Integral Education

Human being views world as the structured unity. As the world is a structured unity, human being, living in the world, lives by privileging superior realities over inferior realities. This is present in every structure of the world such as political (ruling over the ruled), social (preferring rich over poor), cultural (preferring high caste over low caste), religious (soul over body and God over Human), and even now it is entering into education.

The Greek aim of education was to impart education for the growth of whole development of the personality. In other words for Greeks ‘Body + Mind+ Character= Education’. There was no stress on God.  But as the times went by, that is from 3^rd Century to 15^th Century, the imparting of education was mainly to teach religion and religious values. For this era ‘Religion = Education’. The stress of education was on religion but not on character and body. From the time of renaissance to French Revolution, education was concentrating on the human being. In other words, ‘Human Being = Education’. It had left out the education of body and religion.

Education preferred one over the other in each era according to the situation and the context. The education of today must neither privilege nor neglect and not even be neutral but become active to integrate all the elements of education that makes up whole human person from the point of society, individuality, and religion. In other words, according to me the 21^st century education is, ‘Faith + Reason + Character = Education’. The neglect of one and privileging of the other in education leads to a function of right hand and the disfunctioning of left hand even though in good condition. The need of the hour is the INTEGRAL EDUCATION.

Humanized Education

Can education become humanized science? According to my view, “Education becomes humanized when it is able to form a person to be genuinely human that is to be sensitive. In other words, humanized education is sensitivity in its full sense.

Now the other question that comes to the forum is that what is sensitivity? Sensitivity is the opening of the senses to discover the need and at the same time the capacity to respond to that need of others immediately and cheerfully. In simple words, it is extending oneself beyond oneself. An example of sensitivity could be that a blind man is unable to cross the road. A sensitive fellow will immediately reach out to help him but an insensitive fellow will stare at the blind man. The world around us with so many hungry people, destitute, uncared sick, unconcern for parents, lack of values, restriction of love to a few, absence of goodness and honesty speaks out where the education is leading the people.

Taking into account the present world scenario and the way it is moving, the main concern of the present day education is to make a student a humanized person who is able and capable of serving the society through his/her education. An education that creates a sensitive student is worthy to be called as The Education. The Education makes a person human. This is what I mean by education becoming a humanized science. 

Education as Power

Is education a power? Yes, indeed in the modern world education is made a tool to serve the powerful. In other words, it is a power in the hands of few individuals. They are the rich and the dominant that override and dictate what and how education should be.

Human beings in their innermost core of life nothing but are craving for power. Power is the essence that characterizes human life. I view the power from two points of view: Positive and Negative. Power is positive when people employ it to empower the powerless people. In other words, in the education of the people, the sole aim to make them realize their inner capacity with which they can conquer the knowledge. Power is negative when people use it to satisfy their own privileges and cravings. It means that the powerful people force their ideas, traditions and customs on the powerless people. It is clear from above that power either can produce a good human being (Positive power) or can harm the human being for his own collapse (Negative Power).

Education becomes power in the positive sense when voice is given to the voiceless, when people from margins are brought to the centre, when the cry of the poor is heard, when people are lifted up from their weakness, and when people realize their own inner power. It is the duty of education to create an environment first of all for the emergence of positive power and then to empower people for a positive powerful society. It is not a business of one day but every day business that calls for real struggle on the part of the dominant.

Personal Educational History

The history of my education goes back to the year 1992, when I joined my first year of schooling- My schooling from then went on and is for me a continuous and gradual climbing. For me, schooling was a real penance to go with a load of books, listening to the teachers till the evening, and completing homework. In a word, it was like a prison. Sometimes, purposely I used to bunk the school because of the fear of teachers and lack of interest. On the way around, my parents and some people in the neighbourhood are not educated but they are most happy and found real joy in their work.

