Education for Character

By Swami Ranganathananda

I am happy to spend a few minutes with all of you. We know what our country today is full of problems. Our education should equip us to solve these problems. But it does not do so. Our education itself is full of problems. So when you study in the Ramakrishna Vidyashala, you have got an opportunity to think of the situation and find out how to make this education capable of solving these national problems.

Today, there are millions of hungry people, the weaker sections who have not enjoyed the fruits of freedom. The so-called upper class people have taken away all the fruits of freedom. What is it that is lacking in our people? We have enough money and resources at our disposal. You know, the current Eighth Plan, beginning with only Rs.2000 in the first plan and steadily raising in plan after plan, a huge investment of Rs.2,80,000 crores. Then, why this poverty? Why this suffering of millions of people? This thinking must come to you and you must find an answer to this problem. I shall help you to go into that line of thinking.

The one thing that is lacking among our people in India now is character. You cannot trust a person; public funds meant for the people are swallowed by the people handling them. There is corruption and bribery for every little thing. This is the sad state of our national character today. If true character had been a part of our lives, we would have taken our country to the zenith of prosperity by now. One rupee will produce ten rupees worth of benefit for the people if there is character. Hundred rupees will become ten rupees if there is no character. But how are we to develop this character? Here lies the significance of Swami Vivekananda's great ideal of Man-making, Character-building education.

What exactly is character? Character is centered in a socially oriented will. Your will power must be concerned with society and its welfare. Then you develop character. So, to be 'socially oriented' means to be less oriented to yourself. Our sole concern for our own selves must go. We have to have concern for others as well, since we live in a society of individuals. When I work in a government department, for example, I work as the servant of the people for their welfare. People have not realized this idea in India. Foreign countries have realized it and that is why there is no poverty there and they are highly developed. Along with all their material and intellectual developments, they have also developed this character-strength centered in this concern for others. This is lacking in our country. When you go to an office, the clerk there doesn't care for you unless you pay him some money. What kind of culture is this? What a low-level character is this!.

So, character must come to us. Where from does it come? Much of all that you call religion today is bad, harmful, and meaningless, endless rituals, ceremonies and often miracles - all these are meaningless, if they do not lead to character excellence. As Swami Vivekananda has said in a letter of 21st March 1895 to the American lady Mrs. Ole Bull (Letters of Swami Vivekananda, P.211, 1948 edition): "My Master (Sri Ramakrishna) used to say that these names, as Hindu, Christian, etc., stand as great bars to all brotherly feelings between man and man. We must try to break them down first, They have lost all their good powers and now only stand as baneful influences under whose black magic even the best of us behave like demons, well, we will have to work hard and must succeed."

Those who want to help mankind must take their own pleasure and pain, name and fame and all sorts of interests, and make a bundle of them and throw them into the sea, and then come to the Lord. This is what all the masters said and did.

Again, writing to Sister Nivedita from London on 7th June 1896, (Letters of Swami Vivekananda, pp. 320-21) Swamiji said: "My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life."

Religions of the world have become life-less mockeries. What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like thunderbolt.

For that development of character, Swamiji gave us the message of Vedanta, the great message from the Upanishads, where you are asked not just to believe, but are encouraged to question, discuss, and come to Truth yourself, and live it. That is the scientific greatness of the Upanishads and the Gita. In those great books, the sages, out of their own experience, gave all humanity the sure foundation of character; and that foundation is the step by step realization that the ever pure, ever free, and infinite Atman is in everyone of us, is our true nature; the spark of divinity is in everyone, not only in human beings but also in all other living creatures. But the human being alone is organically fitted to realize this truth. You must discover this truth for yourself. You must manifest it in your life, conduct, and behaviour. Behind the body-mind complex there is a profound spiritual dimension which, being infinite, is in all of us; the same pure Consciousness or Chit is in you and in me and in all. We are all spiritually one. That is the teaching of Vedanta; that is the philosophy of Advaita, non-duality. The same teaching is found in the Gita. That is the source and basis of character development. Separateness comes out of mere body-awareness. My feeling then will be selfish and self-centred; my feeling should be that of oneness with you, and that comes only from our ever-present spiritual nature. Physically I am separate from you. If I eat, you are not satisfied; if you eat, I am not satisfied. We are separate. But this is at the physical level; but at the level of the Atman, of pure consciousness, we are all one.

This body is composed of a bundle of genetic materials, our physical nature may help us to become healthy and energetic. But it cannot give us moral or ethical values. Today, biology tells you that the gene cannot give you any ethical or moral values. Genes are essentially selfish-note the language. I am quoting a scientist - an interesting book by Richard Dawkins published in 1976, The Selfish Gene (pp.2- 3, Oxford University Press, 1990 New Edition): The argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes. Like successful Chicago gangsters, our genes have survived, in some cases for millions of years, in a highly competitive-world. This entitles us to expect certain qualities in our genes. I shall argue that a predominant quality to be expected in a successful gene is ruthless selfishness. This gene selfishness will usually give rise to selfishness in individual behaviour. However, as we shall see, there are special circumstances in which a gene can achieve its own selfish goals best by fostering a limited form of altruism at the level of individual animals. "Special" and "limited" are important words in the last sentence. Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts that simply do not make evolutionary sense. This brings me to the first point I want to make about what this book is not. I am not advocating a morality based on evolution.

My own feeling is that a human society based simply on the gene's law of universal ruthless selfishness would be a very nasty society in which to live. Be warned that if you wish, as I do to build a society in which individuals cooperate generously and unselfishly towards a common goal you can expect little help from biological nature. Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to.

Please mark what the author says: "Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish."

Wherefrom can we get that education for character? The ancient sages of India asked this question. Let us start searching within. You know, physical nature has got a depth dimension. Early Western science dealt with the surface of nature. But science later went deeper into nature. Take, for example, energy. Science first gave humanity only combustion energy; but that was very little. So science went deeper into nature and found out electricity, much more powerful and subtle. But science wasn't quite satisfied. 'Let me go deeper into nature', it said, and discovered nuclear energy. So this penetration into physical nature is what Western science has done. The sages of the Upanishads did the same regarding the human being, human nature, over four thousand years ago.

Let us go deep into the human being, they said to themselves, and find out what truths, what energies, lie hidden there. You have, first, on the surface, your body, the genetic system, with its muscular and other components. When they penetrated a little deeper, they encountered nervous energy, which is more subtle and more immense than muscular energy. A little deeper penetration revealed psychic energy, which is more subtle and immense than nerve energy; penetrating deeper still, the sages discovered the Divine spark of the nature of Pure Consciousness, the infinite energy of the Atman, the Self. Thus our sages penetrated into the depth dimension of this human being and then, as given in the Chandogya Upanishad (6.12.3), proclaimed the great truth: "Tat Tvam Asi - That Thou Art."

In his commentary on the Katha Upanishad (3.10-11), Sankaracarya expounds a profound truth, that energies in every human being are organized on an ascending scale, from the outer to the inner dimension of subtlety, immensity, and inwardness - sukshma mahan- tasca, pratyagatma-bhutasca.

Every human being is essentially the Atman, ever pure, ever free, ever luminous, and non-dual. Consciousness has no plural, it is always a singular. What a profound truth! Just as space has no plural; you cannot divide space, space is space, always a singular. You can't divide it. If you put up four walls and make a room, you think you have divided space. But space continues to be all-pervading; it is inside, outside, in the center and everywhere. Similarly, pure consciousness, Caitanya, or Chit Swarupa or Chit Sakti, is one and non-dual. They called it Brahman or Atman. Out of that the whole universe has come. In that the universe abides, and unto that the whole universe returns. It is that infinite Brahman or Atman that is in you, in me, and in all. If a little of that Divine energy is manifested in your life, you achieve high character. Not much is needed, but only a little of that spiritual energy resource can make for human fulfilment, individual and collective. That spiritual energy is very much lacking in India today.

All values derive from that spiritual dimension - and every human being has the organic capacity to manifest it. This constitutes the science of spirituality Suppose a man brings to you a thousand rupees bribe, how would you react? If you believe only in the genetic system, you will straightaway take it. If you depend only on your intellectual system, again, you will take it - these two have no power to resist that temptation or any other temptations like immoral and illegal lust and greed. But if you have a little spiritual growth, you will get the strength to say straightaway: No, I don't care; I am here to serve the people. That spiritual strength has to come from many of our people. We have to regain it now. That is the impact of spirituality on life. It is the inborn privilege of every human being to manifest that Divine within. So Swami Vivekananda defines religion, not as ceremonies or rituals, magic or superstition, but as "the manifestation of the divinity already within man." In every one of us, there is a divine spark. There is a depth dimension to the human personality. Look at the eyes of a new-born baby. You find a depth in the eyes. You must find out what that depth dimension is. Look at a doll baby's eyes. There is no depth, only the surface dimension is there. A living baby's eyes reveal a tremendous depth dimension. It is the greatness of sages of India that they could dive deep into the depth of human nature to discover the divine in the heart of all. So, In the teachings of the Gita, you find Sri Krishna telling Arjuna: "I am the Self dwelling in the heart of all beings - Ahamatma gudakesa sarvabhutasaya-stitah." I am in the heart of all beings' so you and I are one. We are not separate. The body makes one feel separate from each other; the genetic system makes you feel separate, and that sense of separateness makes for selfishness, self self-centeredness, and exploitation. The feeling of oneness, on the other hand, makes for love compassion, service. Character originates here. To realize our spiritual oneness is the way to develop high character. This same truth is given to humanity in the famous utterance, already quoted, of The Chandogya Upanisad (6.12.3).

A father, sage Aruni, shares his experience of the Self with his son Svetaketu; it is a very interesting teaching, very scientific, step by step.

The Upanishad introduces the dialogue with the story of the philosopher father, Aruni, sending his son, Svetaketu, at the age of twelve, to the house of a guru for his education. He lived twelve years in the guru's house for his education after which he was returning home. The father's question to his son on his welcome home, and the son's further education by the father, have great relevance to the much needed re-shaping of education in our own time.

The Upanishad continues:

Going to the teacher's house at the age of twelve years, Svetaketu came back home when he was twenty-four years old, having studied all what his teacher had taught; finding his son conceited, arrogant, and regarding himself as very learned, his father addressed him thus:

"O Svetaketu, I see you conceited, arrogant, and proud of your learning; but, a amiable one, did you ask from your teacher for that teaching about the One behind the many through which what is unheard becomes heard, what is unthought of becomes thought of, what is un-known becomes known"?

"Of what nature, a revered one, is that teaching?" asked Svetaketu.

“Just as, a amiable one, through knowing a single clod of clay, all that is made of clay will become known - all forms or modifications are merely names proceeding from words, and the knowledge that all is clay is alone true, such, indeed, a amiable one, is that teaching."

"Surely, my revered teachers did not know this; for, if they had known, why should they not have told this to me. May your revered self alone tell about this to me."

"Be it so, verily, a amiable one", said the father.

After expounding the subject to his son through many illustrations and arguments, the Upanishad continues to narrate that father's teaching:

"Please bring a fruit of the yonder banyan tree."

"Here it is, a revered one". "Please break it."

"It is broken, a revered one". "What do you find here?"

"These atom-like grains, a revered one."

"Please break one of these."

"It is broken, O revered one."

"What do you find here?"

"Nothing whatsoever, O revered one."

To him the father said: "O amiable one, you do not see what is, verily, this sub-atom-like subtle part of the seed, yet, it is, verily, by this very sub-atom-like (subtle essence) that this large banyan tree exists. "Sraddhatsva Somya-have faith, O amiable one!."

The above passages can easily be applied to a modern student's approach to the comprehension of the "field" concept in modern nuclear physics. The field is that from which nuclear particles arise and into which they disappear. It is subtle and beyond sensory verification, and being nothing, it is also everything.

Finally expounding what another Upanishad, The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, characterises as "Satyasya satyam; prana vai satyam; tesam esa satyam - the Truth of truth, the cosmic energies are truth; this (Atman) is the Truth of those energies" the father says to his son: Sa ya eso anima, etadatmyam idam sarvam, tat satyam, sa atma, tat tvam asi, Svetaketo iti - "That which is this subtle sub-atom-like essence, all this (manifested universe) has got. That as the Atman or the Self. That is the Truth. That is the Atman and you are That, O Svetaketu".

So, this Tat tvam asi is a great spiritual teaching discovered by the sages of India. Einstein gave his formula for nuclear energy: E=mc²; it is a wonderful formula about physical nature. Similarly in Vedanta, you get this great formula about human nature - Tat tvam asi. you are That, that infinite Brahman from whom the whole universe has come. And Brahman, which is pure consciousness, cannot be divided. It is indivisible - akhanda, and Satcidananda; being, consciousness, and bliss. It is there in you and in me and in all beings. So, when I go inward, I come in touch with my ever-present spiritual nature and the spiritual energy from that dimension I must manifest in my life, conduct, and inter-human relations. It is only then that I shall be able to develop citizenship qualities, social responsibilities, a concern for others, efficiency of work and the spirit of service. Even a little of it's manifestation will make for high character. This is the teaching you come across in the second chapter of the Gita. "Svalpamapyasya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat" - Even a little of this dharma will save people from great fear.

We would be safe from fears and cease to be a source of fear to others, if we achieve only one per cent or two per cent of this spiritual growth. That is all that is needed. That must take place along with one's school or college education. If spiritual growth or atma-vikasa does not take place, the educated brain will become a danger. Brain without corresponding spiritual growth, cannot develop character. We only become a serious problem to ourselves and to our society. All the current problems of India are created by our educated people bereft of any spiritual growth. This is true all over the world; but it is much more true with respect to our country. So religion, understood in a scientific sense, is manifesting the divine that is within; what a beautiful idea! Spiritual growth can be measured by the quantum of character that you manifest. The greater the character, the greater is the divine manifestation in you. Swami Vivekananda taught us how to understand the practical implications of Vedanta, how to develop our Indian society on the basis of practical Vedanta: a society based on freedom, equality, dignity of human personality, and service as the best form of inter-human relations.

He also said that the national ideals of India are renunciation and service; intensify her in those channels, the rest will take care of themselves.

So, when you are a student, you must think along these lines also. Merely getting good marks in examinations, securing a well-paid job and marriage with a heavy dowry, are not the end of this great human life. We have got something loftier to achieve; to wipe the tears of our weaker sections, to make them happy, must be our motto in life. We must have a nation-wide awareness that we are all one; how can we be happy when others are not happy? That fellow-feeling, that humanistic awareness must come to all of us. Says Sri Krishna in the Gita (6.32): Atmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yorjuna; Sukham va yadi va dukham sa yogi paramo mathah - "Look upon others as you look upon yourselves; their happiness is your happiness and their sorrow is your sorrow. We are all essentially one. The yogi who realizes this truth is the highest yogi."

Samadrsti, sama-bhava - feeling of sameness and non-separateness. That is how character-development takes place. Swami Vivekananda wanted our education to include character-development. Without character, education is dangerous. The whole world can be destroyed by this human intellect. We know how many birds have been destroyed, how many trees have been destroyed, how many other kinds of animals have been destroyed - all by highly educated people. Now the awareness has come with the recent Earth Conference held at Rio-de-Janeiro. For the first time, people have begun to understand their responsibilities to nature and humanity as a whole. We must have concern for others - human beings and other living creatures. There you get the call of our Vedanta. That is the greatness of our country's philosophy. But unfortunately, today, only a few pundits and holy men study the Vedanta, and the rest of our people are blissfully ignorant of this luminous heritage of theirs.

The best book of practical Vedanta, the Vedanta which can be lived by us, is the Bhagavad-Gita. It can re-educate our educated people and make them efficient workers and nation-builders. Out of our educated section must come the power for the upliftment of our whole nation. England became a great power through education. In public schools and universities, they pursued knowledge with a view to serving the welfare of their nation. We are the only people who use education for fattening oneself only. We do not care about our national responsibility as democratic citizens. In 1894, Swami Vivekananda wrote a letter from America to the then Maharaja of Mysore, Chamaraja Wadiyar; here is one sentence from it. Keep its sentiments with you, think of it, and assimilate it. This year, the centenary of Swamiji's visit to Mysore is being celebrated in November, 1992. He came here in November, 1892, we are now in 1992. In that letter, Swamiji writes (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. IV, 9th ed. 1966 p.363):

"This life is short; the vanities of the world are transient; but they alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead that alive..."

