During his 1990 world tour to spread the message of love, peace, and human unity, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj was awarded the Medal of Cultural Merit by the Ministry of Education of Columbia. During a private meeting on June 25, 1990, the Minister of Education, Dr. Manuel Franciso Becerra, asked Sant Rajinder Singh Ji a series of questions about his views on education for physical, intellectual, and spiritual development.He then asked Sant Rajinder Singh Ji to address the Cabinet of Ministers on June 28, 1990, and to respond to their questions. Here an excerpt from the address given by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj.
“Spirituality deals with developing the higher values of life and with becoming a better person. Spirituality means inculcating love in our hearts for all humanity, irrespective of skin color, religion, or nationality, irrespective of whether a person is rich or poor, or from the East or the West. If everyone would start seeing the Light of God in all people, this will help bring peace and harmony to the world. Once we realize that our soul is a part of God, and that part is the same in each human being -- and not only in human beings but in all living creatures -- we will not want to harm anyone. We will then start to see the goodness in everyone. We will begin to think about the welfare of others. We will also be concerned about the ecology of the world. We will stop destroying our forests, our air, our water, and all of nature which God has given to us for our life here on earth. When we destroy anything that we have received, when we take so much from the soil for our sustenance yet pollute the land instead of trying to rejuvenate it, we are harming the whole world. The universes have been created in perfect harmony. There is so much lost when we do not take proper care of nature. And if we do not take proper care of ourselves, whether it be physically, intellectually, or spiritually, it affects our life in this universe.
To develop our spiritual side it is important to start the basic moral instruction about spirituality at an early age. It is easy for a child to gain knowledge. Research has shown that children can learn faster and can learn more languages than grownups. If we can include some spiritual teachings in our educational systems throughout the world, then fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years from now, we will turn out human beings who would have love and compassion in their hearts for other human beings. This would bring about an era in which people would try to help each other rather than accumulate as much as they can for themselves. We will see that with time we will enter into a golden age in which we will be concerned about the welfare of our neighbors, the welfare of our society, and the welfare of all life on a global level.”
SK Publications 1992
ISBN 0-918224-27-6
For more articles by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj please visit: www.sos.org