Second World Youth Conference,
1999 The second World
Youth Conference (WYC) was held on November 18th, 20th and 21st of
1999, just two years after the first World Youth Conference. A
total number of 804 overseas delegates from 63 nations and 7000
delegates from India converged in Prashanti Nilayam to attend the
2nd World Youth Conference.
Purpose of 2nd WYC
The objectives of this conference
were to first and foremost, review the implementation of the 44
action plans formulated at the 1st WYC and to share experiences
and ideas of youth activities from the different nations.
Furthermore, it was conducted to provide leadership skills,
inspiration and motivation on the diverse types of activities that
could be undertaken by Sai Youth. These Sai youth are expected to
work within the Sai Organization in the new Millennium so as to
help fulfill the Divine Mission of Dharmasamsthapana (Reestablishment
of Dharma). activities that were implemented, the problems they
faced and the outcome of such activities. One vibrant youth
speaker was chosen from each zone to report these activities in
the Pre-Conference plenary session the following morning.
Divine Inaugural Discourse -
November 18th (afternoon)
Swami enlightened us with his
divine discourse. He emphasized the need for self-transformation
and without which there is no use for seva. He pleaded with us to
"Serve with Love" and said, "Your life will be redeemed only when
you involve yourself serving the society". He added that True love
(God's love) is “Heart to Heart, not Body to Body”. Furthermore,
he pointed out that he practices whatever he preaches and exhorts
us to do the same. He also referred to one of the speakers who
quoted Swami's sayings that his life is his message and that our
life is also his message. To this he gave more clarification by
saying, "You should understand the meaning of these statements
clearly. Proclaiming that your life is Swami’s message on the one
hand and at the same time indulging in wicked activities and
unrighteous deeds is treacherous. That constitutes ‘your’ message,
not My Message. You can declare that your life is Swami’s message
only when you take to the path of truth and righteousness, install
peace and love in your heart and uphold non-violence." He blessed
everyone present and concluded his divine discourse.
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Centre of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
There were two zonal workshops and two plenary sessions held
during the conference, covering the following topics: 'Leadership
and You', 'Impact of Globalization' and 'How to ensure Peace and
Harmony for Mankind?'
Conference Plenary Session -
November 18th (evening)
The theme of this session was
'Leadership and You'. The objective of the session was to provide
youth with a glimpse of what leadership in a spiritual
organization is all about and how this may differ from other
organizations (i.e. work, non governmental organizations) and
also how youth can motivate others. Jegatheesan Uncle also
enlightened us by presenting 'What Sai Expects of Youth'.
Plenary Session – 20th
November (morning)
V. Srinivasan addressed the first
part of this session on 'Youth and the Divine Mission'. He
revealed the objectives of the Sai Mission is human transformation,
to re-establish Dharma, to make man realize his innate Divinity
and enable him to achieve his rightful heritage. Dr. Art Ong
Jumsai (Central Coordinator of the Sri Sathya Sai Organization)
addressed the second part of this session on the 'Challenges to
Humanity in the 21ST Century'. He declared that the real
challenge of the 21st century is Swami’s challenge to us, which is
to realise the divinity inherent in all of us. To do this, we need
to learn to live together in peace. He also educated us about the
true meaning of swami's saying 'EHV is 3HV', which refers to the
head, heart and hands. Furthermore, he emphasized the 'Power of
Prayers' with real life experiences.
Conference Zonal Workshop -
November 20th (afternoon)
The Objectives of this session
was to bring into sharp focus what Globalization means, the
realities of impact of the Globalization and its relationship to
modernization. We also looked at how Globalization is affecting
the values and lifestyles of human life. That evening, a WYC
cultural programme also was staged in conjunction with the World
EHV day.
Valedictory Session - November
21st (afternoon)
After listening to the pledges
from delegates, Bhagavan gave us all a wonderfully unexpected
treat of speaking to us for almost two hours and singing three
bhajans with us. He made all the delegates feel loved, blessed
and very special. He talked to us as if we were his friends and
invoked in us tremendous love for God. He said "Let your
behaviour be exemplary wherever you are...Only those who are
immersed in the Divine are dear to Me and are My dear friends. If
you want to be dear friends of Swami, conduct yourself in the
Divine manner. In such a case, you do not need to come here, I
will come to you wherever you are". He blessed all the youths and
brought his discourse to an end.
- Sai Youth
From:
http://www.saicentre.net/sai6.htm
SECOND SATHYA SAI WORLD YOUTH CONFERENCE
18, 20 & 21 November 1999, Prasanthi Nilayam,
India
Objectives of 2nd WYC
To review the implementation of the
action plans formulated at the 1st WYC and to share experience and
ideas on youth activities from different nations.
To provide leadership skills and
inspiration and motivation on the diverse types of activities that
can be undertaken by Sai youth (working within the Sai
Organization) in the new Millennium so as to help fulfil the
Divine Mission of Dharmasamsthapana (Re-Establishment of Dharma).
