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Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Education system dehumanised: HC
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/education-system-dehumanised-hc/article19260607.ece
Says it has become a machine that mass-produces clones, frowns on individuality
The education system has become “completely dehumanised” into a machine which is “mass-producing clones” and frowning upon individuality, the Delhi High Court on Tueday.
“It (education system) is completely de-humanised. It is a machine. The human element has been completely taken out. The contact between teacher and student is perfunctory. There is no connect,” a Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri said.
The Bench said, “Are we producing clones? We seem to be mass producing clones. It seems individuality is frowned upon now. You must conform at all costs, else retribution is swift.”
The court made the oral observations while hearing a plea initiated by the Supreme Court in September last year on the alleged suicide by a student of Amity Law University. The matter was transferred to the Delhi High Court in March. During the day's proceedings, the Bench said there was perhaps an “element of callousness” in how the university handled the deceased student's “cry for help” before he took the extreme step.
Sushant Rohilla, a third year law student of Amity had hung himself at his home here on August 10, 2016 after the university allegedly barred him from sitting for semester exams because he did not have the requisite attendance. He left behind a note saying he was a failure and did not wish to live.
“The student reached out to you (Amity). He cried out for help. But did you respond? Perhaps there is an element of callousness in how you handled it,” the court said. “Implement your rules, but do not put students at risk,” the court told the varsity, which claimed it was only strictly enforcing its attendance norms.
‘Systems not in place’
“Systems are not in place in your institution which is why a student took that step,” the Bench said. The varsity, however, said that systems were in place, but there was always room for improvement.
The court did not appear to be convinced by the claims of the varsity, which is affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), and said there should be safeguards in place so that a person who wants assistance gets it immediately.
It also said that this incident would have scarred the lives of the deceased's family, friends and batch mates. “It is a continuing trauma for them.”
Meanwhile, the amicus curiae appointed by the court said the status report filed by the Delhi Police regarding the incident was “shocking” as it said there was nothing in the complaint which required examination of any person.
The status report also said the suicide note was probably not written by Rohilla, the amicus told the court. He said the investigation carried out so far by the police appears to be "compromised" and therefore, should be transferred.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Avidya!
http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/best-support-from-family-during-board-exams-the-bihar-style-48711.html
Hajipur/Bihar: Some would mock at it while others would term it as a mass-breach of law however; this is how parents in Hajipur and Nawada towns of Bihar help their children during board exams – By climbing walls of the centres where their ward is to appear for exam and passing chits to them.
This too, with an excuse like “we have to resort to such things to help our children as the government teachers don’t teach anything in schools. Most of the times they are absent”, said a parent from Nawadajustifying his act of helping his child in cheating during Thursday’s Board exam paper.
And, even the authorities and policemen at the centres seem to support the wrongdoing as the “large-scale cheating” happens right under their nose and they are still not able to stop it.
They justify it by saying that the number of such friends and family members involved in wall-scaling is so large that they are unable to prevent it.
Though the authorities claim that they have debarred around 500 students from taking exams, but this does not hold the spirit of cheaters and their helpers.
Interestingly, Bihar has an anti-cheating law also which includes provisions for lodging a First Information Report and even arresting such offenders. Yet, such offences continue to happen unabated, that too by so many and right under the nose of police!
Some observers even allege that policemen accept bribes to allow such visitors who wish to get into the examination halls however, nobody comes out in open.
Although the Bihar’s education minister PK Shahi has asked, “Can the government alone conduct fair exams without the support of society and parents?”, but a yes, in this case is fully doubted as it seems to be an ongoing trend.
Last year also more than 200 students were expelled after being caught cheating in Class 12th exams and more than a dozen parents who helped their children use unfair means were also arrested yet 75 per cent of the 13 lakh students who appeared for the 10th Board exams, passed !
Monday, 16 March 2015
A nursery for corruption?
http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/a-nursery-for-corruption/article6993639.ece?homepage=true
The art of learning demands that we make education conducive to the creative rather than the acquisitive impulse.
A word, first, about corruption. It results from the suppression of the intrinsic with the instrumental. It involves the inability to value and enjoy something for its own sake. An employee, for example, may either enjoy doing his work or extort money through it. He cannot do both. Our growth as human beings involves growing out of the instrumental and growing into the intrinsic. A man who marries a woman for dowry is sub-human. One who knows “she is herself the reward” is human.
It may not be morally reprehensible to motivate a child to drink milk by promising her a chocolate. Motivating a teenager to read a book by promising the same is silly. Parents nurturing their children as old age insurance are, in principle, dishonest. They will be safe against such corruption if they enjoy the intrinsic value of loving their children. Nurturing children is, and must be, its own reward. The insertion of any additional reward corrupts the spirit of parent-child relationship. Whenever the intrinsic worth of anything is subjugated to its instrumental outcome, corruption results.
Is our idea and practice of education contributing to corruption? It may well be. Here are two reasons why.
From parents to teachers, everyone bribes children in all sorts of ways. Parents do so by offering them rewards for studying hard. To them, marks are the only proof that their children do so. Attractive, sometimes outlandish, rewards are promised by way of motivating them. So learning becomes, largely, an experience of looking forward to the rewards hidden in the future.
Schools consolidate and institutionalise this practice. Virtually, the only purpose for learning, right from the start, is to score marks. This ensures that no child is enabled or allowed to enjoy learning as learning. The idea that learning is only a means to an end gets ingrained in a growing child. Nothing more is required to suppress the moral sense of that child, who gets oriented wholly towards rewards, especially ‘additional’ rewards. The natural reward of learning is growth. But growth, in the present scheme of things, is to learning what salary is to work. It is not, in most cases, itself a motivating factor. Only additional — and extraneous — rewards play that part. This is the dogma that drives learning as well as corruption at all levels.
Creative impulse
This approach can help a child develop only the acquisitive instinct. Children labour hard and burn the midnight oil to score more marks. This sterile acquisition is the stepping stone to further acquisition: a gift now and bigger rewards in the future. The acquisitive instinct is indifferent, even inhospitable, to the moral sense. It suppresses the creative. The creative impulse is what enables us to express the best and the noblest in us. Those who do whatever they do for its own sake experience the joy of it. Those who do whatever they do in the hope of being rewarded, experience the burden of it. What burdens a child is not the weight of her school bag. It is the feeling that what she is required to do is worthless in itself but is tolerable only because of an uncertain reward that lurks somewhere in the dim future in the form of a good job and the perks that go with it.
The burden imposed by the ‘acquisitive’ approach to learning is vitiated by competition. Competition is the essence of the acquisitive impulse. It is incompatible with the creative. Great artists do not compete with each other for bigger rewards. They may spur each other on to perform better. That is because art is creative. Only when art is commercialised and the creative domain infiltrated by the acquisitive, does rivalry pit one artist against another. The result, then, will be ‘burdened artists’!
The bane of the current practice of education is that it is custom-designed to suppress the creative and unleash the acquisitive. As a result, parents and teachers deem value education to be, by and large, a waste of time. Values belong to the domain of the creative and the intrinsic. They are an impediment to the acquisitive. The idea of reward was alien to our native vision of education. Education was a spiritual enterprise. Scholarship bred humility. The educated were to be missionary, not mercenary, in their outlook.
If we are to contain corruption, it is imperative that we reform our idea and practice of education and make it conducive to the creative rather than the acquisitive impulse in human nature.
The writer is the principal of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Modern education promotes subtle sex life right from beginning!
Eight aspects of Subtle sex life
Eight aspects of brahmacarya, ( by Sridhar Swami, the Bhagavatam commentator. Also quoted in Daksha Smriti).
(1) Smaranam - One should not think of the opposite sex. One should think of Krishna and His service as given by the spiritual master. Memorize favorite passages or verses from the Sastras.
(2) kirtanam - One should not talk of sex life. (Prajalpa) One should talk of Krishna and discuss ones realizations with one’s friends, other brahmacari’s. (Practice gravity).
(3) kelih- Don’t (play) or dally with the opposite sex, (even if it is your service to deal with them, try to minimize it) . ‘Avyartha-kalatvam’- Rupa Goswami says in NOD. Pure devotees don’t waste their time, they always are cautious to make sure they are always engaged positively in K.C.
(4) preksanam- Don’t look lustfully at the opposite sex. Focus your eyes (or remember) on your favorite deity form of the Lord.
(5) guhyabhasanam- Don’t talk intimately with the opposite sex in a secluded place. Make strong friendships with other brahmacari’s, (or offer your choice prayerful words to the deity instead).
(6) sankalpo- Don’t decide to engage in sexual intercourse. Make sure you get proper counseling with a senior devotee(s) you have implicit trust in, if you have fallen to this bad state of mind. (Thinking, feeling, willing).
(7) adhyavasayas- Don’t endeavor for sex life. Endeavor to improve or get better devotees association then you have now.
(8) ca kriyanirvrttir - Don’t engage in sex life. Doing it has more trouble in store for you (health, and otherwise) then you think. Control the senses, mind, activities by devotional service.
nirvrttir eva ca - One executes real brahmacarya when all these activities come to a halt. (Sridhara 6.1.12).
Etan maithunyam astangam pravadanti manisinah vikarita brahmacaryam eda astanam laksanam iti
Discussions of these 8 points in further detail with evidences.
(1) Smaranam - One should not think of the opposite sex. One should think of Krishna and His service as given by the spiritual master. Memorize favourate passages or verses from the Sastras.
(SB. 7.15.36 Purport) “In our Krsna consciousness movement it is advised, therefore, that the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep strictly aloof from the association of women so that there will be no chance of their falling down again as victims of lusty desires.”
