The 29th Convocation of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashanti Nilayam was held on 22nd November in a ceremony graced by the Chancellor of the Institute Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and attended by Chief Guest for the convocation His Excellency The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh along with a host of glitterati from the political world.
The host of dignitaries included Sri K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Sri E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Sri Y.S. Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab, Sri M.K. Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Sri Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Minister for Power, Sri Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Dr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons and Sri N. Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of TCS.
Some Highlights from the PM’s Convocation Address
Complete text of the speech is available at http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=986
I deem it a great honour to be here at this 29th Convocation of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. That the Convocation coincides with the 85th birthday of Shri Sathya Sai Baba makes it even more special. In conveying my greetings to Baba, I hope and pray that he may continue to be an inspiration for us for many many years to come.
I was last here for your 14th Convocation in 1995. The changes that have taken place since then are truly phenomenal. Your university has grown enormously and you have diversified your scope of learning. In place of the more modest facilities 15 years ago, I see an international township and I see people from all over India and all parts of the globe together at this institution making it unique. I see a medley of races and cultures.
Yours is a relatively young university but it has already established its place as a centre of excellence. What makes it so unique is that it also shows us a new way forward and adds a new dimension to the quest for learning. To paraphrase Baba’s words, this is not a place simply to earn degrees. Its main purpose is to help students cultivate self-knowledge and self-confidence so that each student learns self-sacrifice and self-realisation.
This institution has consciously sought to amalgamate a system of formal education with wholesome development of character. Baba’s belief that the true meaning of education is not knowledge in itself but knowledge in action is one that commands our respect It is one that we should all share. At this institution, you seek to combine the absorption of knowledge and skills — what is learnt in courses and for degrees — with the ideas that have come to us as the wisdom of the ages, and the ideas of Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa, that should govern our daily lives. You endeavour to structure your curricular programmes and project work with an awareness of duty and social responsibility.
As the human condition has changed, for the better in some ways and for the worse in others, I see a greater need for both academic excellence as well as the values and attitudes that you are cultivating and emphasizing here.
Today, we cannot succeed without providing value based education to our youth. In this endeavour, you are breaking new ground; others would do well to follow in the path that you have charted, to make both learning and character building universal in the realm of education.
I am glad to see that the emphasis on scientific research in this university has increased over the years and that you are promoting high quality research in interdisciplinary areas such as drug designs and drug delivery systems, structural biology, nano materials and biomedical engineering.
I am also deeply impressed by the work that is being undertaken here to help the people of the surrounding areas. What is heartening is that all these services — water supply, education, medical and health — are rendered totally free based on Baba’s commitment that the basic requirements of every civil society should not be a burden on recipients.
It is also commendable that the Sri Sathya Sai institute of Higher Learning is forging backward linkages with your sprawling school system that extends to almost 100 Sri Sathya Sai schools and about 3 lakh Bal Vikas children who receive the benefit of Baba’s ideas.
May god bless you all.
Complete text of the speech is available at http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=986
Soham | सो ऽहम् 