Chapter 6.3 - Education of the Downtrodden Masses of India

It goes without saying that there is an immense relationship between society and education. The very basis of the all-round development of a society is education. Without it no society can make progress at all. Again a society like India where the problems like poverty, neglect of the masses, untouchability, denying women their basic rights, unemployment, etc. prevail, education is the utmost necessity. Vivekananda wanted India to take full advantage of modern science and technology to fight poverty and unemployment. In this connection, his advice to Jamshedji Tata may be recalled. He advised Tata to create a strong industrial base in India. As a first step towards that, Vivekananda advised him to set up an Institute of Science and Technology. Acting on that advice Tata did start such an institute which is now wellknown in the country and interestingly invited Vivekananda to be its first Director. What reply Vivekananda gave to that invitation is not, however, known.

Swami Vivekananda favoured the Vedic education system to raise the common masses of people. In Vedic period education occupied prominent place in society. Education was considered as pious and important for society. Vedic age had a system of education in which hearing, chanting and memorizing, played a great part. Education was compulsory for everybody for becoming cultured. Education was the fully capable of bringing physical, intellectual and character development. It was capable of bringing social efficiency and happiness, preservation and spread of culture, infusion of piety and religiousness and development of best type of personality. There was a cordial relationship between Guru and pupils during Vedic and Post-Vedic period. Through education efforts were being made to infuse―Satyam Shivam and Sundaram inside the students. A great importance was attached to Veda in that education system. Self-study was considered more important during that period. The Vedic period favoured equal education for women.

Society consists of individuals. If the maximum number of individuals of a certain society is neglected, that society can not make any progress. It happened in India during the time of Vivekananda. Vivekananda used to say that neglect of the masses was a national sin, for which India was paying dearly. Again, talking of caste, he said it was intended to be very scientific system allowing everybody to develop his aptitudes fully, but it ended up being a most heinous machinery of torture for a vast number of people. Its worst feature was branding a section of people as untouchable. According to him, the day India started using the word untouchable, its downfall began.

Again in his time there was a great division of men and women. Women were deprived of their educational rights. Vivekananda thought no society could prosper if it neglected its women. He wanted Indian women to receive equal opportunities for education as men. He asks ‘can a bird fly on one wing?’ Again child marriages caused him pain and shock. In exasperation he once said that he would not hesitate to murder a man who was trying to give away a child in marriage. He was for giving good education to women so that they could take care of themselves. He did not want menfolk to interfere in affairs which concerned women exclusively.

According to Vivekananda, education makes the difference between two societies. His extensive travels gave him the opportunity to know the socio-economic condition of the peoples of the developed countries like England, America, France etc. He came to the conclusion that the difference was created by education. In his view for the material prosperity of a society education is utmost necessity. But the education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life is not real education. Besides the other qualities of real education, it must also enable one to stand on one’s own legs. That is, it must give us employment. But giving employment is not the only character of real education. What our society needs is the education which equip us for the struggle for life, which builds our character, which brings to us a spirit of philanthropy and the courage of a lion to the mind. At this point he criticizes the present education system by saying that the modern education system has made us only machines and we are living a jellyfish existence. He says “The education that you are receiving now in schools and colleges is only making you a race of dyspeptics.”^[1] So he says “By education I do not mean the present system, but something in the line of positive teaching, mere book-learning won’t do. We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mine is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.”^[2]

Vivekananda was quite aware of solving the problems of Indian society. He knew that education is the panacea of all social evils. Therefore the first duty is to educate the people. He says if we are to live at all, must adjust ourselves to the times. If we are to live at all, we must be a scientific nation. Hence according to Vivekananda our part of the duty lies in imparting true education to all men and women in society. As an outcome of that education, they will of themselves be able to know what is good for them and what is bad and will spontaneously shrew the latter. It will not be then necessary to pull down or set up anything in society by concern. Both boys and girl should be educated equally.

