An interview with a great sage
Swami Shivananda once visited a school. He met the principal and told her that he was working with people to help them get rid their tension, by putting time to maximum use. The principal agreed and felt that it would be useful, if Sage talked to the children and the staff members. The principal then took him to the staffroom and introduced him to the teachers. Then Swami asked each class-teacher to make arrangements for his talk. It was decided to start with Std. Ms Mehroo was the class –teacher of that class.
Class: good morning, teacher!
Ms. Mehroo: listen children today, we have a very distinguished guest Sage Shivananda of Chitanya mission. He was lots of information and experience. He will tell us how to utilize our time gainfully and lead a life free of tension.
Class monitor: Namaste swami! May I ask a question?
Swami: please do ask. I shall be happy too answer your question rather than give lecture!
Class monitor: we have so much to study, so much work to do. Our parents are displeased if we get less mark even in a single subject. And yet they send us to all sorts of classes, tuition, music, dance, and gymkhana. All this makes us very tense. We do not get much time to play or relax.
Swami: you are right, but your parents do it with good intention, to ensure you’re all round development. Are they wrong? I do not think so; I do realize that some children have taken the pressure so seriously. Some of them have even committed suicide.
Meena: is it not dangerous to give us so much tension?’
Swami: the tension can be avoided by developing some good habits and by thinking positively. You can discuss your problems, instead of thinking of committing suicide.
Savita: we all think that in ancient times the children did not have so much tension. Is it true?
Swami: in ancient times the children stayed with the Guru and he educated them. This system was called Guru Shishya Parampara or the Gurukul system. The Guru had full freedom. The children were taught to live a highly disciplined life. They did not have traffic problems and distractions of modern-day life. They did not have the made competition we have today. The graduation stage was reached under the close supervision of the Guru. He always provided opportunities for them to participate in discussions and prove their abilities. So there were no problems of admission and getting a high percentage of marks. At the same time, they were busy from dawn to dusk with studies and with the work assigned to them by Guru and his wife.
Ramesh: it is great! That means, there was no problem of coming to school on time. Last week a boy was coming by train to the school. He had to go over the railway footbridge to reach the school. As he was already late, he tried to cross the tracks, and knocked down by an oncoming train. He was killed on the spot.
Swami: it is for this reason that we have to start early enough to avoid all the hurry and risks.
Mahesh: swami, what is actually this concept to time? Why is time so important?
Swami: it is a very good question. This is exactly what I wanted to speak to you about. Look at nature. Just imagine if the sun did not rise, what would happen? We would not get solar energy. If we do not have rain in time or if it comes unexpectedly, there is a great loss to the crops. For instance, we got grapes less this year because of rains at the wrong time. Onions also became costly because onion crops were destroyed by uneven rains. Everything in nature is governed by time-the seasons, the day and the night, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Everything in nature is a time-cycles.
Mehabuba: swami, it is said that our body also has a time-cycle. Can you tell us about?
Swami: yes, certainly. Our heart beats, our circulatory system, our respiratory system go on in a cycle, continuously. If there is any disturbance in the rhythm, we become ill. That is why, we have to lead a disciplined life and be regular in our habits.
Vicky: swami, can we avoid tension by a disciplined life?
Swami: first, we should have a balanced diet, take proper exercise, do our work in time and sleep well. It is rightly said, `Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.’ We can avoid tension by making use of our time properly.
Ahmed: swami it not difficult to be punctual and free of tension, with trains begins late. Traffic jams and all other problems?
Swami: we can avoid all these delays by starting early enough. Yoga and relaxation exercises can help in reducing tension and in improving concentration. So children remember `time is precious’. We cannot get back the time once we have wasted it. Time has to be used carefully and gainfully. We will be able to find time for everything.
Kavita: swami, time is important in poetry, music and dance also, is not it?
Swami; very good! You seem to be a lover of fine arts. In poetry, we have meter, in music and dance we have Tal.
Class monitor: swami, we learnt a lot from this interview. We certainly can make our life better with punctuality and proper use time.
Teacher: swami, we are deeply thankful to you for all the information you have given us. You have given us food for thought and a plan for development.
Kavita: we are still young, but you explained everything to us in such a simple way, that we could understand it all. Thank you very much, sage. We seek your kind blessings for our progress.
Sage bids good-bye and leaves for the next class with the class-teacher of that class.
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