The Japanese are fascinated by the success of Indian eduction and some Japanese seem to be enrolling their kids in Indian school. I do not know whether to believe that this is a trend as yet, but we may not be able to ignore that they have begun to sit up and take notice of it somewhat seriously.
This is quite an interesting trend and worth watching out for. Viewed in one perspective, the Indian education system appears to be good enough as shown by the success of many Indians. Having been though it myself, though many years back, the system is not flawless and has to imbibe some of the better things from Western education system. It must be noted that the success of Indians is attributable to a few good reasons in addition to the education system itself.
Traditionally, education has always been given utmost importance in Indian society. One of the world’s first and great universities in recorded history was established in Nalanda (in today’s central/ northern India) in 5th Century BC, which was flocked by Chinese and South East Asians. (It’s beside the point that this eventually resulted in spread of Buddhism from India across rest of Asia.) Back to our times, the founding fathers of independent India had the noble vision to start institutions of technology and management – the fabled IIT-s and IIM-s - which have produced some of the most highly succesful professionals and managers in the world.
It’s common knowledge that the typical Indian parent in middle and lower strata does not believe in a career around sport and art and relentlessly stresses the importance of pure education to children. This coupled with the very high level of competition amongst a large population to gain admission to few reputed institutions takes this zeal even further and makes the sense of purpose a necessity than an ideal. This would partly explain the success of Indian students as also the institutions.
A large number of Indian students (in absolute numbers than as a percentage to total population) undergo their education in arts, science and commerce in English as a first language rather than in their mother tongue. This is a distinct advantage for a large number of Indian students who gain access to the best of knowledge, books and reference materials at the same level as their peers in West. In this aspect, India is quite unlike the rest of Asia.
Having said all that, Indian education system will have to take some leaves from West to further improve its own approach to study of Science. Last and not the least, having visited Japan myself so many times, one does not stop wondering how the Japanese have learned to place the community interests ahead of individual interest and how they behave as a group, which makes them so different from others. It would benefit a large country like India to imbibe those qualities from Japanese education system.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Some thoughts on Hinduism
Hinduism is an ancient and possibly the oldest amongst religions. Hinduism is a concept and not just another religion. It has a wealth of knowledge and age-old thought processes conceived over time and well tested by time.
Dharma: One of the guiding principles for life is Dharma. There is no exact translation for Dharma in English, but roughly it could be meant as applicable code, laws and principles to an individual in leading his life.
Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi: The principles of truth and non-violence are underlying principles deeply embedded in Hinduism and amply elucidated in Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Harischandra Kavya and so on. Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by these stories in his childhood and this formed the basis for his developing Ahimsa and Satyagraha as tools in his fight against imperialism. Those thoughts were not new, but arguably Mahatma Gandhi was the first to conceive them and put to use in public life in modern Indian History.
Buddha was born in a Hindu family and approached a lot of Hindu teachers and saints in his time in his quest for ultimate truth. Ironically, though, in Buddha's times, some Hindu Kings used to indulge in sacrifices and blissfully sacrificing animal lives in the process. Buddha had to educate the Kings of core Hindu values and separate the meaningless customs that had come to be mistaken at that time for religous practice.
The core of Buddha's thoughts bear a lot of Hindu influence and Buddhist thinking is not entirely independent of underlying Hindu Dharma. In my opinion, this is possibly the reason why Buddhism did not reach out as a separate religion in India as it was more fitting to be treated as a branch of Hinduism than a separate religion in itself.
God: God is possibly amongst the toughest and yet an obvious subject that one can discuss about with nearly no end to a discussion. I don't seek to go into that either but I will like to share a thought a two on this aspect. With due respects to other religions, it's defying one's intelligence to believe that God could have been 'born' on a given date and time. This gives rise to question who was playing the role of God till God was born. I am not sure this question is satisfactorily answered in other religous texts. I am open to listening on this point and would definitely not want to sound finalistic on this point. There cannot have been a time when God did not exist, if it were to be, then God is only as good or as powerful as any other Human. [Obviously, the discussion presumes that there is a God in some form, though we will come to this a bit later and question this assumption too]. According Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that there was never a time he did not exist nor will there be a time when he would not exist. This way, it follows that the primordial force never ceases to exist but it incarnates in different forms from time to time.