Vivekananda was proud of India’s glorious past. He was sure of India’s bright future, but the present condition of India made him miserable. His compassionate heart bled for the downtrodden Indian people. Vivekananda exhorted his countrymen to stir themselves for the task of removing poverty, spreading education and nullifying social injustices. He prescribed religion of Vedanta for India. And here the patriot in Vivekananda came out more outstanding than the monk in him. In a remarkable letter writing from Chicago in 1894 to the Maharaja of Mysore, Swami Vivekananda makes the following appeal, “The one thing that is at the root of all evils in India is the condition of the poor. The poor in the west are devils; compared to them ours are angels, to raise our poor, the only service to be done for our lower class is to give them education, to develop their lost individuality.”^[3] According to him that is the great task between our people and princes. But up to now nothing has been done in that direction. Priest power and foreign conquest have trodden them down for centuries, and at last the poor of India have forgotten that they are human beings. They are to be given ideas. Their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them; and then they will work out their salvation. Our duty is to give them ideas and that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as the effect. This is what to be done in India. According to Vivekananda, all the members of a society ought to have the same opportunity for obtaining wealth, education, or knowledge.

Vivekananda says that from the day when education and culture etc. began to spread gradually from patricians to plebeians, grew the distinction between the modern civilizations of western countries, and the ancient civilizations of India, Egypt, Rome etc. Vivekananda asks the higher classes to take up the task of spreading education among the masses. The lower classes should be made understand that they are the part and parcel of the higher classes and the higher classes do not hate them. If they receive this sympathy from the higher classes, their enthusiasm for work will be increased a hundredfold. The duty of the higher classes lies in kindling their knowledge with the help of modern science. They should be taught history, geography, science, literature, and along with these the profound truths of religion. In exchange for that teaching, the poverty of the teachers will also disappear. Again, by mutual exchange both parties will become friendly to each other. And teaching should be important irrespective of caste or creed.

He strongly believes that a nation is advanced in proportion as education and intelligence spread among the masses. The chief cause of India’s ruin has been the-monopolizing of the whole education and intelligence of the land among a few men. If we are to rise again, we shall have to do it by spreading education among the masses. The only service to be done for our lower classes is to give them education to develop their individuality. Their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them, and then they will work out their own salvation.

The most unique contribution of Vivekananda for the creation of new India was to open the minds of the higher-class Indians to their duty towards the downtrodden masses. He spoke about the role of the labouring classes in the production of the country’s wealth. Vivekananda was the first religious leader in India to speak for the welfare of masses. He was the first to formulate a definite philosophy of service, and organized large-scale social service. As a true patriot Swami Vivekananda was too emotional about the condition of poor and downtrodden masses of contemporary India. Vivekananda was a genuine friend of the poor and the weak. He was true friend particularly of the helpless masses of India. And he was the first Indian leader who sought a solution to their problems through education. He argued that a nation was advanced to the extent the education and culture reached the masses. Unless there is uniform circulation of national blood all over the body, the nation could not rise again. He insisted that it was the duty of the upper classes, who had received their education at the expense of the poor, to come forward and uplift the poor through education and other means. In fact, the Vivekananda’s mission was for the poor. He once said that there must be equal chance for all or if greater for some and for some less–the weaker should be given more chance than the strong.

Vivekananda felt that alienation of any kind from the masses of society,–whether it be alienation through learning, through wealth or through force of arms–weakens the leadership of a country. Therefore, for a sustainable regeneration of India, top priority must be given to educating the masses and restoring to them their lost individuality. They should not only be given education to make them self-reliant, but also ideas, moral training and an understanding of their own historical situation. Then they can work out their own salvation. Furthermore, they must be given culture, without which there can be no hope for their long-term progress

