Education!

“Education is the manifestation of the abilities in oneself; a person who can make a living successfully by  improvising just five things he had learnt , is more educated than a person who’d memorized all the books of a library!” , said Swami Vivekanada.

Education is not what you learn, where you learn or whom from you learn, but it  is how you learn and how you make use of it.  There are two aspects in education.  One comprises of principles, values and ethics. The other includes all the other studies, languages, data and information like current affairs, history, chronicles, records of  events, facts, phenomenon and concepts like Maths, Science, Geography, standards,statute, procedures and rules like that of Commerce, Finance, Accounting and Law and applications and implementations like Techniques, Skills,  Technology and Engineering. Whatever field one chooses in the latter aspect of education for the sake of a career, he or she must not get away with the former.  Perhaps, it is the actual enlightenment and the second aspect merely qualifies one for an occupation.

When you learn principles, ethics and values, you are to imbibe it whole heartedly and realize the relevance of them .One needs to observe them truthfully and diligently, the way it is relevant to the present society. He or she should gain the prudence, in fact the wisdom of enforcing them in the society.  One needs to be sincere in following the principles and values as they are the contributors, rather the cause of the win - win web of prosperity. Whether it is commerce, administration, judiciary, governance, education, health care or any other aspect of social forums and our personal forum as well, it is the integrity which holds the entire network of the society. If a sector is not bothered about the prosperity of the other, it cannot prosper as each sector is dependent on some other sectors as vendors and clients.  Prosperity of sectors will not last when the other sectors are dying. The prosperous sectors may thrive for some time, but at one point, when the other sectors are dead, there won’t be any body either to supply or buy from the thriving one. Hence, in spite of the prosperity the thriving sector has to end.  Sensible individuals will never let the suffering sectors die. Instead, they will help them to recover, encourage their elevation and let them grow along. This thesis is true with individuals too. All entities on the globe are interdependent, either directly or indirectly. All strive to thrive on the same terrain. All ecosystems are based on a chain of various entities existing in them.

 Ethics and principles observed by individuals are necessary not only for a harmonious world but also for a progressive society with promising upcoming.  If we aspire for a trendsetting, growth intending, ever advancing hi-tech society, we need to impart value based education inculcating ethics, principles, integrity and trust.  When an individual is agile and cautious all the time of the risks, dangers, casualties, treacheries around him, how is he to concentrate and bring out productivity? After all, as per the anthropology and evolution of humans, the brains of humans underwent a series of development only after they started living in safe shelters /homes. It’s the deep, undisturbed sleep of the secured mankind which enabled the brain development. Only the carefree minds like that of Srinivasa Ramanujam’s which completely submitted itself to Goddess Namagiri can know infinity!  When numerous such carefree minds sprout out and mushroom in a society, won’t it be a land of scientists, technocrats, inventors, innovators? Won’t such a society turn into a land of perpetual progression in all fields?

 Principles, ethics, values, integrity in total a value based living is the only means for a progressive and prosperous society. As long the individuals and sectors are ethical and principled, the society/world is safe and can be ever prosperous and progressive. The individuals and sectors who compromise  with the ethics, principles, values,  integrity and other essential, Godly traits for meagre gains  or for evading the present inconveniences or for selfishly insulating themselves from a social calamity ,or for any other reason,are the magnanimous hosts of the catastrophe meant to vanquish their own progenies.  Their descendants will be the sole sufferers of the chaos in the interconnected web of professions, businesses and wherewithal of individuals. Value based education is the only means of preventing the interdependent webs of all the ecosystems (environment, commerce, technology, science,finance,education, health care, trade, governance, judiciary, etc..........) from collapsing.

When the learning is of knowledge, facts, information, phenomenon and concepts, it has to be explored and implored thoroughly. Its applications are to be pondered about exhaustively. One needs to find the answers for what? how?, when?, where?, why?, who? while learning them.

 With the knowledge of the concepts and critical analyses on them, applications can be developed. Passionate and thoughtful practice with continual, statistical assessments of the applications, effective skills can be developed. Skills evolve into techniques and technologies.

 Even subjects like History and literature need to be critically thought about and analyzed. It’s not enough to know when the world war happened, but also necessary to analyze why it happened. Don’t we have to prevent it from happening anymore? It’s not enough to know where the first civilization began, but also necessary to know why it began there!

Wishes,

Bye for now.

Nisha Ganapathysundararaman