Baba
Prout on education & crime
Namaskar,
Suppose two people not known to each other are travelling together on a train. When one thinks that if, for some reason, he suffers from a heart attack while on the train, then his hope is that the person beside him will take care of him by calling other people for help, and ensure his well-being. This is an illustration of brotherhood, faith, and belief among each other.
In contrast, what happens in today’s society is that the person thinks that if he will suffer a heart attack while on a train, the person next to him will take his belongings and run away or will throw him out of the train and take all the belongings. This is an example, but in society there are many instances where such mistrust exists, and many such incidents happen because of lack of brotherhood among people.
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One of the reasons is the lack of a proper education system. A paid and privatized system of education results in unhappiness, violence, inferiority / superiority complex, and results in dangerous activities happening in the society.
Which education system is better?
How should the education system be? In some countries, parents pay for their children’s education till university level (system A). In other countries, parents do not pay, rather student loans are available for higher education (system B). Which education system is better? Ideally, if we look objectively, neither system is correct, because in both systems the rich take advantage. Let us consider system A.
==> System A: rich take advantage
India is an example. A disparity exists in education among children. Children of rich people go to private schools which are highly paid, where the teacher-student ratio is high, and students are given better facilities etc. Whereas children of poor people go to public schools where basic facilities are not available. The majority of public school students do not get the exposure to pursue higher education in the future. Whereas the majority of private school students do get a chance to pursue higher education. But the problems in private schools are even more complex. There are different types of private schools.
One who is very rich sends students to very expensive private schools, and one who is somewhat rich sends their children to medium to less expensive private schools. There are different grades of private schools, and even from primary school rich people send their children to private schools depending on their capability. Rich people not only send their children to private schools, but also provide exposure to other activities such as sports, music classes etc.. This provides their children with a vision about what direction their future lives might take.
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Unending cycle of poverty: crime
So a differential gap exists between children of rich and poor people. Generation after generation of children of poor people remain poor and their development with proper education remains highly unlikely. Even if they do get any job then those jobs will be low paid, and they will struggle to fulfill their basic requirements such as acquiring and maintaining their home, taking care of their children and family etc.
When the basic necessities of the poor are not fulfilled then they look for other ways to earn money. Other ways to earn money will be through unfair means such as being a thief, by cheating others, and being involved in bribery etc. They become either servants of rich people or work for them. In these circumstances, it is always the case that the boss is the richest person whereas the agents are very poor. For example, the chief of thieves is the richest person, but people who work for him are very poor. They search for means as to how they can get more money for the boss such that their share will increase. By these types of wrongdoings, the society becomes a place where peace is hard to find. The root cause of this situation in society can be attributed to the improper education system. Due to the wrongdoings of some people, everybody faces harmful consequences.
Rich person also killed
Example-1: We often see in newspapers from many countries that a rich person was surrounded by thieves, and the aftermath was that the rich person was killed because there was no other way for the thieves to get the money out of him. A few days later the thieves were caught, and were taken to jail. So, in this situation, both the rich person and the poor person faced the consequences. Even though the rich person had a good childhood education, he still had to face the consequences of this improper social condition.
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Poor & rich: both suffering
Example-2: We see in developing countries that rich people, after their education, acquire a house (different from their parent’s house) and buy cars and other luxurious commodities. In contrast, we see that even though they have cars, the roads are not properly built so that the car will not go over it smoothly. If the rich person wants to go from point A to B, they cannot use their car because the roads are unpaved, and there are potholes, caused by heavy rain which has washed away the roads. So the purpose of having a car is futile. Because of bad roads now both the poor and rich are suffering. In this example, we see that educational differences did not solve the daily basic problems even for the rich.
Pay hitman tax
Example-3: Sometimes the rich are very rich, and the poor are very poor. In those situations, some economically poor people want to become gangsters, especially those with poor education, because there is no way of survival for them. If the rich people do not help the poor, there is no way of survival for the poor. One of the easier paths is for those poor people to become gangsters, and find ways to loot money from the rich. The gangsters demand money from the rich asking them to pay hitman tax. If the rich do not pay the demanded money, then the gangsters may kidnap their wife, daughter, son etc. Being afraid, the rich people bribe and try to make the gangsters happy. Society cannot move forward when such types of circumstances happen. The root cause is education.
The richer people amassed a lot of money due to their education as, in their childhood, they only had to concentrate on their studies, and obtain good grades in school so that they would obtain a highly paid job in the future. This imbalance of education between the children of rich parents and those of poor parents has not resulted in developing a society that could move forward, rather with this imbalance there remains retardation in the development of society.