(2) kirtanam - One should not talk of sex life. (Prajalpa) One should talk of Krishna and discuss ones realizations with one’s friends, other brahmacari’s. (Practice gravity, chant Japa nicely).
“Japa means tapa, tapasya. And that is drdha-vrata. Tapasa brahmacaryena. Tapasya begins with brahmacarya. There is no tapasya, there is no brahmacarya, there is no drdha-vrata,” (Rm. Conv. Jan 31, 1977)
“So this is the process. Tapasa brahmacaryena. Brahmacarya is very, very essential. And that is, when one becomes detestful to sex life, that is the beginning of spiritual life. That is the beginning of spiritual life.” (Lect CC Adi 1.11, April 4,’75) (see determination)
(SB.1.5.26) tatranvaham krsna-kathah pragayatam anugrahenasrnavam manoharah tah sraddhaya me ‘nupadam visrnvatah priyasravasy anga mamabhavad rucih
O Vyasadeva, in that association and by the mercy of those great Vedantists, I could hear 0them describe the attractive activities of Lord Krsna And thus listening attentively, my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead increased at every step.
Lord Sri Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is attractive not only in His personal features, but also in His transcendental activities. It is so because the Absolute is absolute by His name, fame, form, pastimes, entourage, paraphernalia, etc. The Lord descends on this material world out of His causeless mercy and displays His various transcendental pastimes as a human being so that human beings attracted towards Him become able to go back to Godhead. Men are naturally apt to hear histories and narrations of various personalities performing mundane activities, without knowing that by such association one simply wastes valuable time and also becomes addicted to the three qualities of mundane nature. Instead of wasting time, one can get spiritual success by turning his attention to the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. By hearing the narration of the pastimes of the Lord, one contacts directly the Personality of Godhead, and, as explained before, by hearing about the Personality of Godhead, from within, all accumulated sins of the mundane creature are cleared. Thus being cleared of all sins, the hearer gradually becomes liberated from mundane association and becomes attracted to the features of the Lord. Narada Muni has just explained this by his personal experience. The whole idea is that simply by hearing about the Lord’s pastimes one can become one of the associates of the Lord. Narada Muni has eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, and he can travel all over the material and spiritual worlds without restriction. One can attain to the highest perfection of life simply by attentive hearing of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord from the right sources, as Sri Narada heard them from the pure devotees (bhakti-vedantas) in his previous life. This process of hearing in the association of the devotees is especially recommended in this age of quarrel (Kali).
(3) kelih- Don’t (play) or dally with the opposite sex, (even if it is your service to deal with them, try to minimize it) . ‘Avyartha-kalatvam’- Rupa Goswami says in NOD. Pure devotees don’t waste their time, they always are cautious to make sure they are always engaged positively in K.C.
(From Lecture April 30 1972 Tokyo)
“If one is absent-minded, he cannot work nicely because mind is absent or not in order. Therefore our method of controlling the senses is to engage the senses in the service of the Lord. The first engagement should be that mind should be always absorbed in thoughts of Krsna. Always engaged. These boys, they are always engaged. Just like in offering arcana to the Deities from early morning up to ten o’clock at night, and then they go to rest. Again rise early in the morning. So somebody is engaged n cleansing the temple, somebody is engaged in dressing the Deity, somebody is engaged in cooking for the Deity, somebody is engaged going in Tokyo city for distributing literature, somebody is performing kirtana here, somebody is reading our various books. In this way we have got twenty-five hours engagement instead of twenty-four hours. So mind cannot go outside Krsna. That is called Krsna conscious. We don’t allow the mind go out of Krsna’s service. And this is sannyasa.”
(4) preksanam- Don’t look lustfully at the opposite sex. Focus your eyes (or remember) on your favorite deity form of the Lord. (See SB. 6.18.41-42)
(SB. 6.18.41-42) sarat-padmotsavam vaktram vacas ca sravanamrtam
hrdayam ksura-dharabham strinam ko veda cestitam
A woman’s face is as attractive and beautiful as a blossoming lotus flower during autumn. Her words are very sweet, and they give pleasure to the ear, but if we study a woman’s heart, we can understand it to be extremely sharp, like the blade of a razor. In these circumstances, who could understand the dealings of a woman?
Woman is now depicted very well from the materialistic point of view by Kasyapa Muni. Women are generally known as the fair sex, and especially in youth, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, women are very attractive to men. Therefore a woman’s face is compared to a blooming lotus flower in autumn. Just as a lotus is extremely beautiful in autumn, a woman at the threshold of youthful beauty is extremely attractive. In Sanskrit a woman’s voice is called nari-svara because women generally sing and their singing is very attractive. At the present moment, cinema artists, especially female singers, are especially welcome. Some of them earn fabulous amounts of money simply by singing. Therefore, as taught by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a woman’s singing is dangerous because it can make a sannyasi fall a victim to the woman. Sannyasa means giving up the company of women, but if a sannyasi hears the voice of a woman and sees her beautiful face, he certainly becomes attracted and is sure to fall down. There have been many examples. Even the great sage Visvamitra fell a victim to Menaka. Therefore a person desiring to advance in spiritual consciousness must be especially careful not to see a woman’s face or hear a woman’s voice. To see a woman’s face and appreciate its beauty or to hear a woman’s voice and appreciate her singing as very nice is a subtle falldown for a brahmacari or sannyasi. Thus the description of a woman’s features by Kasyapa Muni is very instructive.
When a woman’s bodily features are attractive, when her face is beautiful and when her voice is sweet, she is naturally a trap for a man. The sastras advise that when such a woman comes to serve a man, she should be considered to be like a dark well covered by grass. In the fields there are many such wells, and a man who does not know about them drops through the grass and falls down. Thus there are many such instructions. Since the attraction of the material world is based on attraction for women, Kasyapa Muni thought, “Under the circumstances, who can understand the heart of a woman?” Canakya Pandita has also advised, visvaso naiva kartavyah strisu raja-kulesu ca: “There are two persons one should not trust-a politician and a woman.” These, of course, are authoritative sastric injunctions, and we should therefore be very careful in our dealings with women.
Sometimes our Krsna consciousness movement is criticized for mingling men and women, but Krsna consciousness is meant for anyone. Whether one is a man or woman does not matter. Lord Krsna personally says, striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te ‘pi yanti param gatim: whether one is a woman, sudra or vaisya, not to speak of being a brahmana or ksatriya, everyone is fit to return home, back to Godhead, if he strictly follows the instructions of the spiritual master and sastra. We therefore request all the members of the Krsna consciousness movement-both men and women-not to be attracted by bodily features but only to be attracted by Krsna. Then everything will be all right. Otherwise there will be danger.
Here is a practical solution to the problem of agitation in the presence of so many women in Kali Yuga. Avoid unnecessary association, but be practical. Remember! The sense objects are not at fault. It’s how one understands the purpose of the various sense objects that creates ones difficulties.
All creatures and all things must be offered for Krishna’s enjoyment. If one understands this always, then one can be pacified despite provocation. But disturbance or not, we must carry on our preaching duties. Get association, and counseling. Endeavor for rectifying your strength. Then after regaining strength-go out to preach again. This time more cautious then before you had the initial weakness.
(SP let. Ekayani 12/3/72)
“Who has introduced these things, that women cannot have chanting japa in the temple, they cannot perform the arati and so many things? If they become agitated, then let the brahmacaris go to the forest, I have never introduced these things. The brahmacaris cannot remain in the presence of women in the temple, then they may go to the forest, not remaining in New York City, because in New York there are so many women, so how they can avoid seeing? Best thing is to go to the forest for not seeing any women, if they become so easily agitated, but then no one will either see them and how our preaching work will go on?”.. It is not possible.”
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami cc: Bali Mardan Goswami
(5) guhyabhasanam- Don’t talk intimately with the opposite sex in a secluded place. Make strong friendships with other brahmacari’s, (or offer your choice prayerful words to the deity instead).
(SB. 11.17.33) strinam niriksana-sparsa-samlapa-ksvelanadikam
pranino mithuni-bhutan agrhastho ‘gratas tyajet
Those who are not married-sannyasis, vanaprasthas and brahmacaris-should never associate with women by glancing, touching, conversing, joking or sporting. Neither should they ever associate with any living entity engaged in sexual activities.
Praninah indicates all living entities, whether birds, bees or human beings. Among most species of life, sexual intercourse is preceded by diverse mating rituals. In human society, all types of entertainment (books, music, films) and all places of amusement (restaurants, shopping centers, resorts) are designed to stimulate the sexual urge and create an aura of “romance.” One who is not married-a sannyasi, brahmacari or vanaprastha-should rigidly avoid anything related to sex and of course should never see any living entity, whether bird, insect or human, engaging in the various phases of sexual intercourse. When a man jokes with a woman, an intimate, sexually-charged atmosphere is immediately created, and this should also be avoided for those aspiring to practice celibacy. Even a householder who becomes attached to such activities will also fall down into the darkness of ignorance.
(6) sankalpo- The determination to engage in sexual intercourse. Don’t contemplate to engage in sexual intercourse. Be determined to make sure you get proper counseling with a senior devotee(s) you have implicit trust in, if you have fallen to this bad state of mind. (Thinking, feeling, willing).
