Acharya Mahaprajna
Everyone is concerned about the problem of education. From time to time efforts have been made to find some solution. Quite a few Commissions have gone into it comprehensively but the solution has evaded us to this day. Discontent has always been there but today's educated man suffers deeply from it. This is not surprising because modern education is exclusively concerned with intellectuality. It is natural that discontent should increase with the growth of the intellect.
Intellectuality is undoubtedly a part of education but it is not all that there is to education. Mere intellectuality is not enough. It has to be supplemented by a sense of social responsibility, humanistic values and sound character. In fact, mere intellectuality can prove dangerous. Even those engaged in criminal activities gain from it and it is for this reason educated thieves prove more skilled and professional. Our main problem today is a glut of intellectuals devoid of character and therefore having a lopsided personality.
So far the basis of education has been intellectual development. But now it has been proved that our entire behaviour is governed by the endocrinal system. It does not amount to belittling the importance of intellectual knowledge. All that is being said is that full and complete growth requires that it be supplemented by proper development of the endocrinal system.
The Science of Living, or Jeevan Vigyan, comprises combined training in the art of worldly success, spiritual progress and yoga. Modern education lays emphasis on physiology, anatomy and psychology. If all the six are combined a total and integrated course for complete human development can be devised. We do not want to make our students just parrots given to mere mugging. We should inculcate in them the power of concentration, willpower and determination. Special efforts should be made in this direction. We should not overlook the fact that it is the absence of these qualities that is responsible for India not succeeding in winning golds or even silvers in international sports while even the smallest countries like South Korea are able to wrest many of them.
Japan is a case in point. It is a country seething with activity. The reason is the training in meditation given at many Japanese universities after graduation. Even soldiers are given this training. It radically changes their efficiency. As has been maintained throughout this book, education must cater to all the three types of development - physical, mental and emotional. Today we are laying a lot of stress on the first two and totally ignoring the third. This is the basic error and we have to correct it. Here it is worth remembering that in order to achieve integrated development it is not enough to read and cite examples from religious literature. Such reading can be inspiring but it cannot bring about the desired change - the change of consciousness. Sermons and preaching are incapable of achieving this goal for the simple reason that the real carriers of change are the hormones and unless their secretion is controlled, all development will remain partial and one-sided. We must not forget that in the absence of inner transformation all our efforts will prove transient.
We therefore believe that to the extent that religious literature proves helpful it should be made use of. But the solutions for the problems of today will have to be searched in the context of today. Hence the importance of modem physics, psychology and physiology. It is our firm conviction that the findings of modern science must not be ignored in the name of the infallibility of the solutions offered in religious texts.
Ignorance and insensibility are two different things. The former merely implies lack of knowledge but the latter affects individual behaviour and character. Modern education trains all its guns against the removal of ignorance by flooding the learner's mind with statistical details, but makes no effort to cure his Insensibility. Such education cannot discipline life. For it to be meaningful it will have to be made two-dimensional and both the dimensions will be mutually complementary. We are thus not in favour of imposing moral education as a separate subject. It should be an integral part of the curriculum. For practical training special camps can be organized, for what one learns in them far outmatches any theoretical knowledge.
Under practical training some experiments should be conducted in modifying the endocrinal system. For this purpose training may first be imparted to a select group of teachers. Gradually the scope can be increased. There are instances of people coming to attend camps and returning home both physically and mentally transformed as a result of the training received. In order to obtain optimum results a three-pronged programme will be necessary under which simultaneous training will have to be given to students, teachers and guardians. Such an effort is bound to yield results - far more astounding and enduring than those accruing from mere preaching.
We concede that there are many outstanding individuals who are the products of the modern system of education. Countless experts in the fields of psychology, technology and engineering are all products of the same system. From this point of view modern education is not defective. Its achievements surpass any made in the past. It suffers only from one defect - absence of training in the Science of Living. If the latter could be combined with the existing content of education the system would become perfect.
Therefore, in order to remove the discontent among the educated people, efforts have to be made to awaken and change individual consciousness. Modern education is object-oriented; it must be made self-oriented. In other words it should aim at building character. The Kothari Commission made an attempt to induct moral instruction in education. But sectarian considerations prevailed and the whole effort was defeated. During discussions the point had emerged that a few moral lessons could be prepared and introduced as a separate course of study. But we believe that mere bookish knowledge cannot help bring about students moral development. What is really needed is to recognize the Science of Living as a branch or part of education. It should enjoy the same independent status as biology, physics or botany. There can be a revolution if the Science of Living is both theoretically and experimentally used to awaken consciousness. Education will then turn out balanced individuals.
Countries that paid attention to inner problems experienced surprisingly great increases in working efficiency. What significantly contributed to this success was not only bookish knowledge but also, and more importantly, meditation. In Japan, for example, there is a school of meditation called Zen Buddhism. Under it training in meditation is imparted not only to students but also to the armed personnel. That is why the Japanese take nearly half the time of what we take for finishing a particular job. This is the practical side of education. As noted earlier, the endocrine glands like the pineal, the thyroid and the pituitary influence individual character. Up to adolescence or puberty the pineal remains very active. This is reason why boys and girls up to the age of 10 or 12 remain relatively free from moral contamination. As they grow the pineal grows slack. If through practical means it could be activated prolonged good would result. Young boys and girls could then stay clean and disciplined. It would require, besides education in physiology, holding of weekly camps for practical training in activating their ductless glands. Ultimately it would help build a new generation of highly balanced and disciplined people.
Who does not decry indiscipline? But mere textbook knowledge or sermonizing will not create discipline. Without underplaying intellectuality efforts will have to be made to curb its unwanted growth through the activity of the endocrine glands. Everyone knows how small children positively respond to the call for discipline. This is because of the lack of intellectuality in them. Once the intellect starts developing beyond a point unresponsiveness to the call for discipline emerges. It proves how mere intellectual development can prove disastrous.
Humanity is faced with a choice. There is intellectual education on the one hand and religious instruction on the other. But even this choice is in a sense unreal. For neither of the two by itself can bring about the desired change of consciousness. In fact, it is our firm conviction that even religion cannot truly guide us unless it can be scientifically validated. The enormous and precious findings of science should be the decisive criteria and should provide the overall context for the practical use of religious instruction and textbook knowledge. Then only will we be able to build a new generation of people enjoying perfect and all-round health - physical, intellectual and emotional.
