7 January 2002, 12:12am IST
K V REDDY.
We are schooled to know about our society and nature but not about ourselves, especially the nature of our mind and our spiritual potential. even as adults and senior citizens, we remain ignorant of the mischievousness of our mind and the magnanimity of our heart. our outward inquisitiveness is rarely turned inward, except at moments when we are struck by grief or crisis. even those sombre moments do not kindle inward inquiry but leave us in sad quietude. thus, we continue to be slaves rather than masters of the mind. it is that rather turbulent psyche with endless desires and narrow-mindedness which seeks false security through material gains and tries to escape the inherent aching void through sensual pleasures. it is a psyche which has to be seen and sanitised. this means trying to work towards a stage where the mind becomes free from the limitations and desires that seem to be inherent in one’s nature. the psychic energy that our thoughts and emotions are made of is what has to be negated for the tranquil and intelligent energy in the core of our being to emerge, naturalising our very state of existence. it is cellular transformation with the life-sustaining biochemicals revitalised, that actualises the blissful state of mind and body. this is the state that is diligently pursued by every spiritual master. even a karmayogi like mahatma gandhi had this as the ultimate goal with truth as the instrument. every religion expounds this ultimate goal, transcending the pleasure-obsessed violent mind. in hinduism, it is atman or soul, in islam it is rooh and in christianity it is ‘‘the holy spirit’’. this is what the renowned educationist, jiddu krishnamurthy, wanted education to ‘‘bring out’’ in the students. etymologically, education means bringing out the potential. ironically, this is what our present education lacks. being biased in favour of mere ‘intelligence quotient’ or iq, it overlooks the most vital ‘spiritual quotient’ or sq now being expounded by the spiritual gurus as ‘emotional quotient’ or eq or ‘emotional intelligence’. it is the energy of the eq that makes up and maximises the attribute known as ‘sensitivity’ or the ‘conscience’. indeed, it is the deficiency of this human sensitivity that is the root cause of our degeneration and decadence, masquerading as amoral culture, and crass civilisation fostering violence and vice-versa all over the globe. the extortion, corruption and criminality of the powerful elite and the governing polity are traceable to the glaring deficiency of sensitivity. and this encourages the corrupt rulers in perpetuating the poverty of the masses. the conspicuous corruption, mental and monetary, of the so-called ‘educated elite’ schooled and graduated in exclusive institutions confirms their depthless self-aggrandising education. this evil-oriented education manifesting as drugs, aids and anthrax needs to be revolutionised, if we are not to end up as violence feeders or worshippers of greed and goods. the universal visible effect of the present-day education is all-round sickness precipitated by the scourge of stress. unless this stress is overcome by infusing the spiritual quotient with intelligence quotient in education, there is no hope of enlivening the human nature. this is what has been emphasised in the reports of unesco propounding a perspective on education, which the ncert has been attempting to introduce in its curriculum. all the ‘human resource development’ training programmes prove to be futile, unless the real source of humanity — that is the spirit — is developed. even the popular courses being offered by various spiritual masters may turn out to be feeble attempts to spiritualise the aspirants, unless reinforced by self-awareness and knowledge of one’s own mind. as a means of eliminating the stress and strain, yoga and meditation are becoming popular worldwide. however, only steadfast resolve to realise our wonderful spiritual self or the soul, by rejecting our habitual egocentric consciousness and adopting the soul-centric awareness, can free us from our own dehumanising mind. only such self-awareness can bring out the sq or the ability to come upon bliss and move beyond it, not to mention the eq or the capacity to enjoy life and the iq or the knowledge-based analytical ability in us. developing such a three-dimensional personality should be the objective of education.
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