English
We are finding pleasure in this little bod)', in this little individuality, but how much greater the pleasure will be when this- whole universe appears as our own body ? If there be pleasure in these separate bodies, how much more when all bodies are one ? The man who has realized this, has attained to freedom, has gone beyond the dream and known himself in his real nature.”" So not only does identity with God which demands the cessation of all selfish interests and motives ‘not imply the loss of individuality but it is the only means by which in¬ dividuality can be conserved and developed.’ 1 Monroe—A Brief Coarse in the History of Education, p. 21. * Swami Vivekan&nda—The Science and Philosophy of Religion pp. 183*89. 7 EVOLUTION OF VEDIC RELIGION. b V From what has been said above it .<8L appears that the ideal of the Hindus was not a life of inaction and contemplation bub the attainment of divine wisdom through a self-controlled and self-active life of action, Hence the Hindu ideal, like that of the Greeks of old, included the two-fold ideal of *the man of action 5 and ‘the man of wisdom. This is seen also from the slokas quoted below. cw: i cTcft ^ rim Sf ^ f^TTOT Trn: w” or “all who worship what is not real knowledge (/. e, work only) enter into blind darkness ) those who delight in real knowledge ( i.e . without work) enter, as it were, into greater darkness. Isopcinishctd , d. cTWt II ■o “but he who knows at tlie sametime both knowledge and not-knowledge (i.e. action) overcomes death through not-knowledge and obtains immortality through knowledge/’ Ibid 11. misTfy ‘ G <W It is interesting to note how an emphasis has been laid here on the combination of knowledge with action and on the corresponding jjedagogical principle that no real abstraction is possible unless in and through the concrete experiences. Lastly, it may be noted that though the old religious ideas have, later on, given place to a complicated system of polytheistic doctrines, the teaching underlying all of them is still expressed in the formula ekam eva advitiyam (one only without a second). PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OF RELIGION. It may be noted here that from what has been said before, may be inferred a few pedagogical principles of no mean value. By prescribing that the individual must pass through the different stages or asramas, the Hindus hold that every individual will have to take the steps which their ancestors have taken to come to the highest pinnacle of religious thought. This corresponds almost PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OB’ KELIGION. 6 to what is called the Parallelism between the Individual and the Race Development. Again, as we have seen, the Hindus have assigned to each asrama the culture material of the corresponding stage of development of their ancestors. This principle sounds like the modern Culture Epochs Theory which demands that the arrangement of the matter of instruction must be determined bv the historical stages of human culture as well as by the stages of development of the race. Again, by holding that only by active participation was one able to attain self- realisation they anticipated another impor¬ tant pedagogical principle viz. Learn by doing. Thirdly, the Hindus have held that duties must be done for their own sake without any hope of a reward in this or future life. 1 Now the activities that are pursued for their own sake become the ‘self-active representation of the inner— 1 <5% f.Ji'Ift'pS/T i *nr‘ BUSH tfid € arm: mi: || Gita xviii. 9 . 0r “ when prescribed action is performed, 0 Aryuna y abandoning attachment and fruit also, merely because it ought to be performed, that is deemed to be a great abandonment.'" ^ ■ G <w representation of the inner from inner neces¬ sity and impulse.’ In fact, the training the Hindu boy received during his pupilage was intended to develop in him such an attitude of mind and habit that he might perform self-actively, successfully and easily the duties of manhood in the second stage of life. Thus from the emphasis laid by the Hindus on doing one’s duty for its own sake emerges the principle.that one’s action must always be self-initiated. Hence it appears that the early Hindus had, like Froebel, for their motto self-control and self¬ activity. Lastly in holding that each stage of life was preparatory to the next higher one, the Hindus had given expression to the principle of continuity that is so much emphasised by the modern educators: Again it will not be out of place here to mention that ICapila, the founder of the Sankhya phi¬ losophy first of all propounded the doctrine of evolution which now plays such an im¬ portant part in the pedagogical world. He says, “there cannot be production of something out of nothing ; that which is not cannot be developed into that which is. The production of what does not already exist (potentially) is impossible, like a horn on a man.” 1 Thus the principal philosophi¬ cal ideas underlying modern pedagogy are found in the religion and philosophy of the Hindus. And inasmuch as different systems of pedagogy correspond to different systems of philosophy, the history of Hindu pedagogy presents to our enquiry a vast field to be explored. * J J ■ - J -* References : — 1. The Gita. 2. The TJpaiiishads. 