Vinay Kumar
Know Thyself: Socrates said 2500 years ago, there is more to life than knowledge of stones, trees or distant stars; we need to go INSIDE to know the MIND of man.
Thus, a compulsory part of schooling and education must be to learn:
i) What the Mind is and its nature
ii) How the body-mind get enlivened and is made conscious by Self, Life, Spirit, Consciousness.
iii) How to prepare, cultivate, purify our Mind thru’ Self-reflection, Abhyasa, Practice, Praxis so that we may get an intellectual conviction in the ideal of ‘know thy Self’ and be aware of the wisdom that as Self, we’re all One family; Self is the source of infinite divine potential! Once we get the inspiration from a young age, we can strive to be aware of the Flow of Thought and adopt life-skills, disciplines for:
i) Improving the Quality of our Thoughts
ii) Reducing Quantity of Unwanted/ Trivial Thoughts and
iii) Directing Thoughts towards planned Important Thoughts.
2) Education isn’t just teaching and knowing as we now believe! Education, ‘Edu care’ in Latin, literally means to draw out, to bring forth from within, to nurture, i.e. underlying the process of uncovering and developing inherent potential. We nurture the Mind and a pure mind enables the manifestation of the divine potential already within!
3) Our Challenge – Managing our Mind: Changing our tendencies, our mind-set, our worldview, beliefs, self-centered memories is a very, very difficult and challenging task. Nature of Mind is to flow down like a river towards our Likes & Dislikes. Mind imbibes that on which it dwells & it likes to dwell on what it likes. Only pure mind can be led.
Only thru’ the habit of daily self-development practices, Praxis can we cultivate the MIND and be inspired to awaken Viveka and strive to grow towards ‘Good, better, Best’, learn to walk-the-talk towards ‘ANANDA’.
No academic qualifications, degrees, intellectual abilities, or religious beliefs are necessary! Whatsoever be our vocation, high or low, ruling or sweeping, we must learn to strive to selflessly fulfil our duties to attain the highest. Selfless performance of Duties cultivates and prepares the Mind, making it amenable to be controlled towards the higher.
We’re enslaved to our own past habits, tendencies. So, awareness that I am the Self, I am not the mind; my mind is limited to my own past memories, helps in control and makes it easier to ignore desires and past habits.
My Mind wants enjoyment. ‘I’ want success. Mind will not give up easily. Only repeated better thoughts, repeated better habits can overcome past tendencies and impressions. There is no short cut. It needs Continuous PRACTICE & FOCUS on Higher & Highest – PRAXIS
We must nurture, cajole our mind like a mother, strict father or fear of police or ignore the thoughts like an unwanted guest! And above all we must give our Mind a Healthy, Holistic Worldview of ONE-NESS & SUBJECTIVE focus. Why ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself? Because as Self, we’re all one but as Body-mind we’re all separate! So, ‘selfless service’; ‘work/vocation as worship’ is the positive attitude to nurture. Of course, only a very few may selflessly strive, but this selfless commitment to duties is the only education we all really need!
Only thru’ Praxis, self-reflection and mind-management practices (Life-Skill) can we learn to selflessly work for good of all to realize our Oneness as Self. In contrast is the modern view of our “Separate-ness” & “Objective (External, Jagat) focus”.
4) A basic Principle: When we strive towards the higher, lower is also included. Why not first determine the BEST? Then direct our actions & goals towards it. Every moment I have a choice. What do I choose? Why? What is my Motive? Moment I choose-act, I get enslaved to consequences of my choices-actions!
So, to choose Consciously, I must reflect and learn that I am Consciousness per se. I AM THAT I AM. “Ignorantly” I get attached to this finite body-mind and think I am a Living-being, forgetting that I am That infinite Consciousness that enlivens my Finite Mind. Consciousness enlivens our Mind and so we become Finite living-beings. I think I am finite limited to my Memories stored in my limited mind.
Education says Vivekananda, is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. Knowledge is inherent in man; no knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. Modern schooling has made India Educated, but we now need inspiring message of Vivekananda to engage in self-reflection and self-development practices, praxis to awaken viveka-buddhi and build powers of mind to walk-the-talk.
GOI has now directed that all public servants must be trained to be Karma Yogi with the spirit of ‘Kartavya-palan’ and ‘Nagarik Devo Bhava’ to attain our traditional vision of ‘whole world as our family’, now expressed for the ‘G20 Nations meet’, as ‘One World. One Family. One Future.’
In the Ai era, all information is instantly available! Schooling, Parenting, Growing up must allow us to explore, reflect, discuss, question, and self-study to ‘prepare’ the mind, our only instrument for perception. I need to reflect that whatever I ‘perceive’ i.e. even my own body, mind, thoughts, emotions are just ‘object/s’ to be perceived! I as Subject must be separate from objects for perception to take place. A Mind is available to ‘me’. Mind borrows consciousness from THAT. If I exist now as finite, then I can never cease to exist; so, my unchanging Reality must be Infinite Consciousness! So, I am really That I am!
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
END OF ARTICLE
