EDUCATION WING FOR SATHYA SAI CENTER OF JERSEY CITY
Sathya Sai Spiritual Education (Bal Vikas) is the primary basis of the great movement to restore righteousness (Dharma) in the world. The ideal of the Sai Spiritual Education program is to raise a generation of boys and girls who have a clean and clear conscience. It is the creation of an atmosphere where noble habits and ideals can grow and fructify. ~Sathya Sai Baba (SSS, Vol X, Pg 163)
Sathya Sai Baba has fostered a unique approach to education called educare, drawing out divine qualities of Truth, Right-conduct, Peace, Love and Non-violence, which are latent within the individual. Educare aligns the heart, head, and hands. True education must in Sathya Sai Baba’s words, “broaden the heart and expand one’s love.” True education is “that which fosters the sense of oneness, draws out one’s divine qualities and promotes the blossoming of human personality.”
The end of education is character. Education without character is useless.
~Sathya Sai Baba, November 20, 2001
The Sathya Sai Education (SSE) Program first started in India in 1969 known as Bal Vikas classes. “Bal Vikas” means the blossoming of the child. Outside of India, the program is now known as Sai Spiritual Education (SSE), with classes conducted in over 90 countries, as part of the program offered at Sathya Sai Centers worldwide.
Students are divided into various SSE groups based on their grade:
- 1. Sai Nursery* – Ages 4-5
- 2. Grades 1 – 3: Group I
- 3. Grades 4 – 6: Group II
- 4. Grades 7 – 9: Group III
- 5. Grades 10 – 12: Group IV
As recommended by the Sathya Sai Spiritual Education guidelines in the USA, prescribed manuals and methods of teaching are used to ensure maximum benefit to the children, which include learning of the values/subvalues, unity and love for all world religions, love, service and respect to parents and society, and ceiling on desires program. The various teaching tools employed are: Silent Sitting/Meditation, Prayer, Devotional Singing, Story Telling, Group Activities, Life Applications and Affirmations.
Parental involvement in the SSE program is of supreme importance, to enhance the experience and practice of human values in each child in the program. Such involvement is also necessary for the regular attendance of the children in SSE classes.
At Sathya Sai Center of Jersey City, SSE classes are held every Sunday, from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM at following venye with an exception of big holidays and regional events from September to June following the regular school year. Registration starts before the school year. As always, there is no cost, but only sincere commitment requested from parents and students to attend regularly and actively participate.
HCCC Gabert Library, 3rd Floor
71 Sip Avenue, Jersey City, NJ | Free parking available behild the building in parking lot.