                A serious doubt rose in me, why did my parents send me for education? I could not get the real answer to the question. As I reflect now, I was only going to school out of Force because I could not really see the meaning in education. As a word of truth, till I finished 10^th class, neither I had desire to learn nor had I found meaning in education. But once I joined +1 (intermediate), due to the instrumentality of my teachers, I began to see education differently. I viewed education as part of my growth that will enable to stand on a good ground in the future. This view of education enabled me to enjoy education that is assimilating the whole values found in every subject taught by the teachers.

                As a word of suggestion, the education of today must be capable of instilling the meaning of education from childhood and teachers must make sure that they discover the value of education. Probably, the education of today requires a change of attitude. I realize that education does not bear fruit, if I do out of force, but it does bear fruit when I begin to love and enjoy it.

Education and Character

The education, which began in Greek thousands of years ago, came into force to impart values pertaining to every stage of life. Greek tradition saw the purpose behind every subject included in the curriculum and every subject was chosen in order to impart a particular value. For example, mathematics was supposed to teach the value of Harmony with the society and individual. In that way, the Greek tradition was original, creative and at the same time saw education as a means to live a better life in the society. In a word, their education was aimed at forming the body, mind and the character of the personality simultaneously.

                The education of today which owes for its existence to Greek tradition lost the way. It is lost in instilling among the students the competitive spirit. In other words, fight of the intellect. The present education is worried and only aims to teach the pupil how to live tomorrow with securities of life and how to earn money. In other words, education as a means should teach the pupils the different techniques of money. In a way it offers hope for tomorrow and not for day after tomorrow.

                What needs to be done? Today, all the more the country needs upright citizens, citizens freely opting for honesty, compassion, love and peace. The aim of the education should be, to instill in the young burning minds with an ever desire to become people of convictions in living human life in the world.

An Ever Daring Saint

          A saint is a holy man or woman. An individual becomes a saint through his/her will to live life in an extraordinary way rooted in God and as well as that rootedness becomes manifested in the service of the people. But, seldom Catholic Church has produced a saint who is daring in his will to follow God. This daring saint for me is none other than Don Bosco.

Don Bosco, a man of God, sacrificed his whole life daringly for the welfare of the young. In his ministry as a Catholic Priest, he did everything daringly placing his full trust and confidence in God for whom he offered his life. To give an example, he undertook to build a great church in honour of Mary with just 5 lire (5 rupees) in the pocket. When people asked how can you accomplish such huge task? He daringly answered that it is the church of Mary and she will build. In fact, she did. He acknowledges it by saying that every brick is the miracle of Mary Help of Christians.

He had money neither in the pocket nor in the Bank but in his boarding he daringly accommodated as many people as he could and gave them daringly all the basic necessities of life especially food. He just said to boys daringly, to pray to God and He will grant everything needed for the sustenance. This daring attitude, Don Bosco acquired it from his personal contact with God. 

An Ever Daring Dangerous Man

Who this man could be? For me, the Man is none other than Jesus Christ. The man called Jesus was born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem dangerously amidst the animals in a manger, when people denied a place in their home of ‘heart’. From then, he began his dangerous life amidst the peoples through his radical following of God. He was ever daringly ready to do all the will of his Father. His commitment to ‘will of God’ fetched him the cross of life to carry for all the sins of mankind. He carried the cross till the Calvary and died dangerously on the cross while giving his mother Mary to be the mother of us all. On the third day, he rose even more dangerously from the tomb and appeared to his disciples and promised them the Holy Spirit.

This Daring Man from 2000 years ago continued to influence so many thousands of people to walk in his dangerous path. Interestingly, even after so many years, people find meaning in His Dangerous path. The dangerous path is nothing but committing oneself to the will of God always. This is the same Dangerous path, that all people irrespective of their status in the world are called to follow. 

