The Eternal Theme of Education

Education ought to ensure the continuity and evolution of culture. It should connect persons, as well as the community of which the persons are parts, to the source from where ideals emanate, and endow them with resources for the pursuit of those ideals to attain lasting happiness. This is the eternal theme of education. The validity of all other themes is conditional. It depends on the period and place where one happens to be. And none of them can lead to happiness unless they are supplemented by this eternal theme. The opening stanza of the first chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad is a vision statement for this eternal theme of education. It is the prayer of an aspirant of knowledge when he approaches a guru qualified to impart knowledge to him.

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The aspirant starts with the meditation on ‘Om’. ‘Om’ is the pranava mantra. Pranava means something which maintains freshness. Any entity in the manifested universe is affected by the passage of time. They take birth, lives for sometime and then die. In such a scenario, which is infested by time, freshness can be maintained only by treating birth as an expression of creativity, being as the wonderful manifestation of dynamic balance in a time-dependent field and death as the purifying act of consummation. By the chanting of ‘Om’ the aspirant fixes in his mind the primary ideal he wants to pursue through education. The sound ‘Om’ is a combination of three vowels in Sanskrit alphabet that represent Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the presiding deities of creation, sustenance and consummation।

शम नो मित्रः शम वरुणः शम नो भवतर्यमा

The happiness accompanying the process of creation is a friendly feeling. Only the happiness derived from friendliness is apolitical and without strings. The thirst for this happiness prompts men to be creative. So the aspirant sets the satiation of this thirst as his first goal. Any unbalance has a disturbing effect on one’s sensibilities. Any deviation from a harmonious order makes the senses to cry out for corrective action. Harmonious being can be ensured only by attending to the restlessness of the senses. So the aspirant resolves to keep the pacification of his senses as the second goal. The consummator for our thoughts, feelings and actions is the culture to which we belong. What we think, feel and act have relevance only within the framework of our culture. The distillate of the collective experience of all our ancestors forms our culture. So the aspirant resolves the satisfaction of the demands of the culture to which he belongs as the third goal.

शम नः इन्द्रो ब्रुहस्पतिः शम नो विष्णुरुरुक्रमः:

All meaningful movements are prompted by ideals. So the aspirant vows to live in accordance with the dictates of the apex of the hierarchy of ideals and the divine source from which all ideals emanate. While moving one is swayed by the winds of time. Then dynamic balance is the attribute that provides stability. The principles of dynamic balance make their presence felt everywhere in the manifested universe. So the aspirant resolves to recognize and respect these principles always and everywhere.

The blessings of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, manifest as inner peace. It manifests as the glow of friendly feelings. It manifests as enhanced sensibilities. It manifests as the harmony one experience when there is no conflict with the culture to which one belongs. It manifests as the fulfillment of the high ideals one sets for oneself. It manifests as the opening up of the fountainhead from which the ideals emanate. It manifests as the feeling of relaxation that comes from perfect dynamic balance. The prayer of the aspirant is that he may be blessed with all these.

नमो ब्रह्मणे नमस्ते वायो
त्वं एव प्रत्यक्षम ब्रह्म वादिष्यामी
रृतम वादिष्यामी
सत्यम वादिष्यामी

The aspirant now bows to Brahman, the essence of the manifested universe, by establishing contact with which, one knows the entire universe. He bows to the circulating currents of vitality, which he recognizes as the perceptible form of this essence. He acknowledges that vitality indicates the path of righteousness that connects one to the essence of the universe. He acknowledges that vitality is the manifestation of truth that reflects Brahman.

तन्मामवातु तद्वाक्तारमवातु
अवतु मँ अवतु वक्तारम

The aspirant now prays to Brahman, the essence of the manifested universe, to make him a fit vehicle for receiving the revelations about the profound principles that form the core of the manifested universe. He prays to Brahman to make his instructor a fit medium for the conveyance of the knowledge. He prays to Brahman that he may be protected from the wrong type of knowledge. He prays to Brahman that his instructor may be protected from the wrong choice of words while conveying the instructions to him.

ॐ शांतिः शांतिः शांतिः

The aspirant now concludes his prayer by meditating on ‘Om’ to make his body, mind and intellect tranquil to remain tuned for receiving the knowledge.

Every politician in India has his own pet theory about what is appropriate education. All such theories generally have one thing in common. That single point is that the aim of education is to gain employment. The general assumption is that given such an education employment will follow, and employment will then lead to happiness. When seen in this light education is the development of a set of skills with limited application. But there is no guarantee that an employment, however good it is, will lead to happiness. In reality the working life is very often spent in an environment infested by competition, jealousies, exploitation and anxieties. Happiness is not a commonly found commodity in such an environment. Happiness here is thought of as important only to the extent it contributes to the productivity of a great machinery of which the employee is a small part.

The sages of ancient India had a different view. For them lasting happiness was the paramount thing. Happiness can be experienced only by human beings. The ancient sages of India realized that the theme of education ought to be to develop the resourcefulness and receptiveness of man so that he can live as a sovereign being. Sovereignty alone can give unconditional happiness. Seen in this way the main trunk of education ought to be one that empowers a person to generate employment by the pursuit of ideals, rather than to receive employment. All other branches of education that lead to the development of specific skill sets are only limbs that are attached to this main trunk. In the subsequent sections Taittiriya Upanishad explains the approach to education as envisaged by the ancient sages.