Real Knowledge Missing From Modern Education

Real Knowledge Missing From Modern Education
– by Shrila Bhakti Swarup Tirtha Maharaj

Today’s education basically involves acquiring vast information and borrowed knowledge to earn a decent living. Nothing more. It lacks the real knowledge of the self to realise our consciousness to evolve spiritually.

This was the real challenge posed by Shrila B. S. Tirtha Maharaj in the first part of his recent discourse at the London School of Economics, U.K. and St. Paul’s College, Oxford University. 

Vast information and borrowed knowledge of almost everything on this earth can be gained with our high-powered intelligence.

We study in top Universities like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard to improve and increase our knowledge in all spheres. But we do not have the real knowledge of our own true self.

We obtain many degrees, but come out of college without this crucial knowledge. We start to earn money by either managing our own business or by joining multinational organisations as senior executives.

We get married, produce children and ultimately die. But where do we go after death? Nobody knows. 

We secretly wish: ‘I don’t want to grow old but I am forced to grow old. I don’t want to become sick but I do become sick.’ Finally, ‘I don’t want to die but I must die.’ No other option. Why so? This is an important knowledge that we neglect to explore.

Frankly, no one wants to die, except those who commit suicide. Although all of us are aware that ultimately everyone has to die; yet we would like to prolong our life as long as possible.

Medical research also aims at increased longevity. Unfortunately, these researchers themselves will have to leave their work unfinished and die.

Why is this hankering for overcoming death? Even though every one of us has the experience of facing death in our family, why do we still want to live forever?

We know for certain that in this mundane world no one can live eternally. In fact, the whole world is ultimately perishable.

Foolish Attempt

Then, why do we make such foolish attempt at immortality in this mortal world? A popular cliché states: ‘Nothing is as sure as death’. Why do we secretly entertain a desire to avoid death? This is because the real living being or the soul has no death. It is eternal. According to the Vedic science, there are two realms of reality: the material and the spiritual.

Our physical bodies are made of organic matter and molecules. But these are animated by the presence of the spirit soul, which is non-chemical and non-molecular. It is like an aircraft and a pilot. Aircraft can be compared to the body and pilot to the spirit soul. At death, when the spirit soul leaves the body it becomes inert and lifeless, although all the molecular machineries that make up the body remain intact.

It is the spiritual world that exists eternally unlike the perishable material world. The living entities such as spirit souls, actually belong to that eternal realm where there is no birth, old age, disease and death. In that world, everything is spiritual, eternal and fully conscious. In that environment, the real living beings and the conscious spirit souls live eternally.

When these living entities come in contact with the matter, they become vitiated just like the rain water which is originally pure as it falls from the sky but becomes muddy the moment it comes into contact with the soil. Thus, a living entity becomes conditioned here due to the material embodiment in this mundane atmosphere.

A fish has a water-based body. The moment it is put on land, it dies. Its existence is conditioned only in a watery plane. The quality of the matter of which our body is made is such that everyone who takes birth has to die.

Live It Up

Thus, due to the illusion of the physical concept of life, our attention is always focused on worldly enjoyment. According to the current popular notion, we think that with the death of the body everything is finished. In ancient times, a famous sage said, “Rinam kritva ghritam pibet, bhasmibhuta dehasya kutah punah agamano bhavet? You must eat healthy and tasty food made of ghee (clarified butter).

Even if you cannot afford it, you must do so by borrowing ghee because how will you get this opportunity again once this body dies?” Or, live it up!

It is just like some students skip classes very often during college years and waste time in other frivolous activities. Thus, they fail in their examinations but do not bother when mocked. Later, they quit college and go astray to get indulged in drinks, drugs and crime. They have wasted their life.

At death, only the existing physical body is lost. According to the Gita, one comes back accepting another body (2/13). This means the real living being is a conscious entity.

Consciousness is eternal. It is the life force that sustains the existence of our body. This unit of consciousness is called the soul. It is spiritual while the body is material. Life is the symptom of the soul. The body is actually a dead matter. It is unconscious. It is the presence of the soul that keeps the body alive.

A car can be compared to our physical body and the driver to our spirit soul. It is due to the presence of the driver operating the controls that the car moves. Without the driver, the car is merely a lifeless object.

The relation between the conscious spirit soul and the gross physical body can also be understood as electricity and electric bulb. To the naked eye, the bulb is visible while electricity is not. The glass bulb is merely a diffusing medium but it is the electricity that generates the light. An ornamental chandelier is useless without the presence of electricity.

Very often, the scientists keep churning out complex theories by empirical methods and make superficial observations. The laymen believe them and accept their findings as the sole truth. Science confines itself to research, understand and explain various cosmic phenomena according to the natural causes.

Despite spending huge amounts of funds, the knowledge we have gained over the centuries is negligible. The scientists tend to view everything with their ideological prejudice being convinced that everything comes from matter.

Everything Is Matter

While the scientists claim everything is matter, the Vedas declare that everything is conscious– sarvam khalvidam brahma. This means that the root of everything material is the conscious spirit soul. In the physical world, the consciousness may be developed as in the case of humans or degraded as in the case of stones.

