Complete works of Swami Abhedananda

by Swami Prajnanananda | 1967 | 318,120 words

Swami Abhedananda was one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and a spiritual brother of Swami Vivekananda. He deals with the subject of spiritual unfoldment purely from the yogic standpoint. These discourses represent a study of the Social, Religious, Cultural, Educational and Political aspects of India. Swami Abhedananda says t...

Chapter 2 - Practical Education

(Delivered at Kualalampur, Rangoon, in 1921)

Mr. Chairman, Sisters and Brothers of Kualalumpur,

I am very pleased to be present on thia occasion. I am also pleased to see the progress of this school that was started seven years ago. Under the management of our Swami Videhananda it has made considerable progress and you have noticed during the recitations of the music how cleverly the young boys and girls played their parts. If they had to play these parts in a foreign tongue, I do not believe they would have enjoyed it or you would have enjoyed it as much as you have done now. Because nothing is dearer to us than our mother tongue. Our mother tongue and our motherland are the two things we most revere. Do you know the meaning of the mother tongue? It is the language which the child inherits from its mother not only after its birth but also before it is born—during the per-natal condition of the mother. Whatever thoughts and ideas the mother may have during that period, the child inherits them. These ideas the child learns to think in the tongue which the mother speaks. You must remember that all our thoughts cannot be expressed unless we use words. Words are absolutely necessary in thinking. For instance, if you think of the table, you will have to repeat the word table, table, table before your mind. There is a relation between thought and words. The science of language tells us that here lies the secret of the thinking power of the child. The child must think in words, and which are the words that are most convenient for the child to utter the words which it learns from its mother, and not in a foreign tongue, because the brain-cells and the whole nervous system of the child is trained by the mother. This happens not after the birth, but from the per-natal days before the birth. Therefore, our mother tongue stands out as the first language. You must not neglect that. What is your worth, as our Chairman has said correctly, if your mother language is neglected.

You see that I now speak in English, and I never spoke in English before I left India 25 years ago, but when I was lecturing in England many of the Englishmen said that I spoke better English than they themselves. I have no English accent, and you know how Englishmen speak. They close their mouths in a peculiar manner when they speak. They are so proud their mother tongue that they twist it in any way they like. No matter how ugly it sounds. Still the moment an Englishman talks, we know that he is an Englishman, because of his English accents. Go to the different parts of England and listen how some of them speak. If you go a few miles out to Wales or to Scotland, you will find the accent more marked. Specially is this so in Scotland where a man will say that he will go to church. The accent of an Englishman, living in London, is one, and that of people outside is another. Outside London you get what is called ‘Cockney’. Even if you understand English you would not be able to understand that language. So there are different pronunciations and different accents in the English language. I have kept off all these accents. In America again, they have their own accents, which amounts to a nasal twang. I do not have any American accents either. I develop all my power of thinking in my native tongue. I was a Sanskrit scholar. If I were not a Sanskrit scholar it would have been difficult for me to speak in a foreign tongue so well, because Sanskrit is the mother of the English language. Several words in the English language can be traced back to the Sanskrit. It is the root, and if you neglect the Sanskrit language you neglect the root. If you let the root rot away and try to water the branches, do you think that the tree will grow by putting water on the branches? That is absurd. The mother tongue should never be neglected. A child’s brain is formed so that it may develop the centre of speech. A study of the nervous system and of the brain will make you realize that the power of speech is created by the soul in the brain. For instance, a man who exercises the right hand in his daily life develops his centre of speech in the left side of the brain, and the man who uses his left hand develops his speech-centre in the fight side of the brain. There are two hemispheres in the brain. The right-hand centre is in the left, and the left-hand one in the right The soul develops the speech-centre which must correspond with the mother tongue first. What is the use of learning a foreign language which is not your mother tongue, and which makes you neglect your mother tongue? Your whole life, i.e. the whole basis of your family life, depends upon your ideas and imagery you have gathered in your mind. Now, every individual, no matter where he belongs to, has an imagery which he holds in his mind, and which is expressed outwardly by words. You must form your own imagery by your own mother tongue. Otherwise, it would be unnatural. In Europe there are different nations. In Switzerland the boys and girls have to learn five different languages. You know that Switzerland is in the centre of Europe, surrounded by other nations speaking other languages. On one side is Germany, on other sides are Austria, Italy and France. As English is the language of the market, the Swiss has to learn it. So that a Swiss boy has to learn first of all the Swiss language, the German, French, Italian and English. A Japanese must learn his mother tongue before he learns a foreign language. Similarly the English boy or girl must learn English first. Now English is universally spoken all over the world. Anyone who speaks English can easily travel the world. Of course, with us it is different. We are British subjects. We have to earn our bread and butter by serving the Government, and, therefore, we must speak their language. But we should consider English as a secondary language. If we had not to earn our living by serving the Government we would not have to learn English. Our mother language Sanskrit is perfect, it is older and better than any European language. It generally takes two years to train one’s mind to think in a foreign language, but one can think easily in one’s mother tongue.

