A Special Talk Given by Anil Kumar
and Brother J. Jagadeesan of Malaysia
Visit to Langkawi, Malaysia
Part 3
“Ideal Parenting”
Nov 28, 2011
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram!
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of our most Beloved Bhagavan,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Anil Kumar: Now we call upon brother Jagadeesan. (Applause)
Jagadeesan: For the first time in the history of the Sai Organisation, Mr. Anil Kumar sang in the Chinese Orchestra. (Laughter) I learnt a little bit of Chinese, but I am trying to improve it by watching Chinese movies.
All of us know Mr. Anil Kumar of Puttaparthi. Now I would like to introduce Anil Kumar of Malaysia! (Applause) Anil has sung so many songs. Okay! So I too would like to sing one small song in Chinese. This song I learnt when I was in university. In fact, I composed this song while reading a Chinese newspaper. In those days, I used to sing this song to someone else—now I sing this song to Baba. It goes like this:
Oh, Aiy, Hee. (Laughter) I hope my pronunciation is correct. Do you want me to translate it into English? It says, “I love you, you love me. But if you stop loving me, I am going to fall sick.”
Brothers and sisters, what an incredible occasion this is! Actually, I have been spending a great deal of time travelling around the world, and have gotten a chance to meet many Sai families. I am very, very thankful to the Sai Organisation for inviting me here today. I will go back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday to listen to the Anil Kumar Sunday Talk, and then on Monday, I fly to Africa. But now I would like to expand upon two points from the brilliant presentation that brother Anil made.
The first thing he emphasised–and I am checking my notes here–the first thing he emphasised was ‘xiao’ or filial piety. And if my pronunciation is wrong, please don’t say anything, as he is my professional translator. (Laughter)
baba was the best role model
Baba was the perfect role model for filial piety. His mother wanted a small school in Puttaparthi; Baba built huge universities and provided free education to everyone. His mother wanted a small medical clinic in Puttaparthi; Baba built super specialty hospitals, providing free medical service to the poor.
In the village of Puttaparthi, people had to go quite far to get water for their daily needs. Mother Easwaramma asked Baba to build a well in Puttaparthi; Baba built huge water tanks with thousands of miles of pipes full of water to serve the poor.
So, what did Baba do?
He exceeded His parents’ expectations. In today’s world, youngsters are falling short of their parents’ expectations. Today, thousands of parents are crying because their children are causing them pain.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENES AS DHARMA DECLINES
In Singapore, where eighty percent of the population is Chinese, the Government passed a law saying that parents can sue their children for not looking after them. Initially, parents said that it was nonsense to think that parents would sue their own children. I was following the story ten years ago.
When that government office opened on the first day of the new law, six elderly Chinese couples came to the office. My heart cried when I saw them. I wept because of what one mother was saying. She said, “My daughter prefers to feed the dogs, rather than look after me.” Can you imagine the heart of the mother who was crying like that? And for the Chinese, xiao–filial piety is the foundation of their civilisation. In China filial piety is the religion of those who don’t even believe in God. This is the greatness of the Chinese civilisation.
Today, this civilisation is already shifting its focus. Some time ago, the Indians thought they were better than the Chinese—that the Chinese were bad while the Indians were good. The Indians, as well as Anil Kumar, used to think of the Indians as being superior. However, the Indian government passed a law which allows the government to sue children for abandoning their parents. So what are the children doing to cause the government to pass such a law?
They take their parents to a big religious festival where there will be a million people or more and say, “Ah ha! Papa and Mama, come, come and see!” and then the child will disappear from their sight. The father and mother are left alone, and the child is nowhere to be found.
Think of this: India and China are the two most ancient civilisations in the world. Parents, who are the most important people in all of our lives, living in these countries, are crying. Dear brothers and sisters, we should never allow this to happen in Malaysia!
I appeal to the Sathya Sai Council and to the Sai Chinese Affairs to launch massive programmes in Malaysia to revive filial piety. Every son and daughter must feel proud to look after their parents. Every son and daughter must feel shame if they make their parents cry. This challenge I present in front of Anil Kumar, to all our Sai Chinese Affairs–in fact, not only to Sai Chinese Affairs, but to the entire Sathya Sai Central Council of Malaysia.