(SB. 7.15.22)
asankalpaj jayet kamam krodham kama-vivarjanat
arthanartheksaya lobham bhayam tattvavamarsanat
By making plans with determination, one should give up lusty desires for sense gratification. Similarly, by giving up envy one should conquer anger, by discussing the disadvantages of accumulating wealth one should give up greed, and by discussing the truth one should give up fear.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has suggested how one can conquer lusty desires for sense gratification. One cannot give up thinking of women, for thinking in this way is natural; even while walking on the street, one will see so many women. However, if one is determined not to live with a woman, even while seeing a woman he will not become lusty. If one is determined not to have sex, he can automatically conquer lusty desires. The example given in this regard is that even if one is hungry, if on a particular day he is determined to observe fasting, he can naturally conquer the disturbances of hunger and thirst. If one is determined not to be envious of anyone, he can naturally conquer anger. Similarly, one can give up the desire to accumulate wealth simply by considering how difficult it is to protect the money in one’s possession. If one keeps a large amount of cash with him, he is always anxious about keeping it properly. Thus if one discusses the disadvantages of accumulating wealth, he can naturally give up business without difficulty.
If one doesn’t get help to stop this contemplation at an early stage, then eventually it goes from thinking, to feeling. At this point, devoid of mind and sense control, the living entity loses all reasoning, and is unable to hear the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of sastras.
Such a person usually ends up (at best, through counseling) getting married, or (at worse) becomes a debauchee-falling into illicit life. Sometimes he tries to satisfy this craving through artificial means. (See SB 2.6.20 Purport)
(SB 6.1.62) stambhayann atmanatmanam yavat sattvam yatha-srutam
na sasaka samadhatum mano madana-vepitam
As far as possible he patiently tried to remember the instructions of the sastras not even to see a woman. With the help of this knowledge and his intellect, he tried to control his lusty desires, but because of the force of Cupid within his heart, he failed to control his mind”.
“Regarding your proposed marriage, if you think it is nice then you have all my blessings upon you both. If you do not think you can remain brahmacari, then it is better to remain in Krsna Consciousness as householder and not pretend to brahmacarya artificially. From your description the girl seems very qualified and sincere, so you continue to train her in our Krsna Conscious way of life and she will work together with you as your helpmeet in Krsna’s service.” (to Jananivas Sept. 29,’70)
Incidentally, Jananivasa Prabhu never got married. Instead since 1971 he has dedicated his life to the worship of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava in Mayapur, thus setting a wonderful example of dedication in Deity worship for all brahmacari’s to follow.
(7) adhyavasayas- To endeavor for sex life. Don’t endeavor for sex life.
Endeavor to improve or get better devotees association then you have now.
Even if austerity and brahmacarya are painful because we want to be unrestricted, as soon as we are regulated, what appeared to be painful is in practice not painful.
There are two classes of men-those who are sober (dhira) and those who are extravagant (adhira). When one, in spite of provocation or in spite of the presence of a source of mental agitation, can remain steady in his position, he is called dhira. An example of a dhira is given by Kalidasa Pandita, a great Sanskrit poet who wrote a book called Kumara-sambhava, wherein he has given an example concerning Lord Siva. It appears that when the demigods were fighting the demons and were being defeated, they decided that they could be saved by a commander-in-chief born from the semina of Lord Siva. Lord Siva, however, was in meditation, and to acquire the needed semina was very difficult. They therefore sent Parvati, a young girl, who appeared before Lord Siva and worshiped his genitals. Although this young girl sat before Lord Siva and touched his genitals, Lord Siva was steady in meditation. Kalidasa says, “Here is an example of a dhira, for despite a young girl’s touching his genitals, he was undisturbed.”
Similarly, someone sent a young prostitute to disturb Haridasa Thakura, and upon hearing her appeals for intercourse, Haridasa Thakura said, “Yes, your proposal is very nice. please sit down and let me finish my chanting, and then we shall enjoy.” Morning came and the prostitute became impatient, but Haridasa Thakura replied, “I’m very sorry. I could not finish my chanting. Come tonight again.” The prostitute came for three nights, and on the third night she fell down at his feet, confessed her intentions, and pleaded with him, “I was induced to perform this act by a man who is your enemy. Kindly excuse me.” Haridasa Thakura then replied, “I know all about that, but I allowed you to come here for three days so that you could be converted and become a devotee. Now take these chanting beads, and go on chanting. I am leaving this place.” Here is another example of a dhira who has control of his body (deha), words (vac), and intelligence (buddhi). One’s body, words and intelligence should be controlled by one who is dhira and who actually knows the principles of religion.
(8) ca kriyanirvrttir - Don’t engage in sex life. Doing it has more trouble in store for you (health, and otherwise) then you think. Control the senses, mind, activities by devotional service.
(Lect SB 6.1.21-22) “Of course, one who thinks that family life is too big a responsibility can forgo it and thus avoid a lot of trouble. Family responsibility is very great; therefore if a man feels he cannot accept the responsibility, he should remain a brahmacari, a celibate student. A person who practices the science of brahmacarya under the care of a spiritual master automatically becomes seventy-five percent free from material entanglement.”
(From Lecture April 30 1972 Tokyo)
“At the present moment, in the materialistic concept of life, everyone is servant of the senses. Everyone acts by the dictation of the senses; therefore they can be called, in other words, as godasa, servant of the senses. Instead of becoming servant of the senses, one has to become the master of the senses. That is called gosvami, master of the senses. So how to become master of the senses? Senses are very strong. How one can become master? The simple method is when one engages the senses in the service of the Supreme Lord, it is automatically controlled.”
Etan maithunyam astangam pravadanti manisinah
vikarita brahmacaryam eda astanam laksanam iti
These eight kinds of enjoyments are eight kinds of breaks in the current of Akhanda brahmacari life. We must avoid these eight interruptions with great care, hard work and diligent self-introspection (always analyzing at all times to observe your true motivations). Only he who is truly free from these eight breaks can be technically called a brahmacari.
Srila Prabhupada has also acknowledged that in Kali Yuga it may be difficult to strictly follow all the details in avoiding these eight breaks in brahmacari life, but Krsna conscious life following the regulative principles will help the devotee to prevail over the occaisional attack by maya.
Eight aspects of brahmacarya, ( by Sridhar Swami, the Bhagavatam commentator. Also quoted in Daksha Smriti).
(1) Smaranam - One should not think of the opposite sex. One should think of Krishna and His service as given by the spiritual master. Memorize favorite passages or verses from the Sastras.
(2) kirtanam - One should not talk of sex life. (Prajalpa) One should talk of Krishna and discuss ones realizations with one’s friends, other brahmacari’s. (Practice gravity).
(3) kelih- Don’t (play) or dally with the opposite sex, (even if it is your service to deal with them, try to minimize it) . ‘Avyartha-kalatvam’- Rupa Goswami says in NOD. Pure devotees don’t waste their time, they always are cautious to make sure they are always engaged positively in K.C.
(4) preksanam- Don’t look lustfully at the opposite sex. Focus your eyes (or remember) on your favorite deity form of the Lord.
(5) guhyabhasanam- Don’t talk intimately with the opposite sex in a secluded place. Make strong friendships with other brahmacari’s, (or offer your choice prayerful words to the deity instead).
(6) sankalpo- Don’t decide to engage in sexual intercourse. Make sure you get proper counseling with a senior devotee(s) you have implicit trust in, if you have fallen to this bad state of mind. (Thinking, feeling, willing).
(7) adhyavasayas- Don’t endeavor for sex life. Endeavor to improve or get better devotees association then you have now.
(8) ca kriyanirvrttir - Don’t engage in sex life. Doing it has more trouble in store for you (health, and otherwise) then you think. Control the senses, mind, activities by devotional service.
nirvrttir eva ca - One executes real brahmacarya when all these activities come to a halt. (Sridhara 6.1.12).
Etan maithunyam astangam pravadanti manisinah vikarita brahmacaryam eda astanam laksanam iti
Discussions of these 8 points in further detail with evidences.
(1) Smaranam - One should not think of the opposite sex. One should think of Krishna and His service as given by the spiritual master. Memorize favourate passages or verses from the Sastras.
(SB. 7.15.36 Purport) “In our Krsna consciousness movement it is advised, therefore, that the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep strictly aloof from the association of women so that there will be no chance of their falling down again as victims of lusty desires.”
(2) kirtanam - One should not talk of sex life. (Prajalpa) One should talk of Krishna and discuss ones realizations with one’s friends, other brahmacari’s. (Practice gravity, chant Japa nicely).
“Japa means tapa, tapasya. And that is drdha-vrata. Tapasa brahmacaryena. Tapasya begins with brahmacarya. There is no tapasya, there is no brahmacarya, there is no drdha-vrata,” (Rm. Conv. Jan 31, 1977)
“So this is the process. Tapasa brahmacaryena. Brahmacarya is very, very essential. And that is, when one becomes detestful to sex life, that is the beginning of spiritual life. That is the beginning of spiritual life.” (Lect CC Adi 1.11, April 4,’75) (see determination)
(SB.1.5.26) tatranvaham krsna-kathah pragayatam anugrahenasrnavam manoharah tah sraddhaya me ‘nupadam visrnvatah priyasravasy anga mamabhavad rucih
O Vyasadeva, in that association and by the mercy of those great Vedantists, I could hear 0them describe the attractive activities of Lord Krsna And thus listening attentively, my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead increased at every step.
