Preface

Recently, an overseas devotee asked, “Is there any edition of the Gita suitable for use by children?” Since there did not appear to be any, it was decided to generate this manuscript for use by Sai teenagers. It will come in parts as a serial for the next few months.

This manuscript is clearly an experiment. It is meant for study by students in the age group around 9 to 15, under the guidance of an Instructor. [Indeed, even the so-called young adults could benefit, not to mention people unfamiliar with Indian scriptures.] The guidance would be effective and fruitful if the Instructor/Teacher is familiar with the material contained in:

(a) The Guidebook for Study Circles, which appeared in H2H as Getting Spiritually Better.
(b) The Workbook Companion of the Guidebook, and
(c) The book entitled Message of the Lord that deals with the Gita on the one hand and Baba’s Teachings on the other.

(The first two are available from the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation while the third can be obtained from the Book Store in Prashanti Nilayam).

Before the commencement of the course, the Instructor/Teacher should expose the students to the background of the Kurukshetra war.

Many strategies can be adopted as regards taking the students through the various chapters. These days, students are very sharp and quick on the uptake. Hence, the following scheme could be tried:

1. The Instructor first gives an overview of the chapter under consideration, stressing the most important teachings.
2. A group of students is then asked to ‘present’ the teachings of the chapter to the rest of the class in a suitable manner. As a part of the process, there could be discussions, and also questions from the students not involved in the presentation.
3. After the presentation, the Instructor poses ‘situations’ and ‘dilemmas’ that require solutions using the teachings of the chapter. Alternately, the students could stage skits, highlighting the important teachings of the chapter.

Experience has shown that the absorption is much better with student participation. Before moving on to the next chapter, the Instructor must review all that was said, adding extra comments as required.

A few words now about the text itself. Basically, it represents a synthesis of the format of the Gita with the spirit of Swami’s Gita Vahini. Thus, as in the original Gita, there are eighteen chapters, and the Message is presented as a dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna. However, no attempt is made to have a one-to-one correspondence with the Slokas of the Gita original. Instead, the spirit is captured and amplified in the light of Baba’s Teachings. As even a cursory reading would show, Swami’s sayings have been seamlessly woven into the texture of the Krishna-Arjuna dialogue practically everywhere. The liberties taken in the presentation, especially in the use of the current idiom, would be fully justified, if the Message gets across.

Why is the Gita so important? The answer is simple. The Gita teaches how to face the battles of life. These battles have been there ever since man appeared, and will continue as long as the human race exists. Indeed, the battles have become fiercer these days, with every new generation finding it more and more difficult to stick to the path of morality. It must be remembered that the Gita is a manual for life and has nothing whatsoever to do with any particular religion or faith. It teaches how life can be spirtualised, every minute of it in fact. Thus it is usable by people everywhere, and at all times. In passing, it is worth mentioning that Gandhi has demonstrated in a powerful manner, that the Gita is relevant even in the realm of politics.

Today, despite the tremendous progress in science and technology and the very high standard of living available (at least in some countries), life has become more difficult all round, including to the people at the top of the material totem pole. Why? Because the basics are being ignored. The Gita is a powerful reminder of those forgotten basics, and what must be done to stick to them.

The children of today understand quite clearly a lot of what is going on. Deep in their Hearts, they are sensitive and affected by Adharma. Yet, when it comes to application, they also follow the path of Adharma. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, the type of advice that the elders give. The elders violate every rule in the book and yet tell the young, “Listen, this is bad; that is not good. You must not do these things,” etc. The response is: “Well, if you could do it, why not us?” Secondly, the media in collusion with vested interests actively promote Adharma and immorality in a thousand different ways. The two together create peer pressure and that is something that the young in particular find very difficult to resist. That is one big reason why the battle of life has become far more difficult.

Take success in business for example. For years, the media was euologising the great go-getters, the high-profile men with huge bank balances, yachts, penthouses, and their success stories. But one fine day it was discovered that many of these ‘greats’ were just frauds who had duped tens of thousands. All of a sudden people began to ask, “Whatever happened to old-fashioned morality they used to teach in the Business School?” Well, they stopped teaching that sort of thing a long time ago! If morality is discarded as being irrelevant, how can it suddenly surface when the going gets rough?

No, morality is not merely a matter of social convenience or just a necessity for civilized existence. It is something much more than that. Morality is the very fabric of life. It is what sustains the Universe. That is why Gandhi always used to declare, “There is a Moral Law that governs the Universe.”

We must be moral because that is the only way we can be true to our real nature. We all have come from God; how then can we afford to be immoral? As Swami asks, “How can you don the form of a human and be a cheat or inhuman?” Whether we like it or not, mankind can no longer afford to run away from morality as it appears to be doing at present. This is precisely where the Gita becomes relevant. It teaches man how to follow Dharma in life, and that is what makes the Gita so very important.

Notwithstanding all this, people who try to conduct classes of this nature do face some problems. After a while students readily agree that morality is needed in Society, but when it comes to their own lives, they are not ready to stop being selfish. They give many interesting arguments like:

• How can one person make any difference to Society? So, what is the point of my trying to be very moral?
• I need role models!
• It is too late to return to morality! Forget it!!

All such answers merely show that conviction is still lacking. Thus, the acid test of the success of the Gita course would be whether it has enabled at least a few to develop deep conviction about the importance of and the necessity for Dharma.

Prolonged physical hunger leads to death by starvation. Prolonged spiritual hunger would likewise lead to the death of humanness. Spiritual hunger is worldwide, though people may not realise it. The rich suffer from it in one way and so do the poor. Thus the Message of the Gita is relevant for all. It is very important to reach out to the young in all lands. That is the only way to ensure, at least in some measure, the world would be what God wants it to be.

Ready for the first instalment? Wait until the next issue!