Why am I telling you these things and talking to you like this? All of us talk about God. Okay! Not only do Sai devotees talk about God, but everybody talks about God. You know what the Indians say. They say that if you cannot worship the God that you can see—your father and mother—then how can you worship the God that you cannot see? I apologise for being so serious today.
Before I go to my next point, I would like to sing one more song—a Chinese song!
Do you want to know whether you happen to be in heaven or hell? Yes? Do you want to know?
Audience: No!
Do you all want to know how to be an Avatar?
Audience: Yes!
Do you want to know, or not? I am only going to ask one more time. Do you want to know how to be an Avatar?
Audience: Yes!
Very Good!
dharmic son and dharmic daughter
But before I tell you, I would like to mention one more point about filial piety or xiao. The programme that I would like you all to consider launching is one called the ‘dharmic son or dharmic daughter in India’, meaning ‘the noble son or daughter’. And who are the noble sons and daughters? Around the world we see parents prepared to sacrifice themselves for their children. Parents give their lives for their children. How many here are below the age of 35 years? Very good.
Nowadays, the father and mother look after their children for many years. From the ages of one to ten, they give their children everything that they want—as our Anil says, fulfilling all the expectations of their children. Then, a girl will meet a boy whom she will know for only six months and say, “Oh darling, I love you and you love me. Oh, I need you! You need me!” Blah, blah, blah... And then the child will be prepared to throw the father and mother away.
The father and mother have given twenty years of love to the child, but the child will throw them away after only six months of love. (Laughter)
mother saves her child
Nowadays when I address youngsters, I ask them one question in particular. I ask, “If there was a big lake, and standing alongside the lake was your father, mother, boyfriend or girlfriend, and in the middle of this big lake you were drowning and crying out for help, who would be the one person who would give their life to save you?” The answer of course is the mother, exactly!
The boyfriend will say, “Oh, my darling is drowning! I do not know how to swim. Somebody help her! Please, help her!” But the mother, who does not know how to swim, (not the father!) will dive into the lake to save her child. It is the mother who will give her life.
The father will follow the mother, but he will tie a rope around his waist because the father knows that he should come back alive as well. (Laughter) However, the mother does not care for herself. This is a mother’s love. Why am I saying all of this?
Until I was thirty-two years old, I was an atheist. I didn’t believe in anything. For thirty-two years, I did not believe in God. Some of you may wonder whether I had heard of Sai Baba back then. I won’t tell you my Baba story for the time being, but for thirty-two years I did not believe in God. I had only one God in my life. My mother was my God.
I would never do anything to bring tears to her eyes. Whatever I would do, first I would think, ‘Will this make my mother happy?’ Only then would I do it. This is the consciousness you must help to develop among every son and daughter today. We launched this programme of the noble son and daughter—dharmic son and dharmic daughter. But why did we do it? What gave us the idea? It was only one girl who inspired us.
DAUGHTER servEs her DYING mother
Listen to this fantastic story of that one girl. She was the daughter of a Sai devotee in the Malaysian centre. She went to London to study law, and after spending three years in London, she returned to Malaysia.
The rule in Malaysia is that one must sit for one year, bi-exam chambering, before attempting the final exam. But as soon as she came back to Malaysia to sit for that year, her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. This family is rich enough to employ three Indonesian nurses to look after the mother, but this devoted daughter said, “No. My mother looked after me when I was young, so I will look after my mother now.”
And so, after studying law in London for three years, she threw away her career and stayed home every day to look after her mother. As the second and third year passed, the mother’s brain slowly began to deteriorate because of the cancer. The mother became like a vegetable. The daughter bathed her bed-ridden mother, and used to clean her mother’s feces, just like a nurse.
She did everything for her mother, but not in the manner of a maid. She served her mother like a daughter would do one generation ago. In those days, it was typical for a daughter to do this, whether they be Chinese, Indian or Malaysian; maids would not provide this kind of care. Nowadays, the Indonesian nurse-maid will do that. Three and a half years later, the mother died. At that time, this young woman sat for the exam, and now she is a lawyer. That is where the motivation to launch this programme, dharmic son and dharmic daughter, came from.