Expectation of 2nd WYC
It is the intention that youth co-ordinators who
participated in this 2nd WYC should be able to return home and
duplicate the WYC programme in their respective Sai centres and
countries. It is therefore recommended that every country give
priority to one youth group/centre that can be developed as a
centre of excellence within the country, be a role model for
others and be able to inspire other youth groups.
The Programme
Apart from the Inaugural session
and the Valedictory session, a pre-conference zonal workshop and a
pre-conference plenary session were held to take stock on 'Actions
undertaken after the 1st WYC'.
There were two zonal workshops and
two plenary sessions held during the conference, covering the
following topics : "Leadership and You", "Impact of Globalisation"
and "How to ensure Peace and Harmony for Mankind?"
A WYC cultural programme also was
staged in conjunction with the World EHV day.
Delegates
A total number of 804 delegates from 63 nations
converged in Prashanti Nilayam to attend the 2nd World Youth
Conference.
One who practices and propagates the ideals such
as goodness, morality and truth is a youth in the strict sense of
the term. In fact, only such people are your best friends and My
best best friends.
Action Plans
A total of about 900 overseas
delegates (inclusive of Youth Advisors, National Sai Leaders,
Central Coordinators and Zonal Chairmen) from some 63 countries
participated in the conference. The targeted participants for the
2nd WYC (Overseas) were youth coordinators and youth leaders.
The programme of the 2nd WYC
(Overseas) focused on three main areas ie.
-
Leadership
-
Impact of Globalisation and
-
How to ensure Peace and Harmony
for mankind.
The following principles have been
adopted during the conference:
-
All SAI youth will work under the
umbrella of the Sai Organisation in their countries and take
active part in all activities of their centres.
-
They will undertake special
activities that will focus on youth development – to manifest
youth talent and self-confidence.
-
They will attempt to promote
sadhana in their respective families along with them.
In response to the above, the youth
pledge to SAI to fulfil the following:
-
Make the 9 point Code of Conduct
a guide for their life
-
They will try by thought, word
and deed to be ideal examples for other youth to follow.
-
They will try to bring all
members of their families together for weekly sessions of
spiritual togetherness – following their own respective cultures
and traditions.
-
In responding to SAI’s call for
the youth, that "Youth Alone Can Transform Youth", the SAI youth
will undertake the following:
-
In every country where SAI
youth exist, they will undertake one project of significant
benefit for welfare of society and especially for youth. One
significant example would be to adopt at least one village or
depressed, high rise slum area in an urban environment.
Responding to SAI’s call on September 1999 that "I want you to
become ideal leaders, make use of your education to serve the
poor…conduct free tuition classes", the SAI youth pledge to
set up free tuition classes for poor children. If this
programme is properly planned and launched at the birth of the
new millennium, we will have by November 2000, Bhagavan’s 75th
birthday, hundreds of thousands of children and youth around
the world benefiting from "Sathya Sai Tuition Centres".
-
In response to the needs of
modern education and the work environment, the SAI youth will
also set up at least one "Sathya Sai Computer Education
Centre" in every city for the children of the poor.
The SAI youth will be teaching
other children and youth not only how to use computers but also
Human Values. They will thus try to transform the youth of urban
and rural poor – into not only users of computers but also into
"composers" as desired by Swami.
-
The youth in each zone will get
together annually in one of the poorer areas in their zones for
SAI Spiritual Camps – where they will at the end of the Camp,
leave behind in the area a permanent legacy of SAI Love in the
form of a Sathya SAI Children’s Playground, a Sathya SAI
Children’s Library or any such project that will have
sustainable impact and benefit for the poor children and youth
in the area.
-
In fulfilling the above projects,
the SAI youth will carry the torch of SAI through love,
sacrifice and service around the world. They will also leave
permanent legacies of education and human welfare for the
benefit of society."
The WYC Convenor, on behalf of all
youth prayed to Bhagavan Baba that in as much as there is an
Annual Ladies Day and a Human Value Day, that there should be an
Annual Youth Day where the world youth can report to Bhagavan on
work done during the year for Human Welfare.
He concluded by asking all youth to
go home and have Bhagavan Baba always by their side by asking Him
to ‘Take my Hand Dear Sai and walk me through this land’.
The NZ Annual National Sai Youth
Convention was held on 18-20 February 2000 at Silverstream Park
Christian Centre, Upper Hutt. The theme was "An Attitude of
Challenge - Morality in Society" based on Swami’s
quotation:
See no evil, see what is good
Hear no evil, hear what is good
Speak no evil, speak what is good
Think no evil, think what is good
Do no evil, do what is good
The Convention
covered topics such as:
-
Feedback from the
2nd World Youth Conference
-
Teen Youth modules
on EHV
-
How to become
ideal Sai Youth
-
How to start Youth
Wings
-
How to reach out
to Youth in the Community
-
How to become more
active in the Centre activities
-
Team Building
Exercises, Songs, Music and Sport.
From:
http://www.gujarati-online.com/search/regmar00.htm |