The real purpose of education therefore is
to promote human values like love, compassion, peace, righteous conduct,
dedication, honesty, duty, discipline and devotion. Education is for life; life
is for the sake of humanity; man is society, and society’s purpose is to
promote and share ‘knowledge’ for the betterment of humanity; morality and
human values are for the betterment of society, nation and the entire humanity.
All of these combined together act as an elixir (positive force) for keeping
the equilibrium between negative and positive forces, between the elements and
the senses. The universe stands for peace, as its innate nature is peace.
To avoid any misconception about the real
meaning of spirituality; it is not, even remotely related to the present day
religions. It is the essence of human values, which are universal in nature.
For the sake of record, the fundamental meaning and purpose of religion is to
lead man to his source, the God. It is wrongly misconstrued as the bundle of doctrines,
and dos and don’ts. This is totally a false assumption. The sacred aim of
religion is to remind man of his true nature and origin, which is Divine. And
it is religion that helps man to reunite with the Supreme, the God. Character
is its main ingredient. Only those who preserve impeccable character can be
pronounced as religious. Thus the scope of spirituality and religion, in human
terms, are not narrow compartments, crammed with the rigmarole of ritualism and
bibliography of ‘mantras’ (hymns) which have divided the society in so many
castes, creeds and sects.
Civilization is not a territory, property or the wealth---to be possessed, converted, corrupted or conquered. It is the way of life, cultured and nourished on rich human values for centuries. It is not embedded in visible articles of wealth. They (values) are seeped in life that is structured on character---which is the property of the heart. Outer systems, viz., governments, educational institutions, houses of worship, industrial complexes etc., could be destroyed: But the ‘thought’ that sustains the life of a civilization, not only pervades the atmosphere but in the very depths of the times gone by. Time and history cannot be conquered. They can however be distorted: This is no annihilation; only a temporary setback which can be rectified at any future opportunity. Decline of a civilization is very gradual as its growth. Its only disease is the corruption of values on which it had initially flourished, matured and became rich. Human values are not only based on education and cultured wisdom, but play a major influencing role in making of civilizations.
What is a culture? Its real meaning is to hurt never, help ever; foregoing bad habits, avoid doing bad acts; cultivation of good character and thoughts for doing good unto others. In other words: refinement of one’s action is culture. But the basic ingredients which constitute the building block of a rich culture, are ingrained in the heart viz., love, compassion, sacrifice, perseverance, peace i.e., truth relating qualities. The former can be tinkered with, but not the latter ones’. Any cultural decline leads to the fall of civilization. However, it is saddening that these factors have continued to be ignored flagrantly time and again by the successive civilizations.
Should we draw the conclusion that humanity has to go through this vicious cycle time and again! This can not be so, since the scientists of our time proclaim that nothing is predetermined as per their theory of uncertainty. If the scientific fraternity is to be believed, then it is logical to assume that, human behavior is constant and unchanging, and it manifests in similar fashion in each succeeding civilization, though in different ways, and becomes the cause of human growth both of material and thought enlightenment as well as self annihilation.
On the other hand, if everything is predetermined, then it means we are mere puppets in the hands of destiny in which intellect has no role to play. Is this a fraud? An illusion! Or Maya, as some spiritualists believe? How preposterous? A modern thinking man will never accept this proposition.
There is also a third proposition that nothing is uncertain or predetermined, but is a one time episode. We are deflecting from our topic and going towards the oft repeated yet never ending dialogue (read controversy) between the rationalists vs. logician: scientist vs. spiritualist: religions vs. paganism. Fortunately our scope of digression is very limited and humble too. We are not after the Creator---the Intelligent-Being, or the propagandists of the ‘uncertainty’ theory who would frown upon us because, in their view, it is the purview of high profile oracles. Only those who use profanity and pollute the clean minds of the innocents are classed as specialists, experts on the subjects, about which they have little understanding. The real progenitors---the genius, are the ignored class, whose voice---as nothing survives in the ruins of civilizations, except the ‘voice’ (thought) of these humble and unknown souls---that still kindles our imagination as well as the finer sensitivities.....cont...
Civilization is not a territory, property or the wealth---to be possessed, converted, corrupted or conquered. It is the way of life, cultured and nourished on rich human values for centuries. It is not embedded in visible articles of wealth. They (values) are seeped in life that is structured on character---which is the property of the heart. Outer systems, viz., governments, educational institutions, houses of worship, industrial complexes etc., could be destroyed: But the ‘thought’ that sustains the life of a civilization, not only pervades the atmosphere but in the very depths of the times gone by. Time and history cannot be conquered. They can however be distorted: This is no annihilation; only a temporary setback which can be rectified at any future opportunity. Decline of a civilization is very gradual as its growth. Its only disease is the corruption of values on which it had initially flourished, matured and became rich. Human values are not only based on education and cultured wisdom, but play a major influencing role in making of civilizations.
What is a culture? Its real meaning is to hurt never, help ever; foregoing bad habits, avoid doing bad acts; cultivation of good character and thoughts for doing good unto others. In other words: refinement of one’s action is culture. But the basic ingredients which constitute the building block of a rich culture, are ingrained in the heart viz., love, compassion, sacrifice, perseverance, peace i.e., truth relating qualities. The former can be tinkered with, but not the latter ones’. Any cultural decline leads to the fall of civilization. However, it is saddening that these factors have continued to be ignored flagrantly time and again by the successive civilizations.
Should we draw the conclusion that humanity has to go through this vicious cycle time and again! This can not be so, since the scientists of our time proclaim that nothing is predetermined as per their theory of uncertainty. If the scientific fraternity is to be believed, then it is logical to assume that, human behavior is constant and unchanging, and it manifests in similar fashion in each succeeding civilization, though in different ways, and becomes the cause of human growth both of material and thought enlightenment as well as self annihilation.
On the other hand, if everything is predetermined, then it means we are mere puppets in the hands of destiny in which intellect has no role to play. Is this a fraud? An illusion! Or Maya, as some spiritualists believe? How preposterous? A modern thinking man will never accept this proposition.
There is also a third proposition that nothing is uncertain or predetermined, but is a one time episode. We are deflecting from our topic and going towards the oft repeated yet never ending dialogue (read controversy) between the rationalists vs. logician: scientist vs. spiritualist: religions vs. paganism. Fortunately our scope of digression is very limited and humble too. We are not after the Creator---the Intelligent-Being, or the propagandists of the ‘uncertainty’ theory who would frown upon us because, in their view, it is the purview of high profile oracles. Only those who use profanity and pollute the clean minds of the innocents are classed as specialists, experts on the subjects, about which they have little understanding. The real progenitors---the genius, are the ignored class, whose voice---as nothing survives in the ruins of civilizations, except the ‘voice’ (thought) of these humble and unknown souls---that still kindles our imagination as well as the finer sensitivities.....cont...
No comments:
Post a Comment