The Greatest Journey
From the very moment a mother conceives, parents begin, consciously or unconsciously, to write the story of their child’s destiny. Through their thoughts, values, actions, sacrifices, and love, they lay the foundations upon which a new life will grow.
From the very moment a mother conceives, parents begin, consciously or unconsciously, to write the story of their child’s destiny. Through their thoughts, values, actions, sacrifices, and love, they lay the foundations upon which a new life will grow.
As you enter university, you are stepping into a transformative chapter of your own life. Your education should not be limited to earning qualifications or preparing for a profession. It should also prepare you to become wise, responsible, compassionate, a nd purposeful human beings —and, in time, responsible parents and role models for the next generation.
Therefore, alongside your academic education, I strongly encourage you to begin studying Vedānta—”A User’s Manual for Every Day Living. ” Its wisdom can help you understand yourself, manage your thoughts and emotions, make discerning choices, navigate relationships, face challenges with strength, and live with clarity, dignity, and purpose.
One day, you may take your parents ’ place—not merely as providers, but as guides, protectors, teachers, and role models. The qualities you develop today will influence the lives of those who come after you.
today.
Your university years are not simply preparation for a career; they are preparation for life, leadership, relationships, responsibility, and the sacred privilege of shaping another generation.
Learn deeply.
Live consciously.
Choose wisely.
Serve selflessly.
And become the kind of person whose presence makes the world —and the lives of future generations—better.
Education prepares you to earn a living; wisdom prepares you to live. Learn Vedānta today, so that tomorrow you can become not only a successful professional, but also a wise parent, compassionate leader, and worthy guide for the generation that follows.
My Dear Divine Young Children,
There is a beautiful thought:
Let us understand this statement with the depth of Vedānta.
The sentiment is noble, but the highest wisdom asks us to refine the words.
When conception takes place, the parents do not create a new soul.
The Bhagavad Gītā declares that the Self is never born and never dies. It is unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient. Birth belongs to the body; it does not belong to the Ātman.
Therefore, never imagine that your existence began merely when your physical body began.
The body has a beginning.
The personality develops.
The mind gathers impressions.
The circumstances of life unfold.
But the deepest Self—the Ātman—is not created by conception.
This is one of the greatest discoveries of Advaita Vedānta:
level, Consciousness is your true nature.
So what, then, do parents contribute?
They contribute something enormously important: the conditions in which embodied life unfolds.
Their love, character, choices, values, emotional atmosphere, conduct and responsibilities can profoundly influence the developing life of their child.
In this sense, parents certainly help shape the child’s journey.
But they do not independently write the child’s entire destiny.
The Bhagavad Gītā presents existence as a profound interaction of prakṛti, karma, individual tendencies, action, circumstance and Īśvara. The Gītā warns us against the egoistic assumption that everything is simply the work of an isolated individual doer.
Therefore, let us understand the original statement:
When conception takes place, parents begin creating the conditions through which a sacred human life will unfold; but the eternal Self within that life is neither created nor destroyed.
This understanding should transform the way we think about parenthood.
If you are a parent, do not think: “I own this child.”
Think:
Do not ask only: “What career will my child have?”
Ask: “What kind of human being will my child become?”
Do not give your child merely possessions.
Give character.
Do not give merely education.
Give wisdom.
Do not give merely protection.
Give courage.
Do not teach merely how to succeed in the world.
Teach how to remain inwardly steady when the world changes.
And above all, do not imprison your child within your own expectations.
A child is not a project through which a parent fulfils an unfinished dream.
A child is an opportunity for love, responsibility, service and spiritual growth.
And to every student I say:
Do not blame your parents for everything that has happened in your life.
Do not glorify them as the authors of everything either.
Respect the conditions from which you have come—but do not mistake those conditions for your ultimate identity.
Your past may explain you.
It does not have to imprison you.
Your circumstances may influence you.
They do not define the Ātman.
Your tendencies may challenge you.
They do not determine your spiritual possibility.
The Gītā teaches that the embodied being carries subtle faculties from one body to another, just as wind carries fragrance.
Therefore, life is not merely a story beginning at birth and ending at death.
At the empirical level, there is a journey of the jīva through changing bodies, experiences and karmic conditions.
But at the highest level of Advaita, the Truth is even greater:
The Self was never born.
And what was never born cannot ultimately die.
So, students, never say:
That is not the spirit of the Gītā.
Instead say:
That is strength.
That is responsibility.
That is freedom.
And that is the beginning of true spiritual maturity.
Parents may help shape the circumstances of a child’s life, but they do not create the eternal Self, nor do they possess absolute authorship over destiny.
The body is born.
The personality develops.
Karma operates.
Circumstances change.
But the Ātman is unborn and eternal.
Therefore, honour your parents, take responsibility for your life, act nobly in the present, and never allow your circumstances to convince you that you are less than the Divine Reality within.
true Self.
And the highest message of Advaita is this:
discovering what you have always been.
My Dear Divine Young Children,
From the very moment a child enters a family, parents begin to influence the unfolding of that young life. Through their thoughts, values, conduct, sacrifices, discipline, affection, and example, they create an environment in which a child learns how to see the world, relate to others, make choices, and understand oneself.
Yet there comes a time when every young person must consciously assume responsibility for his or her own life.
Your university years are such a time.
You are entering a period of extraordinary opportunity. You are acquiring knowledge, developing professional abilities, forming relationships, making independent decisions, and beginning to determine the direction of your life. But education should not stop at the acquisition of information, qualifications, or professional skills.
A truly complete education must teach you how to live.
It should help you become intellectually discerning, emotionally mature, ethically responsible, inwardly steady, compassionate towards others, and courageous in the face of difficulty. It should help you understand not only the world around you, but also the person who is experiencing that world.