As Sai mentioned, some of you may even remember that I presented this program in Pahang in front of two thousand Sai devotees. When I read this citation, the very same girl came forward. Many mothers were crying. I thanked her for bringing an ancient ideal back into modern times. Because of this, I would like to request Sai Chinese Affairs to launch a massive programme like this one, for the fostering of dharmic sons and dharmic daughters.
I am very proud to say that on the 26th of November, three days after Baba’s Birthday, I have been invited to the Simuda centre, where we are going to give awards to dharmic sons and dharmic daughters. It is my prayer to launch this programme worldwide.
And what should be the legacy of the Sathya Sai Avatar for the world in twenty or thirty years from now? What will the world remember this Avatar for? The world must thank this Avatar for bringing back, through the world of Sai devotees, the father and mother as the centre of human life. So, it’s up to all of you.
And finally, are you going to heaven or hell? How are we to know if one will go to heaven or hell? I will tell you next week. (Applause)
sacred activity is possible only through sai organiSation
Anil Kumar: Thank you my boy, Jagadeesan. (Applause)
If any sacred activity at all is to be undertaken at the universal and global level, it is possible only through the Sai Organisation. I really appreciate you, and I wish you Godspeed in your endeavour. Godspeed and success in all of His efforts!
I will tell you what Baba has said about the relationship between husband and wife.
In Kodaikanal, as Swami was passing by, He looked at a student and asked him, “What are you going to do next?”
That boy said, “Whatever you tell me, Swami.”
“Okay, you do MRS.”
The boy asked, “MRS? What is that, Swami?”
Mrs. Get Married! The girl is waiting for you! Then Baba said to everyone, “Array! This boy says, ‘Swami, Swami, Swami’ in front of me today. Tomorrow, when he gets married, the wife will become his life, (Laughter) and later she will become a knife.”
Even at the age of eighty-five, when Baba thought of His mother His eyes became wet. He started shedding tears, just as if her body was being laid to rest right then.
Baba started Easwaramma High School in memory of His mother. He started a community hall in the name of His father. There are also a number of mobile medical vans working in the name of Mother Easwaramma.
THE greatest human value lies in taking care of ONE”S parents
Once one boy said to Swami, “Swami, I want to stay with You. I want to serve You.”
Baba said, “Pakka gas,” meaning ‘false’. Then He said to that boy, “You know your parents. You know what they want. You know what they need, and how to make them happy. If you don’t serve your parents whom you know, how can I expect you to serve God whom you do not know? (Applause) How do you know what satisfies God whom you do not know? Serve your parents. That is service to Swami!”
So, brother Jagadeesan has championed the call, the quintessence of the Sai message. China and India are the most ancient civilisations in the world, but slowly values are dying out. The dog is still behaving like a dog; the donkey is behaving like a donkey. You don’t have to tell a dog to be a dog, because it is already a dog; but you have to tell a human to behave like a human. So the greatest human value lies in taking care of your parents. God bless you, sir! (Applause)
The Sathya Sai Organisation takes this suggestion as a priority. (Applause) May Sai shower His choicest blessings on he who proceeds to take this important message all over the world–the message of taking care of one’s parents. (Applause) Oh, we love our parents every day. Thank you very much! All should love their parents every day.
Jagadeesan: I will speak to you one more time before the closing tomorrow. At that time, I will tell you how to become an Avatar. (Laughter) Be patient. You know that I can’t tell you today, because everybody will become an Avatar, and nobody will be in the hall tomorrow! (Laughter)
Anil Kumar: Brother Jagadeesan, thank you very much! You have brought to light what most parents are feeling nowadays. Children are no more the children of yesteryear, so it is high time that the Sai Organisation do something about this.
We live in a time when, even if parents say one word to discipline their children, that is a lot! We are being democratic and trying to be very nice to our children. We don’t want to subject them to what we went through.
In the process, children are taking things for granted, and values have gone down the drain. T.V. programs condition families to become what they watch on television everyday. It is sad to see that even though values have declined, children expect everything from their parents without giving anything in return. They feel that it is their birthright to get everything, without giving anything.
We hope that with the blessings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Sai Organisation will help to restore in each home a tradition of loving Sai families, where parents are loved, respected and honoured.
Om . . . Om . . . Om
Asato Maa Sadgamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotirgamaya
Mrityormaa Amrithamgamaya
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!
© Copyright Prof. Anil Kumar Kamaraju – Puttaparthi. All rights reserved.