The importance of studying

Some people are very lucky. Other people are not so lucky. Teachers are very lucky: two holidays in one month. They must have done navagraha the whole year. Actually ‘holiday’ doesn’t mean ‘holiday’ in the sense that you can go to gateway and do your nonsense. Use these holidays wisely. Study. You’ve got this opportunity. The way this education system is going now, you should make the best of it while you can. Many people are saying the teachers are not doing their job. I say the student’s attitude has really gone to zero.

You must sow your seeds to create a habit. And you must sow your habits to create an attitude. And sow your attitude to create your character. It is very important in this life. Especially as we don’t know if on the seventh of May we’re going to do the ballot or the bullet. We’re not sure. But come what may, you’ll still be here going to Verulam Secondary, to Mountview Secondary, and the school at the back-side of the Gayathri Peedam, called Glenhaven Secondary.

You know, it is our parents who give us something that nobody can take from us, and we go with it to our last day. It’s called ‘education’. Education is not about studying; it’s not about remembering. It’s about living. You have to use that education to live this life. Don’t be like some people who are studying for ten years and still not finished. And they are talking about studying again. For some people studying has become a profession.

Please use this time wisely. Education is the most important aspect of this plane. And as I said to you last week, there are eight million four hundred thousand species on this earth, and your soul has chosen this body because this body has what we call intelligence. Use it. When I drive past Glenhaven in the morning, sometimes I think there are chips outside. They are busy running around on the road and everywhere, chasing each other. And I think about when we went to school. Once we were inside the school property we could not get out until the school was finished. The principal was our guardian, our custodian. These days the attitude of the children – disgraceful is a nice word to use.

We need to make the best of this life because in three to four years from now education will be in a mess and you will be lucky to be out of the system. After the next election you’ll see what education will become, and you’ll think, ‘maybe I should do my best now and get out of the system’. Not all of you can be lucky like the ungrateful twins. Because they finished matric, went straight to work and got nice jobs. And now when I’m on the road they just drive past me. They don’t even stop to greet me – because they’re looking for mulberries.

So please, children, as much as I’m sounding like a joke to you – education is the utmost in this life. There’s nothing more than education. Your father can own one hundred and forty-seven trucks and twenty businesses but without education you’re useless. It is the most important aspect of this journey.

Just a piece of advice, since you’re all Hindu: if you want to get the best results, before you start to study recite nine times: Om Rheem Aheem Saraswathi Namaha, and see how you’ll attain. Some of you think this guru is mental. It works. Please study, study and study. You’ll get nothing else out of anything that you do, but by study you’ll get everything.