3. The Laws of Manu. 4. What do we mean by Education ?—Welton. 5. Lectures on the origin of Religion— Max Muller. 6. Hinduism—Sir Monier Williams. 7. A Brief Course in the History of Educat ion —Monroe. 8. Vishnu Purana. 9. Education of Man by Froebel. ..• ' . . . . * ’ . . . I . .J 1 Sir Monier Williams—Hinduism. .I V,# • • , ..... < - - *4 i.JjU 5 V DIFFERENT TYPES OF EDUCATION. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. Elementary Education We have seen that a child in ancient India generally followed the occupation of his father. Now in a system where the child followed the occupation of the parent, his training was necessarily provided by a universal system of apprenticeship. Hence in every respect the training of boys was secured by actual participation in those activities that were required of them in adult life. So primary schools, in the modern sense, probably did not exist in the earliest times. But we find from Lalita Vistara that schools for , elementary education did exist at the time of Buddha (6th century b. c.) who follow¬ ing the usual custom of the world went to ‘the writing school’ to practise well all figures, writings, calculation and everything ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 'he had already learnt and ‘to train numerous children in the foremost path, and to bring other millions to the path of truth.’ Thus it appears that such schools furnished the rudiments of the arts of reading, writing ■and arithmetic together with moral precepts; and besides these, since the early centuries of the Christian era the pupils had been taught fables and the niti-sastras —the most important of which is the Pancha-tantra. The schools for elementary education, in general, used to be held under the trees in the open air or during bad weather in covered sheds. It is interesting to note here that a modern system of teaching the letters of the alphabet was also then known, as the teacher then taught each of them in association with a sentence beginning with the letter. 1 In later times we find that in elementary schools the older students were often used by the teacher to teach the younger pupils and it was from India that this cheap system of managing a school known as the rnoni- * Lalita Virtara—(R, L. Mitra) p. 184. MiN/sr^ EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA. torial system was introduced into England by Andrew Bell. ——seG*=r v >~*———* THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. In the earliest times there was no school to impart education. The head of each family was a rishi who performed sacrifices and composed hymns which he transmitted to his son. But later on, when the religious ceremonials were beginning to increase in complexity and the literal sense of the hymns was becoming foreign to the people, in general, it became necessary to take precautions for securing and establishing their sense. “To attain these objects’’ says Weber, “those most conversant with the subject were obliged to give instruction to the ignorant, and circles were formed around them of travelling scholars, who made pil¬ grimages from one teacher to another according as they were attracted by the fame of special learning ”. 1 Some of the 1 Weber—The History of Indian Literature p. 21. miSfyy SECONDARY EDUCATION. centres of learning were established by learned Brahmins who retired to forests in their old age. Besides such institutions, higher schools for the study of religious works and practices were held at the courts of enlightened and learned kings like those of the Videhas, the Kasis, the Kurus and the Panchalas. The subjects taught in these schools included both secular and spiritual subjects . 1 In the earliest stage both the branches were taught by the Diksha Guru or the boy’s spiritual guide. But the office of the tutor, later on, became differentiated into those of the Diksha Guru and Siksha Guru. The former initiated the pupil in the secrets of religion, while the latter took charge of all 8l 1 (i) The different Vedas, Itihasa, Purana, Grammar, the rules for sacrifices for ancestors, the Science of numbers, the Science of portents, the Science of time, logic, ethics, etymo* the Brahma Vidya, the different angas, the Science of weapons, the Science of demons, astronomy, the Science of Serpents or Poisons.