The English language is imperfect and ungrammatical, because there are so many exceptions to a rule in English grammar. A foreigner finds it very difficult to learn English. It has no phonetic rule, and therefore it is imperfect. For instance, whereas the letter ‘O’ in the word ‘to’ is pronounced in one way, the letter ’O’ in ‘go’ is pronounced in quite a different way. The sound of the ‘O’ varies according to the word in which it is used. Again, we pronounce though (dho) in one way and cough (kof) in quite a different way. A Frenchman finds it difficult to learn English; a German will find it very difficult though the English language is derived from low-German. ‘Anglo-Saxon’ means English and German mixed together, for the Saxons came from Germany originally. Low-German is the origin of most of the English words. For instance, wasser in German became water in English, the letter ‘S’ being turned into ‘T’ Again, there are other words like father, mother, brother, sister, in the English language which are derived from Sanskrit.

Sanskrit travelled through Greece and through Latin countries to England and to all the Anglo-Saxon languages. For instance,

English
Mother
Father
Brother
Daughter
Sister
Serpent
Path
Sanskrit
Matar
Pitar
Bhratar
Duhitar
Sassar
Sarpa
Patha

So you see when you neglect Sanskrit, our mother tongue, the origin of the English language, we make a fundamental mistake. You are neglecting your mother tongue. And that is the language in which you should try to train your children and not in English which is a market language. What is the use of burdening the young minds with foreign words, a foreign vocabulary, and foreign ideas which are entirely different from the imagery which they have derived from their mothers? This is the scientific reason why each parent should realize the necessity of educating their boys and girls in their mother tongue first. A rudimentary start at least should be made in the mother tongue. Go to any philologist and he will tell you the same thing. So the parents who neglect their children’s mother tongue make a great mistake. They generally make their children unfit for thinking.

What is the object of education? The object of education is to enable a person properly to stand on his feet and understand the laws of nature, to understand not only the ordinary law of physical nature, but the mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual nature. If you cannot think, you are not able to express your thoughts in words. But when you can express your thoughts in one language, you are perfectly free to express them in another language. It does not take any time to learn how to speak English. If you try to speak English even when you have passed the fifth standard in your own language, it will take only a short time. It will not be difficult if you have learnt to think in your mother tongue. The object of education is not only to learn to think, but to think independently. You must not be a phonograph of other people’s thoughts. You must be original in your own thinking. This is the first thing. You see our great Lord Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna. He was absolutely original. He never went to any school or college because he did not want to be a phonographer for the people’s thoughts. When you study a book your mind absorbs the thoughts of the writer, and you must know that those thoughts are only suggestions which help you to think in that line. We do not gain any knowledge from outside. Knowledge cannot be poured from outside into the brain of a child. Books help us to acquire suggestions which are like pebbles thrown into a pool. They create ripples and react. So when a suggestion is thrown into a child’s mind it beings to react and in that reaction the child gathers what is called ‘knowledge’. Knowledge comes from within. Our soul is a part of the Infinite. Our soul is all-knowing. All knowledge is already buried within us and we do not know how to bring it out. You are making mistake by giving the suggestion in a foreign tongue which will not create the reaction so quickly as it would do if you give suggestion in your mother tongue.

