evolution. All major religions provide paths for man to evolve spiritually and reach enlightenment which is Eternal and Blissful.
The five human values presented by Sri Sathya Sai Baba agree with the principles and paths of all major religions. Let us further analyze each of these values.
- Truth and its intellectual aspect
There are two aspects of truth; the eternal truth, and the secular truth. The eternal truth answers the question, “Who am I?” Once a young American asked Swami, “Swami, are you God?” Swami readily responded, “Yes, I am God, but you too are God. The difference is that I know I am God but you do not yet” A similar declaration is found in Buddha’s life. Buddha, addressing a group of monks said, “We all are Buddhas, the difference is that I know it but you do not yet.” This is the absolute truth.
Secular truth is applicable to our day-to-day life. Our mind is the commander of senses. For example, the eyes see an object, the mind has the power to get attached to what you saw, repel it, or become neutral. Unless this “commander” is disciplined, we cannot have peace in life. Fortunately, we have a higher-order “General” called intellect who will decide what is right and what is wrong and instruct the mind. Thus, the intellect is more powerful than the mind. If our decisions totally depend on the head (brain), then our decisions and words and actions to follow may be harmful to ourselves and others. This is where our heart (in fact, it is not the biological heart but the spiritual heart, the seat of Love and Compassion) becomes useful. The pure heart sharpens the intellect. The senses observe, and before the mind decides, our intellect will prompt us to know whether the decision is right or wrong.
A sharpened intellect will give you what is called Intuition which is the faculty through which Truth becomes evident. During decisions, Intuition gives us a flash helping us to understand and adhere to the truth.
Secular Truth is mostly the truth of what we talk about, to the best of our knowledge. Children must be trained to talk and express only the truth BUT, it cannot be done without the development of the other four human values. We shall show the practical means of teaching and training students to develop and embrace human values in lessons to follow.
- Righteousness (Dharma) and contribution we get from our intellect
Out of the 8,400,000 living species, only man has the capacity of differentiating between good and bad actions. All animals have a body and senses. Animals do not ask if an action is good or bad but act on sense impressions and feelings and emotions. For instance, a lion becomes hungry and sees a deer, and the lion kills the deer and quenches its hunger.
A man sees a wallet hanging from the pocket of another man. He can think and choose between stealing the wallet or kindly inform the other man. Men, whose intellect is blunt, are closer to animals. Such men will decide to steal the other man’s wallet. Men who are righteous, have a sharpened intellect, and will not steal, but kindly inform the other man about the hanging wallet.
Thus, a sharpened intellect is the key to right decisions and actions. Sathya Sai Education in Human Values promotes righteousness and helps students, and teachers to adhere to righteousness by developing their intellect.
