SARASVATI’S BLESSING ON NATIONAL EDUCATION DAY COMMEMORATION: BUILDING THE NATIONAL CHARACTER BY CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Hello, SMANSA! Om Suastiastu!

Do you realize that there’s something special on this day??

Today, Saturday, May 2^nd 2015, we commemorate the National Education Day because our National Education Hero, Ki Hadjar Dewantara, was born on this day, 126 years ago. The National Education Day in this year has special meaning for the Balinese people, especially the Hindus people. In our belief, there’s a day when the knowledge was blessed by the Goddess Sarasvati long long time ago after the God Brahma created this universe. The day is known as Sarasvati’s Day. As we know that Sarasvati’s Day falls today, on the same day with the National Education Day. So, today, we commemorate the National Education Day while we also commemorate the Balinese Education Day. Whhollaa...

Building the National Character is being a thing about our education nowadays. That’s our challenge, as a nation, to build our generation's national characters. In order to realize the Golden Era of Indonesia in our 100 years Independence Day Commemoration in 2045, science and technology are not enough. There are two types of nations in this topic. First, developed nations are those who have high technology and education. Second, the great nations are those developed nations with high characters and national spirit “in” their people.

We know that we can’t actually build our generation’s national characters by speeches, diction, or books. Our generations are not in that era anymore. We need actions to build our own national characters. It doesn't have to be a huge action, but we can start from a simple action in our school.

As we know that yesterday our school had celebrated the Sarasvati’s Day by holding some activities and competitions. That’s what we mean on the previous paragraph. The Fashion Show of Balinese Clothes, Dharma Tula (Religious discussion), Pajegan (a kind of Hindus’ greetings) competition, Drawing Sarasvati Sketch competition, Photo Contest in theme of Sarasvati, Decorating the Teacher’s Table competition, Decorating the Pelangkiran (a symbol of god, a small place to put the greetings in each class) competition, Mejejaitan (making greetings by young coconut leaf, banana’s leaf, and coarse grass) competition, Writing and Reading Poetry in theme of Sarasvati, and Pendet Dance competition. Those were 10 simple things that we had done to show our thankful to the Goddes Sarasvati. Not only to show our thankful to the God, but also to build our characters by those activities.

1.    Religius (Religious)

All activities yesterday were in order to show our thankful to the Goddes Sarasvati, the God of Knowledge. As a religious nation, we believe that this universe is the God’s creature and we should show our gratitude and thanks to Him whatever our religion.

2.    Cinta Tanah Air (Love our Motherland)

Most of the competitions were about the Balinese culture, and Balinese culture is a part of Indonesian culture. By loving the Balinese culture, it shows that we love our National culture and we love our Motherland. Although this article is written in English, it doesn't mean that the Admin is not loving our motherland. Writing this article is how Admin shows that we love our motherland.

3.    Kreatif (Creative)

A lot of creativities were needed to win the competitions. Without creativity, nothing was happened yesterday.

4.    Kerja Keras (Hard work)

Both the participants and the committees showed their hard work yesterday in order to make everything run on their proper way.

5.    Jujur (Honest)

The competitions were fair. No cheating, no bribes, no nepotism. Fair in the other word is honesty.

6.    Toleransi (Tolerant)

Athough that was a religious activity, but it’s not totally religious activity like prayer. Not only Hindu students were enjoying this event, but also Moslem, Christian, and Buddhist students. They also wore Balinese clothes. It showed our tolerant as one nation in the diversity of religion.

By holding and enjoying a culutural and religious acticities yesterday, we hope that that was a step for us to build our own National Character!

HAPPY NATIONAL EDUCATION DAY! HAPPY SARASVATI'S DAY!

Commemorating and celebrating this Education Day, in this article, we would like to share some Sloka about knowledge too.

Slokantara 29

Śatrantadāpīwa waśānprakāśāt

Mudhsya santoşa ewam latabhah

Sa katore kumbha matonyawetti

Dījñānadipāh kutah ewa dŗştah

     Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Ilmu itu bersinar di wajah orang bijaksana. Orang bodoh itu sebagai tumbuhan menjalar, ilmu itu bagai orang bijaksana tersimpan di dalam hati sebagai lampu dalam periuk, merupakan obor kehidupannya.

CHANAKYA NITI SASTRA

CHAPTER I Sloka 16.

Visadapyamrtam grahyam

Amedhyadapi kancanam

Nicadapyuttaman vidyam

Stri-ratnam duskuladapi

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Saringlah Amerta meskipun ada dalam racun, ambilah emas meskipun ada di dalam kotoran. Pelajari ilmu pengetahuan keinsyafan diri walaupun dari seorang yang masih anak-anak atau orang kelahiran rendah. Dan juga meskipun seorang wanita lahir di keluarga yang jahat dan hina, tetapi kalau ia berkelakuan mulia bijaksana ia patut diambil sebagai istri.

CHAPTER II Sloka 13.

Slokena va tadardhena

Tadarddharddhaksarena va

Avandhyam divasam kuryad

Danadhyayana-karmabhih.

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

isilah waktu setiap hari dengan menghafalkan satu sloka satu ayat, atau setengah sloka, atau seperempat sloka ataupun satu huruf dari sloka tersebut. Atau isilah hari-hari anda dengan bersedekah, belajar kitab-kitab suci dan kegiatan bermanfaat lainnya. Dengan demikian hari-hari anda akan menjadi berarti.

CHAPTER IV Sloka 15.

Anabhyase visam sastram

Ajirne bhojanam visam

Daridrasya visam gosthi

Vrddhasya taruni visam

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Ilmu pengetahuan ( kitab-kitab suci ) yang tidak diterapkan dalam praktek adalah racun, makanan yang tidak dicernakan adalah racun, bagi orang miskin pesta/kumpul-kumpul dan pertemuan-pertemuan adalah racun, dan untuk orang tua, wanita muda adalah racun.

CHAPTER X Sloka 9.

Yasya nasti svayam prajnya

Sastram tasya karoti kim

Lokanabhyam vihinasya

Darpanah kim karisyati

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Bagi mereka yang tidak mempunyai budi pekerti yang baik dalam dirinya, apa yang akan dilakukan dengan kitab suci? Bagaikan orang yang buta, apa gunanya cermin bagi orang buta ini.

CHAPTER X Sloka 1.

dhana hina na hinas ca

dhanikah sa suniscayah

vydiratnena yo hinah

sa hinah sarvavastusu

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Orang yang kurang dalam harta benda, bukanlah orang miskin

Sebaliknya orang kaya adalah dia yang memiliki ilmu pengetahuan

Dia yang kurang dalam ilmu pengetahuan, sesungguhnya dalam

segala keadaan ia disebut orang miskin

CHAPTER XI Sloka 10.

Kaham krodham tatha lobham

Svadam srnggara kautukam

Ati nidrati seva ca

Vidyarthi hyasta varjayet

Translation in Bahasa Indonesia:

Seorang brahmacari/pelajar kerohanian hendaknya meninggalkan delapan kecenderungan berikut, yaitu : hawa nafsu, amarah, loba, kenikmatan lidah, rasa cenderung berhias, bermain-main, terlalu banyak tidur dan terlalu banyak bekerja.

@DPS_OSIS_SMANSA