DISCIPLINE AND TEAM WORK
First Inter School has become Athletic meet of BHEL Bhopal, dated 13-1-1986.
Children have been often referred to as flowers. It is from flowers that fruits develop and it is from the seeds in them that trees grow. Flowers are, therefore, very important, in this cycle of growth. Children are the flowers of society. How they are tended will decide the future of society, which is trying to transform itself having attained a new freedom.
How emotionally you are involved in this is seen from the names which each of the participating schools has adopted. You have chosen some of the stalwarts of our freedom struggle to name your institutions after them. It shows that you want to be inspired by the great example of these people. I am happy that BHEL is giving the right lead to the younger generation to develop the qualities of leadership and organizational skills.
Jawaharlal Nehru,, the architect of modern India conceived the public sector undertakings, not merely with the industrialisation of the country in view but to create a socially responsible sector in our economy. Public Sector is, Therefore, different from the private sector and has more sponsibilities than the conventional capitalist organisations. So the public sector has to extend its work to new fields; it has not merely to produce industrial goods, but dito to function as an instrument of transformation of dely.
All the dreams of Pt. Nehru may not have been fulfilled; I am happy to find that the BHEL is coming up to his expectations. The BHEL of the first Inter School has become Athletic a self-reliant,
dynamic and growing community of its own mainly engaged in industrial production, but at the same time, taking care of the mental, spiritual and physical well being of the people who comprise it. Thirteen schools are catering to the needs of children. You are running these schools better than it is being done elsewhere. You are trying to create an island of excellence in the BHEL townships which will certainly serve as a catalyst to promote excellence elsewhere. Madhya Pradesh is a State which requires very rapid transformation. Many things have to be done here, and institutions like the BHEL can be catalytic in bringing this about.
Setting an example, naturally, will help a quicker and faster transformation. Education is not merely learning of texts; it is not merely the transfer of certain skills : It is more than that. Education is the development of human personality.
in our attempt to leap forward to the twentyfirst century, our Prime Minister has rightly called the Ministry of Education as the Ministry of Human Resources. Development of human resources in the essential function of education as human resources cannot be developed without developing the human being. What makes man different from the animals is the rational and metaphysical aspects of human nature. We call it the mind and the spirit. With a better devoloped mind and a better devoloped intellect and, through their disciplined exercise, a third force is generated in him which we call the human personality.
to develop So, body, mind and spirit have simultaneously and form into an integrated personality.
Only then have we a fully developed human being. Spiritual development is an important aspect of human personality. When I say spiritual development, I do not refer to the assiduous performance of certain religious rituals that have become very popular these days. Spiritual development is, in fact, development of the innerself which has a spark of divinity. When that spark of divinity is kindled through constant selt discipline, man can become divine.
The great sages of India have set us examples. Our great sages were such disciplined men. It is that intense discipline which made our sages the great philosophers and the great teachers that they were. So, discipline of the body and the mind is important for the development of the spirit. It is not the discipline that is imposed on you from outside; it is the discipline that you impose on yourself from within. And, in acquiring that discipline of mind as well as body, sports and athletics have an important role to play. This aspect of the significance of the athletics and sports has been little understood..
Without imposing intense discipline on yourself, you cannot become a sportsman. Next to discipline, you have to learn team work. Discipline and team work are the essence of sports and that is what you learn on the fields and through it you conquer yourself. Conquering oneself is what Gandhiji has advocated in his search for truth. Conquest of the self is the greatest of conquests and when you have conquered yourself, you have conquered the world.