In America, do you know what they are adopting in their Kindergarten schools? They are not adopting the usual English alphabet, but they have taken the Hindu system of phonetics, as is seen in Sanskrit. For instance, in Sanskrit we do not use the letter g-o (jio) and pronounce go, because it is not scientific. It is not the scientific way, it is not phonetic. You see all the vowels and consonants in Sanskrit language are perfect. See the first five consonants. All our sounds are produced according to the position of the tongue and mouth from which they are uttered. For instance, when you open your mouth and utter the guttural sounds, except the vowels, they are five, viz., ka, kha, ga gha, uma. Now what sound can you pronounce by keeping your mouth wide opened? Four out of five: ka, cha, ta, tha, pa. The last of these would be when you close the lips and then open. Then you close and utter again from the root of the teeth: ta, tha, da, dha, na. Again you have five sounds: pa, pha, ba, bha, ma, which can be pronounced only with the lips. This is absolutely a perfect science. In the English language you neglect the phonetic system. For example ‘H’ (ech) is pronounced as Hah. Now in the Kindergarten schools in America they are taking up this phonetic system that all the sounds should be called as they are uttered and this is very perfect. In America, they are changing the whole construction of the English language, and are taking out the letters which are not pronounced. There in the Kindergarten system of America, the mind of the child is consulted before they give any education to the child. In a Kindergarten school, different things are kept, for instance, clay, pencils, slates. There are pictures, blocks of letters, and the children are brought into the room and are asked what they would like to make, whether a figure of a cat, a snake or something like that. That is the test, and that test is set before they give any instruction. If the child has any inclination of drawing, it must be developed in that line, if for music, that must be his line. That system should be introduced into our Kindergarten schools. The education that you get in the English schools is not the right kind of education. I have thought about this great problem. We do not want to denationalize ourselves; we do not want to neglect our mother tongue. But still we must have education. For this end I have made up my mind to have in Calcutta an institute for practical instruction, where there may be not only the development of the body, mind, and intellect, but where men may grow up and become spiritual giants. As I have already stated, you do not understand the value of education and the value of environment. You do not know anything about yourselves. You do not know how you should eat, what food is necessary for the growth of the body. You do not know what food Will develop your thoughts, your brain, your muscles, your bones and your nervous system. You eat at random because you do not know better. You think that a lot of chilly will stimulate your brain, but you do not know that thereby you are ruining your stomach. You do not know practical Chemistry and the results of food analysis. Study Chemistry i.e., practical Chemistry, in which all the food-stuffs are analyzed to their proper elements. You do not know what chemical elements are necessary for the growth of the body, or what amount of acid is secreted by the stomach for digestive purpose. If you take such food as will stop the secretion of the stomach then you will have indigestion. If you increase the secretion of the gastric juice in the stomach then you will have a false appetite. That is another disease. You will have a desire to eat at all the times. That is a disease from which great many people suffer. That is why it is absolutely necessary to have a practical education. You know nothing about your body or how to keep it well or how to protect it from the germs of diseases. You do not know what kind of water to drink and from what vessel. I have noticed that you do not clean the metal vessels from which you drink. They must be cleaned every time and must be well polished so that no dirt can remain. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Water contains germs. This knowledge can be gained only from practical education and this should be taught to our boys and girls. Hygiene must be taught to them. Get a food chart and have it hung in the school. It will give details of the chemical elements of all kinds of food. Rice is the best food. It has all the qualities for the growth of the body, mind and brain. It has everything. But rice must be unpolished. Polishing should not be done. Polished rice is not good and should not be eaten because the polishing process takes away the vitamin of the rice. The Japanese people ate polished rice and they got the terrible disease called Beri-beri. The eating of rice will make the growth of your hair perfect and those who do not eat rice gradually become baldheaded or lose their hair. If you imitate the English diet and the English method of eating you will soon find that your digestive system is not fit to digest meat. You will get sick. Your stomach is not trained to eat beef and pork. You have inherited your diet, your tastes and your stomachs from your forefathers and if you discard that diet, you will get sick and contract diseases. You may remain vegetarians, because from the vegetables you get all the nourishment that one gets from meat. It is not necessary to eat meat. The moment you take to eat meat you will acquire the tendency to drink, because meat and drink must go together. Therefore, those who eat meat cannot stop their drinking habit and accept prohibition. That is why in America where they have prohibition they are encouraging vegetarianism. They have found that they can get all the essential food-elements from peas, beans and other vegetables, and wheat and rice.

