This week, our 1st and 2nd year students have been busy preparing for the Autumn festival. The trees are losing their leaves. The days are getting shorter and winter will soon be upon us.
In the true spirit of this wonderful festival, where we prepare to light our lanterns and walk into the night, as the world falls asleep; as part of our English lessons we have been listening to a wonderful story called The Lantern Prince from a collection of magical tales called So Many Fairies. It is a story about kindness, bravery and sacrifice, and we believe it reflects the true spirit of the season.
As we have enjoyed it so much, we wanted to share an abbreviated version with you today, and hope you can enjoy it over the days and weeks ahead, at home with your family.

The Lantern Prince
There was once upon a time a proud king who ruled over a large and bountiful kingdom at the foot of a tall mountain facing the sea. His castle was enduring and grand – cut of marble and granite and adorned with imported carpets and draperies. His queen was tall and beautiful and of equal grandness to her husband the king. They had a single child, a son, who was very different from his father and mother. He did everything expected of a Prince – he was thorough in his studies and training – he was obedient and polite – but what separated him from his parents and all the royals for that matter, was his kindness. He was kind – to everyone. This was very different from the standard behavior of the royals. Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, Dukes Duchesses and all other royals were certainly grand, certainly confident, certainly polite – but seldom kind. That was not considered a royal trait. The king and queen found their son’s kindness charming, and forgave it as the simple folly of a child. But as he got older and his kindness only grew, they began to be concerned. Then one day, when the prince was 12 years old, he went with the Queen on holiday to their manor by the sea. The road that led to the sea went through open fields where their grain was grown and their cattle grazed. It was also, however, where many of the field workers had their tiny huts – huts made of scraps of wood and brush – miserable places where people could barely escape the wet and the cold. There were places like this all around the kingdom, but none of them were ever seen by the royalty – and this was on purpose. You see, back then the royalty kept to themselves – the only other people they wished to see were well dressed and polite servants. They did not want to see sick and the poor. That would be beneath them. Now, since the Queen and the Prince were traveling a road where there were several of these miserable huts, a communication preceded them that instructed every one of the huts to be removed. The cows could stay, the fields of wheat could stay. Well dressed and healthy farm workers could stay but the poor, sick and miserable needed to be moved. So by the time the Queen and her son were coming along this road, all they could see was idyllic farmland and happy cows. But someone was overlooked. She was a farm worker who was very ill could not walk. She had made a bed for herself next to a large rock and covered her head with pine boughs cut from nearby trees. When soldiers came to clear out all the huts and the sick and the poor, no one noticed her under the pine boughs and she remained. When the soldiers cleared out, she came out from under her boughs and began to crawl to the road. When the Queen’s coach came by, both she and her son could see the wretched woman crawling along the road calling to the coach that she needed help. The Queen covered her son’s eyes and demanded that the woman be removed. The prince, however, interceded and begged of his mother that the woman be given some bread and fresh clothing. The queen sighed and said to her son, “You will one day be King – it is time you started behaving like one. We all have our place. And yours is not to bother with a person such as her.” The boy was obedient and bowed his head – but he did not agree with his mother. He felt that his place was without a doubt to help this woman. Days past and eventually they returned home. The boy could not stop thinking about the sick woman and one night he resolved to help her. He lit a small lantern and quietly stole to the kitchen to get bread and drink and then to the stables to get a horse. Then, lantern in hand, he headed out the castle gates and into the surrounding country. He found the right road and went through woods and open fields and then came to a large stone, and here the Prince heard someone shift and then a voice, “Leave me be, I’ve done nothing” The prince dismounted and walked to the voice. His lantern lit the stone and then the face of the woman below. She was lying on the ground. She had a desperate look and the Prince could see she was cold and hungry. His heart nearly broke at the sight. He took off his cloak and wrapped it round her. Then he placed the bread and drink before her. He knelt down and with his face close to hers he said, “I will come back. I will bring more food and firewood for a fire. I will…” but he didn’t know what else to say. She needed so much, he thought. But he stood and looked around, “Are there others?” She did not answer him as she started hungrily eating her bread – but she need not answer – he could tell there were others – many others in the darkness. He looked to the woman again. “I will leave this lantern. Light it tomorrow night and I will find you” Then he rode into the darkness and found his way home. But he did not sleep that night. Instead he worked out a plan where he could take bread and meat and blankets out of the castle at night and deliver it to the poor unnoticed. He made a choice not to let his parents or any other royal know. He believed that they would not understand and perhaps even stop him from doing it. He spent the following day doing what he always did, learning his lessons and practicing his skills and behaving in the way that royals did. But that night, he took his lantern and went back to the country to give away food and clothing and this time he took an extra lantern to leave with the poor. And this continued every night. He found the sick and poor and needy by the lanterns that guided him and every night he would return to the castle to get a few hours sleep before beginning his day as prince. He was successful in keeping his secret from the royals with the exception of his mother, the Queen. Though she did not know what he was doing, she knew he was involved in something strange. For one thing, she found a stash of handmade rag dolls and rudely made bits of embroidery and jewelry made of stones. She did not know it but these were gifts the poor had given to the Prince. She also heard her servants talking about a man who had been helping the poor. She learned that the man was called, the Lantern Prince – and she wondered, could it be her son? After a few years of this, the prince’s father – the king – died, and the Lantern Prince became King. His crowning was more grand and wide-reaching than any before him – measured not in pomp or fineries – but in love. The moment the crown rested on his head, there was a booming cheer that rang out “Hurrah for the Lantern King!” In that moment the Queen looked at her son and was changed. She saw the love the people had for their new King was more powerful than any army – than any vault of gold. She looked at her son, the King and bowed low. She was proud of her son, and honored to serve him. And the Lantern King was now able to show a new way to lead – one based not on strength and pride, but kindness and service. And then, one night when the Lantern King was awake in his bed marveling at all that had come to pass, he stood and went to the window. What he saw was a sea of little lantern lights covering the lands. Each represented a person who was no longer in need, but a person who was ready to serve. And there were so many lights – like stars overhead – each with their own brightness but all in the same sky.

