Inspire Your Child Inspire the World (2 page)

And at that time, once the parents gave the children to the guru, they left him there in his complete authority. Now the parents will not leave the children fully. They want to constantly meddle with him, they want to put their own stuff into him. All those issues are there, so it is much more complex today than it was in the gurukul. In the gurukul, the guru had to just teach them how to exist, how to live, how to be with somebody else, how to be with himself, that was all. He was not trying to equip him for a modern university. In those days, only a few children who had a very academic bent of mind or a very scholastic bent of mind, such children were trained in scholarly matters. All the other children naturally went to their father's profession, whatever it was. Now it is not so. Even if the father is a cobbler, he wants his son to become a professor. that is the situation in the world today, isn't it?

Question:
But you are saying there is no spirituality in Isha Home School; isn't that a shortcoming?

Sadhguru:
I am saying no spirituality as a teaching, as a method. But at the same time, if a child grows without assuming anything, if he grows up without any nonsense,
he is naturally spiritual. If he lives without the influence of other people upon him, if he lives by his own natural intelligence, turning spiritual is a very natural process. Only because most people are not living by their natural intelligence, they are living by the education imposed upon them, spirituality is a far away thing in their lives. Otherwise, if people lived by their natural intelligence, turning spiritual will be a very normal process for most, except a very small percentage, who will not go that way for various other reasons.

So when I say no spirituality, we are not going to sit there and talk to them about how to attain enlightenment and what to do. No. But at the same time the education process itself is such that there is no messing with the child - no influence, no religion, no imposition of any kind of ideas or beliefs - where the child has to figure out things for himself. If you are allowed to figure out things for yourself, there is no other way but to turn inward to know things about life. Only if you listen to your Bible or Gita or what this person said or what that person said, then you don't have to turn inward to know. it is already written there. If you don't read any of that stuff, when you start thinking about life, when you start looking at life, the only place to look is naturally inward, isn't it? Where else will you look?

One day it happened, a lady who was a big professor in the university bought herself a little complex home appliance. She took it home, she read the instructions and tried to put it together with all those pieces that came in the package. She just tried very hard, she couldn't put it together. So she left all those parts in a heap and went to work. When she came back in the evening, to her surprise, the appliance was properly assembled and already used. She called the maid
and asked, "Who fixed this?" The maid said, "I did." She couldn't believe it. She said, "How did you do this?" Then the maid said, "When you don't know how to read and write, you have to use your brains."

So we want to teach the children how to use their brains, not just to read and write. Reading and writing are important, but using your brains is more important. Just see, a lot of educated people who are very successful in their careers, just see what a mess they are in with their own lives. Obviously they are not using their brains when it comes to their life. The very way they are, it is very obvious. They know how to go and become doctors, engineers, become big academics and all that stuff, but when it comes to their own life, it looks like they have no brains at all, because they have forgotten how to use it - it is not that they don't have it. So education should stimulate your brain, not dull your brain. Education should stimulate your intelligence, not take it off. Today, education scientists around the world are saying if a child goes through twenty years of formal education, seventy percent of his intelligence is irrevocably destroyed. That means you are coming out as a knowledgeable idiot, and that is a huge disservice to humanity. it is a huge disservice to humanity if you are just destroying the child's intelligence, because the future of the world is just in their brains, isn't it so? Whether we are going to produce beautiful things on the planet or very destructive bombs on the planet, or something else more destructive than that, simply depends on how well coordinated this person's emotions, intelligence, and all these things are - how well-coordinated a human being he is. That is how he is going to use his intelligence and that is what he is going to produce in the world.

The most intelligent people in the world have contributed to all the violence on the planet, otherwise violence wouldn't be happening at the scale in which it is happening. A certain segment of the people, have always been essentially violent. Whether he was a caveman or later on, Bronze Age, Iron Age, whatever you take, he has always been violent. Initially when he was a caveman he killed with stone, that is Stone Age. Iron Age means he killed with iron; Bronze Age means he killed with bronze. Nuclear Age means he kills with nuclear. People have always been essentially violent, but the scale of violence that can happen today has happened because the best brains in the world have cooperated with this. They have worked to create the most violent ways to kill humanity. If the intelligent in the world had not cooperated, the violent man would kill one or two, with a stick or a stone or something. But only because the intelligent person in the world has cooperated, now the violent man can kill in millions.

Intelligence twisted out against our own wellbeing is no intelligence. Right now, human intelligence has become like this. This is not a blessing, it is a curse. Intelligence is the biggest blessing that a human being has, but right now it has become a curse upon humanity simply because the human being is not coming out as a well-coordinated being. he is dislocated the human being within himself. This intelligence is dangerous. If you were like a donkey, you would only kick, nothing more. The maximum violence you would cause is a kick with both your legs, nothing more. But now human intelligence has become so dangerous. What should have been a blessing has become such a big curse, and education is definitely playing a huge role in that.

Whatever we wish to do with the youth, one thing that the older generation should understand is - what you are referring to as youth is that segment of humanity which is more alive than you. What I see is, if the world was guided by the young, it would be a better place to live. It is just that because youth means it is that segment of humanity which is in a high-energy state - because they are in a certain level of high-energy compared to the other part of the humanity, every little thing that they do is a little exaggerated, it is a little bigger than what the other people can do. If something constructive has to happen in the world, it has to be the youth. If something destructive has to happen in the world, it has to also be the youth, isn't it? Because they are much more alive than anybody else on the planet. So instead of always treating youth as some kind of a disease that needs to be handled, you must understand youth is much more alive than the other parts of humanity. It is better to be guided by the youth, than trying to fix them to do what somebody else thinks is right. It is just that, because they are in a certain state of listless energy, if there is no inspiration, if there is no proper guidance, it very easily turns negative. But otherwise, definitely they are closer to life.

