Towards Self-knowledge

WITH THE focus having shifted to career-oriented education today and formal educational institutions increasingly trying to tailor their curriculum to cater to this demand, the concept of formal education has undergone a sea change within a generation and this has resulted in the lopsided development of the individual. Though the average highly qualified person is successful by worldly standards, he is at heart insecure, confused and unhappy with his lot. At the societal level this has led to a situation where exploitation, corruption, indifference and violence have become the norm.

Instead of passing the buck in trying to find out who is responsible for this predicament we find ourselves in, for a concerned person a more pragmatic approach will be to do something about it. And this is exactly what a dedicated team of volunteers did after coming under the inspiring influence of Swami Suddhananda, a spiritual master who has been sharing his vision with one and all for over 25 years now.

Convinced that only Self-knowledge will enable a person to be at peace with himself and kindle that joy in others around him, Swami Suddhananda instituted the Suddhananda Foundation for Self- knowledge for imparting this knowledge at Uthandi, near Chennai. The Akshar Educational Trust developed as a natural offshoot of this Foundation when the Swamiji felt the necessity to impart Self-knowledge right from childhood as a child's mind is unconditioned by ideas and hence very receptive. The Trust now manages two schools near Chennai, one at Uthandi and the other at Thiruporur (Ammapettai) and a third one in Orissa.

These schools are naturally different from the mainstream ones and so are the teachers who have channelised their efforts to modify the prescribed school curriculum to orient the children to a higher level of awareness of their spiritual nature even while they learn the structured lessons conforming to the requirements of the School Board. The whole exercise is focussed on the holistic development of the human personality. So instead of just a bright career, the students here are well-equipped to meet the real challenges of life with equanimity and without losing their humane qualities.

What started off as an experiment has now caught on with the encouraging results seen in these institutions and the teachers shared their experience with about 100 fellow primary school teachers drawn from 50 city schools in the workshop on "Integration of Self-knowledge into School Curriculum" the Trust conducted recently. Mr. V. Venkatachalam, Principal, The Hindu Senior Secondary School, Indira Nagar, who declared the workshop open lauded the Trust for its noble endeavour to help other institutions and wished the enterprise to succeed as that would eventually build caring and conscientious citizens.

Swami Suddhananda in his inaugural address appealed to the teachers that as educators they have to constantly ask themselves what they were imparting to their wards. He cautioned that "In the name of imparting Self-knowledge we cannot afford to romanticise ignorance, poverty or renunciation while sitting in five-star comfort. We have to equip children for a career but it has to be also inculcated in them that materialistic plenty alone will not give lasting happiness. An educated person who is perverse and in power is an intellectual terrorist because he becomes very manipulative and exploitative and hence the kind of education which warps the mind can be dangerous to both the individual and society."

"The sociological definition of education as that which rescues the individual from the mass of collectivity and gives him an identity, should not make the educated inflated with ego by giving them a sense of superiority. Right education must enable the individual to know his true identity - to know his Self. These two, secular and Self-knowledge, cannot be substituted for one another. Human beings need both. Life becomes beautiful when we learn the skills to provide us material comfort and also realise inner happiness which results from Self-knowledge. Teachers have the added responsibility to impart this wisdom also," Swamiji pointed out.

In the plenary session Ms. Sarala Panchapakesan explained how teaching of Self-knowledge in the Suddhananda Vidyalaya was not as a separate subject like moral science but integrated into the system as a whole so that it became a total orientation. Ms. Vijaya Murthy explained the educational methodology adopted by the school to train teachers and how they in turn evolved strategies in their teaching.

With the help of teachers Ms. Devika Rani, Ms. Saraswathi Narayanaswamy and Ms. Susheela Raghavan, it was demonstrated how simple lessons in subjects like mathematics, history and geography could be taught to children to grasp the abstract fundamental principles of the Self and the universe. This was followed by discussions among small groups of participant- teachers and their observations and presentations.

SUDHAKSHINA RANGASWAMI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Features
Previous : Finding one's strength
Next     : Madras Miscellany