An opportunity to strengthen the bond between the Institute and students

From the great banyan tree, emerge several branches and roots – a reason why it’s often used   as a metaphor for learning and knowledge.

Every year, on the New Year’s day, hundreds of alumni converge in Prasanthi Nilayam to recollect their student days and to recharge their spiritual batteries. They prepare special songs, sing bhajans, enact plays, deliver speeches and relive some of those moments that made their stay   in Sathya Sai educational institutions special. The event serves as a reminder that that the direct connection with Prasanthi Nilayam – the Prema Bandham, the bond of love, between students and Bhagawan will only get stronger as the years go by. The focus of this gathering is the Mandir and the Ashram.

An offshoot of this programme is the mid-year alumni meet that takes place during August every year. The focus of the mid-year meet is the Institute – and the idea is to strengthen the bond between the alumni and the university. The primary question around this meet is ‘what can  we, as professionals in various fields, do to contribute to our alma mater’. Sri Sai Giridhar, the Registrar of the university, described this as a relationship between parents and children. “When children are young, parents take care of them. And later, as they grow older, the children ask, how can we take care of the parents.”

What follows is a description of what goes on during the the alumni meet, based primarily on the one that took place on August 2018. It also touches upon previous editions of the event in 2016 and 2017.

The Foundation

The event starts in the morning at the auditorium in the morning along with the current students – it’s their weekly moral class, shifted from Thursday earlier to Saturday now – at the ring of the Institute bell. The special session usually has alumni sharing their experience – of how Swami’s guidance and teaching continue to help them long after graduation from the institute. In 2018, it was even more special. Five professors Sri HJ Bhagya, Sri R Kumar Bhaskar, Sri R Gangadhar Sastri, Sri Shiv Pandit and Sri Jagadeeshwar Rao who have been associated with the university for decades, and who continue to contribute even after superannuation, answered questions on what it means to live the vision of Swami.

Sri HJ Bhagya: Self knowledge is not something that you will acquire; you are already that. When you put that knowledge into practice, you will be able to see Self in everyone. And then, you won’t cheat, you won’t lose temper. Being ethical becomes a way of life.

Sri R Kumar Bhaskar: Sathya Sai Institute is an improved Gurukula system. It’s based on Bhagawan’s teachings: Education is for life, not for a mere living. The end of education is character. And, most importantly, living with God is true education.

Sri R Gangadhar Sastry: Whenever you are given a job, God also gives you the power to do the job. Bhagawan says, better have confidence, because you are with Me.

Sri Shiv Pandit: Spirituality is about seeking excellence in all walks of life. Spirituality teaches  us how to be steady, how to let go of our ego, and how to have unity of thought, word and deed. Spirituality is the foundation of excellence.

Sri Jagadeeshwar Rao: Every letter in the word Alumni has a meaning. A stands for Atmic Knowledge; L for Light and splendour; U for Understanding in totality; M for Man of perfection; N for National Character and I for Individual Character. In the previous editions, the panel discussion had alumni talking about how they used their learning from the Institute in their personal and professional lives.

The Roof

After the moral class, the alumni assemble at the Audio Visual Room to listen to the teachers about developments in the institute since the previous meeting and to get the overall direction and the big picture.

The highlight this time was the speech by University Vice Chancellor K B R Varma. He gave a 30,000-foot view of the road ahead for the university and the role the alumni can play.

• The alumni can help in the admission process, by guiding the new students. It will help them be mentally prepared to go through the system, and adjust well after they graduate.
• The university is also thinking of aligning the research done by the PhD candidates – there  are 60 PhD scholars in the university now – to the market needs, and see if their work result in products and devices.
• The university is looking to hire faculty with a wide ranging experience that spans both academics and industry. It’s also planning to have chairs that would allow professors from top universities across the world to spend some time at the institute – teaching and guiding students and scholars.
• The industry-institute interactions could be aimed at innovations.
• The university has just set up an advanced instrumentation centre – with a generous funding from the Central Trust. The cutting edge facilities will be of immense value to outside researchers as well.
• The university is planning to launch a new initiative called Village Empowerment Programme in which students will identify and solve some of the problems villagers face on ground.

The Vice Chancellor was keen to get alumni inputs and help on all these initiatives. His speech was followed by faculty presentations.

Overall, the session gave the alumni better visibility on the direction the university is taking.

The Pillars

The department-wise alumni/student/faculty interactions is the core element of the mid-year alumni meet. The group splits itself by departments and each group spends considerable time discussing with the faculty and current students. After these discussions, the alumni get together again in the audio-visual room to share the summary of discussions and points of action decided for the coming months and years.

The points of action ranged from creating a database of past students to helping students, research scholars and faculty in various ways; from organising seminars and workshops to facilitating publications.

In the end, there were at least five breakthrough ideas – launching a software application to aid alumni/university engagement; helping with rural empowerment programme; instituting chairs to strengthen teaching and research capacity; working on consulting assignments and setting up a formal alumni cell at the university.

The Bond

Amidst all these structured, formal interactions if there is one thing that cements the various pieces together, it’s the feeling of brotherhood whether it’s among the alumni community, between alumni and the present students, and between the faculty and alumni. When the alumni go back to university, it’s more like homecoming.

The Vice Chancellor started his speech by saying that there was no need to welcome the alumni – for they are visiting their mother’s place. For the lunch, the entire group rush to the hostel – for a special meal. It includes some of students’ all time favorites – groundnut chutney, ‘gunpowder’, vegetable rice and buttermilk.

Bhagawan has often said, like Mother Yashoda, he uses the butter of secular education offered by the university to bring students close to him, and then employ the stick of spiritual education to help them realise the Atmic principle. The mid-year alumni meet is not only a reminder of the close connection between students and Swami, between the Institute and the Mandir it also helps in making that connection stronger.