La verdadera meta de la educación es desarrollar el carácter y la individualidad del estudiante, su mente, su voluntad y el poder de su alma.

La educación es aquella que nos enseña que el objeto del conocimiento, es el servicio. Este “servicio”, es otro nombre del amor y la amistad, que constituye la verdadera esencia de la vida personal y social. El amor y la amistad traen consigo paz, nobleza y humildad, valores básicos de la vida, es lo que se conoce como Espiritualidad.

La Espiritualidad no es el nombre de unos pocos dogmas religiosos. Por lo tanto no hay lugar para hacer afirmaciones dogmáticas en la vida espiritual.

Una vez Huen Tsang le hizo una pregunta a Shil Badra, presidente de la Universidad de Nalanda: “¿Qué es el conocimiento?”, él contestó, “El Conocimiento es la comprensión de los principios o las leyes de la vida; y el mejor principio de la vida es compartir amistosamente con los demás lo que uno tiene”. La capacidad de compartir se conoce cómo Espiritualidad, sin la cual toda educación es un puro ejercicio de inutilidad.

Cómo dice Gentille, un gran pensador, “una escuela sin contenido espiritual es un absurdo”.

La educación moderna hace a los seres humanos espiritual y socialmente incompetentes; seres humanos que llegan a la vida con el solo propósito de ganar dinero y aplausos en esta tierra para su satisfacción personal, olvidando que la verdadera felicidad comienza solamente cuando uno sale de su pequeño ser- el ego- y busca su verdadero Ser.

Lo más importante de la educación es su relación con la vida, el conocimiento sin la acción es tan vacío cómo una sombra. “La educación no es un pergamino marchito sino el agua viviente del espíritu”.