Actually, it would be wonderful if this world was guided by little children, because they are closer to life than anybody else. See, after all, everything that you wish to do on the planet is just for human wellbeing. Human wellbeing means human happiness. If you look at your children and yourself, definitely your children are a lot happier than you. Isn't it so? they are capable of more happiness than you in twenty four hours' time. Yes? So when that is the case, tell me who should be a consultant for life, you or your child? Definitely the children, isn't it?

You are carried away in your thoughts and emotions; they are much more close to life. If only the world learnt from children, rather than trying to teach the children, this would be a very beautiful place.

So youth is not a disease. Usually, the older generation is trying to handle youth as if it is some kind of a disease that needs to be fixed, that needs treatment. It does not need any treatment. It is people who have gone away from life who need treatment. Those who are close to life don't need treatment, they have to just live.

One big lapse that is happening today in the world is our educational systems have become 100% informative - there is no inspiration. Without inspiration, no human being raises beyond the limitations in which he lives. it is only when he is inspired that a human being wants to go beyond the limitations in which we're existing in right now, and today education has become totally bereft of inspiration. A teacher is not somebody that is worth looking up to unfortunately, because when all that is given is information, you can as well get it from an audio, or a video, or internet or wherever. You don't really have to listen to a teacher. A teacher is not the best means of transmission when it comes to pure information. A book is better, internet is even better. Only if the teacher's role is to inspire people to learn, to create a thirst for knowledge, only then a teacher's role has something to give. If he is just trying to transmit information, the other means of transmission are better than a human being, because human beings can always misinterpret, isn't it? Making the whole education system purely informational has caused an enormous damage, and that time of life when you are youthful, when you are capable of many things, that span of life unfortunately goes to waste simply because the necessary inspiration is not there.

Generally, most leaders in the world have always inspired people only by creating an external enemy. If you create an external enemy, you can inspire everybody on the street. Action, isn't it? But when you point out to people that the real enemy is within you - your limitations are your biggest enemies, your fear, your anxiety, your anger, your hatred, whatever the limitations from which one suffers - when you say the enemy is within you, then to inspire you need much more commitment and dedication. Unfortunately, dedication and commitment have become such scarce material on the planet. Everybody is thinking of doing one big
mela
one day and getting the youth inspired into wonderful states. Such things will not happen. It needs a daily committed and dedicated work. it is a lifelong thing. it is not that today you do something and everything is fixed. There is no such possibility. it is like nurturing a plant; it is like nurturing a tree. If you want it to bear fruit, you have to nurture it every day. Every day you have to water it, every day you have to take care of it. If this dedication is shown by the adults, the grown-ups, you will see youth will do miraculous things. Only because such dedication is missing in the general population, youth seem to be disoriented, they don't know what to do, they do their own things, short-term things. Because everybody is working on short-term goals, youth also work on short-term goals.

See, after all, every human being in the world is concerned about human wellbeing, isn't it? If you think, "No, there is a criminal, no, there is a thief, no, there is somebody else," see, they are also concerned about human wellbeing. It is just that their idea of human wellbeing is just this human being
(points at himself)
. Yes? A criminal is also concerned about human wellbeing, but his idea of humanity is just
himself. Somebody's idea of humanity is him and his family; somebody else's idea of humanity is him and his country; somebody else's includes the whole world. Everybody is concerned about human wellbeing in different proportions.

One big thing that needs to happen with the youth and with everybody, is that their identification with humanity should not be limited to just themselves, and that it includes a larger society and the larger world around them; this is missing in education today. The modern education is constantly training people only to think about themselves and nothing else but themselves. All the science that you see in the world - there is nothing wrong with the science itself - the way in which science is conducted, the attitude is like everything here is here only to be exploited for our wellbeing, isn't it so? Now we destroy wantonly, and then we talk about protecting the environment, then do something else; all patch-up jobs, because the whole process of science is only about how to use everything for your comfort, for your benefit. Initially, you use the planet, then the trees and plants, then the animals, then of course the human beings also. You use everybody to your comfort and wellbeing. That attitude has been deeply set with the process of modern education. So, as we are investing our time, resources and energies in transmitting informative knowledge, we have to invest a certain amount of time, energy and resources to inspire people - the inspirational dimension of the education which has not been done at all.

For example, fifty years ago, this country, during the freedom struggle, had an inspired population. Suddenly people were willing to come
out and throw their lives on the street for the nation. In fifty years' time, we did not do any work about inspiring people, and suddenly we are such a disgruntled and disoriented population. To get Indians to think as Indians is a huge problem, isn't it? Because the necessary inspiration has been missing. No organized work has been done. Haphazardly, small groups of people doing this and that has happened, but no organized work has been done.

We need to do something about inspiring people in an organized way. Haphazardly, individuals doing this and that is fine, but a very organized effort to inspire people without creating an external enemy, making people understand the biggest enemy for a human being is always within himself - this inspiration is what is needed. Every forum that stands up thinking about the wellbeing of the youth, or thinking about harnessing that enormous energy which we refer to as youth, must always think of integrating in terms of moving people to do things which are beyond limitations.