By Kollengode S Venkataraman (written in 2002)
With technology developing rapidly all around, everything we learn becomes obsolete in a matter of years. Advances in the sciences and the explosive developments in acquiring, storing, and transmitting digitised data have changed every facet of our life — from the crib to the crematorium.
So, if we don’t keep on fighting obsolescence, we are overrun by the tsunami of changes. If we want to stay where we are relative to those around us, we must run and keep on running. Organizations, in their own self-interest, therefore, spend an enormous amount of time and money in continuously retaining their staff. The healthcare industry regularly holds retraining programs for professionals to keep them abreast of the latest developments. The budget for these retraining programs is not pocket change anymore.
This has opened new avenues for universities to offer programs in “continuing education” spread over several weeks. Medical disciplines, with high earnings even hold their week-long continuing education programs on cruise ships so that they can learn, relax, and get tax write-off for their classes on the cruise. The widespread practice of continuing education started in the West in the middle of 20th century that simply exploded in later years. So, if we think that continuing education is a 20th century phenomenon, it is entirely understandable.
But how about the idea of continuing education? There is evidence that this is very old — very, very old, as a matter of fact. The idea of continuing education was clearly enunciated in ancient India over 2000 years ago.Where does one find a reference to the idea of continuing education in ancient India? In the Upanishads, of course. In the Taitriya Upanishad, to be specific. The Upanishad is divided into three chapters called Vallis, Shikshavalli, Anandavalli and Bhrguvalli.
The Shikshavalli is structured in the manner of a “how-to” primer, instructed by the teachers to the students leaving traditional schools, on how they should conduct themselves once they leave to live in the world out there. Here are the original lines and their literal translation:
ऋत-ञ्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
सत्य-ञ्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
तपश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
दमश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
शमश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
अग्नयश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
अग्निहोत्र-ञ्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
अतिथयश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
मानुष-ञ्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
प्रजा च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
प्रजनश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
प्रजातिश्च स्वाध्यायप्रव॑चने॒ च ।
Do things that are natural, and practice self-study and discourse.
Observe truth, and practice self-study and discourse.
observe self-control, and practice self-study and discourse.
perform fire sacrifices, and practice self-ready and discourse.
Be hospitable to guests, and practice self-study and discourse.
Be good to humanity, and practice self-study and discourse.
Propagate your lineage, and practice self-study and discourse.
do your civic duties, and practice this self-study and discourse.
Take care of your children, and practice self-study and discourse.
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The teacher, while instructing his students on how they should conduct themselves after leaving school, repeats Swa-adhyayam (Self Study) and Pravachanam (Discourse) twelve times in this short passage. Was repeating Swa-adhyayam and Pravachanam so many times just for cadence? Certainly not. It was for emphasis.
Hindu priests in many temples recite the Shikshavalli in a slow, monotonic cadence that devotees find comforting and soothing, even though devotees and priests themselves may not know the meaning or the import of the recitation. Shikshavalli then goes on.
“Speak the truth. Walk on the path of Dharma. Don’t neglect self-study. Do not cut off your own family lineage… … do not overlook your own welfare, do not neglect your own prosperity, do not neglect discourse.”
That Hindu society by and large did nothing with the idea of continuing education in later centuries is a matter of shame, even though a few individuals kept doing it all through the ages. Only because of these individuals, much of what we now have survived. This is a topic for cultural historians and sociologists to explain.
We, the non-punditry class of Hindus, might not have heard about Swa-adhyayam and Pravachanam or about Shiksha Valli for that matter. But many among us have been instinctively putting into practice the idea of continuing education in our own way.
Take for example, artists of the Indian classical performing arts. They rigorously do swadhyayam for hours and hours every day just so that they will be in their best form. In India, we even have technical terms for it — Abhyasam Sadhakam. Centuries before practice became the common term among Indians. Asura-sadhakam is sadhakam done with demonic intensity. And their music/dance recitals are their pravachanams.
Or look at the teachers who train youngsters in the art forms of their passion to pass on the art form to the next generation. These men and women do Swa-adhyayam and Pravachanam.
Or take our forty-something men and women going through their own midlife crisis, suddenly getting inspired to read Tulsi Ramayan and Bhagavad Gita, Bulle Shah, Kabir and Thevaram, Upanishad, Adhi Granth Gyaneshwari… …. What do they do? Swa-adhyayam
Or look at our men and women with college degrees, taking classes in community colleges to acquire new skills, sometimes seeking better careers, often for the fun of learning something new. What do they do? Swa-adhyayam.
These men and women practice Swa-adhyayam for its own sake and for the satisfaction it gives them, without ever thinking of monetary compensation, often without ever having heard about Shikshavalli or the Taitriya Upanishad.
As I said earlier, many Hindu priests who have memorized these hymns by rote recite them week after week. Paradoxically, it is these priests who neither practice swa-adhyayam (self-study) nor indulge in pravachanam. That is a tragedy filled with great irony. END