This is where the wisdom of Vedānta becomes profoundly relevant.
Vedānta is not merely a subject to be studied for intellectual knowledge. In its highest teaching, it is an inquiry into the very nature of the Self, reality, and human freedom. Advaita Vedānta, as taught through the Upaniṣads and systematically unfolded by Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, points us towards the recognition that our deepest identity is not limited to the changing body, restless mind, emotions, social status, achievements, or failures.
The ultimate truth is expressed in the great teaching:
Ātman is Brahman.
The Self, rightly understood, is not separate from the infinite reality of Brahman.
This is the highest vision.
But such knowledge is not intended to make us withdraw irresponsibly from life. On the contrary, the Bhagavad Gītā teaches us how to prepare the mind and character for this knowledge and how to live wisely while fulfilling our responsibilities.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa does not advise Arjuna to escape from life. He teaches him how to act without selfish attachment, how to perform his duty with integrity, how to discipline the mind, how to cultivate devotion, how to develop discrimination, and ultimately how to recognise the true nature of the Self.
Therefore, Vedānta may rightly become your “User’s Manual for Every Day Living”—not because it reduces the highest spiritual wisdom to a manual, but because it gives you principles by which everyday life can be understood and lived with greater clarity.
When the mind is disturbed, Vedānta teaches you to enquire rather than merely react.
When success comes, it teaches you humility and freedom from dependence upon achievement.
When failure comes, it teaches you resilience, discrimination, and the capacity to learn.
When desire arises, it teaches you to examine whether what you seek will truly bring lasting fulfilment.
When anger arises, it teaches you to recognise how an uncontrolled mind can distort judgement.
When relationships become difficult, it reminds you to act with understanding, dignity, compassion, and responsibility.
When you face uncertainty, it teaches you to distinguish between what you can control and what you must accept.
And when life raises the deepest question —”Who am I?”—Vedānta invites you to look beyond every temporary identity and enquire into the nature of the Self itself.
The Bhagavad Gītā gives us another essential lesson: wisdom must express itself in action.
You cannot claim to understand dharma while neglecting your responsibilities.
You cannot speak of spirituality while treating others without compassion.
You cannot speak of self-knowledge while remaining a slave to every impulse of the mind.
And you cannot call yourself free while your happiness depends entirely upon circumstances that are constantly changing.
Therefore, learn to act well.
Do your duty sincerely.
Give your best without anxiety about the result.
Cultivate self-discipline without becoming harsh.
Seek knowledge without becoming arrogant.
Serve others without seeking recognition.
life.
This is the spirit of karma-yoga.
Your education should therefore prepare you for far more than employment.
One day, many of you may become parents. Some may become teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, administrators, researchers, artists, public servants, spiritual teachers, or leaders in many different fields.
Whatever profession you enter, remember this:
kind of human being you become.
And if one day you become a parent, you will discover that your children learn far more from your life than from your instructions.
They will observe how you respond to difficulty.
They will notice how you speak to people who cannot benefit you.
They will see how you handle success.
They will learn from how you treat your spouse, colleagues, friends, parents, and strangers.
They will discover from your conduct whether values are merely words —or whether they can actually be lived.
Therefore, do not wait until you become a parent to begin learning how to live wisely.
Begin today.
Your university years are not simply preparation for a career. They are preparation for life, leadership, relationships, responsibility, service, and the sacred privilege of influencing another generation.
But let your aspiration go even higher.
Do not study Vedānta merely so that you may become a better professional.
Do not study it merely so that you may become a better parent.
Do not study it merely so that you may become successful.
Study it because you deserve to discover who you truly are.
Let professional excellence arise from discipline.
Let relationships arise from compassion.
Let leadership arise from responsibility.
Let action arise from dharma.
Let devotion purify the heart.
Let knowledge remove ignorance.
And let the wisdom of the Gītā gradually transform the way you understand yourself and the world.
The world does not merely need more intelligent people.
It needs wise people.
It does not merely need more successful people.
It needs responsible people.
It does not merely need more powerful leaders.
It needs leaders governed by dharma, humility, discernment, and compassion.
And it does not merely need parents who can provide material security.
It needs parents who can provide character, wisdom, values, love, and a living example of how to face life.
My dear children, your life is a precious opportunity.
Use your intelligence.
Discipline your mind.
Purify your intentions.
Fulfil your responsibilities.
Serve wherever you can.
Question deeply.
Learn continuously.
And above all, undertake the inward journey of discovering the Self.
Learn deeply.
Live consciously.
Choose wisely.
Act selflessly.
Love compassionately.
Serve wholeheartedly.
And ultimately, seek that knowledge through which the apparent limitations of the individual are understood and the limitless nature of the Self is recognised.
May your education give you competence.
May the Bhagavad Gītā give you direction.
May Vedānta give you wisdom.
May dharma give you integrity.
May devotion give you humility.
May self-knowledge give you freedom.
And may the life you build become a blessing not only to yourself, but to your family, your society, your nation, and the generations yet to come.
live.
The Bhagavad Gītā teaches us to perform our responsibilities with discipline, discrimination, devotion, and freedom from selfish attachment. Advaita Vedānta takes us to the highest enquiry: Who am I, truly?
Learn Vedānta not merely to become a successful professional, but to become a wise human being.
Learn it today so that tomorrow you may become a responsible citizen, compassionate leader, worthy parent, inspiring role model, and —above all—a person who has begun to discover the truth of the Self.
Let your education build your career.
Let wisdom build your character.
Let dharma guide your actions.
Let the Gītā steady your mind.
And let Vedānta lead you from self-ignorance towards Self-knowledge.
Continue the journey
Join a free satsaṅga study group, or start your own with friends and family. Everything is offered freely, as seva.