Don Bosco – Shepherd of the Young

                Every age is blessed with great thinkers, great persons, and great saints but seldom with great lovers of the young.  The 19^th Century witnessed a great lover of the young especially poor in the person of Don Bosco. His influence cut across the barriers of heart, language and religion.His father died when he was just two years old. Then, he realized what life is, for poor people. Struggling in the life journey, he educated himself doing part time jobs. Later, he became a catholic priest and decided firmly to work and give his life for the welfare of the young especially for poor and abandoned youngsters. In his own words, “For you I study, for you I work and for you I am ready even to give my life.”

He went everywhere in search of the poor, went to the streets, went to the prison, went to hotels and found out that they are living in miserable conditions due to the rise of industrial revolution. Soon, he started boarding to accommodate the poor boys. To whoever joined his oratory, he promised three things, ‘Bread, work and Heaven’, started schools to give them education freely and mainly to empower them in the society and to those who cannot fare well in the school, he started for them technical schools with a view to make them honest citizens.

He became the first person in the world to start the “Preventive System of Education” against the Repressive System of Education. The basic elements of preventive system of education are ‘Reason, Religion and Loving Kindness.’ He is the man who was never tired to spend time with youngster sharing his whole life time in love, cheerfulness and joy. He was the true Shepherd of the young.

Thirst for God

 Human beings are characterized from other creatures by their capacity to reason out. While this is very much true, human beings in a great manner are characterized by their thirst for God, the source and centre of life. To a greater extent animals use their reasoning power to satisfy their bodily needs and never use reason to thirst for their Creator. The thirst for God is only exhibited by human beings. As there is thirst for water every to survive, similarly there should be a similar thirst for God. If the thirst is not quenched with water, we risk our own life. It is the drive to live that pushes each one to quench the thirst. So too, the thirst for God should never cease in the whole life. It is a call to thirst that is never quenched except by God. So, this thirst should not be a once in a week business or once in a month but every day and every minute, it should flow from our hearts.The thirst only ends at death.

Education as Survival

Today the world of education has become an important aspect of life. All the children irrespective of their economic status receive an amount of education and moreover the parents are leaving no stone unturned to see that their children receive education from an early age. Why at all so much need for education in the 20^th Century?

                Education has two goals: 1) primary goal and 2) Secondary goal. The primary goal of education is survival.  According to me, education is survival. Why is it so? After all human being has to live life and cannot do away with. Education as survival is a more-refined way of living life with happiness. Even in the absence of education in the ancient times, human being knew how to survive. But what do I mean by education is a more refined way of living life? The present education as a business is producing the superficial individuals who are qualified only in their field. It also leads to a more sophisticated life.

                The secondary goal of education is to achieve the primary goal with different means. In the process of living life, education has been viewed as a means to impart values, character of the child, maturity of mind, intellectual development of the child, and the development of the whole personality of the child. 

                However, education imparting from all that is said above, to an extent is an instrument in creating the world of peace and paves the way for the greater life filled happiness.

History and Human Being

Human being is a historical being. None of us claim to be in existence without an historical element present in the veins. In other words, whether a human being wants or not becomes a part of history with existence. The moment something comes into existence it carries the history with it and in the moment of death it leaves the history back in the world.

                Why History is so important? Life is a process comprising of all living beings. What do I mean? Birth and death occur eternally again and again. There is no end to the process of life. In this sense, life is a gradual climbing. It is a climbing from what we are not to what we are and what we will be. All that happened paves the path for the future to live the present authentically with hope. In other words, the present as it is evolved from the past and the present in its entirety can be known with its connection with the past. The moment we cut ourselves from the history, human being maps his downfall and collapse.

                The history demands that human being is prudent as to what to take and what not to take. History as it evolved can be seen from two view points: False History and Authentic History. The former is a history that paved way for the downfall of man due to evil, world wars, iniquity, wickedness, crime and the latter is a history that paved way for the emergence and up rise of man due to its source of inspiration for the future. A perfect epitome of History (false and authentic) would be that of Gandhi and Blagangadhar Tilak. In the struggle for achieving freedom, Gandhi wanted to achieve through Non-violence and Tilak through Violence. 