Lord Sri Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is attractive not only in His personal features, but also in His transcendental activities. It is so because the Absolute is absolute by His name, fame, form, pastimes, entourage, paraphernalia, etc. The Lord descends on this material world out of His causeless mercy and displays His various transcendental pastimes as a human being so that human beings attracted towards Him become able to go back to Godhead. Men are naturally apt to hear histories and narrations of various personalities performing mundane activities, without knowing that by such association one simply wastes valuable time and also becomes addicted to the three qualities of mundane nature. Instead of wasting time, one can get spiritual success by turning his attention to the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. By hearing the narration of the pastimes of the Lord, one contacts directly the Personality of Godhead, and, as explained before, by hearing about the Personality of Godhead, from within, all accumulated sins of the mundane creature are cleared. Thus being cleared of all sins, the hearer gradually becomes liberated from mundane association and becomes attracted to the features of the Lord. Narada Muni has just explained this by his personal experience. The whole idea is that simply by hearing about the Lord’s pastimes one can become one of the associates of the Lord. Narada Muni has eternal life, unlimited knowledge and unfathomed bliss, and he can travel all over the material and spiritual worlds without restriction. One can attain to the highest perfection of life simply by attentive hearing of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord from the right sources, as Sri Narada heard them from the pure devotees (bhakti-vedantas) in his previous life. This process of hearing in the association of the devotees is especially recommended in this age of quarrel (Kali).
(3) kelih- Don’t (play) or dally with the opposite sex, (even if it is your service to deal with them, try to minimize it) . ‘Avyartha-kalatvam’- Rupa Goswami says in NOD. Pure devotees don’t waste their time, they always are cautious to make sure they are always engaged positively in K.C.
(From Lecture April 30 1972 Tokyo)
“If one is absent-minded, he cannot work nicely because mind is absent or not in order. Therefore our method of controlling the senses is to engage the senses in the service of the Lord. The first engagement should be that mind should be always absorbed in thoughts of Krsna. Always engaged. These boys, they are always engaged. Just like in offering arcana to the Deities from early morning up to ten o’clock at night, and then they go to rest. Again rise early in the morning. So somebody is engaged n cleansing the temple, somebody is engaged in dressing the Deity, somebody is engaged in cooking for the Deity, somebody is engaged going in Tokyo city for distributing literature, somebody is performing kirtana here, somebody is reading our various books. In this way we have got twenty-five hours engagement instead of twenty-four hours. So mind cannot go outside Krsna. That is called Krsna conscious. We don’t allow the mind go out of Krsna’s service. And this is sannyasa.”
(4) preksanam- Don’t look lustfully at the opposite sex. Focus your eyes (or remember) on your favorite deity form of the Lord. (See SB. 6.18.41-42)
(SB. 6.18.41-42) sarat-padmotsavam vaktram vacas ca sravanamrtam
hrdayam ksura-dharabham strinam ko veda cestitam
A woman’s face is as attractive and beautiful as a blossoming lotus flower during autumn. Her words are very sweet, and they give pleasure to the ear, but if we study a woman’s heart, we can understand it to be extremely sharp, like the blade of a razor. In these circumstances, who could understand the dealings of a woman?
Woman is now depicted very well from the materialistic point of view by Kasyapa Muni. Women are generally known as the fair sex, and especially in youth, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, women are very attractive to men. Therefore a woman’s face is compared to a blooming lotus flower in autumn. Just as a lotus is extremely beautiful in autumn, a woman at the threshold of youthful beauty is extremely attractive. In Sanskrit a woman’s voice is called nari-svara because women generally sing and their singing is very attractive. At the present moment, cinema artists, especially female singers, are especially welcome. Some of them earn fabulous amounts of money simply by singing. Therefore, as taught by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a woman’s singing is dangerous because it can make a sannyasi fall a victim to the woman. Sannyasa means giving up the company of women, but if a sannyasi hears the voice of a woman and sees her beautiful face, he certainly becomes attracted and is sure to fall down. There have been many examples. Even the great sage Visvamitra fell a victim to Menaka. Therefore a person desiring to advance in spiritual consciousness must be especially careful not to see a woman’s face or hear a woman’s voice. To see a woman’s face and appreciate its beauty or to hear a woman’s voice and appreciate her singing as very nice is a subtle falldown for a brahmacari or sannyasi. Thus the description of a woman’s features by Kasyapa Muni is very instructive.
When a woman’s bodily features are attractive, when her face is beautiful and when her voice is sweet, she is naturally a trap for a man. The sastras advise that when such a woman comes to serve a man, she should be considered to be like a dark well covered by grass. In the fields there are many such wells, and a man who does not know about them drops through the grass and falls down. Thus there are many such instructions. Since the attraction of the material world is based on attraction for women, Kasyapa Muni thought, “Under the circumstances, who can understand the heart of a woman?” Canakya Pandita has also advised, visvaso naiva kartavyah strisu raja-kulesu ca: “There are two persons one should not trust-a politician and a woman.” These, of course, are authoritative sastric injunctions, and we should therefore be very careful in our dealings with women.
Sometimes our Krsna consciousness movement is criticized for mingling men and women, but Krsna consciousness is meant for anyone. Whether one is a man or woman does not matter. Lord Krsna personally says, striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te ‘pi yanti param gatim: whether one is a woman, sudra or vaisya, not to speak of being a brahmana or ksatriya, everyone is fit to return home, back to Godhead, if he strictly follows the instructions of the spiritual master and sastra. We therefore request all the members of the Krsna consciousness movement-both men and women-not to be attracted by bodily features but only to be attracted by Krsna. Then everything will be all right. Otherwise there will be danger.
Here is a practical solution to the problem of agitation in the presence of so many women in Kali Yuga. Avoid unnecessary association, but be practical. Remember! The sense objects are not at fault. It’s how one understands the purpose of the various sense objects that creates ones difficulties.
All creatures and all things must be offered for Krishna’s enjoyment. If one understands this always, then one can be pacified despite provocation. But disturbance or not, we must carry on our preaching duties. Get association, and counseling. Endeavor for rectifying your strength. Then after regaining strength-go out to preach again. This time more cautious then before you had the initial weakness.
(SP let. Ekayani 12/3/72)
“Who has introduced these things, that women cannot have chanting japa in the temple, they cannot perform the arati and so many things? If they become agitated, then let the brahmacaris go to the forest, I have never introduced these things. The brahmacaris cannot remain in the presence of women in the temple, then they may go to the forest, not remaining in New York City, because in New York there are so many women, so how they can avoid seeing? Best thing is to go to the forest for not seeing any women, if they become so easily agitated, but then no one will either see them and how our preaching work will go on?”.. It is not possible.”
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami cc: Bali Mardan Goswami
(5) guhyabhasanam- Don’t talk intimately with the opposite sex in a secluded place. Make strong friendships with other brahmacari’s, (or offer your choice prayerful words to the deity instead).
(SB. 11.17.33) strinam niriksana-sparsa-samlapa-ksvelanadikam
pranino mithuni-bhutan agrhastho ‘gratas tyajet
Those who are not married-sannyasis, vanaprasthas and brahmacaris-should never associate with women by glancing, touching, conversing, joking or sporting. Neither should they ever associate with any living entity engaged in sexual activities.
Praninah indicates all living entities, whether birds, bees or human beings. Among most species of life, sexual intercourse is preceded by diverse mating rituals. In human society, all types of entertainment (books, music, films) and all places of amusement (restaurants, shopping centers, resorts) are designed to stimulate the sexual urge and create an aura of “romance.” One who is not married-a sannyasi, brahmacari or vanaprastha-should rigidly avoid anything related to sex and of course should never see any living entity, whether bird, insect or human, engaging in the various phases of sexual intercourse. When a man jokes with a woman, an intimate, sexually-charged atmosphere is immediately created, and this should also be avoided for those aspiring to practice celibacy. Even a householder who becomes attached to such activities will also fall down into the darkness of ignorance.
(6) sankalpo- The determination to engage in sexual intercourse. Don’t contemplate to engage in sexual intercourse. Be determined to make sure you get proper counseling with a senior devotee(s) you have implicit trust in, if you have fallen to this bad state of mind. (Thinking, feeling, willing).
(SB. 7.15.22)
asankalpaj jayet kamam krodham kama-vivarjanat
arthanartheksaya lobham bhayam tattvavamarsanat
By making plans with determination, one should give up lusty desires for sense gratification. Similarly, by giving up envy one should conquer anger, by discussing the disadvantages of accumulating wealth one should give up greed, and by discussing the truth one should give up fear.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has suggested how one can conquer lusty desires for sense gratification. One cannot give up thinking of women, for thinking in this way is natural; even while walking on the street, one will see so many women. However, if one is determined not to live with a woman, even while seeing a woman he will not become lusty. If one is determined not to have sex, he can automatically conquer lusty desires. The example given in this regard is that even if one is hungry, if on a particular day he is determined to observe fasting, he can naturally conquer the disturbances of hunger and thirst. If one is determined not to be envious of anyone, he can naturally conquer anger. Similarly, one can give up the desire to accumulate wealth simply by considering how difficult it is to protect the money in one’s possession. If one keeps a large amount of cash with him, he is always anxious about keeping it properly. Thus if one discusses the disadvantages of accumulating wealth, he can naturally give up business without difficulty.
If one doesn’t get help to stop this contemplation at an early stage, then eventually it goes from thinking, to feeling. At this point, devoid of mind and sense control, the living entity loses all reasoning, and is unable to hear the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of sastras.
Such a person usually ends up (at best, through counseling) getting married, or (at worse) becomes a debauchee-falling into illicit life. Sometimes he tries to satisfy this craving through artificial means. (See SB 2.6.20 Purport)
(SB 6.1.62) stambhayann atmanatmanam yavat sattvam yatha-srutam
na sasaka samadhatum mano madana-vepitam
As far as possible he patiently tried to remember the instructions of the sastras not even to see a woman. With the help of this knowledge and his intellect, he tried to control his lusty desires, but because of the force of Cupid within his heart, he failed to control his mind”.