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==> System B: the poor suffer -- USA etc
In system B, primary education is so-called free, but higher education is not. For pursuing higher education, loans are available. This type of system exists in many countries. Even though a loan is available, many students do not want to take loans because they are fearful about whether they will be able to pay off the loan or not. Especially when the student is a first generation of the family going to college, then parents do not have much knowledge of where a loan would be available, when the loan repayments would start, and what the interest rate etc. would be. Because there are a lot of loopholes in the loan system, and because they do not have much prior knowledge, they are afraid to encourage their child to take out a loan. In contrast, parents who are rich, typically pay off their child’s loan. In addition, when children of rich parents seek university admission, they can easily gain admission to some universities which have high tuition costs. However, children of poor parents cannot afford such high tuition fees and there is a risk that even if a loan is offered, they may not be able to pay off the loan amount after their education is complete if they don’t get a job.
Comparison of Systems A & B
We see that neither of the two systems is appropriate, as both are geared towards favoring education for children of rich parents. Both systems result in creating an environment which is not conducive for spiritual upliftment. Both systems will result in increasing the number of poor people generation after generation because education is not free; rather, either the cost is paid by the parents or available in the form of loans. Both system A and system B type of education are not good. Rather, education should be free.
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Violence, illegal ways of gaining money
There is no growth for poor people, and the alternative way for them is to find illegal ways of getting money. Both systems lead to a snowball effect where rich people will get richer and poor people will become poorer. Poor people in system B have been attempting to abandon the loan system for pursuing their dream of higher education because it is not a plausible solution. Similarly, system A resulted in the development of communist organizations (e.g. the eastern part of India, in parts of Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh) which dominate and rule even though there is a police presence and government security. In those regions, Maoists often confront the police or military forces, which results in casualties from both sides. No one is born a Maoist. Rather, because of lack of education people develop such a nature and feel that they are not treated fairly in society, and so they join/form specific groups such as the Maoists.
AM Solution: free education - 1
Prout suggests that education should be free. Admission to the educational system will be based on one’s intellectual capability and not financial one. If one is a capable student, then s/he will get an opportunity to pursue higher education; higher education should not be based on financial capability.
Children of kings & common people
This type of system existed before. In ancient India, the Gurukul system is an example where children of kings and common people were staying together for higher studies, and there was no feeling of any complex among them. In today’s education system, there is an inferiority / superiority complex among children that one is from a poor family, and the other is from a rich family. Children should not develop a rich-poor complex at such a young age. With such a type of mentality in children, society will not progress. The reason being that the rich child will develop a superiority complex and the poor child will develop an inferiority complex.
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Merit based higher education
In both education systems (system A and B above), there is a likelihood that children will develop inferiority or superiority complexes, whereas in the Prout system both the child of a king and that of a poor person will sit side by side to study together. Their dress, food, and accommodation will be the same. These basic necessities (dress, food, accommodation, etc.) should be freely provided until a certain age. Those who are good academically will be given the opportunity to pursue higher studies, and those who are not so good academically will be given the opportunity to excel in other fields which they are good at, so that everyone becomes successful.
AM Solution: free education - 2
Everyone who would like to study at any age should be exempt from any fees, and education should be free. Money for education should be raised from taxes from all in such a way that someone whose income is higher pays a higher amount of taxes and those with lower income pay lower taxes. Education from primary through to university should be free and should not be privatized. The education system should not be run by politicians but rather by people who are scholars in their respective fields. Political interference should not be allowed in academia. These types of education systems existed before in India, and everything was working well, but over time the education system was changed and now it is entirely different: a paid education system.
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Violence, theft, & robbery
Another example is that whilst higher education is free in many countries around the globe, higher education is not free in the United States (US). In the US we see a higher incidence of street violence than in many other countries. One key reason is that when students are allowed to study then the mind will be engaged in studies and not in violence. But in a country where students are not allowed to study (because they cannot afford it, and education is not free, e.g., U.S), then the mind will be engaged in activities other than studies, such as violence, theft, robbery, etc.
Conclusion: stop crime
In summary, neither system A nor system B is correct. In both these systems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As a result, there are a lot of disturbances (theft, violence, etc.) created in society. In inner cities, poorer people become involved in gun violence and they are put into jails. There are a number of rich countries in the world where a lot of people are in jail because of street violence — those countries where poor people do not see any room for progress. There is no brotherhood and love between the rich and the poor. When poor people do not find love in the society, and always feel fearful and suppressed, then that results in violence, which is typical in rich countries. Rich people look at the poor with suspicious eyes as they feel that the poor may attack them any time. Fear in the society is not a good sign as there does not exist brotherhood, love and happiness between people.
