SWADHYAYAM SARANAM GACHCHAMI
“Swa’’ refers to the ‘‘individual self’’ and ‘‘adhyaya’’ means ‘‘study’’ or simply ‘‘education’’. The literal translation of this word then, is ‘‘self-study’’.
The word Swadhyay literally means "study of the self". The art of self-education; contemplation and study that leads to self-realisation. “You're never alone when you're reading a book.” “Self-directed education" and "un-schooling" are two emerging trends in education, referring to educating at one's own pace and in the order and style that best suits the individual. Education is, or should be, a continuous process from birth to death concerned not so much with the acquisition or knowledge as with the expansion of consciousness. Knowledge in itself is a dead end, unless it is brought into functioning relationship with environment, social responsibilities, historical trends, human and world conditions and, above all, with the evolution of consciousness which brings the infinite vastness of an unknown universe within the range of the finite human mind. “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” - Socrates. “To Educate” means to lead forward. “Forward” is the next stage on the path toward perfection. Education is the search for our soul. Education is an art, a dance. It requires openness, receptivity, mutuality and dialogue. How can we educate ourselves?
To formulate such a kind of Education, the following cardinal principles should be kept constantly in mind:
“ There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired as a child in school memorises facts and concepts from books and from what the teacher says, collecting information from the traditional sciences as well as from the new sciences. With such intelligence you rise in the world. You get ranked ahead or behind others with regards to our competence in retaining information. “ “There is another kind of intelligence, one already completed and preserved inside you. A spring overflowing, a freshness in the center of our soul. This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate. It is fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside through the conduits of plumbing-learning.” “The second knowing is a fountain-head from within you, moving out.” - RUMI. In this era of growing soul consciousness, we are awakening to an expanded understanding of our true nature. Responding to this awakening will transform our understanding of the purpose of education. This is not the time for narrowing consciousness by focusing on measurable, objective learning goals within prescriptive curriculums; it is a time to recognize and bring forth the gifts of our deep wisdom sourced from deep within. " It is the calling of great men, not so much to preach new truths, as to rescue from oblivion those old truths which it is our wisdom to remember and our weakness to forget. " - Sydney Smith (1771-1845) " An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject and how to avoid them. " - Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), The Part and the Whole. Sir Francis Bacon has emphatically stated that “Wide reading maketh a full man“. It’s not so easy to distinguish the ‘right ’ spiritual books from the ‘not so very right’ spiritual books. The world is full of either totally wrong spiritual books … or ‘fifty percent’ right spiritual books or ‘eighty percent’ right spiritual books … and so on and so forth. However, there are totally right spiritual books too. A few examples are … books by Annie Besant, Osho, Carlos Castaneda, Deepak Chopra, Richard Bach, Jane Roberts, Shirley Maclaine, Linda Goodman, Barbara Marciniak, Mikhail Naimy, Kahlil Gibran, etc., etc. There are so many extraordinary spiritual books. We have to encourage every person to read the same right books. Namaste ... |
BHAJAGOVINDAM
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