Education and ethics of ancient India: its relevance today

We are here to critically understand the relevance of the ancient Indian educational system in modern times. The ethos of modern education has helped to understand the Indian society. Do we want to go back to being original thinkers or remain in the current system that breeds mediocrity? India needs to think carefully how much the foreign education system has helped her. The time has come to return to the high level of education that will produce thinkers.

The foundation of Indian education has been learning and understanding. It just became memorize after countless invasions. India was the most prosperous nation in the world in ancient times. He believed in exploiting natural resources just what was needed. Excessive exploitation of natural resources was neither carried out nor encouraged. In India, people worship nature: plants, wind, fire, water, sun, etc. This shows the respect he gave to all living plants and animals on Earth. In the Hindu religion it is said that overexploitation of the sea should be avoided and this is known as “samudramanthan”. Giving education was considered a noble job, a solemn duty of the teacher and he should not expect remuneration from the students. A teacher was dedicated and took teaching as a mission.

Scholars also helped reform societies. We could remember the contribution of the great professor of economics from the universities of Takshashila and Nalanda; Chankaya who realized that for the economic development of the region it was necessary to make an undivided nation: India. He helped Chandragupta establish the Maurya Empire which ruled the entire subcontinent and beyond. This empire in recent times gave the system that gave us the ethical standards that the Indians value even now. The standards of education were high and people came from distant lands to study all streams of subjects here in India. The Indians also worship the goddess of education “Saraswati”. Even today it is celebrated with great fanfare.

The Hindus have a role in introducing the child to learning and that is the culture of India. Indian society is based on education. People in education are given the highest position in the society called Brahmins. In ancient times, one had to work very hard to become a Brahmin. In those days he was not by birth. One had to take that profession only then could one become a brahmin. The brahmin could not accept money to give education. Education in ancient India was free for all. The kingdom would finance education. India is a country that has low literacy but high education. People know about life, nature, plants and their importance, etc.

The Indian educational system was based on the principle of total development; mind and emotions. The Indian system placed great emphasis on the development of the ethical sole and thus introduced the brahmacharya system. During this period, a student is only supposed to learn. The Indian system emphasized learning by doing. In fact, it was based on religious practices and religious acts. One must appreciate that religion in those days was just a way of life, therefore there was no conflict with education. One had to follow a strict way of life which they still have to follow. Athavaveda, an ancient book, talks in detail about the educational part; the system and methods to follow.

However, it had some flaws. Education was restricted to those who deserve it and was not available to everyone. Second, it was guru (teacher) centered, that is, for everything, one had to depend on the guru and knowledge from him was considered perfect. Buddhism democratized education by allowing everyone to study. This helped spread education and institutionalize education through the formation of universities. Buddhism did not deviate from the Hindu system of imparting education, but made it broad-based. Here again, educators and students had to be religious people and had to follow strict rules. Even here he was not completely devoid of the old Guru System. Even Buddha said “Buddham saranam gachchami” (Come to Buddha for enlightenment). Mind you, in ancient times, the great saints did research on their own and developed a body of knowledge that contrasted with what the Buddha said. However, he challenged the system of concentration of knowledge in a few hands. This might have diluted the quality of knowledge, but it improved the understanding of the general people in India.

This also developed a bond between the people of India that holds this country together. This is the secret of the unity in the diversity of India. A diverse country has become a population with the same principle of life that is achieving mokshya (eternal bliss).

The Indians always attached great importance to education which would improve the ethical level of the population. The resilience of the ancient Indian education system has been proven time and time again. Since the early stages of foreign invasion, India lost all its material wealth, but not Indian ethics and the superiority of our (Arian) culture and beliefs. This was made possible by the foundation of the Indian educational system. Others speak of ethics but the indigenous people practice through education.

The goals of the Indian System, I believe, were:

1. The direct aim was to make all the students useful members of the society so that they could faithfully follow the duties of all the other Ashrams in life.
2. The objective was to make the character strong and good through moral values.
3. The Indian educational system made a distinction between mother’s scholarship and total education.
4. The goal of the system was the development of the total personality.
5. Next was the inculcation of civic and social duties. India in ancient times was a society governed mainly by social laws that gave us strength. It is the only society where the social system of doing business was so strong and independent that we survived despite foreign invasion and rule.
6. Indian education promoted social efficiency and happiness. We all know that in our old books there are examples of people who help society.
7. The old educational system taught the preservation of national heritage and culture, so we still have a different culture from all other societies. This is still our strength and one day we will be able to restore our national pride. This has given us unbroken continuity since ancient times. It is the strength of our ancient upbringing that we survive as a nation.

So the question is where did we go wrong? Our educational system was encased in a shell because it had to be protected from foreign influence. This violent slaughter of our culture by foreign invaders made us extremely introverted. The openness of our society was lost and formal education became the domain of a few. This destroyed our academy’s ability to spread knowledge. The burning of our established educational centers scared people. The mass lost the desire to learn because they did not value homegrown knowledge. People got sidetracked from the formal learning process and this gave way to all sorts of crude practices in our society. Indian society lost the basic ability to acquire and harness knowledge. The body of knowledge became rare, which was a rare commodity that only the rich could afford. The British rule took advantage of this vacuum and introduced a system to meet the needs of the Empire. The system did not encourage beyond copying. This practice is still prevalent in the Indian education system. Discourage children from having their own independent opinion on a topic.

We stopped learning and all our ancient texts were considered part of the religion. We should redesign our educational system incorporating the main spirit of our old time-tested system with new insights. We must reintroduce the concept of self-control that has existed in our society. This can make our people appreciate the need for ethical standards. Yes, let’s go back to the relationship that existed between education and society defined by our ancient and proven system. The quality of some of the books written 2,500 years ago or more is so high that people today cannot write. That was the level of our original research, why and when we lost that ability is cause for concern even now. We must revive that and rebuild the education system in India as we want it; comprehensive development. The copy of the west has not helped and will not help in the future, this must be recognized once and for all. We believe in the ethical values ​​of society and that cannot be compromised at any cost. The society has wasted thousands of years and let us not waste any more time in searching for proper education for India.
Dr. Aloke Chakravartty
Dean
School of Management
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