– L.K. Agarwal
The spiritually vibrated land of Bharat sub- continent within the ancient “Jambu dweep” produced great sages, thinkers and philosophers. By the strength of their spiritual powers and developed intuition, these great personalities unraveled many mysteries of the universe. They realized that a human body is obtained after millions of years of struggle in the cycle of creation. The sole purpose of human birth is to attain salvation or divinity. Such great personalities became the guides for the human society. They commanded highest respect in the society and rose to the stature of Gurus. The foundation and the concept of education were first laid down by these Gurus.
In the recorded history, the world’s oldest educational model was the Gurukul model. Students lived with their Gurus in the ashrams from the age of five to twenty-five years. Simple living, moral values and scientific knowledge were imparted by the Gurus. Gurus used to select students at their discretion. After assessing their ability, they used to impart knowledge of Shastra Vidya, weapon & war skills, knowledge of science, sociology, political science etc. In the Gurukul tradition, spiritual or self knowledge was paramount; all other knowledge was merely supplementary.
To explain the Gurukul tradition, I will quote the following verse from the Vishnu Purana:-
“तत्कर्म यन्न बंधाय सा विद्या या विमुक्तये।
आयासायापरम् कर्म विद्या शिल्पनैपुणम्।”
Karma is that which does not bind, Vidya is that which liberates. All other karma is just a meaningless activity and all other studies are just craftsmanship.
Analyzing the above shloka, we find that the focus of education in the Gurukul system was Para-vidya (spiritual knowledge) and the amount of Apara-vidya (physical knowledge) was negligible. This instilled a high level of conduct, morality, faith and humility in the students. With the changing social structure, the Gurukul tradition was no longer practical for fulfilling the basic needs of livelihood. Therefore, this ancient educational system gradually declined.
From time to time, philosophers and thinkers presented variety of explanations with the aim of fulfilling the educational needs of people and society. In all these systems, material needs, comfort, etc. were at the center, and there was no place for spiritual philosophy. There are altogether 24 prevalent educational models in the world, most of which have come from Western world, which completely changed the dimension of education.
In 1907, Italian philanthropist Maria Montessori presented the “Montessori Model” of education which became very popular and was accepted world vide.
In the Montessori model, sensory experiences in the environment were encouraged through structured sense training according to age. Due to this, sense and motor organs got stimulated, as a result of which there was a motivation to acquire external knowledge in large quantities. Accumulation of wealth, power and exploitation etc. became the main objective. Powerful and prosperous people or nations started suppressing the weak.
The balance between the internal and external world is destroyed. The psychology, thought and behavior of individual and collective body became extremely crude and selfish. Due to the faulty education system, society and the world of today is passing through a state of complete chaos and crisis.
British philosopher Joseph Rudyard Kipling’s remark is not logical. He said; “East and West are completely different from each other, and it is impossible to merge these two opposite civilizations and philosophies”.
The founder of Prout philosophy, Shri Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has propounded a progressive educational theory in the name of Neo-Humanism. He practically explained the methodology to acquire the necessary skills and abilities to serve the society. He strongly emphasized that all living beings should be given ample scope to demonstrate their capabilities. The dignity of all living beings including the animals, birds, plants etc should be preserved. No human beings should be exploited, suppressed, oppressed or repressed under any circumstances. New Humanism strongly advocates the merger of Occidental science and Oriental philosophy. Then can the awakened consciousness, wisdom and art will lead the way of science and technology to preserve the aesthetics of human civilization. Awakening the spirit of universalism is the basic teaching of Neo-Humanism. Let us all inculcate Neo Humanistic values within us to build a healthy, strong and balanced Human society on the planet earth. 🙏