My frineds, you are living in a land from where you cannot see the great changes going on in the outside world; the changes are all based upon the fundamental principles of education which we have inherited from our ancient Rishis, Another thing must I tell you that it is necessary for us to learn what are the requirements of the body, what are the requirements of the mind. Our education must not only help us to know ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually, but it must also help to understand our environments. You do not understand why seasons come and go. You do not know what is the relation of the earth to the solar system. You ought to know the relations of the planets, and some elementary knowledge of Astronomy should be imparted to the boys and girls, as for instance, that the earth is rotating round its axis. The rising and setting of the sun should be told in a story form. The sun is so far away that it looks to us like a small disc. It is ninety-three millions (93,000,000) of miles away and the light takes nine minutes to come from the sun to the earth, travelling at the rate of one hundred and eighty six thousand (186,000) miles per second. Think of the distance of these stars which are so far away. Some of them are bigger than our sun. The light travelling from these stars, takes years to reach the earth. In the meantime, the planets might have been destroyed, but still we see the light. When you see a star, you are looking at a thing that was star in the past. You must not think that it is just, as you see it now, but just as it was, when the light started to travel from the star, say fifty years ago. Can you imagine that? You do not see what it is at present, but what it was a hundred or a thousand years ago. This is rather a revelation to you, but these are the things you have to learn. Then you will be able to get a clear idea of what the world is like.

You are thinking of a Creator. Where is He? You are told of the heaven. Where is it? Where is heaven? It is but a mental state. You go on living on this physical plane. It is just as when you go to sleep in a dream. You see certain things in a dream. Do you know where you see those dreams? Is it in the external space? No, it is in the mental space. You must think of these truths and realize them. Then your life will be worth-living. To do a little clerical work is not the ideal of life. If you want to stand on your feet, and enjoy your freedom you must be independent. Manufacture something, and invent something, just as they do in England. There they do not want to be clerks; they want to be independent. That idea of self-help we have lost. That is the greatest degeneration which we are going through now. Unless we reform ourselves and develop our self-culture, no one can help us, and God cannot help you unless you help yourselves. All education must be in harmony with common sense. It is the best sense that God has given us. It is the Divine wisdom. It will be the Brahmajnana, when it is developed to the knowledge of the Brahman, the infinite Being. Do not accept blindly the doctrines and dogmas which you hear. If they appeal to your reason, and if they are beneficial to you and your fellow-beings, then accept them. This is the true ideal of education, and it will help you individually to develop your buddhi (intelligence), and grasp the fundamental principles of life and death, which is the result of the highest Education.

This is explained in the Vedas. We, the Hindu people, have always longed for knowledge. Long before the British Government had built schools in India, we had our village schools, our Pathashalas, our high schools for Sanskrit, and other places of education. In almost all villages, we had schools, and these schools imparted knowledge in different branches of learning. Science, philosophy, and moral and spiritual laws were taught.[1] All these different brances [branches?], the parents must learn first. If the parents do not know them, then they should not beget children. Ignorant fellows ought not to have children at all. They should go without children and without wives. Unless the parents are properly educated, they cannot educate their children. By the education of children we give the greatest help to mankind.

Therefore, vidya is the highest thing. We worship Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom. There are two kinds of vidya, para-vidya and apara-vidya. Para-vidya is the highest knowledge which can be gained. Apara-vidya is the knowledge of this world which, as I have already described, is the knowledge of the laws which govern our bodies and mind and which help us to understand our environments. Para-vidya is the highest wisdom, the knowledge of the Infinite, which enables us to know that this world is only playground where we live only for a time.[2]

Our highest ideal is to know who we are, what we are, why we have come to this world, why we go, and where we go after death. These are the most important questions. Prepare your children by giving them such education. They will then not only be thankful to you, but they will be able to understand their own physical conditions and the laws which govern their life on this material plane and also the moral and spiritual laws which will ultimately lead to the benefit of mankind and the attainment of God-consciousness. This is the goal of all education. Whether you learn English or any other language, you must remember that the highest ideal of all education is the attainment of God-consciousness. Then and then only we will realize that we are the children of the immortal Bliss. Then and then only we shall gain, true happiness in this world, and after death we shall enter the abode of supreme happiness, eternal bliss and everlasting life.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cf. Swami Abhedananda: India and Her People, pp. 170-215.

[2]:

These have already been discussed before.

FAQ (frequently asked questions):

Which keywords occur in this article of Volume 2?

The most relevant definitions are: Sanskrit, vidya, soul, hand, para, India; since these occur the most in “practical education” of volume 2. There are a total of 20 unique keywords found in this section mentioned 49 times.

Can I buy a print edition of this article as contained in Volume 2?

Yes! The print edition of the Complete works of Swami Abhedananda contains the English discourse “Practical Education” of Volume 2 and can be bought on the main page. The author is Swami Prajnanananda and the latest edition is from 1994.

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