Teaching And Learning In Indic Tradition
In Indic tradition, teaching and learning are regarded as the noblest of all pursuits. An Indian is cajoled all nis life to learn from others irrespective of their sex, class, caste or creed, and to each what he has learnt to those who do not know. The process of learning and eaching, in Indic tradition, is dialectical n the sense that one is taught to respect ins teachers. Mentors and scholars by aking their teachings seriously and avingshraddha, faith, in them. Varnashramadharma, which has peen prevalent in one form or other, shows the significance of education in nice tradition. The child is initiated not the formal educational system quite soon after the upnanayanaacceptance as a pupil by the teacher ceremony at the age of eight. It was essential for every individual to observe Orahmcharya and devote himself to studies in the first quarter of his life. Assuming that a person shall ideally live for 100years, it was ordained that a major portion of first 25 years would be devoted to acquiring formal as well as informal education. Seers and teachers in Indic tradition, while imparting their knowledge to the students, tell them: "I have seen; I have realised; and you also can see; you also can realise. “The idea behind this assertion is that the knowledge being imparted by the teacher is not only bookish or theoretical knowledge; it is also something of which he has direct experience. Seers ask pupils to accept what is being taught to them as a hypothesis to begin with, but the pupils are asked to authenticate it with their own experience. thought is a history of relentless It is not that importance of reason, the scientific temper of which it is a synonym, was unknown to India's thinkers. They accept only those doctrines that stand the scrutiny of analysis, tests of proof and satisfy intellectual understanding. Nothing is regarded as the gospel truth; therefore there is no place for dogmatism here. Only that has to be accepted as knowledge which stands the scrutiny of reason, the experience of the teacher and the taught. Classical literature of India, namely the Upanishads, Bhagwad Gita, Mahabharata and the Bhagavata too lay emphasis on reason as the source as well as foundation of all knowledge. However it asserts that in case experience and logic contradict each other, experience has to be given tree priority. History of Indic thought is a history of relentless spirited debates and rigorous discussions which are strictly logical, even in the Western sense of the term. The education imparted thus was both para and apara vidya-knowledleading to emancipation and the knowledge required for dealing with arts and crafts, and day-to-day affair the world we live in. When we have attained vidya,we have samata and unshakeable calm. That is why Krishna says in the Gita5.18, "The learned ones, the ones endowed with Vida, look with equanimity on a learned person, a coat elephant and a dog as well as an heaof dog's meat. “Again in 3.26 and 27 emphasizes that "The vidyaavan, the enlightened person, acts without attachment. Hedoes not create disturbance in the beliefs of the ignora(The writer is former professor philosophy, Delhi University.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Ashok Vohra views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Ashok Vohra and Speaking Tree and Times of India
Teaching And Learning In Indic Tradition
In Indic tradition, teaching and learning are regarded as the noblest of all pursuits. An Indian is cajoled all nis life to learn from others irrespective of their sex, class, caste or creed, and to each what he has learnt to those who do not know. The process of learning and eaching, in Indic tradition, is dialectical n the sense that one is taught to respect ins teachers. Mentors and scholars by aking their teachings seriously and avingshraddha, faith, in them. Varnashramadharma, which has peen prevalent in one form or other, shows the significance of education in nice tradition. The child is initiated not the formal educational system quite soon after the upnanayanaacceptance as a pupil by the teacher ceremony at the age of eight. It was essential for every individual to observe Orahmcharya and devote himself to studies in the first quarter of his life. Assuming that a person shall ideally live for 100years, it was ordained that a major portion of first 25 years would be devoted to acquiring formal as well as informal education. Seers and teachers in Indic tradition, while imparting their knowledge to the students, tell them: "I have seen; I have realised; and you also can see; you also can realise. “The idea behind this assertion is that the knowledge being imparted by the teacher is not only bookish or theoretical knowledge; it is also something of which he has direct experience. Seers ask pupils to accept what is being taught to them as a hypothesis to begin with, but the pupils are asked to authenticate it with their own experience. thought is a history of relentless It is not that importance of reason, the scientific temper of which it is a synonym, was unknown to India's thinkers. They accept only those doctrines that stand the scrutiny of analysis, tests of proof and satisfy intellectual understanding. Nothing is regarded as the gospel truth; therefore there is no place for dogmatism here. Only that has to be accepted as knowledge which stands the scrutiny of reason, the experience of the teacher and the taught. Classical literature of India, namely the Upanishads, Bhagwad Gita, Mahabharata and the Bhagavata too lay emphasis on reason as the source as well as foundation of all knowledge. However it asserts that in case experience and logic contradict each other, experience has to be given tree priority. History of Indic thought is a history of relentless spirited debates and rigorous discussions which are strictly logical, even in the Western sense of the term. The education imparted thus was both para and apara vidya-knowledleading to emancipation and the knowledge required for dealing with arts and crafts, and day-to-day affair the world we live in. When we have attained vidya,we have samata and unshakeable calm. That is why Krishna says in the Gita5.18, "The learned ones, the ones endowed with Vida, look with equanimity on a learned person, a coat elephant and a dog as well as an heaof dog's meat. “Again in 3.26 and 27 emphasizes that "The vidyaavan, the enlightened person, acts without attachment. Hedoes not create disturbance in the beliefs of the ignora(The writer is former professor philosophy, Delhi University.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Ashok Vohra views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Ashok Vohra and Speaking Tree and Times of India