“Regarding your proposed marriage, if you think it is nice then you have all my blessings upon you both. If you do not think you can remain brahmacari, then it is better to remain in Krsna Consciousness as householder and not pretend to brahmacarya artificially. From your description the girl seems very qualified and sincere, so you continue to train her in our Krsna Conscious way of life and she will work together with you as your helpmeet in Krsna’s service.” (to Jananivas Sept. 29,’70)
Incidentally, Jananivasa Prabhu never got married. Instead since 1971 he has dedicated his life to the worship of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava in Mayapur, thus setting a wonderful example of dedication in Deity worship for all brahmacari’s to follow.
(7) adhyavasayas- To endeavor for sex life. Don’t endeavor for sex life.
Endeavor to improve or get better devotees association then you have now.
Even if austerity and brahmacarya are painful because we want to be unrestricted, as soon as we are regulated, what appeared to be painful is in practice not painful.
There are two classes of men-those who are sober (dhira) and those who are extravagant (adhira). When one, in spite of provocation or in spite of the presence of a source of mental agitation, can remain steady in his position, he is called dhira. An example of a dhira is given by Kalidasa Pandita, a great Sanskrit poet who wrote a book called Kumara-sambhava, wherein he has given an example concerning Lord Siva. It appears that when the demigods were fighting the demons and were being defeated, they decided that they could be saved by a commander-in-chief born from the semina of Lord Siva. Lord Siva, however, was in meditation, and to acquire the needed semina was very difficult. They therefore sent Parvati, a young girl, who appeared before Lord Siva and worshiped his genitals. Although this young girl sat before Lord Siva and touched his genitals, Lord Siva was steady in meditation. Kalidasa says, “Here is an example of a dhira, for despite a young girl’s touching his genitals, he was undisturbed.”
Similarly, someone sent a young prostitute to disturb Haridasa Thakura, and upon hearing her appeals for intercourse, Haridasa Thakura said, “Yes, your proposal is very nice. please sit down and let me finish my chanting, and then we shall enjoy.” Morning came and the prostitute became impatient, but Haridasa Thakura replied, “I’m very sorry. I could not finish my chanting. Come tonight again.” The prostitute came for three nights, and on the third night she fell down at his feet, confessed her intentions, and pleaded with him, “I was induced to perform this act by a man who is your enemy. Kindly excuse me.” Haridasa Thakura then replied, “I know all about that, but I allowed you to come here for three days so that you could be converted and become a devotee. Now take these chanting beads, and go on chanting. I am leaving this place.” Here is another example of a dhira who has control of his body (deha), words (vac), and intelligence (buddhi). One’s body, words and intelligence should be controlled by one who is dhira and who actually knows the principles of religion.
(8) ca kriyanirvrttir - Don’t engage in sex life. Doing it has more trouble in store for you (health, and otherwise) then you think. Control the senses, mind, activities by devotional service.
(Lect SB 6.1.21-22) “Of course, one who thinks that family life is too big a responsibility can forgo it and thus avoid a lot of trouble. Family responsibility is very great; therefore if a man feels he cannot accept the responsibility, he should remain a brahmacari, a celibate student. A person who practices the science of brahmacarya under the care of a spiritual master automatically becomes seventy-five percent free from material entanglement.”
(From Lecture April 30 1972 Tokyo)
“At the present moment, in the materialistic concept of life, everyone is servant of the senses. Everyone acts by the dictation of the senses; therefore they can be called, in other words, as godasa, servant of the senses. Instead of becoming servant of the senses, one has to become the master of the senses. That is called gosvami, master of the senses. So how to become master of the senses? Senses are very strong. How one can become master? The simple method is when one engages the senses in the service of the Supreme Lord, it is automatically controlled.”
Etan maithunyam astangam pravadanti manisinah
vikarita brahmacaryam eda astanam laksanam iti
These eight kinds of enjoyments are eight kinds of breaks in the current of Akhanda brahmacari life. We must avoid these eight interruptions with great care, hard work and diligent self-introspection (always analyzing at all times to observe your true motivations). Only he who is truly free from these eight breaks can be technically called a brahmacari.
Srila Prabhupada has also acknowledged that in Kali Yuga it may be difficult to strictly follow all the details in avoiding these eight breaks in brahmacari life, but Krsna conscious life following the regulative principles will help the devotee to prevail over the occaisional attack by maya.
Friday, 20 December 2013
Minutes of Macaulay speech on 2nd February 1835.
[1] As it seems to be the opinion of some of the gentlemen who compose the Committee of Public Instruction that the course which they have hitherto pursued was strictly prescribed by the British Parliament in 1813 and as, if that opinion be correct, a legislative act will be necessary to warrant a change, I have thought it right to refrain from taking any part in the preparation of the adverse statements which are.now before us, and to reserve what I had to say on the subject till it should come before me as a Member of the Council of India.
[2] It does not appear to me that the Act of Parliament can by any art of contraction be made to bear the meaning which has been assigned to it. It contains nothing about the particular languages or sciences which are to be studied. A sum is set apart "for the revival and promotion of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories." It is argued, or rather taken for granted, that by literature the Parliament can have meant only Arabic and Sanscrit literature; that they never would have given the honourable appellation of "a learned native" to a native who was familiar with the poetry of Milton, the metaphysics of Locke, and the physics of Newton; but that they meant to designate by that name only such persons as might have studied in the sacred books of the Hindoos all the uses of cusa-grass, and all the mysteries of absorption into the Deity. This does not appear to be a very satisfactory interpretation. To take a parallel case: Suppose that the Pacha of Egypt, a country once superior in knowledge to the nations of Europe, but now sunk far below them, were to appropriate a sum for the purpose "of reviving and promoting literature, and encouraging learned natives of Egypt," would any body infer that he meant the youth of his Pachalik to give years to the study of hieroglyphics, to search into all the doctrines disguised under the fable of Osiris, and to ascertain with all possible accuracy the ritual with which cats and onions were anciently adored? Would he be justly charged with inconsistency if, instead of employing his young subjects in deciphering obelisks, he were to order them to be instructed in the English and French languages, and in all the sciences to which those languages are the chief keys?
[3] The words on which the supporters of the old system rely do not bear them out, and other words follow which seem to be quite decisive on the other side. This lakh of rupees is set apart not only for "reviving literature in India," the phrase on which their whole interpretation is founded, but also "for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories"-- words which are alone sufficient to authorize all the changes for which I contend.
[4] If the Council agree in my construction no legislative act will be necessary. If they differ from me, I will propose a short act rescinding that I clause of the Charter of 1813 from which the difficulty arises.
[5] The argument which I have been considering affects only the form of proceeding. But the admirers of the oriental system of education have used another argument, which, if we admit it to be valid, is decisive against all change. They conceive that the public faith is pledged to the present system, and that to alter the appropriation of any of the funds which have hitherto been spent in encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanscrit would be downright spoliation. It is not easy to understand by what process of reasoning they can have arrived at this conclusion. The grants which are made from the public purse for the encouragement of literature differ in no respect from the grants which are made from the same purse for other objects of real or supposed utility. We found a sanitarium on a spot which we suppose to be healthy. Do we thereby pledge ourselves to keep a sanitarium there if the result should not answer our expectations? We commence the erection of a pier. Is it a violation of the public faith to stop the works, if we afterwards see reason to believe that the building will be useless? The rights of property are undoubtedly sacred. But nothing endangers those rights so much as the practice, now unhappily too common, of attributing them to things to which they do not belong. Those who would impart to abuses the sanctity of property are in truth imparting to the institution of property the unpopularity and the fragility of abuses. If the Government has given to any person a formal assurance-- nay, if the Government has excited in any person's mind a reasonable expectation-- that he shall receive a certain income as a teacher or a learner of Sanscrit or Arabic, I would respect that person's pecuniary interests. I would rather err on the side of liberality to individuals than suffer the public faith to be called in question. But to talk of a Government pledging itself to teach certain languages and certain sciences, though those languages may become useless, though those sciences may be exploded, seems to me quite unmeaning. There is not a single word in any public instrument from which it can be inferred that the Indian Government ever intended to give any pledge on this subject, or ever considered the destination of these funds as unalterably fixed. But, had it been otherwise, I should have denied the competence of our predecessors to bind us by any pledge on such a subject. Suppose that a Government had in the last century enacted in the most solemn manner that all its subjects should, to the end of time, be inoculated for the small-pox, would that Government be bound to persist in the practice after Jenner's discovery? These promises of which nobody claims the performance, and from which nobody can grant a release, these vested rights which vest in nobody, this property without proprietors, this robbery which makes nobody poorer, may be comprehended by persons of higher faculties than mine. I consider this plea merely as a set form of words, regularly used both in England and in India, in defence of every abuse for which no other plea can be set up.
[6] I hold this lakh of rupees to be quite at the disposal of the Governor-General in Council for the purpose of promoting learning in India in any way which may be thought most advisable. I hold his Lordship to be quite as free to direct that it shall no longer be employed in encouraging Arabic and Sanscrit, as he is to direct that the reward for killing tigers in Mysore shall be diminished, or that no more public money shall be expended on the chaunting at the cathedral.
[7] We now come to the gist of the matter. We have a fund to be employed as Government shall direct for the intellectual improvement of the people of this country. The simple question is, what is the most useful way of employing it?
[8] All parties seem to be agreed on one point, that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are moreover so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them. It seems to be admitted on all sides, that the intellectual improvement of those classes of the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at present be affected only by means of some language not vernacular amongst them.
[9] What then shall that language be? One-half of the committee maintain that it should be the English. The other half strongly recommend the Arabic and Sanscrit. The whole question seems to me to be-- which language is the best worth knowing?
[10] I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit works. I have conversed, both here and at home, with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the valuation of the orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is indeed fully admitted by those members of the committee who support the oriental plan of education.
