Life is a Game, Play it

Holistic Life management Program for College youth

Sri Sathya Sai Baba, taught us to be aware of our own inherent fundamental five human values of Truth, Righteousness, Love, Peace and Non-Violence.

The objective of this program is to help young students develop wholesome personality, positive attitude and help them bring out the inherent human values. The goal is to raise their self-confidence with development of life-skills that empower them to overcome challenges of their everyday lives and to encourage them to seek and find a higher purpose of their existence. ‘Life is a Game, Play it’ program has a vibrant spiritual undercurrent, but overtly it focuses on practical life skills and attitudes that appeal to the youth. They are encouraged to find inspiration around them to be good, compassionate, patriotic, selfless and disciplined. It inspires them with examples from the lives of great men and women. It trains them on basic leadership, time and stress management skills and attitudes that will enable them to contribute to the society positively while enriching their own lives. 

 The eight modules of ‘Life is a game, Play it’ are:

●       Life Skills

●       Personality Development

●       Key to Relationships

●       Good or Great: Inspiring personalities

●       Community Service project (An On-site Exercise)

●       Managing Negativity, Stress and Time

●       Leadership

●       Power of ONE

The program is completely free of cost and has been launched in over 14 colleges across Delhi and National Capital Region.  It has received an overwhelming feedback from the participating students and teachers.

So far, over 4000 students have benefited from this programme and our humble aim is to promote the ideals of unity, harmony and peace in the youth of today and many colleges have joined hands with us in helping us take this message forward.

List of Colleges/Institutes 

•           The North Cap University - Gurgaon

•           Institute of Management & Technology- Faridabad,

•           Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College - Punjabi Bagh ,

•           Rajdhani College -  Punjabi Bagh, 

•           Delhi Institute of Hotel Management – Lajpat Nagar

•           Institute of Home Economic- Hauz Khas,

•           Vivekanand College, East Delhi

•           Jaipuria College of Managment. Ghaziabad

•           Gargi College, South Delhi

•           South Delhi and  Vivekananda Mahila College in East Delhi.

•           Trinity Institute of Professional Studies – Dwarka

•           Lakshmi Bai College – Ashok Vihar

•           Maitreyi College – Dhaula Kuan

•           IP University – Dwarka

Apart from the workshops delivered at the college campuses, there are special cultural, musical programs and talks organised at the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre, New Delhi, to which the participating college students are also invited.  The college students are also encouraged to take up the Online Course in Human Values entitled ‘Discover Yourself’, a self-paced certificate course run free of charge by the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre. 

LIGP Co-ordinators

Feedbacks from participants on the ‘Life is a game, Play it’ program

⭐“We learnt so much from the ‘Life is a Game, Play it’ program. Reflecting on the modules, I have composed these Hindi poems, I want to share these with you…

उतर इसका कठिन दोसतॊं- जीवन किसको कहतॆ  हैं?

सुख दुख खेले आखँमिचौली, वकत बदलते रहते हैं !

कहता है यह घना अंधॆरा, रात गुजरने वाली है,

बिखरॆगी जो ऑंगन-ऑंगन, सूरज की ही लाली है !!

(What is life, a question difficult to answer.

Happiness and sorrow  - cycle for-ever.

Yet the darkness too hums of the dawn,

that soon will light up every home .)

मन हो सुंदर, जग हो सुंदर, सुंदरता ही फैली हो,

फैली हो खुशबू कुछ ऎसी, न मन चादर मैली हो !!

तन की सुंदरता इक सपना है, इक दिन टूट ही जाता है,

इस काया के जाल मॆं फंसकर मानव बहुत पछताता है!!

(Beauty in mind and in the world – let there be beauty all around.

Such be fragrance that mind, too remains ever pristine.

Physical beauty is but a dream, it ends in a moment.

Caught ever in body consciousness, man ever suffers repents.)

मर कर भी जो  नहीं मरे हैं, लोग महान वो होते है,

कुछ अच्छा करने की खातिर, नहीं चैन से सोते हैं !

अच्छा करना, देश पे मरना, कर्म उनका होता है,

जब सुनतॆ हैं उनके किस्से, पत्थर का दिल रोता है !!

(Such are the immortals who  ever live on,

Ever committed to doing good, they lived and struggled on.

Doing good, serving nation, is their effort always,

Hear of their sacrifices, even ones of hardened heart are tearful.)”

