What should you learn during your early years of education?
Concentration and detachment.
Plenty has been written and spoken about education since ancient time. In fact, I have had the privilege to document few of the Indian creative luminaries and their thoughts on education.
Education through theatre (in Marathi) with Geetanjali Kulkarni
Philosophical perspective on Indian Education System (Part 1 & Part 2) With Vikram Gahlot
All these conversations are super helpful and enriching. But, as per the theme of this blog, “The Larger Context”, I wanted to share a more meta insight about Education which has completely filled my mind. Of course this is by none other than Swami Vivekananda.
“To me the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collecting of facts. If I had to do my education over again, and had any voice in the matter, I would not study facts at all. I would develop the power of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I could collect facts at will.
- Swami Vivekananda
The above quote has been unpacked by thousands of scholars across the globe. Vivekananda has written extensively about education.
Concentration
Swami Vivekananda says, “How are we to know that the mind has become concentrated? Because the idea of “time” will vanish. The more time passes unnoticed the more concentrated we are. In common life we see, that when we are interested in a book we do not note the time at all; and when we leave the book, we are often surprised to find how many hours have passed. All time will have the tendency to come and stand in the one present. So the definition is given: When the past and present come and stand in one, the mind is said to be concentrated.”
Why is concentration important? Concentration helps to focus the energies of the mind, and the mind is the principal instrument to be used in education. SV says: “The present system of education is all wrong. The mind is crammed with facts before it knows how to think. Control of the mind should be taught first. It takes people a long time to learn things because they can't concentrate their minds at will.” Anybody with a high degree of concentration is sure to master any learning with depth and speed. The reason behind the high achievement and success of one person and the moderate success of another is the degree of concentration.
Detachment
Detachment is an important word in the quote. In Vivekananda’s words, “A wall never feels misery, the wall never loves, is never hurt; but it is the wall, after all. Surely it is better to be attached and caught, than to be a wall. Therefore a person who never loves, who is hard and stony, escaping most of the miseries of life, escapes also its joys. We do not want that.
At the same time, we not only want this mighty power of love, this mighty power of attachment, the power of throwing our whole soul upon a single object, losing ourselves and letting ourselves be annihilated. The difficulty is that there must be as much power of attachment as that of detachment.”
In a podcast hosted by Swami Sarvapriyananda, I recall a captivating tale. It unfolded during a village's ordeal with a flood, where the inhabitants found themselves fleeing their homes to seek refuge on the riverbanks. The relentless power of the river surged ahead, carrying away houses, carts, and all that stood in its path.
Amidst this chaos, a poignant incident emerged. A man, amidst the tumultuous waters, spotted his cherished woollen carpet, which had been swept away from his house. Fuelled by attachment, he ventured into the torrential currents, struggling to reach the carpet's grasp. His efforts bore fruit as he managed to secure his target, only to realize that he caught hold of a bear that looked like a bear. This unexpected encounter took a dire turn as the bear clung onto the man, beseeching him to save his life.
From the riverbank, the villagers could not fully comprehend the situation, yet their voices resounded with advice: "Release the carpet, and acquire a new one when the time comes!" The hapless man's response echoed amidst the chaos, "I am prepared to relinquish the carpet, but it refuses to release me."
This allegorical narrative, steeped in the currents of life's uncertainties, serves as a reminder of our attachments and the unforeseen turns they may take.
SV says, “We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We are being worked upon by other minds, and we are always struggling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life; and they eat into our vitals.
Conclusion
Today, the way education is designed, it’s mainly to create obedient and skilled labourers. It’s designed to create rat-race among humans. An artificial scarcity is created with number of seats, reservations and making education exclusive.
There is no point in learning things that you have no use for, such as spending a week learning handwriting if you are going to use keyboard the rest of your life. I ratto-fied (learnt by heart) 12 cardinal nerves for at least 5 years of my education. But I couldn’t do anything with the knowledge in the last 25 years.
So the best thing to learn in the early years of your education is “how to learn”. And the way to do it is through concentration and detachment.