Skip to main content

Integral Education with Science and Spirituality for Holistic Human Growth


During the present globalised age, there is a rapid technological advancement and the world has shrunk in size. The concept of global world civilization is slowly emerging. It has allowed a culture of rampant consument society. Education, as an institution of today’s society has reacted accordingly by becoming more market oriented. At present, education is more a means of acquiring the ability to deposit wealth or secure a white collar job. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the commoditization of education has a central focus on profit. Various technological and vocational courses of study have mushroomed, with least emphasis on values such as peace, love, truth, forbearance and compassion in the present day curriculum. Modern education system in India is fabricated on western materialistic and imperialistic ideals, thereby creating situation of unrest, turmoil, absence of sensitivity and empathy.
We can say education today sharpens our mind but hardens the heart. There is a phenomenal development in intellectual’s abilities and technical expertise in various spheres but unfortunately at the cost of moral and spiritual well being. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “Our scientific power has overturned our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” The present age is witness of thus…..reality that how excess of knowledge and power without holiness make human beings devil. It’s imperative for us to realize that value education needs to get priority in our curriculum in order to come out of this death trap.
Dr. Radhakrishnan has very rightly expressed “Education to be complete, must be human, it must include not only training of the intellect, but the refinement of the heart and the disciple of the spirit. No education can be regarded as complete if it neglects the heart and the spirit. No nation in the world can hold its place of primacy in perpetuity. What counts in the moral contribution we make to human welfare. Let us, therefore try and develop the qualities of charity in judgement and compassion for people who are suffering. If we adopt such an approach the tensions of the world will diminish rapidly.”
Education is the instrument as well as a catalyst for social transformation, and it has to act again as a torchbearer for the upheaval of humanity, love, happiness and purity. Gandhiji too was against following the western thoughts in our education system and even derogated it as mere factory for making government employees or clerks. He expressed very eloquently, “I do not want my house to be walled on all sides, nor windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” He stressed that the true education is that which draws out and stimulates the spiritual, intellectual and physical faculties of the child. The end of all knowledge must be the building of character and self-realization, in itself. It should comprise all a comprehensive ideal. It is only by such an integral education system, envisaged by that we can bring about a qualitative change in human life and establishes peace on earth.
Swami Vivekananda emphasized on a curriculum which could lead to multi sided and all round development of education. He talked about synthesizing Science and Vedanta, Modern and Ancient Knowledge. According to him what is really needed in India is a harmony between Western Science and Indian spiritualism. The right kind of Education is one which combines science with spirituality, reason with faith, empirical knowledge with intuition and insight. Only then, Holistic Human Development will occur and Peace and Integrity will prevail on Earth.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Kunan Poshpora

We know that the heartbreaking Kunan Poshpora incident occurred on February 23, 1991, when unit(s) of the Indian army launched a search and interrogation operation in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, located in Kashmir’s remote Kupwara District, at least 100 women were gang raped by soldiers that night. However, human rights organizations including Human Rights Watchhave said that the number of raped women could be as high as 150. What a shame! But nay, don’t take the name as the rapists were men in uniforms. It will bring bad name!!! But how debauch it is all in the name of nationalism? Seriously, what a measles it is to the humanity. The rapists will not be oppressors as they were the men in uniforms? How derogatory it is in all forms! Indeed, what happened that night was horrible, but what is more horrible perhaps is that though the justice is not yet served, the same atrocious crime is still doing the rounds in corner, and now even in open air with nationalist

A BRANDING LESSON: TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE FOCUS ON ONE THING

The world is moving at a very fast pace and everybody is working hard to get ahead in as short a time as possible. As a result, people are cramming up their calendars with more and more. Their ‘to-do’ list just never seems to end. The ability to multitask seems to be the most essential requirement in the work environment. However, the fact is that no one has ever been able to achieve much this way. To be successful in life – Focus on one thing! Research has shown time and again that the human mind is not meant to multitask. Not just that, research now even proves how long-term multitasking is actually harmful for the brain. A study done in 2009 by Stanford proved that frequent multitaskers were not able to use their brain as efficiently as non-multitaskers. The scary part is that frequent multitaskers were less effective even when asked to focus on one activity. Trying to get too much done in one go is not a good idea. It will not get you quick success; rather, focusing on one thin

SIMPLE SECRET TO SUCCESS

Amazon is today the one of the largest retailers of the world. Most of us have bought or at least browsed through the zillion things the site sells. Most of us have also patiently read the numerous customer reviews before proceeding to check out and finally buying the stuff. Now, here is an interesting fact. Most of the reviews are written by people whose job is to review products sent to them by Amazon. So they are not normal customers like you and me for they did not pay for the stuff they are reviewing. The important thing to note here is the fact that ‘customer review’ is an important factor today in building market share. It’s proved that products which get a feedback, that is are reviewed, are sold more than products which get no reviews. So Amazon has developed a program called ‘Vine’ where some trusted reviewers are invited to be a part of it. Through these reviewers, it populates its site with reviews which can help customers. In the virtual world, to be successful, you ne