-Anjum, B.A.( Hindi), IIIrd year Vivekanand College

⭐“The first of the series of Holistic Development workshops held in Gargi College at the beginning of last year saw a number of somber faces in attendance with the most common thoughts running through each student’s head being ‘why did I sign up for this course?’, ‘Do I really want to stay and attend this session or should I just leave?’, ‘Should I really go through with this personality development programme just to earn NSS hours?’, ‘Seriously… Are these holistic development workshops really even going to help me?’

Starting off this workshop with the extremely catchy and witty theme of ‘Life is Game- Play It’

There began our journey into being captivated by the workshops rather than sitting there looking blankly at the slides being presented…

The brilliant use of videos – such as that of the butterfly and its cocoon to teach us that there are no shortcuts in life, the motivational video of Nick Vujicic who taught us that nothing is impossible, the short presentation comparing life to coffee and the cup to the external features we all get bowled over by which taught us to enjoy the coffee and not the cup, the video of Dr. Emoto’s experiment with water molecules and how they are affected by the vibrations our simple words create around us and them, and many many others – games and activities – the visit to the Cheshire home – which served to teach us to appreciate the differences among human beings and showed us how rewarding even a smile from someone we’ve helped is – and the willingly shared personal experiences and anecdotes, successfully enraptured each and every one of us be it student or teacher and had us eagerly coming back to each successive session with an enthusiasm to learn, to share, to be inspired and to grow.

To conclude I would like to quote American author Frank Herbert, who said “The best contribution one can make to humanity is to improve oneself” and thank the team from the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation and the NSS Unit of Gargi College who paved the path for me and my peers to work towards making such a contribution to humanity!”

-Manasa Narayan, Editor, NSS, Gargi College, 2012- 13

 ⭐“It is not every day that you see life from a vantage point that is not only different and appealing but also pure. But when it happens it sometimes becomes a turning point in the course flow of your life. One such turning point was the workshop conducted as a part of holistic development program, the workshop focused on how life is not just about college, students, a job or even money. It is more about identifying and getting to know one’s own real self.

The workshop compelled us to look at life as God’s most beautiful creation. Nature has given to each human, an amalgamation of the most exceptional qualities. All we have to do is to identify, appreciate and improve on them.”

-Ms. Mohina Bhatnagar, Applied Psychology (H), IIInd Yr

⭐“The experience was really inspiring. We were taught to differentiate between appearances versus reality (inner beauty). During the session the mentors retained the interest of the participants by sharing their own personal experiences. The team then encouraged some positive changes. The session ended with inspiring videos. They also handed us some worksheets to note our own progress. It was a fantastic experience.

The third session was related to the relationships that we as human beings share with our caring parents, lovely friends and the society as a whole. Facilitators explained that out of all our relations, the most crucial is the one with our parents. Friends may come, friends may go- but parents are with us forever.

 Their love is pure unconditional and selfless. The session was amazing; an eye opener for many that made us introspect. The videos shown made us cry and realize that we should give due time to our parents who are always there for us.”   

-Ms. Shweta Mittal, B Com (Hons) IInd year. 

A futuristic vision of shaping the values of students marks the essence of the 'Life Is a Game, Play It' (LIGP) programme, which is free of cost and has been conceptualised and being delivered across 14 colleges by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Delhi-NCR since 2011.

Students of Gargi College,  participants of our LIGP programme volunteered to offer seva at Sai Centre and here are few insightful snippets of their experiences:

⭐"The experience has taught me the importance of giving back and inspired me to continue serving others. I would like to thank the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for conducting such an initiative to serve needy people and giving the students an opportunity to be a part of your initiative. Thank you for giving me this chance to make a difference and be a part of this beautiful journey of giving back." - Vaitla.Varshitha, B.Com Hons - 1st year 

⭐"I had the privilege of participating in the Seva, and it was a truly transformative experience. The most impactful part of the program was the opportunity to serve others. We helped with food distribution, and engaged in other acts of service. Throughout the program, I felt a deep sense of connection with everyone around me.The experience taught me the value of selflessness, compassion, and community. I feel grateful to have been a part of it and look forward to staying connected with the community. - Rishika Bharti, B.A., Economics Honours, 1st year

⭐"I have enjoyed and felt a strong sense of belonging...I was so immersed in seva that it felt so healing and fresh....this is my first time experience going for a seva and it felt like a place I can come again and again....the whole experience was quite eye-opening...I thank God for giving me this opportunity." - Rachha Sri Sahasra, BAP, 1st year (Economics & Computer Applications)

With utmost gratitude, we pray to Swami that He blesses us with more opportunities to inspire the student community across Delhi-NCR.