From Ramakrishna, Vivekananda received an important teaching that “Jiva is Shiva” (each individual is divinity itself). This became his Mantra, and he coined the concept of daridra narayana seva–the service of God in and through (poor) human beings. ‘If there truly is the unity of Brahman underlying all phenomena, then on what basis do we regard ourselves as better or worse, or even as better-off or worse-off, than others?’–This was the question he posed to himself. Ultimately, he concluded that these distinctions fade into nothingness in the light of the oneness that the devotee experiences in Moksha. What arises then is compassion for those ‘individuals’ who remain unaware of this oneness and a determination to help them. He belonged to that branch of Vedanta that held that no one can be truly free until all of us are. Even the desire for personal salvation has to be given up, and only tireless work for the salvation of others is the true mark of the enlightened person. He founded the Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission on the principle of Atmano Mokshartham Jagat-hitaya cha (for one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the World). Like Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda encourages even those whom everyone considered worthless and changed the very course of their lives thereby. He never destroyed a single man’s special inclinations. He gave words of hope and encouragement even to the most degraded persons.

An ideal society, according to Vivekananda, should provide the resources as well as the opportunity for each of its members to develop his or her potential to the maximum. Education must embrace the whole society, with special attention to those who are most in need of it and who, for one reason or another, are unable to avail themselves the existing facilities. The concept of equalization of educational opportunities is essentially linked with the notion of equality in the social system. In a society if all the individuals are treated as equal, they get equal opportunities for advancement. Since education is one of the most important means of upward mobility, it is through an exposure to education one can hope to achieve higher status and position. But for getting education one must have equal opportunities like other individuals of the society. If educational opportunities are not distributed equally, the inequalities in the social structure continue to be perpetuated. It is in this light the quality of educational opportunity has been visualized. There are various reasons for emphasizing the equality of opportunity in education. Some of these reasons are given here. First of all, equal educational opportunity is needed because it is through the education to all the people in a democracy; the success of democratic institutions is assured. Secondly, the equality of educational opportunities will ensure rapid and longlasting development of a nation. Thirdly, there will develop a closer link between the manpower needs of a society and the availability of skilled personnel. Thus, in a society if everyone is provided with equal educational opportunities, the individuals will be developed. And consequently the society will achieve rapid progress. That is why Swami Vivekananda always gave importance on the equal opportunities in matters of education. But he was always eager to give the Indian masses a right sort of education. He wanted that sort of education which helps the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which brings out strength of character, spirit of philanthropy and the courage of a lion.

His eagerness to educate the downtrodden masses of India leads him to think for informal education. At the time of Vivekananda maximum peoples could not go to school. Boys could not go to school because of the poverty of his family. He had to work for making money. Again girls were not sent to school by their families. Maximum families in India considered girls unnecessary burden. Vivekananda in this complicated situation offered a very practical solution. The following lines of Vivekananda are evidence of it. “Suppose you open a free school in every village, still it would do no good, for the poverty in India is such that the poor boys would rather go to help their father in the fields or otherwise try to make a living than to come to the school. Now if the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. If the poor boy can not come to education, education must go to him.”^[4] Says he. Thus in his view if the student can not go to school, school should come to the student to teach him. If this happens no one would be deprived of education. He again says that single-minded, self-sacrificing Sannyasins in our country should undertake the responsibility of going to village to village to teach the poor students.

The right to education for everyone, guaranteed by the Constitution of India, was Vivekananda’s dream. But it is still a far cry from its goal. However, his idea of continual, or lifelong education, has been adopted in many countries already. Moreover, because of the adoption of continuous education in these countries, our idea of what constitutes success and failure has altered, raising new hope for the weak, underprivileged section of these societies–the very people who for various reasons cannot complete their education when they are young. Vivekananda’s cry for the uplift of the downtrodden masses, particularly of the long-neglected women, has evoked a favorable response from different quarters. But societies tailor education to meet their own needs, thereby often robbing the weak of their freedom to determine their own destiny. Unless radical changes are made in all societies the poor will never be able to raise them. This was a major concern of Vivekananda.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

[Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda] Vol.7, p-148.

[2]:

Ibid, Vol.5, p-342.

[3]:

Ibid, Vol.4, p-362.

[4]:

Vivekananda, Swami, Education, p-64-65.