Talk:Education

By Swami Harshananda

Introduction

The Upaniṣads aver that whatever good is done with full knowledge and awareness becomes forceful and fruitful in life. Bhartṛhari, a well-known Sanskrit poet, compares a man, without any education, to a brute. Albert Einstein (A. D. 1879-1955) denotes a man with a specialized knowledge but lacking values to a well-trained dog.

Vivekānanda's Perspective

He was the great patriot-prophet, who could feel the pulse of the nation. According to him the import of education in one's life is as follows:

• It is the panacea for all our ills.
• It is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.
• It is the training by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful in life.
• It is life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.
• It is rather astonishing that many Western savants have practically echoed Vivekānanda’s ideas though in different words.
• It should teach our children self-control, the art of holding one’s passions and prejudices.
• It should instil true and worthy motives, a profound religious feeling and inspire the formation of a great character.
• It should help us to understand the laws of God in nature and to shape our lives to be in consonance with those laws.
• It should pay much greater attention to the development of the powers of the mind than mere learning of facts.
• The ancient and medieval systems of education recognized all these aspects while formulating the policies guiding them.

Sections of Knowledge

All the fields of vidyā or knowledge are divided into two broad streams:

1. The parāvidyā - the higher knowledge, the spiritual wisdom : It helps one to be fully prepared for the hereafter.
2. The aparāvidyā - the lower knowledge, the secular sciences: It is needed to live a comfortable life here.

A balanced combination of both is advocated so that both civilization and culture are imparted.

Knowledge as per Chāndogya Upanisad

This Upanisad was assigned to the period 4000 B. C. to 2500 B. C. It mentions fifteen branches of knowledge apart from the four Vedas. Some of them have been mentioned below:

1. Vyākaraṇa - grammar
2. Pitrya - science of obsequial rites
3. Gaṇita - mathematics
4. Daiva - knowledge of the portents
5. Tarka - logic
6. Ekāyana - ethics
7. Bhutavidyā - science of the spirits
8. Dhanurveda - martial arts and sciences
9. Jyautiṣa - astronomy
10. Devajanavidyā - the art of preparing perfumes, music, dancing and sculpture

Constituents of an Educational System

The three constituents of an educational system are:

1. The teacher
2. The student
3. The content and the methods of education

Characteristics of a Guru

• A spiritual teacher, generally called ‘guru’ or ‘ācārya’ was expected to be a ‘śrotriya’ and a ‘brahmaniṣṭha’.
• He is expected to be an expert in both theoretical and practical knowledge in other fields of knowledge.
• An impeccable character, earnestness to teach and a genuine love towards the student were the additional accredited from him.

Characteristics of a Student

The essential traits that a student must possess to qualify for admission, are:

1. Eagerness to learn
2. Humility
3. Obedience to the teacher
4. Self-control
5. Absence of laziness in the pursuit of knowledge
6. Willingness to do personal service to the teacher

Gurukulas

The teachers kept their students in their own houses. When the number of students became large, the houses would be replaced by the institutions called ‘gurukulas’. Gurukulas were established by the society, kings and rich people endowing it with sufficient property and funds, so that they could provide quality education free of cost to all the students.

As a result, these gurukulas or educational academies grew to enormous dimensions, both in quality and quantity. Hence it fulfilled the significance of their names. Bigger institutes accommodated ten thousand students. Not only out of necessity, but also as a good practice, the senior and better qualified students were made to teach the novices and supervise their life and discipline. Though punishments for transgressions existed, they were not very severe. Incorrigible students were expelled to save the discipline and reputation of the institution.

From all these accounts, we find that the educational system of the ancient and medieval country was not only highly developed but also capable of delivering a lesson.

Criteria for Admission in Gurukula

Neither varṇa nor āśrama or age was a taboo in acquiring knowledge. The only criteria for imparting parāvidyā or spiritual wisdom were:

1. An earnest desire to learn
2. Willingness to undergo tapas or austerity

However, for the study of the Vedas and allied sciences like the Vedāṅgas, 2 restrictions had been imposed. These restrictions were:

1. It was open only to the dvijas.
2. The boys could gain this knowledge only after they had undergone the upanyāna ceremony.