La escuela debe ser un lugar de profesores y estudiantes que reflejan en sus estudios, en sus juegos y en sus vidas diarias la preciada virtud de la humanidad.

Hasta que nuestro conocimiento no nos permita embebernos de las cosas nobles de la vida, no ha servido para nada.

Al-Ghazali, un hombre sabio, dice en su libro Niño, “Conoce, hijo mío, que el conocimiento sin acción es una locura y que la acción más noble que hay es el servicio”.

La enfermedad principal de la educación de hoy en día, es que produce una separación entre el corazón y la cabeza. Pone su énfasis en el desarrollo de la cabeza y agudiza el intelecto. Pero más esencial es la liberación del corazón. Esto será una realidad cuando en la razón se despierte la simpatía por el pobre, el débil y el necesitado. El sacrificio crece en el corazón, entonces es necesario abrir el corazón.

El joven debería:
*ser sencillo, porque la sencillez es la fortaleza.
*aprender a cooperar con los demás y no dejar que las diferencias en creencias u opiniones impidan el camino de la solidaridad.
*aceptar el ideal de creatividad que mira la humanidad como un todo y el servicio como la finalidad de todo conocimiento.

Los profesores deben enseñar a los estudiantes en un espíritu de simpatía y amor, mezclando la información con la inspiración y el conocimiento con el amor.

Un ser humano puede pasar los exámenes universitarios y permanecer ignorante de las realidades de la vida. Puede haber leído cientos de libros y no ser más que un ser humano vulgar. Pero la verdadera educación puede hacerle verdaderamente culto; el alma de la cultura es la cortesía. La erudición puede ser soberbia; la cultura es humilde.

Los Rishis dijeron, Tamso ma Jyotirgamamaya ( “Llévame de las tinieblas a la luz”) Pero las tinieblas no pueden ser iluminadas en un solo día. Solamente una atmósfera apropiada puede ofrecernos lo esperado. Por esta razón en la escuela, el énfasis debe hacerse más en el ambiente que en las reglas, los libros de texto o los edificios.

El tierno corazón del niño debe ser tratado delicadamente. El niño es el centro de la vida creativa. Necesita abrirse como se abre una flor: dulcemente, con simpatía, no por la fuerza. No debe permitirse que un niño se convierta en un prisionero de una máquina de exámenes, ni debe dejarse que sea reñido ni despreciado.

El fruto más importante de la escolaridad es la completa liberación. Liberación de nuestros pequeños “egos” que nos llevan a esparcir toda nuestra intolerancia, terquedad y vanagloria. Si la educación no nos capacita para superarnos eficazmente sobre los niveles ordinarios de nuestros “egos” y elevarnos a mayores niveles de conciencia superiores a nuestra visión normal, no cumple plenamente sus verdaderos objetivos.

Es un hecho lamentable que la educación actual, que debería asegurar un crecimiento integral de la personalidad humana, provee una insuficiente y muy incompleta educación para la vida.

En este proceso la ubicación de la escuela juega un gran papel. La palabra alemana Kindergarten es muy significativa en su composición. Kinder significa niño y Garten jardín, indicando que toda escuela debería ubicarse en un amable lugar de la naturaleza.

Sin un cambio interior el ser humano no podrá por mucho tiempo conseguir un pleno desarrollo de su vida. Para cumplir con esa tarea vital e indispensable, la verdadera naturaleza de la educación tiene que ser transformada, de tal manera que pueda ofrecer a la sociedad, hombres y mujeres, que no sean solamente educados intelectualmente si no también emocionalmente.

Verdaderamente, la educación debe ser ofrecida y orientada espiritualmente, no con el objeto de pasar exámenes, conseguir calificaciones y diplomas o para buscar empleo, sino para enriquecer la moral, la ética y otras facultades y abrir nuevos horizontes para lograr el sueño de la realidad.

K.Sing, 1972
Conferencia dada en Manav Kendra (Instituto de la Unidad y Formación del ser humano).