[11] It will hardly be disputed, I suppose, that the department of literature in which the Eastern writers stand highest is poetry. And I certainly never met with any orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations. But when we pass from works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and general principles investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England. In every branch of physical or moral philosophy, the relative position of the two nations is nearly the same.
[12] How then stands the case? We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some foreign language. The claims of our own language it is hardly necessary to recapitulate. It stands pre-eminent even among the languages of the West. It abounds with works of imagination not inferior to the noblest which Greece has bequeathed to us, --with models of every species of eloquence, --with historical composition, which, considered merely as narratives, have seldom been surpassed, and which, considered as vehicles of ethical and political instruction, have never been equaled-- with just and lively representations of human life and human nature, --with the most profound speculations on metaphysics, morals, government, jurisprudence, trade, --with full and correct information respecting every experimental science which tends to preserve the health, to increase the comfort, or to expand the intellect of man. Whoever knows that language has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest nations of the earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety generations. It may safely be said that the literature now extant in that language is of greater value than all the literature which three hundred years ago was extant in all the languages of the world together. Nor is this all. In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seas of the East. It is the language of two great European communities which are rising, the one in the south of Africa, the other in Australia, --communities which are every year becoming more important and more closely connected with our Indian empire. Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our literature, or at the particular situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects.
[13] The question now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own, whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal confession, wherever they differ from those of Europe differ for the worse, and whether, when we can patronize sound philosophy and true history, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier, astronomy which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, history abounding with kings thirty feet high and reigns thirty thousand years long, and geography made of seas of treacle and seas of butter.
[14] We are not without experience to guide us. History furnishes several analogous cases, and they all teach the same lesson. There are, in modern times, to go no further, two memorable instances of a great impulse given to the mind of a whole society, of prejudices overthrown, of knowledge diffused, of taste purified, of arts and sciences planted in countries which had recently been ignorant and barbarous.
[15] The first instance to which I refer is the great revival of letters among the Western nations at the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that time almost everything that was worth reading was contained in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Had our ancestors acted as the Committee of Public Instruction has hitherto noted, had they neglected the language of Thucydides and Plato, and the language of Cicero and Tacitus, had they confined their attention to the old dialects of our own island, had they printed nothing and taught nothing at the universities but chronicles in Anglo-Saxon and romances in Norman French, --would England ever have been what she now is? What the Greek and Latin were to the contemporaries of More and Ascham, our tongue is to the people of India. The literature of England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt whether the Sanscrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and Norman progenitors. In some departments-- in history for example-- I am certain that it is much less so.
[16] Another instance may be said to be still before our eyes. Within the last hundred and twenty years, a nation which had previously been in a state as barbarous as that in which our ancestors were before the Crusades has gradually emerged from the ignorance in which it was sunk, and has taken its place among civilized communities. I speak of Russia. There is now in that country a large educated class abounding with persons fit to serve the State in the highest functions, and in nowise inferior to the most accomplished men who adorn the best circles of Paris and London. There is reason to hope that this vast empire which, in the time of our grandfathers, was probably behind the Punjab, may in the time of our grandchildren, be pressing close on France and Britain in the career of improvement. And how was this change effected? Not by flattering national prejudices; not by feeding the mind of the young Muscovite with the old women's stories which his rude fathers had believed; not by filling his head with lying legends about St. Nicholas; not by encouraging him to study the great question, whether the world was or not created on the 13th of September; not by calling him "a learned native" when he had mastered all these points of knowledge; but by teaching him those foreign languages in which the greatest mass of information had been laid up, and thus putting all that information within his reach. The languages of western Europe civilised Russia. I cannot doubt that they will do for the Hindoo what they have done for the Tartar.
[17] And what are the arguments against that course which seems to be alike recommended by theory and by experience? It is said that we ought to secure the co-operation of the native public, and that we can do this only by teaching Sanscrit and Arabic.
[18] I can by no means admit that, when a nation of high intellectual attainments undertakes to superintend the education of a nation comparatively ignorant, the learners are absolutely to prescribe the course which is to be taken by the teachers. It is not necessary however to say anything on this subject. For it is proved by unanswerable evidence, that we are not at present securing the co-operation of the natives. It would be bad enough to consult their intellectual taste at the expense of their intellectual health. But we are consulting neither. We are withholding from them the learning which is palatable to them. We are forcing on them the mock learning which they nauseate.
[19] This is proved by the fact that we are forced to pay our Arabic and Sanscrit students while those who learn English are willing to pay us. All the declamations in the world about the love and reverence of the natives for their sacred dialects will never, in the mind of any impartial person, outweigh this undisputed fact, that we cannot find in all our vast empire a single student who will let us teach him those dialects, unless we will pay him.
[20] I have now before me the accounts of the Mudrassa for one month, the month of December, 1833. The Arabic students appear to have been seventy-seven in number. All receive stipends from the public. The whole amount paid to them is above 500 rupees a month. On the other side of the account stands the following item:
Deduct amount realized from the out-students of English for the months of May, June, and July last-- 103 rupees.
[21] I have been told that it is merely from want of local experience that I am surprised at these phenomena, and that it is not the fashion for students in India to study at their own charges. This only confirms me in my opinions. Nothing is more certain than that it never can in any part of the world be necessary to pay men for doing what they think pleasant or profitable. India is no exception to this rule. The people of India do not require to be paid for eating rice when they are hungry, or for wearing woollen cloth in the cold season. To come nearer to the case before us: --The children who learn their letters and a little elementary arithmetic from the village schoolmaster are not paid by him. He is paid for teaching them. Why then is it necessary to pay people to learn Sanscrit and Arabic? Evidently because it is universally felt that the Sanscrit and Arabic are languages the knowledge of which does not compensate for the trouble of acquiring them. On all such subjects the state of the market is the detective test.
[22] Other evidence is not wanting, if other evidence were required. A petition was presented last year to the committee by several ex-students of the Sanscrit College. The petitioners stated that they had studied in the college ten or twelve years, that they had made themselves acquainted with Hindoo literature and science, that they had received certificates of proficiency. And what is the fruit of all this? "Notwithstanding such testimonials," they say, "we have but little prospect of bettering our condition without the kind assistance of your honourable committee, the indifference with which we are generally looked upon by our countrymen leaving no hope of encouragement and assistance from them." They therefore beg that they may be recommended to the Governor-General for places under the Government-- not places of high dignity or emolument, but such as may just enable them to exist. "We want means," they say, "for a decent living, and for our progressive improvement, which, however, we cannot obtain without the assistance of Government, by whom we have been educated and maintained from childhood." They conclude by representing very pathetically that they are sure that it was never the intention of Government, after behaving so liberally to them during their education, to abandon them to destitution and neglect.
[23] I have been used to see petitions to Government for compensation. All those petitions, even the most unreasonable of them, proceeded on the supposition that some loss had been sustained, that some wrong had been inflicted. These are surely the first petitioners who ever demanded compensation for having been educated gratis, for having been supported by the public during twelve years, and then sent forth into the world well furnished with literature and science. They represent their education as an injury which gives them a claim on the Government for redress, as an injury for which the stipends paid to them during the infliction were a very inadequate compensation. And I doubt not that they are in the right. They have wasted the best years of life in learning what procures for them neither bread nor respect. Surely we might with advantage have saved the cost of making these persons useless and miserable. Surely, men may be brought up to be burdens to the public and objects of contempt to their neighbours at a somewhat smaller charge to the State. But such is our policy. We do not even stand neuter in the contest between truth and falsehood. We are not content to leave the natives to the influence of their own hereditary prejudices. To the natural difficulties which obstruct the progress of sound science in the East, we add great difficulties of our own making. Bounties and premiums, such as ought not to be given even for the propagation of truth, we lavish on false texts and false philosophy.
[24] By acting thus we create the very evil which we fear. We are making that opposition which we do not find. What we spend on the Arabic and Sanscrit Colleges is not merely a dead loss to the cause of truth. It is bounty-money paid to raise up champions of error. It goes to form a nest not merely of helpless placehunters but of bigots prompted alike by passion and by interest to raise a cry against every useful scheme of education. If there should be any opposition among the natives to the change which I recommend, that opposition will be the effect of our own system. It will be headed by persons supported by our stipends and trained in our colleges. The longer we persevere in our present course, the more formidable will that opposition be. It will be every year reinforced by recruits whom we are paying. From the native society, left to itself, we have no difficulties to apprehend. All the murmuring will come from that oriental interest which we have, by artificial means, called into being and nursed into strength.
[25] There is yet another fact which is alone sufficient to prove that the feeling of the native public, when left to itself, is not such as the supporters of the old system represent it to be. The committee have thought fit to lay out above a lakh of rupees in printing Arabic and Sanscrit books. Those books find no purchasers. It is very rarely that a single copy is disposed of. Twenty-three thousand volumes, most of them folios and quartos, fill the libraries or rather the lumber-rooms of this body. The committee contrive to get rid of some portion of their vast stock of oriental literature by giving books away. But they cannot give so fast as they print. About twenty thousand rupees a year are spent in adding fresh masses of waste paper to a hoard which, one should think, is already sufficiently ample. During the last three years about sixty thousand rupees have been expended in this manner. The sale of Arabic and Sanscrit books during those three years has not yielded quite one thousand rupees. In the meantime, the School Book Society is selling seven or eight thousand English volumes every year, and not only pays the expenses of printing but realizes a profit of twenty per cent. on its outlay.