Experience of God

 Is it possible to experience God? Experience of God becomes impossible because, experience is something that occurs in the event of seeing (I saw a big Duck), of touching (I touched Sachin Tendulkar with my hand), of feeling  ( I ate a tasty chocolate Ice-cream), of hearing (I listened to the words of the crying child). In other words, experience resides in human being. It is tangible in the event of its occurring.  Now the question is how to experience God who is not tangible?

I say it is possible to experience God. I say ‘Yes’.  God can be experienced. God can be experienced because he becomes tangible in the human being. God becomes real and is seen in people who going out of their way extend help to the needy (feeding a hungry man), God becomes concrete in people when they receive an impossible help (getting healed from AIDS), God becomes physical through consoling people (comforting a person in the time of grief).  

Philosophy of Constitutions

Human being lives in the society. It means that human being is destined to live with other human beings. The living with the other human being may give rise to divergence. Such society with no rules is equal to living with animals. As long as Man lives in society that is with other human being, the human being needs consciously controlled common purposes. In simple words, the human being needs certain rules and regulation in living life in the society.

 It is difficult to imagine a society without such common purposes. The rules give a clear way and a sense of direction to life in the society. 

Prayer

 Prayer is something that people find difficult to practice in life. Sometimes, it is true that it is obscure to start a dialogue with the Lord and while it is also true that confusion arises as to how to pray and what to pray.

Prayer is conversing with God. It is a conversation that is endless and limitless. Prayer is endless in the sense of fulfillment and limitless in the sense of the thirst that never ceases for God. It is conversation that demands listening than speaking, contemplating than chatting, meditating than muttering some obscure words. Prayer affects the life of a person in two aspects: hearers and doers. The hearers are the people who talk with God, asks God to satisfy their craving of the mind and promise God to that. Infact they never do anything authentic in their life. The doers are the people who contemplate and live the prayer in the world through acts of generosity, kindness and compassion.

Visit of Don Bosco

St John Bosco, commonly known as Don Bosco was born in Italy in 1815 in a poor family. Living with struggles of life, went on to become a catholic priest after encountering difficulties and trials with ever enthusiasm, cheerfulness and firmness. As a catholic priest, he did all that he could, for the welfare of the young especially for poor and abandoned youngsters. He became founder of Salesian Congregation of Fathers to look after the boys and that of sisters to look after the girls. He died in 1888 living behind a great legacy of work directed towards the young people.

 Now that same Don Bosco in the form of relic is coming to meet each and every youngster, in every country. And now he is visiting every state in India to bless all the works that are doing service for poor youth. His Right Hand that performed extraordinary miracles, which cured the sick from incurable diseases that comforted the young in times of need, that blessed so many thousands of people is coming once again to bless each and every one of us. 

Philosophy of Food

A great philosopher once said, “Man is what he eats.” This statement made me to reflect on the human person. As I was reflecting I heard an inner voice “whatever the human being does is only for sustaining his body through food, cloth and shelter.  Eating becomes an essential part of everyday life. It is the primordial need of human being from which all other actions emerge. But it also must be accepted that food is not as important as work, prayer but they cannot take birth with an empty stomach. For example, don’t ask a hungry man to pray.

 Food taken by human beings sustains body and gives energy. Without the action of eating, it is impossible to discharge to duties and becomes a difficult task to share the life (time, talents, and energy) with others. Let us follow the great dictum in our lives “Eat to live but not Live to Eat”. 

Question that is Killing Me?

It is simple but yet a profound question. The question is:

What makes Human being a Being? For example, there is Anil and Sunil. Both are human beings (common) but at the same time they are different. That is they are identical and different.
Answer the question.