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Such disturbances are attributed to the paid education system in many countries. No one should feel that they cannot go to school/college because they cannot afford it. Education should be made free and should be made accessible to all.
In Him,
Nira’ka’r
~ In-depth study ~
Educational system must be free of cost
Ananda Marga philosophy teaches us, “The success of democracy depends upon educated, sensible voters. Hence, in a democratic country, the spread of education is of the highest priority. For the convenience of the general public, the educational system must be free of cost.” (1)
Ananda Marga philosophy says, “There should be free education for all students up to the highest degree.” (2)
Ananda Marga philosophy says, “The framing of educational policies, the control of the educational system, and all other activities concerned with education should be managed by a board comprised of efficient teachers. This board should enjoy full freedom and authority to carry out its duties. Education must be free from all political interference. Education should be free at all levels.” (3)
References
1. Problems of the Day #33
2. Prout in a Nutshell Volume 3 Part 15, Some Aspects of Socio-Economic Planning
3. Discourses on Neohumanist Education, Talks on Education – Excerpt F
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
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== Section 2: Important Teaching ==
Solution: two internal enemies
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, “Nidrá means sleep. No one should be a slave to this habit. Tandrá means you are hearing but your mind is somewhere else.” (1)
In His above teaching, Baba contrasts and warns us about the first two of the six internal enemies: nidrá and tandrá.
Nidrá: One should have control over their sleep (nidrá). As is the case with all vrttis, the more one sleeps, the more one will desire to sleep. So while a modest amount of sleep is essential for restoration and cellular regeneration, one should not indulge excessively in sleep. In various discourses, Baba warns us that those who indulge in sleep can never do anything great in their life. For a sadhaka, six or even four hours of sleep is sufficient, or even less. The more strict one is in Sixteen Points the less sleep they will need.
Tandrá: This is psychic lethargy or mental drowsiness, also known as absentmindedness and / or dullness. In His above teaching, Baba points out how those who suffer from this condition can physically hear, i.e. the sound is received by the ears, but because the mind is engaged elsewhere, that person is unable to comprehend and process that sound. And in other discourses, Baba refers to tandrá as inertness. Here again, when one succumbs to this condition, they are shackled and unable to engage in any great work. The prevention and remedy of tandrá is strict adherence to Sixteen Points. By half-bath and sadhana, and other practices, one can keep the mind alert and pointed.
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 5, The Social Order and Superiority and Inferiority Complexes
== Section: Important Teaching ==
We do not follow Biblical definition of sin
Ananda Marga ideology says, “Another thing to bear in mind is that “sin” in the English language is not the pápa of Sanskrit. As already said, “sin” means to go against that prescribed in the Bible. But pápa is explained in the phrase Paropakárah puńyáya pápáya parapiid́anam – that is, “Any action by one individual which leads to the development of others is puńya [virtuous deeds], and any action which does the opposite is pápa.” (1)
Reference
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 21, Niiti and Dharma
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Way to refine kośas
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "The paincakośas shall have to be perfected, but how is it possible? They can be consummated only through the practice of yama and niyama [and the various lessons of sadhana]. The annamaya kośa is perfected through asanas (physical postures). Yama and niyama sádhana perfect the kámamaya kośa. The manomaya Kośa is perfected through pránáyáma. Through pratyáhára the atimánasa kośa is perfected. The vijinánmaya kośa is perfected through dhárańá and the hirańmaya kośa through dhyána. Only dhyána samádhi gives access to the soul. Pious persons are those who are earnest in their efforts to perfect the paincakośa. Human existence consists of the five kośas and spiritual practice is eightfold. This spiritual practice is Dharma. That which does not provide for the explanation of the paincakośa is not Dharma, but sectism." (1)
Ananda Marga ideology says, "The loka above this where the hiran'maya kos'a (subtle causal mind) is established is what we call devarloka (satya loka). When sa'dhakas merge their petty I-feeling from the realm of the devarloka (where this I-feeling is not very much evident) -- into the bearing of the Great, they establish themselves fully in Sagun'a Brahma (Qualified Consciousness -- the collectivity of Parama'tman, Macrocosm and Microcosm). In this loka, if the whole of the I-feeling (asmita) is shattered and merged in Purus'a, the unit attains total identification with Nirgun'a Brahma (Unqualified or Objectless Consciousness). This loka is the satyaloka -- this indeed is the Brahmaloka. The one who is established in this loka is alone the Brahman'a (Bra'hmin')." (2)
Reference
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 1, Invocation of the Supreme
2. Ananda Marga Ideology & Way of Life - 5, This World and the Next
== Section 3: Links ==
