My dear Students,
For the past two weeks you have been listening, thinking, discussing, and now
the moment has come to take a decision. A student went to a Zen master and
asked for his advice. He told the Master: I want to gain knowledge from you
and at the same time I want to get skill training from another Master. What is
your advice? The Zen Master told him: “The hunter who chases two rabbits,
catches neither.” You are to make a decision as the colleges would soon begin
for the academic year. You need to choose one subject or one discipline.
How do you choose? Or who decides for you? – Your parents, your classmates,
or friends? Choose well – If your decision is good, you have done half your
studies, since you would be interested as well as focused in the subject you have
chosen and you would work for it with your heart and mind. Otherwise, you
might be tempted to give up or slow down. In real time, one-third of the
professionals change their profession – whether doctor, engineer, teacher,
anybody. Hence, decision making is important and so make the right decision.
These two weeks might have helped you to arrive at a decision.
Whatever subject you choose and whichever college you decide to go, you need
to keep in mind a few things for your growth in knowledge, wisdom, skills, and
life. Keep reading, and develop critical thinking, and learn to decide. You would
need help from others – That is fine but you should be the one who decides and
you should own your decision – Do not blame anybody when things go wrong.
Remember the two-arrow teaching of the Buddha: Any event that happens in
life is the first arrow – We have no control on it. The event may be our success
or failure, it might be a disappointment or a surprise, it might be happiness or
sadness – It just happens. But the second arrow is our reaction. Much depends
on how we take it or react to events. This second arrow is optional. At the same
time, if we are clear in our decision, we may not regret later. Owning the
responsibility would keep us going further.
Study is knowledge but learning is wisdom. When we learn, our intellectual
capacity increases – Most of the time we learn from books. We should develop
the habit to learn from others – Whatever good we find in others we learn to live
it. We need to mould a heart to understand others. We could also learn from our
surrounding – our nature. In nature nothing lives for itself but becomes useful
for others. On 25 th March 2017, Pope Francis said: “Rivers do not drink their
own water; trees do not eat their own fruits; the sun does not shine on itself
and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a
rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult
it is…” Be there for others.
Develop compassion. A visually challenged man was begging on the road. He
kept a card board by his side with the words: “I am blind – Please help” – One
or two threw some coins. A young lady came by: She wrote something on the
board – By evening the visually challenged person got so much of money. The
secret was, the young lady changed the words on the card board. She wrote:
“The day is beautiful but I am not able to see.” And all were moved to help him.
Look at the world of the other, from his/her perspectives.
In life, you need to build up confidence. Confidence is not when you have found
all the answers you needed but when you are ready to face all the questions in
life. Confidence is the outcome of learning – Keep learning and make a
difference in the world and make the world a better place to live for others. The
best guide for you in life is your heart. Listen to your heart when you are in
doubt – The little voice would give you the right direction. Dolores Hart was a
famous Hollywood actress who acted with Elvis Presley in the film Loving You.
She did ten successful films in five years. But she did not find peace of mind
nor joy of heart. One day she decided to enter the cloistered Benedictine
Monastery, which is a place where you do not come out of the house and from
where you do not see the world for the rest of your life. But she found her peace
and mind and joy of her heart.
Education is not what you know but what you do with it. The education you
gain should be for the service of the needy. At this point of time, you have the
fear of the future and you have confusion what to do next, which subject to
study etc. Just have confidence in you that you would do great things. Gahlil
Gibran, the Lebanese-American writer, writes in his poem The River and The
Ocean the following words:
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has travelled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
You have now taken the step for the higher studies, go ahead and keep going.
There are people around you, your parents, friends, well-wishers who would
walk with you.
So, you have the gratitude to them all, especially to your parents. Your parents
make your future with their present as investment. Your parents might be
simple, but they are great. They may be poor, but they are rich with love and
affection. There was a little boy who was bright in studies. He had no father but
he hated his mother because she was blind. When he was studying in the school,
he would not like his mother coming there to see him and to meet his friends,
because he thought she was ugly. Even when he got married and had children
he did not allow his mother to come to his house. After many years, one day he
got the sad news that his mother passed away. Just for the formality he went to
his village to perform the last rites. Over there he overheard a villager talking to
another one: “This boy is a lucky one. When he was a child, in a car accident
his father died and the boy lost both his eyes. But his mother donated both her
eyes to him so that he could shine in life.” The son shed tears but no use at that
point. It is not what you have but what you are that matters in life. Be there with
people of good heart.
In short, this is what I would tell you: Think with your heart – Touch with your
eyes – And Walk with your hand. Yes, Think with you heart – Touch with your
eyes – And Walk with your hand. Let your heart decide what to do and let your
eyes decide whom to help and let your hand decide how to do it. This is all
education for life. Wish you all the best.
All through the event today, you celebrated Oxygen. Oxygen is essential to live
and to grow. You be the life and growth of the national and the globe.
I thank Fr Roch and his LSSS team for guiding you so far – Now, you go ahead
and shed your light shine for the rest of the world.