[30] The fact that the Hindoo law is to be learned chiefly from Sanscrit books, and the Mahometan law from Arabic books, has been much insisted on, but seems not to bear at all on the question. We are commanded by Parliament to ascertain and digest the laws of India. The assistance of a Law Commission has been given to us for that purpose. As soon as the Code is promulgated the Shasters and the Hedaya will be useless to a moonsiff or a Sudder Ameen. I hope and trust that, before the boys who are now entering at the Mudrassa and the Sanscrit College have completed their studies, this great work will be finished. It would be manifestly absurd to educate the rising generation with a view to a state of things which we mean to alter before they reach manhood.
[31] But there is yet another argument which seems even more untenable. It is said that the Sanscrit and the Arabic are the languages in which the sacred books of a hundred millions of people are written, and that they are on that account entitled to peculiar encouragement. Assuredly it is the duty of the British Government in India to be not only tolerant but neutral on all religious questions. But to encourage the study of a literature, admitted to be of small intrinsic value, only because that literature inculcated the most serious errors on the most important subjects, is a course hardly reconcilable with reason, with morality, or even with that very neutrality which ought, as we all agree, to be sacredly preserved. It is confined that a language is barren of useful knowledge. We are to teach it because it is fruitful of monstrous superstitions. We are to teach false history, false astronomy, false medicine, because we find them in company with a false religion. We abstain, and I trust shall always abstain, from giving any public encouragement to those who are engaged in the work of converting the natives to Christianity. And while we act thus, can we reasonably or decently bribe men, out of the revenues of the State, to waste their youth in learning how they are to purify themselves after touching an ass or what texts of the Vedas they are to repeat to expiate the crime of killing a goat?
[32] It is taken for granted by the advocates of oriental learning that no native of this country can possibly attain more than a mere smattering of English. They do not attempt to prove this. But they perpetually insinuate it. They designate the education which their opponents recommend as a mere spelling-book education. They assume it as undeniable that the question is between a profound knowledge of Hindoo and Arabian literature and science on the one side, and superficial knowledge of the rudiments of English on the other. This is not merely an assumption, but an assumption contrary to all reason and experience. We know that foreigners of all nations do learn our language sufficiently to have access to all the most abstruse knowledge which it contains sufficiently to relish even the more delicate graces of our most idiomatic writers. There are in this very town natives who are quite competent to discuss political or scientific questions with fluency and precision in the English language. I have heard the very question on which I am now writing discussed by native gentlemen with a liberality and an intelligence which would do credit to any member of the Committee of Public Instruction. Indeed it is unusual to find, even in the literary circles of the Continent, any foreigner who can express himself in English with so much facility and correctness as we find in many Hindoos. Nobody, I suppose, will contend that English is so difficult to a Hindoo as Greek to an Englishman. Yet an intelligent English youth, in a much smaller number of years than our unfortunate pupils pass at the Sanscrit College, becomes able to read, to enjoy, and even to imitate not unhappily the compositions of the best Greek authors. Less than half the time which enables an English youth to read Herodotus and Sophocles ought to enable a Hindoo to read Hume and Milton.
[33] To sum up what I have said. I think it clear that we are not fettered by the Act of Parliament of 1813, that we are not fettered by any pledge expressed or implied, that we are free to employ our funds as we choose, that we ought to employ them in teaching what is best worth knowing, that English is better worth knowing than Sanscrit or Arabic, that the natives are desirous to be taught English, and are not desirous to be taught Sanscrit or Arabic, that neither as the languages of law nor as the languages of religion have the Sanscrit and Arabic any peculiar claim to our encouragement, that it is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars, and that to this end our efforts ought to be directed.
[34] In one point I fully agree with the gentlemen to whose general views I am opposed. I feel with them that it is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, --a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.
[35] I would strictly respect all existing interests. I would deal even generously with all individuals who have had fair reason to expect a pecuniary provision. But I would strike at the root of the bad system which has hitherto been fostered by us. I would at once stop the printing of Arabic and Sanscrit books. I would abolish the Mudrassa and the Sanscrit College at Calcutta. Benares is the great seat of Brahminical learning; Delhi of Arabic learning. If we retain the Sanscrit College at Bonares and the Mahometan College at Delhi we do enough and much more than enough in my opinion, for the Eastern languages. If the Benares and Delhi Colleges should be retained, I would at least recommend that no stipends shall be given to any students who may hereafter repair thither, but that the people shall be left to make their own choice between the rival systems of education without being bribed by us to learn what they have no desire to know. The funds which would thus be placed at our disposal would enable us to give larger encouragement to the Hindoo College at Calcutta, and establish in the principal cities throughout the Presidencies of Fort William and Agra schools in which the English language might be well and thoroughly taught.
[36] If the decision of His Lordship in Council should be such as I anticipate, I shall enter on the performance of my duties with the greatest zeal and alacrity. If, on the other hand, it be the opinion of the Government that the present system ought to remain unchanged, I beg that I may be permitted to retire from the chair of the Committee. I feel that I could not be of the smallest use there. I feel also that I should be lending my countenance to what I firmly believe to be a mere delusion. I believe that the present system tends not to accelerate the progress of truth but to delay the natural death of expiring errors. I conceive that we have at present no right to the respectable name of a Board of Public Instruction. We are a Board for wasting the public money, for printing books which are of less value than the paper on which they are printed was while it was blank-- for giving artificial encouragement to absurd history, absurd metaphysics, absurd physics, absurd theology-- for raising up a breed of scholars who find their scholarship an incumbrance and blemish, who live on the public while they are receiving their education, and whose education is so utterly useless to them that, when they have received it, they must either starve or live on the public all the rest of their lives. Entertaining these opinions, I am naturally desirous to decline all share in the responsibility of a body which, unless it alters its whole mode of proceedings, I must consider, not merely as useless, but as positively noxious.
T[homas] B[abington] MACAULAY
2nd February 1835.
I give my entire concurrence to the sentiments expressed in this Minute.
W[illiam] C[avendish] BENTINCK.
School destroyed us!
This post is not your regular post about blaming the education system; but rather wants to address a larger issue that most of us are unaware of. These days, I’ve been trying to dig out as much information possible about ancient India, our culture and most importantly our science, technology & engineering. Now anything that’s related to ‘History’ is often boring and I know we all unanimously agree that it’s indeed one of the most boring subjects taught in school. Why? Because the history that’s been taught to us is ‘crafted’ version of the history. A *lot* needs to be unearthed; because it’s got hidden treasures that have the power to change India and the mindset of Indians forever.
I recently visited the Akshardham temple in Delhi. As everyone advised, we took the ‘boat ride’ that takes people to ancient India and shows glimpses of the ancient Indian culture. Now whenever I bring up this topic in public discussion or on online community; (Indian) people get aggressive and refute everything. But I don’t care because I know the people I’m talking to are the products of ‘the system’ that has turned them into mechanical robots (clerks) who are good at executing commands and are lightyears away from thinking on their own. I’m not different either. I’m yet another product of the system that throws me in the same class of robots. It’s just that I still have some electricity left in me that forces me to think and find information about the things that should be ‘known’.
Today, I stumbled upon a History Channel Documentary which talks about something amazing – the ‘Atomic Warfare In India’. If you have time and are interested, watch this -
…and before you draw any conclusions; here’s something very important. Everything from the past seems to be done by ‘Gods’ and ‘Cartoon-Like’ characters who were flying in the air and throwing stones at each other. We think of our ancients as the ones who barely had clothes to wear and lived in huts. *But*
There are two dimensions to it: Either they chose to ‘live in huts’ because that’s more scientific, environment friendly OR that could just be totally inaccurate. They might have had the most advance civilizations. The way our history books describe them is actually very funny. When I asked my grandpa whether the all the ‘sadhus’ and ‘rishis’ did was to sit in front of fire and throw wood in it (because that’s how they were shown in Ramayan & Mahabarat on TV); he laughed at me. He said the TV show makers know nothing. The Rishi & Sadhus actually were the greatest mathematicians, artists, engineers, inventors & scientists. They developed technology that was more modern and advanced than what we are aware today. That’s the reason why -
- Zero was invented in India.
- Rishi Aryabhatta could *accurately* calculate the diameter and weight of the Earth
- As shown in above video – Indians had the ‘nuclear knowledge’
- Plastic surgery was invented in India; and so is ‘Yog’.
- Advance metallurgy was known to most of the people when the world was just getting introduced to metals.
- Indian Rishis had the knowledge of the Universe
- ….and so on. There are 1000s of the things, impossible to mention here. If you know, do let me know through comments.
The point is even if 5% of the above is true (in fact, 100% of it is) why is modern India nowhere near? Lord Macaulay (and why is he ‘Lord’?) knew that he wanted to create Indians who were ‘Indians’ by blood and color but ’100% English’ in their minds. And oh boy, he did succeed. That’s why he introduced the concept of ‘school’ that’s destroyed India totally.
When I was in ‘school’ (yep, I’m a product of the system), I was fortunate to get to study Math,Science, History & Geography in my mother-tongue. But the ‘Mount Carmel’ school boys were ‘automatically’ considered as more intelligent and smarter than us (the Marathi medium guys). Why? Because they could speak English and we could not. They’d wear shoes and tie (even in 40 degree summer) and naturally appear more ‘posh’ than us. We’d play together, but they’d always have ‘a say’ in all the matters. Quite often I’d realize how idiot they were, but they refused to accept. Why? Because they could speak and most importantly whenever there were fights, they’d abuse us in long English sentences. We’d just look at them.
Now, it all looks stupid. I’ve had several occasions where I knew my knowledge of science, math and history was better than them and had I been given the opportunity (and courage) to study in my mother-tongue; I’d have been an awesome Engineer. It’s not that ‘English’ pushed me back; but it does: thousands and thousands of Indians. Yet many parents don’t realize this and force their kids to speak in English no matter how *bad* their own English skills are.