The Upanishads state that there is a superior force which is responsible for creating the universe. Human mind would find it difficult to perceive leave alone retain this in concentration. This gave rise to worshipping God in forms that we find it easier to accept and retain. But, a careful reading of Bhagavad Gita clearly brings out that God exists in various forms and is manifest in several forms around us.
Hindus were aware that welfare of society is instrumental for peaceful co-existence of people. Even today, it's common to hear George Bush and Americans, in general, to say, "God bless America". (I watched this recently in CNN when the new peace foundation was laid in place of old World Trade Centre in late 2006). Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that God has to bless all world citizens for everyone (including America) to live peacefully. The society is inter-linked in ways beyond we can imagine and hence peace and prosperity should be widespread for everyone to live peacefully. Hindus knew this centuries back and said 'Sarvo Jana Sukhino Bhavantu'. Hindu prayers, as far as I am aware of, never say that only Indians or Hindus should leave peacefully and prosperously.
Dharma: One of the guiding principles for life is Dharma. There is no exact translation for Dharma in English, but roughly it could be meant as applicable code, laws and principles to an individual in leading his life.
Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi: The principles of truth and non-violence are underlying principles deeply embedded in Hinduism and amply elucidated in Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Harischandra Kavya and so on. Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by these stories in his childhood and this formed the basis for his developing Ahimsa and Satyagraha as tools in his fight against imperialism. Those thoughts were not new, but arguably Mahatma Gandhi was the first to conceive them and put to use in public life in modern Indian History.
Buddha was born in a Hindu family and approached a lot of Hindu teachers and saints in his time in his quest for ultimate truth. Ironically, though, in Buddha's times, some Hindu Kings used to indulge in sacrifices and blissfully sacrificing animal lives in the process. Buddha had to educate the Kings of core Hindu values and separate the meaningless customs that had come to be mistaken at that time for religous practice.
The core of Buddha's thoughts bear a lot of Hindu influence and Buddhist thinking is not entirely independent of underlying Hindu Dharma. In my opinion, this is possibly the reason why Buddhism did not reach out as a separate religion in India as it was more fitting to be treated as a branch of Hinduism than a separate religion in itself.
God: God is possibly amongst the toughest and yet an obvious subject that one can discuss about with nearly no end to a discussion. I don't seek to go into that either but I will like to share a thought a two on this aspect. With due respects to other religions, it's defying one's intelligence to believe that God could have been 'born' on a given date and time. This gives rise to question who was playing the role of God till God was born. I am not sure this question is satisfactorily answered in other religous texts. I am open to listening on this point and would definitely not want to sound finalistic on this point. There cannot have been a time when God did not exist, if it were to be, then God is only as good or as powerful as any other Human. [Obviously, the discussion presumes that there is a God in some form, though we will come to this a bit later and question this assumption too]. According Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that there was never a time he did not exist nor will there be a time when he would not exist. This way, it follows that the primordial force never ceases to exist but it incarnates in different forms from time to time.
The Upanishads state that there is a superior force which is responsible for creating the universe. Human mind would find it difficult to perceive leave alone retain this in concentration. This gave rise to worshipping God in forms that we find it easier to accept and retain. But, a careful reading of Bhagavad Gita clearly brings out that God exists in various forms and is manifest in several forms around us.
Hindus were aware that welfare of society is instrumental for peaceful co-existence of people. Even today, it's common to hear George Bush and Americans, in general, to say, "God bless America". (I watched this recently in CNN when the new peace foundation was laid in place of old World Trade Centre in late 2006). Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that God has to bless all world citizens for everyone (including America) to live peacefully. The society is inter-linked in ways beyond we can imagine and hence peace and prosperity should be widespread for everyone to live peacefully. Hindus knew this centuries back and said 'Sarvo Jana Sukhino Bhavantu'. Hindu prayers, as far as I am aware of, never say that only Indians or Hindus should leave peacefully and prosperously.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)