Universal truths from universal men

It is amazing to see how life unfolds in silence. Sunlight helps plants to grow, bear fruit and flowers. Rivers flow, carving through land and making them fertile on both its sides. Animals and plants each have a role within the ecosystem. But the purpose of human life on earth remains a mystery, though it has been interpreted differently by different cultures 

All animals learn through observation of their parents and the herd and information is absorbed through the act of participating in life. In humans though, education is largely seen as a process of information being imparted through books and words. But as every parent knows, you teach children more by doing than by saying what to do and what not to. In ancient India though, the Gurukul system of education in the Vedic era (before 5000 B.C) was based on total immersion when the student actually lived in the school and learned not just through information from but observation of the teacher.  Information is given but the learning happens in silence. To be moulded in the image of the parent or the teacher it needs more than words so children can absorb the nutrients and process them in silence to blossom fully - not just to understand the rules, but to internalize ethical basis of their parent or teacher and know right from wrong when there is no sign-post. So while residing in Guru’s Ashram,  they learnt to be helpful to each other, they grew up  to understand what it is to be dignified, self reliant, and responsible citizens. That made them good human beings and good house holders as well, not just technically legally compliant citizens.

This scenario changed drastically when the Britishers invaded this country. They brought new education system, which while it had many new topics, was dependent on bookish knowledge and though it brought many new ideas, it was designed to make people faithful and obedient to them and who's greatest ambition in life would become to secure a life-long job in government. And that hasn't changed over the last two hundred years. It never aimed to make great saints, philosophers, intellectuals or social reformists - and yet they emerged because of the historic fabric of the traditional systems of education that are so part of the Indian culture itself. 

Two such people were Tagore and Gandhi - Tagore who was a Nobel laureate poet, focused on undoing the clerical structure of education to bring back the native Bengali love of free thinking, poetry and the liberal arts and recreated the traditional educational system in my hometown called Shantiniketan (literally translates to 'abode of peace'). Life and education was experienced alike with 'classes' held under a tree where the curriculum was defined more by nature and desire of young minds than by a textbook driven curriculum. Tagore was a universal man deeply rooted to Indian cultures and his vision of India was as a multicultural land, and  he wrote, “The doors have opened in the west. All shall give and take, mingle  and mingled in, none shall depart.  dejected, from the shore of the sea of. Bharat’s great harmony.”

Gandhi, who was himself a British educated lawyer, focused on self-reliance and the dignity and respect of manual labor in a world that respected paper more than cloth. He taught people to weave their own cloth so they would not be dependent on British clothes and on led salt marches to the oceans as a symbolic gesture of self-reliance on the most basic of elements in food - salt. Through Swadeshi (self-ruled) movement, he encouraged people to use locally made products. Gandhi grew up in the world of books and laws yet saw the world through the lens of agriculture and labor and while he thoroughly understood the western mind and educational system, having studied law in England and worked as a lawyer in South Africa, but he was deeply rooted to the Indian way. He said, “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 “. 

Perhaps the core beliefs of these two greats sons of India are as relevant today for the world as they were for India under the British.