The ‘school’ system has destroyed Indians and their ability to think & innovate. The problem needs to be addressed on high priority basis. But for that to happen, we’ll need several courageous patriots who can change the system. But thanks to the education system that destroys this patriotism and makes us feel ashamed of our own history. It just a systematic destruction of India. Will we ever come out of it? How?
Biggest mistakes of the Indian educational system
One of the biggest mistakes of the Indian educational system is that perhaps we have not yet abandoned the Lord Macaulay inspired schooling system which was designed to supply clerical staff to the East India Company and its successor, the British crown and its officialdom. The level of clerk you could aspire (and the commensurate salary) to be depended a lot on whether you were a matriculate, a graduate or a post graduate and the mindset has not yet gone, nearly a hundred and fifty years after his famous “minute” that has shaped the educational destiny of millions of Indians.
The biggest sufferer is creativity in this whole scheme of things and people who want to think and act out of the box. When conventional society espouses conventional education, few people would like to step outside the system and face ridicule, scorn or simple disillusionment. One of the reasons why India has fared so poorly in sports is the scant recognition given to those who want to take up sports as a career, with cricket perhaps being the rare exception and that too in certain instances. Otherwise, sports were and are only of value in fetching a few extra weightage while getting into college.
Even today, the norm is for parents are to discourage children from sports and a whole range of extracurricular activities that are of value. Besides by connecting salaries and affluence to degrees and diplomas, a message is being sent out to millions in this country who for reasons of poverty, lack of opportunities or simply because they are intellectually challenged cannot pursue “higher education” as we understand it conventionally, that they are doomed to poverty and that they will always be on the margins of society.
Is that a message that the government ought to be sending? After all, while schooling is a part of education and contributes to it definitely, in no uncertain terms, education is not schooling. The pursuit of education is a lifelong one and might and often does material gains too; but schooling has a beginning and an end. May be someone should remind the minister that the greatest men and women in history were not often educated in the conventional sense; in fact they were often illiterate.
The biggest sufferer is creativity in this whole scheme of things and people who want to think and act out of the box. When conventional society espouses conventional education, few people would like to step outside the system and face ridicule, scorn or simple disillusionment. One of the reasons why India has fared so poorly in sports is the scant recognition given to those who want to take up sports as a career, with cricket perhaps being the rare exception and that too in certain instances. Otherwise, sports were and are only of value in fetching a few extra weightage while getting into college.
Even today, the norm is for parents are to discourage children from sports and a whole range of extracurricular activities that are of value. Besides by connecting salaries and affluence to degrees and diplomas, a message is being sent out to millions in this country who for reasons of poverty, lack of opportunities or simply because they are intellectually challenged cannot pursue “higher education” as we understand it conventionally, that they are doomed to poverty and that they will always be on the margins of society.
Is that a message that the government ought to be sending? After all, while schooling is a part of education and contributes to it definitely, in no uncertain terms, education is not schooling. The pursuit of education is a lifelong one and might and often does material gains too; but schooling has a beginning and an end. May be someone should remind the minister that the greatest men and women in history were not often educated in the conventional sense; in fact they were often illiterate.
Present Education System
Our present educational system is not playing a significant role in shaping the future of our youth. It makes students corrupt and teaches them only indulgence and self-centeredness. Some of the major problems with this system are as under.
Single Aim – To Make Money
The aim of this system has become to make money for the owners of the institutes and in turn this education also makes youth who are hungry for indulgence, power and money. They just think of partying, sex, fashion, food, gadgets and vehicles. They blindly follow western styles and culture. For these youth, earning money is the only goal of the life and their only motivational force is money. They want to go abroad and earn money and stay there forever. These youths perceive the education as a means of making money.
The aim of this system has become to make money for the owners of the institutes and in turn this education also makes youth who are hungry for indulgence, power and money. They just think of partying, sex, fashion, food, gadgets and vehicles. They blindly follow western styles and culture. For these youth, earning money is the only goal of the life and their only motivational force is money. They want to go abroad and earn money and stay there forever. These youths perceive the education as a means of making money.
Literate not Educated
This education only gives degrees/diplomas without any basic knowledge. It tries to make people literate, not educate. It prepares them for a job in an MNC and totally ignores their overall development.
This education only gives degrees/diplomas without any basic knowledge. It tries to make people literate, not educate. It prepares them for a job in an MNC and totally ignores their overall development.
Making fools seem “bright”
The present examination system & evaluation system ignores skills, and aptitudes among students. This examination system is not a true test of child’s capacity. This does injustice to those who are really intelligent and genius. By the virtue of this system, those who are routine, regular, and average in their thinking, approach and intellect appear bright and intelligent; and those who are unconventional, out of box, above ordinary in their thinking, approach and intellect appear as losers and fools. At an advance stage in life, these seemingly “bright” people take higher positions in society and organizations and thus the whole society is downgraded by the mess they create.
The present examination system & evaluation system ignores skills, and aptitudes among students. This examination system is not a true test of child’s capacity. This does injustice to those who are really intelligent and genius. By the virtue of this system, those who are routine, regular, and average in their thinking, approach and intellect appear bright and intelligent; and those who are unconventional, out of box, above ordinary in their thinking, approach and intellect appear as losers and fools. At an advance stage in life, these seemingly “bright” people take higher positions in society and organizations and thus the whole society is downgraded by the mess they create.
Followers instead of leaders
This system produces followers instead of leaders. These “bright” people have no vision and have short term goals. When they grow in life they are not able to give shape to their life, to the society, to the country and to the new generation.
This system produces followers instead of leaders. These “bright” people have no vision and have short term goals. When they grow in life they are not able to give shape to their life, to the society, to the country and to the new generation.
Ineffective Evaluation System
No doubt that present educational system is making engineers, doctors, CAs and other officers but there is lack of values. The present system tests only what a student has crammed or is able to copy. It does not test what the student has learned and what ideas they have of life and work. It does not test the character, the aptitude and the attitude of the student. This is the reason why our bureaucrats and police officers become corrupt (even if their intention at the beginning may not have been such).
No doubt that present educational system is making engineers, doctors, CAs and other officers but there is lack of values. The present system tests only what a student has crammed or is able to copy. It does not test what the student has learned and what ideas they have of life and work. It does not test the character, the aptitude and the attitude of the student. This is the reason why our bureaucrats and police officers become corrupt (even if their intention at the beginning may not have been such).
Lack of Moral Values
It does not emphasize on patriotism and humanity. Youth have very little or no value for our heritage and culture. It only prepares the youth as the job seekers or job mongers with low value system. There are very little or no human values. People don’t respect human life now. Honesty is laughed at by the people; sincerity and hard work are considered foolish, elders are not respected, women are considered as sex objects only. There is no sense of duty and sacrifice.
It does not emphasize on patriotism and humanity. Youth have very little or no value for our heritage and culture. It only prepares the youth as the job seekers or job mongers with low value system. There are very little or no human values. People don’t respect human life now. Honesty is laughed at by the people; sincerity and hard work are considered foolish, elders are not respected, women are considered as sex objects only. There is no sense of duty and sacrifice.
Lack of Total Personality Development
There is lack of total personality development. The system churns out indifferently trained, poorly motivated students, who have few job prospects. For these students, success means having money whatever the means. This education is not able to develop leadership qualities in students.
There is lack of total personality development. The system churns out indifferently trained, poorly motivated students, who have few job prospects. For these students, success means having money whatever the means. This education is not able to develop leadership qualities in students.
No Emphasis on Creativity and Innovation
There is less emphasis on research activities and knowledge orientation. The system doesn’t inspire children to go beyond what is set to be the limits. What the students learn is routine and regular. Students are forced to do lot of routine work just to get marks. Students are not encouraged to take activities of their interest.
There is less emphasis on research activities and knowledge orientation. The system doesn’t inspire children to go beyond what is set to be the limits. What the students learn is routine and regular. Students are forced to do lot of routine work just to get marks. Students are not encouraged to take activities of their interest.
No Focus on Learning
There is too much stress on getting marks and this encourages children to mug up & pass exams rather than learning concepts. Institutions are giving more stress on completingsyllabus and help the students to pass the exam instead of building their character and enhancing their personalities.
There is too much stress on getting marks and this encourages children to mug up & pass exams rather than learning concepts. Institutions are giving more stress on completingsyllabus and help the students to pass the exam instead of building their character and enhancing their personalities.
No Intellectual Development
This education system is detached from the real world. It doesn’t make children ready to face the world outside. The system aims to create a complacent labor force which is driven by the large MNCs and the MNC friendly governments. The system only teaches to memorize things. It makes children workers who are best at repetition. The aim is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train them to a standard level or the common level. There is no originality whatsoever in any way. There is too much focus on reaching to the top but there is absolutely no guidance about the means to reach there. There are no intellectual discussions happening. It only trains them to memorize things. Those who come triumphant in this system has only three qualities - perseverance, ability to memorize ideas, concepts and rules and ability to write what theyhave memorized.
This education system is detached from the real world. It doesn’t make children ready to face the world outside. The system aims to create a complacent labor force which is driven by the large MNCs and the MNC friendly governments. The system only teaches to memorize things. It makes children workers who are best at repetition. The aim is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train them to a standard level or the common level. There is no originality whatsoever in any way. There is too much focus on reaching to the top but there is absolutely no guidance about the means to reach there. There are no intellectual discussions happening. It only trains them to memorize things. Those who come triumphant in this system has only three qualities - perseverance, ability to memorize ideas, concepts and rules and ability to write what theyhave memorized.
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