Put on God

The search in the life of human being is inevitable. Every moment we are ‘in search of’ something. It becomes greater search when human being is in search of God. God in His love created human beings. He gave life as a Gift to all human beings.  But question is: what is our Gift to God for His Love?

According the best that we can give to God is to put on God. What do I mean?  Human being should become a replica of God through the character. Each one is called to manifest the God in whom he/she believes. Human being needs to put on God because:  Human being matter to God. It means that God does not abandon but shows care and concern all through the human life. In other words “He is with Human” and there is no automatic salvation for human being with out the thirst for putting on God.

The key to put on God is prayer. Prayer is the key to Happy life. Happy life is a sign of God’s Gift and presence of God in human life.

The purpose to put on God is to walk in the Light. 

Truth

 The great philosopher of 19^th Century said thus, “The first best thing is not to be born and second best thing is to die.” To add to this, another great philosopher affirmed, “The moment we are born, we are towards death.”

Interestingly, both the choices birth and death are not in the hands of human being. At an uncertain point of time, human being arrives in the world through birth and at an uncertain point of time departures from the world through the death.  What is going in the above lines? Life cannot be stopped. It raises an important question with regard to life: How human beings live as long as they live? Life can be lived either for the sake of living or with a definite purpose in life to reach the destination.

Each human being is born to contribute his own share of work to the world and to accomplish the task of being unique with a difference till his/her departure from the world of life.  This is the Truth.

Authentic Human Being

Every human being in the universe strives to become authentic being. The authenticity of a person depends on his/her actions. Authenticity can be defined as the state of undisputed genuineness. In other words, the action reveals the authenticity of human person.

In the quest for authenticity, person always strives to do good in all the situations. But as human as human being is falls in the trap of evil with bad actions. Thus, authenticity is an every moment business. Authenticity emerges automatically when constantly does good and learn to know evil not by practice but by observation in others. It calls for deeper observation that keeps one away from evil.

Authenticity is not an easy task. It is a task that requires Commitment, Conversion and Dare.

The Ways

The life of every human being on the earth is a journey to wards a destination. It is a journey that starts with life and ends with death. In this journey, the human being in his/her won way struggles to do always good and also equally do away with bad. According to me the way of the journey can be categorized into two namely prudent way and imprudent way.
Prudent way: Human being walking on this way is led to discover and feel a sense of satisfaction, happiness, joy but accompanied by risks, challenges, and sacrifice. Each human being through the presence of consciousness in the self, knows that this way is quite a difficult task to journey on. The only criteria to choose this way is to opt for what the world rejects. All don't dare to walk the Prudent way as it poses the total surrender. In a word, prudent way forms life.
Imprudent Way: It is a way that offers full of pleasure, evil, temptation, attraction of the world. Most of the human beings walk this way because of immediate and momentary happiness. It is a way that is not traveled for a long time. Once human being realizes he will never dare to walk again on the imprudent way. In a word, the imprudent way makes life.

Life

The moment a being comes into existence , begins it life in the world. Every being in the world has life but in different degrees. In other words, both living beings and non-living beings have life but in different gradation. Living beings are of mainly four types: Plants, Animal, Human Being and God.
Non-living being refers to those beings which are produced for the sake of being used by others. In strict sense, they don't have life. Interestingly, through their presence they continue to inspire and influence other living beings. For example, a bottle is produced for the sake of fulfilling needs of the people who use it. Through its existence in the world, continuously affects the life of other living beings. The non-living beings are in the lower level of existence.
Plant life is in the lower rung of life. They live life without awareness. They have no capacity to act and to react. Animals are one step higher than plants. They show their capacity to act and react as per the situation demands. They live in the world of “I” and so lack the need to be sensitive. Human beings are higher than animals and plants because of the capacity to transcend the horizon of “I’ to “We” through his capacity to be sensitive.
God is in higher level than plants, animals and human beings. God is God because of 'No difference attitude'. God never shows difference between one human being and the other. For him ‘ All beings are'.