Overview

Some additional information acquired over the centuries, to get a complete picture of the gurukulas, is as follows:

• Scholarly disputations and philosophical discussions used to take place even in the Vedic period. It happened in meetings generally known as ‘samiti’ or ‘samāja’ or ‘pariṣad’.
• Vārāṇasī or Kāśī and Takṣaśilā were well-known as great centers of learning from the 8th century B. C.
• Some cities like Pāṭalīputra, Vidiśā and Kāñcīpuram were called ‘ghaṭikāsthānas,’ centers capable of measuring the scholarship of the savants.
• In such centers there was provision to get training in 14 to 18 branches of learning. Students were free to acquire a deep knowledge of their religion without any hindrance from the followers of other religions.
• The universities of Takṣaśilā (400 B. C.), Vikramaśilā (A. D. 800) and Nālandā (A.D. 600) had attained phenomenal growth and fame.
• These universities had several mahāpāthaśālās (colleges) and each of these again comprised several lecture halls.
• There were three huge buildings housing big libraries of invaluable manuscripts.
• Admission tests were very strict and only 20% of the aspirants could succeed in getting admission.
• In the Nālandā University there were 8500 students, taught by 1500 teachers with at least 100 lectures delivered per day.
• Professors like Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu and Diṅnāga were internationally reputed scholars attracting a large number of students from many foreign countries like China, Japan, Korea, Turkestan, Burma, Gāndhāra (Afghanisthan), Sumātra and Persia.
• Though education was mostly residential and free, students who could afford to pay, did so.

Buddhist Gurukula

• Among the residential students, Buddhist nuns also used to stay in the gurukula.
• According to Hiuen Tsang (A. D. 600-664) and Tsing (A. D. 635-713), not even a single instance of misconduct had been noticed or discovered due to the high degree of moral discipline followed by the teachers and the administrators.

Specialized Gurukula

It can be inferred from Kauṭilya (300 B. C.) and others that industrial and vocational training institutions, imparting specialized training in those branches, existed right from the ancient times.

Script, Language and Literature

The art of writing was known even during the Vedic age, though memorization was preferred and encouraged. The two scripts, Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī, are known to have existed even in 600 B. C. The Devanāgari and some of the South Indian scripts are its evolutes. The things used to write the inscription for the studies were:

1. Tālapatra - palm- leaf
2. Bhurjapatra - birch-bark
3. Wooden plates
4. Cloth of cotton or silk
5. Leather
6. Stone
7. Bricks

Conclusion

Sanskrit works existed from as early as 600 to 100 B. C. Apart from the Vedas, the epics Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata, stand out as scriptures of exquisite beautiful literature of a very high standard. The ease and facility with which the Sanskrit language has been used in the composition of technical subjects bearing on liturgy, medical and health sciences, ethics or linguistics, is astounding. The Prākṛt language, a popular derivative of Sanskrit, also had been fairly well-developed even by 500 B. C. Some of the ancient works are the models of elegant and graceful usage of languages. These works are:

1. Hemasarasvatī, Harihara Vipra and Saṅkara Deva in Assamese
2. The Maṅgala and the Vijaya literature in Bengali
3. Works of Narasī Mehtā and Rāmānanda in Gujarati
4. Compositions of Tulasīdas, Mīrā, Vidyāpati and Kabīr in Hindi
5. Grammar and mythological literature of Keśirāja, Pampa, Ranna and Harihara
6. The religious literature of the Śivaśaraṇas and Haridāsas of Kannada
7. Works of Jñāneśvar, Eknāth, Tukārām and others in Marathi
8. Pañcasakhās’ works in Oriya
9. The Guru-Granth Sāhīb in Punjabi
10. The Rural of Tiruvalluvar, the Tevārams and the Divyaprabandhams of Tamil saints in Tamil
11. The poetical works of Śrīnātha, Potana, Vemana and Aṇṇamācārya in Telugu

We can judge that the languages and literature have attained considerable growth and refinement through ages.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore