Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda is well known for his wit and quotable quotes. One of my favourites is ‘Do your best, leave the rest’. This is a simple everyday implementation algorithm of the well-known Bhagavad Gita shloka, ‘Karmanyevadhikaraste…’ It is a clear instruction to focus on doing the work, without worrying over the results. There are many such quotes attributed to him.
One of his widely cited quotes about children says, ‘Children are not vessels to be filled, but lamps to be lit.’ The same translated into Kannada is, ‘Makkalu tumbisuva patregalla, hachchabekaada deepagalu’. In Malayalam, it is ‘Kuttigal nirakkenda paatrangal alla, teliyikkenda deepangal aana’. He probably said this in the context of schools focusing on rote learning without giving importance to co-curricular and extracurricular learning. The thought may have come up when Chinmaya Vidyalayas, schools with a philosophy of overall personality development with a focus on value-based education, were conceived and founded by him. These Vidyalayas have over time become a beacon of knowledge and places of uncompromised value-based education. Today the Chinmaya Vidyalayas are among the best high schools in the country.
Let us reflect on Gurudev’s statement. Consider the current job market. There are careers today which did not even exist ten years ago. Web page designer, data analytics, ethical hacking, social media consultant, web content manager are just a few such careers arising due to the advent of the internet. These careers are in the fast-moving and constantly changing field of information technology. Those pursuing a career in this field need to frequently upgrade their skills. Even in the case of traditional careers like medicine and engineering, the tools used are undergoing rapid technological advances. Thus today, maintaining a competitive edge in any career requires continuous learning.
So, how does one prepare for a successful career in the modern world—rather an ever-changing modern world? It is not practical for us to expect schools to teach us all the skills we need at the workplace. When Sundar Pichai went to school, a company called Google did not exist. Satya Nadella did not learn cloud computing in his undergraduate classes. Today information is getting outdated at an alarming speed. Some of the knowledge acquired in the first year of study might be outdated by the time the student graduates! If schools cannot teach the knowledge that is needed, what is it that the schools should focus on teaching?
Let us go back to Gurudev’s saying. Children are not vessels to be filled, relates to the fact that schools should not merely be focusing on filling students with facts and information. These are available at the click of a button and in all likelihood would not be needed in the future anyway. So, what is the one skill we will need in the future for sure? The skill of learning new things. We need to focus on learning ‘how to learn’. The fact that we need to learn something new every day is the only constant. The approach must be ‘learn to learn’ (or padikyan padikyu or kaliyalu kaliyiri). In schools, we need to create a hunger for knowledge and train students in the art of learning. That is, we must instil in them the ability to learn. This is like the lighting of a lamp because a lamp that is lit can illuminate any dark room it enters as well as light many more lamps.
As Gurudev said, let’s not be vessels filled with information by simply learning and memorizing facts. Instead, let us learn to learn. Let us master the art of learning and become lifelong learners. This is our quest at CVV.
Hari Om!
(Based on the speech given at Kasaragod and Badiadka Chinmaya Vidyalayas, on 16 November 2019)
