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Articles from renowned writers
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Learn what?
(Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
Only an education that can nourish inbuilt virtues can impart true intelligence
Today, it is the concern of every parent that their children should grow up to be well-educated human beings with certain values in their lives, and that they should be happy. But somewhere along the line, the link to happiness appears to be getting severed. We are losing the goal of happiness.
Look at a child, a baby, what a beautiful smile it has. What joy and friendliness it exudes. But see the face of the same child by the time he passes out of school and college. Does it still retain that joy, that innocence, that beauty that it was endowed with as an infant?
This is what we need to take a really good look at, and think: is there any way that the innocence of an individual can be retained despite growing older, despite maturing? If we can achieve that, then we will have attained something really marvellous; because innocence brings with itself a certain beauty.
Even an ignorant person can be innocent, but such innocence does not have much value. And an intelligent person can be crooked, but such intelligence does not have much value. What is worth having on this planet is an intelligence that is complementary with innocence, that does not destroy innocence.
Can we not introduce such values in our education system that every child learns to be friendly? In schools and colleges, if you ask the children how many friends they have, they’ll count on their fingers — one, two, three, four, five... Not more than that. I have a question for children: if you don’t know how to be friendly with the 40-50 children present in your classroom over a period of a year, how will you ever become friendly with the 6 billion people on the planet?
The basic tendency to make friends has been lost somewhere in the pursuit of selfish education. As a part of their education, children should be encouraged to make one new friend a day.
Like the protons and neutrons are in the centre of the atom while the negative charged particles are only on the circumference, similarly in human consciousness, mind and life also, all the negativities are in the periphery. At the core of every being, there is positivity and virtue. And if we are successful in finding the means to nourish this virtue, we will see the youth come up radiant and endowed with human values.
To me, the sign of true and lasting success is a smile (which nobody can take away from you) together with friendliness, compassion and a willingness to serve each other. That’s why it’s very painful to hear that there are shootouts in colleges today. I think it’s high time that we came together to identify ways and means of restoring the respect, honour and dignity that education has commanded historically.
The need of the day is a broad-minded education accompanied by a warm heart. It is of no use if you acquire good education and then begin to look down upon everybody else. A well-educated person is one who is friendly and compassionate, who can be a ‘‘nobody’’ with everybody.
And whether terrorism has its roots in leftist doctrine or in religious doctrine, they are all spawned in schools and colleges. That’s where the children and the youth start reflecting what is what is right and what is wrong; which, in turn, leads to deliberation as to what they should do to put the entire world right. A multicultural and multi-faith open-mindedness can come from education alone. Even if a small part of the planet is left ignorant on this level, the world will still not be a safe place.
So all the big thinkers and good minds in society today must ponder on a holistic, healthy education that will help us retain the virtues and values which we are all naturally endowed with. Together, we must help spread the significance of human values, broadmindedness and warm hearts; that should be our goal while bringing up our children.
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One people
(Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
What are human values? Compassion, friendliness, cooperation, peace of mind, joy and a smile that lasts throughout our life.
Often in society, we find a crisis based on identity. Groups form to assert their identity, (and) somewhere they lose a sense of belongingness with the whole human race. For example, ‘‘I am a Hindu’’, ‘‘I am a Buddhist’’, ‘‘I am a Muslim’’, or ‘‘I am a Christian’’.
In order to maintain this limited identity, a human being is ready to lose his very own life. Is this not what is happening today? It is the same with culture, tribe, religion and nationality.
If the emphasis was first and foremost on being a human, then there would be more peace in society and there would be more understanding among people. For this, we need to help people to see that even before they are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Christian, they are human beings. And as a human being, the whole of humanity is part of you and belongs to you.
Today, people who are looking for some identity often move into religious dimensions and get caught up in fanaticism or fundamentalism. When there is a lack of proper spiritual education or knowledge about the oneness of the human race, people take a direction that is not beneficial to the welfare of mankind. So friendliness needs to be fostered, especially at the educational level, because friendliness is our inherent nature. We can be friendly with anyone and everyone.
We need to be free of the walls and boundaries our mind has created. We need to create a sense of security from deep inside; compassion and a sense of security that dawns from deep within oneself. How can we get anger, violence and the sense of hatred out of the hearts of people? This is the problem that is facing us today. We know the answer philosophically, but what are the practical steps and how do we begin? It is here that something very basic to our life comes into play — our breath.
The might of your breath
Breath is the link between body, mind and emotions. When we are agitated, we breathe differently. When we are upset, we breathe differently. And if you are happy, your breath is different still. So if you attend to the breath, then you can see that your mind can be calmed down.
Neither at home nor in school are we taught how to handle our own emotions. When we get angry, people advise us, ‘‘Do not get angry, it is no good’’. But no one ever taught us how to get the anger out of our system. Breath plays an important role in removing anger from the mind and body.
Breath is an important source of energy, which we have completely ignored. The first thing we did coming into this world was to take a deep breath in. And the last thing we will do on this earth will be to breathe out one last breath and that will be it. Throughout our entire life we breathe, but even so, we have never attended to our breath.
Attending to our breath for just ten or fifteen minutes a day or even once a week for half an hour a day will eliminate toxins and stress. Many doctors and scientists have done extensive research on this subject. It is highly significant how such a simple thing as the breath can produce a powerful transformation in an individual’s disposition and interaction with others, as well as his or her attitude towards society.
I am very confident about this because I have seen hundreds and thousands of lives transformed. As they come in touch with themselves, they became more clear about their values. As the humanness in them increased, their sense of responsibility increased. They began to take responsibility for the society around them.
This is the basis of human values. It is not that people should sit and expect the government to take care of everything for them all the time. Rather, it is the responsibility of governments around the world to bring that quality of responsibility in people alive, so that they share a sense of belongingness as a natural feeling of more friendliness. Many things can be solved by a friendly relationship and a friendly attitude among people. We need to bring these values into society.
Human rights is protecting others’ freedom, seeing the other person is also like oneself. It is a human right; protecting someone else’s freedom, giving them security, letting them live.
Who violates human rights? Those who do not have human values. Those who do not respect human values in themselves would go and hurt, and take away the human rights from other people.
Universal values are not difficult, (but) it is far easier to talk about very vague and universal things, than to act in practice with individual cases.
You are born with this nature, to be friendly. You see a child’s face, whether it is a child from Africa, Mongolia or India — there is such a light, such a love, such a charm. Everybody is charmed by any child of the world, are they not? There is such an innocence. And innocence is feeling at home. You are born with it. You have it. It is only outer conditions that have made it a little restrictive. Once we understand, ‘‘This is only my own conditioning of the mind’’, you become free.
Human values are not something which need to be taught; these values are in-built in us. It is only the stress and tension which covers it that needs to be removed. That is all.
We are all part of one light, one life in the world
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