Yet the consciousness is the basis of all existence. After enlightening Arjuna about his two types of energies, namely, conscious spiritual energy and inert material energy, the Supreme Lord Krishna affirms in the Gita (7/6): 

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Actually, a living entity consists of three parts: gross physical body made up of cells, subtle mind and intelligence, and the subtler soul. It is like a unit of medicine. When we buy it from a pharmacy, it normally consists of:

1. A packet or an outer carton,
2. A bottle inside it and
3. A capsule or a tablet inside the bottle.

The outer carton can be considered as the body and the bottle represents the subtle body. The capsule can be compared to the spirit soul. The capsule is the real medicine, neither the carton nor the bottle. Similarly, the spirit soul is the real living being, neither the gross physical body, nor the subtle mental body.

Of these bodies, the physical body and the subtle body consisting of mind and intelligence are completely material and, therefore, totally lack consciousness. But the spirit soul is pure consciousness.

Thus, it is due to the presence of the conscious spirit soul that the body is animated. In other words, the eternal, indestructible conscious spirit soul and the temporary perishable material body are two distinct entities.

Therefore, the living body is able to receive and respond to stimuli because of the soul’s presence which is sentient. Vedic literature provides ample evidence consistent with the idea that consciousness is separate from the material body. The functions of the mind are thinking, feeling and willing.

The mind is also the cause of instinctive behaviour. Functions of the intelligence are: assessment, evaluation, judgement and determination.

Spirit Souls In All Beings

Not only the human beings but also the animals and birds have spirit souls in them. This can be understood from the fact that like us, they also eat food, reproduce, communicate, acquire habits, can sense approaching danger, and have the trait of race preservation.

This is also corroborated by Vedic literature which clarifies that eating, sleeping, defending and mating are the functions common to the humans, the beasts and the birds. In fact, the Vedas claim that in addition to these living beings, even trees and plants have spirit souls in them.

Modern scientists have also proved this. Sometimes in a village, we see when a huge tree senses an obstacle to spread its roots, the growth avoids and circumvents the impeding object and yet continues to spread its roots.

According to Vedic information, there are 8,400,000 species of life:

Anything moving or growing on this earth is the visible sign of the presence of consciousness. The differences in the degree or level of consciousness in different entities are:

1. Achchadita chetana-Shrouded consciousness (mountains, trees and plants) 
2. Sankuchita chetana-Shrunken consciousness (beast and birds) 
3. Mukulita chetana-Budding consciousness (human beings with material conception of life) 
4. Ishad vikachita chetana-Blossomed consciousness (human beings engaged in spiritual practice) 
5. Purna vikachita chetana-Fully blossomed consciousness (God realised human beings) 

All these 8,400,000 varieties of bodies evolve with six stages of transformation in a lifetime. These stages are: taking birth, growing up, existing for a few years, reproducing a by-product, becoming decayed and finally dying.

While the body goes through these stages, the spirit soul remains the same and moves into another body at death. This is explained in the Gita (2/13):

During transmigration, the spirit soul, the real person exists in various bodies. A highly elevated soul acquired the body of a monkey, by the name Hanuman who is glorified as one of the most sincere devotees of Lord Rama. Another exalted soul accepted an eagle’s body, called Garuda who rendered services of various types, including becoming a vehicle of the Lord Vishnu.

Of these bodies, only the human body has adequate intelligence to understand its real identity. This also affords the soul to exercise its free will. The optimum development of our consciousness makes it our prime responsibility for orienting all our actions in the spiritual direction. In lower forms of existence, the conditioned soul is driven mostly by its instinct with limited ability.

Only Humans Under Karma

This is precisely the reason why, out of 8,400,000 species, it is only the humans who are subjected to and governed by the laws of Karma. The quality of actions of humans in one’s lifetime influences their next birth. With their deeds, they can evolve to the upper regions of this universe, superior to the current existence on this earth. Gautama the Buddha was born as a prince but became a realised soul.

Hence he was known as Buddha, which means the enlightened one. The living entities also risk being cast into abominable states of the animals or the vegetable kingdoms by their irresponsible lifestyle.

Indradyumna, a king of ancient south India once showed disrespect to a great sage, Agastya. After being cursed by him, the king became an elephant in his next birth as Gajendra. They also have the excellent chance of liberating from all conditioned existence altogether and to attain the spiritual world, their original residence.

We are forced to accept another body at death. This is confirmed in the Shrimad Bhagavatam (4/29/76-77):

The Supreme Lord Krishna also enlightened Arjuna in this connection with these verses of the Gita:

Thus, it is the state of consciousness at the time of death that determines the type of body one will get in his/her next birth. Therefore, Vedic teachings warn us not to fall prey to the unregulated demands of our senses to waste the golden opportunity of human birth and remain focused on spiritual progress. The verse of Shrimad Bhagavatam (11-9-29) is very candid:

Prahlad Maharaja, a child devotee of Lord Narasimha deva, urges his schoolmates to perform devotional service of the Supreme Lord to attain the highest perfection in Shrimad Bhagavatam (7-6-1):

If we do not take advantage of such an opportunity available during our human birth and remain foolishly attached to material enjoyment driven by bodily impulses, then the soul may be cast into bodies of lower grade with lesser intelligence. Nalakuvara and Manigriva, the two sons of Kubera, the treasurer of heavens, were enjoying with naked girls in a lake.

When a great saint Narada passed by, the two sons, maddened by wealth and false prestige showed disrespect to the sage by roaming naked in his presence. As a result, they were reborn as Arjuna trees. The Shrimad Bhagavatam (11-20-17) terms this as spiritual suicide:

How can we cross the ocean of material existence? For this, we need to carefully understand the Vedic explanation of the creation and evolution of consciousness in the next article.