To be alive is to have concern for others and serve them, according to one's capacity. That is what comes from the depth of spirituality. Every living person must become vibrant, active and humanistic. Otherwise, we will produce hundreds of scam scandal Harshad Mehtas in our country. You know, he is the one who is alleged to have stolen around 3000 or more crores of rupees and is now in jail. What kind of life is that? So, this sentence must guide all our youths "They alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead than alive."

If we study modem Indian history, we will come across thousands of such living people. They thought of the country and its welfare. They served the country, fought for its freedom, and suffered many hardships. Therefore, they deserve Swamiji's description of living people. After Independence, however, we have more of dead people, wholly self-centred and who never care for the nation. So our attention must be focused on how to manifest our inherent divine nature in our life and human relations. There is no use of a pundit brain if compassion is missing. These ideas unfortunately, are not given to students in our colleges and schools. We have to resort to the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda and the Upanishads and the Gita. They are open to all. In the west, people are hungry for these philosophical and spiritual books of India. In America and other Western countries, if you deliver just one discourse on the Upanishads or the Gita, the listeners will make pranams and put dollars at your feet, out of gratitude which, they will say, cannot be expressed in words. That is, what I have seen in Europe, America and Australia. We have plenty of spiritual knowledge as our inheritance. But our own people in India do not seek it; what a tragedy it is!.

So, remember the teaching of Swamiji - "Man-making, Character-building, nation-building education; not merely job-getting education." I hope you will take your mind in this direction. Let me give you the Mahabharata classification of human energy. There are three types of energy in every human being. The first is called- bahu-balam-muscular energy; the second is buddi-balam-intellectual energy and the third is Atma-balam-spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is the highest and the most pervasive, of the three. Bahu-balam is very ordinary; buddhi- balam is higher; but Atma-balam is supreme. So, try to develop a little Atma-balam along with bahu-balam and buddhi-balam. Buddhi-balam is useful for creative provided behind it is Atma-balam; but it is dangerous and harmful if Atma-balam is not there. You know, even robbers are well educated people now. They know all the techniques of robbing people. This truth now comes form the West from thinkers like, Bertrand Russell, an agnostic; he says (Impact of Science on Society, p.110, Unwin paperback, 1976 edition):

"Broadly speaking, we are in the middle of a race between human skill as to means and human folly as to ends; given sufficient folly as to ends, every increase in the skill required to achieve them is to the bad. The human race has survived hitherto owing to ignorance and incompetence; but, given knowledge and competence combined with folly, there can be no certainty of survival. Knowledge is power, but it is power for evil just as much as for good. It follows that, unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge, increase of knowledge will be increase of sorrow."

So this buddhi can be used either to cheat people, harm people or to bless people and help people. Buddhi-balam influenced by Atma-balam becomes a blessing to oneself and to others. There are all these great ideas and ideals for you to think about and incorporate in your life.

You will get strength and fearlessness - abhayam - by reading the Swami Vivekananda's literatures, the Upanishads, and the Gita. 'Strength, strength, is what the Upanishads preach to me from every page', Swamiji says in one of his Madras lectures. Similarly, the idea of faith in oneself, atmasraddha. You must read at least two or three Upanishads like the Katha Upanishad. As you know, the Katha Upanishad is famous for Swamiji's famous clarion call in a free translation (I.iii.14): Uttisthata, jagrata, prapya varannibo dhata- "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."

You get very many beautiful elevating ideas in the Upanishads. Thus there is no lack of character-building. Books available to you; make the best use of them. Let your education be real education, and not merely a degree-getting process. This institution will be proud of you, when you get such an education for yourself and later fill up various posts, in politics, educational institutions; scientific research, business and industry and union and State administrative institutions, in our country, raising the moral level and human development of our society.

(Reproduced from Awaken India).