Coup on Education - 02 [Ego Vs. Knowledge ]

One more thing I want to expose to you. If we observe keenly we could notice it in our heart only. Ego and knowledge are mutually conjugate to each other. That means if one increases, automatically the other decreased.

In Bhagavad Geeta, God say, “Nothing in this universe is as sacred as knowledge. Definitely, God can see the knowledgeous one and knowledge one can see God. In fact knowledgeous one means God himself.”

In our Sanskrit literature i.e. in Veda Vagmayam, there is one slokam, which is so meaningful, truthful and beautiful. I read it in “Viswadarshanam Bharathiya Chintanam” written by Sri Nanduri Rammohana Rao. According to the author, this Santi manthram is in ‘Kenopanishad’ and both the teacher & Student i.e. Guru and his disciple pronounce this together. It is

“ ఓం
సహనా వవతు సహనౌ భునక్తు
సహ వీర్యం కరవ వహై
తేజస్వినావధతమస్తు
మా విద్విషా వహై
ఓం శాంతి శాంతి శాంతి”

Its meaning is – Let God save both of us. Let us experience the extreme joy of knowledge. Let us get such power to achieve the extreme joy of knowledge. Let our study become glorious. Let us exist without hate and hesitate each other. Before starting, the daily study to practice such self-suggestion what must be the knowledge level of human society in those days itself.

We can enjoy beautiful and truthful meaning of the slokam. When teacher tries to drive out ego from the student mind to facilitate his mind to receive and store knowledge, definitely students repels towards it. Naturally, the student feels agony towards teacher. After overcoming all such emotions which we call as Arishadwargas [i.e. desires, anger, greedy, passion or crazy, proud and jealousy] only, any person can acquire knowledge. Being student and teacher, it is my own experience. I strongly believe that any body can experience this fact and observe this fact in their mind. If a cupboard or shelf is full of some waste things which are eligible to throw away, there won’t be any place to keep good books in that shelf. Some case with ego and knowledge. Only if we drop our ego into the dustbin, then only we can insert our mind with everlasting joyful knowledge.

If any one is famous as knowledgeous and if that person is egoistic, definitely we can confirm that his knowledge is not real knowledge, it may be just build up.

More over in those days, there were no tools to write as our paper and pens. They wrote with feathers of birds on palm leaves. That’s why education system mainly based on oral. The entire Vagmayam transferred from generation to generation by oral practice since thousands of years. Though some of beliefs driven the society into dark, but beyond such blind beliefs, matured thinking was there. In every time, in every system, there are good and bad that mean advantages and disadvantages irrespective of olden days and now-a-days. We have to take advantegive points only. Advantage means faithful and truthful towards people. They must be faithful forever.

Now also students are going practice to learn on oral drilling. But what they are learning is bran only, not rice. What are imports and exports of different countries, what is trigonometry and what is matrices, won’t help the students to construct their character? I’m not saying that science & technology, biological and physical sciences, history and maths not useful to students. But below the age of 12 years, such should not be subjects of study to them. The primary education must build them into strong and completed personalities. The students have to acquire perfect character with moral values and logical thinking nature.

This must happen through stories, playing and songs. Stories of epics, historical persons will motivate the children to determine certain aims in their life. But what is happening now? If you check up the subject of history of 4th & 5th classes. There are statistics of great persons, when they born, where, what they studied in which year, what they done and when they dead. By studying such, there won’t be no more motivation and no more inspiration. Just the students have to keep in memory of such statistics of great person, that’s all. There is no narration of the life incidents of such great persons.

I give another live example to you. There are beautiful stories in Panchtanthram. Its other name is Sampurna Neethi Chandrica. In original, in each and every story, through the conversations so many moral values with comparison of natural facts were discussed. Actually to narrate human values only, the story is framed. Through such human values, only Vishnu Sarma changed the princes into intellectuals, but not through the Crow and Rat stories. On the name of stories, he inserted thinking and observing nature through the conversations of animals and birds characters. By leaving all this rice, the bran of the narration of story and nominal moral sentences are in the lessons of students. The wanted compile of syllabi. I’m not claiming the professors who compiled such syllabi. May be they got such instructions to compile like that from their ‘Superiors’. I’m not claiming the Ministers and other politicians. May be they satisfied with the exchange offers for such compiling of syllabi. But I’m claiming the parents for their neglecting or carelessness or thoughtlessness regarding the welfare of their own children.