18 September 2007, Amritapuri
This morning, I was over at the Engineering College taking photos of students placing ribbons around trees and plants which they had adopted as a part of the Vriksha Raksha Bandhan program.  One of the students had planted a mango tree sapling which was behind the College so we agreed to head there.  After a few shots, I had to make my way back to the Ashram in order to sit at the seva desk during breakfast.   But something caught my ear as I gingerly walked around pools of water that had formed from the persistant heavy rains.   The entire campus was reverberating with “Lokah Samastah Sukinau Bhavantu“.  It was coming from every class room.  From the hallways, corridors, mess hall, classroom.

I asked Sreedhu (one of the organizers of the tree adopting program) if this was how they started their day.  “Yes,” he replied.  My mind went back to my school days in the US, when we began every morning with the Pledge of Allegiance and ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee” .  And here were students, college students at that, chanting this universal prayer.    Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I thought, if students everywhere started their day with the words – ‘May all beings in all worlds everywhere be happy.’ ?

Sri pati