His Grace Madhava Prabhu started the class by recalling his college days and mentioned how his faith in science shattered while reading a magazine called ‘Origins’ by Bhaktivedanta Institute in his college days. The magazine systematically presented the theories of modern science and gave a perspective to how they are actually insufficient. The modern education system is teaching us only half the truth.
Prabhu explained the fallacies of modern education. First he mentioned how modern education is taking us away from our native language and thus making us foreigners in our own land. We learn languages like English thinking that it is going to give us jobs and careers. It means that there is no career if you learn the local language! Thus we get separated from our land and our culture. It makes one believe that there is nothing for us to do in that land and thus it creates person without the proper identity.
Prabhuji gave an example of how knowing local language and land can create a career. Broom is something used in every home and there is a plastic broom industry in our country of Rs. 1500/- crore. In one mountain in Assam, there are big wild grasses growing automatically which are used to make brooms. If one is connected with the land and culture, he could make organic broom which could be the ‘ahimsa’ way to broom the house. Since plastic broom creates electrostatic energy which kills the insects and micro-organisms. Thus, this knowledge is lost and hence opportunity to build one’s own career using local land. This he called first “Critic of Modern Education”.
He mentions while living on local land, one can also learn other sister languages. Thus one can make friends from local communities and understand their culture. Because of not learning all these languages, one is separated from own culture as well as the neighbouring culture.
He also criticized the modern schooling system which discourages students to ask question. It is natural for a child to ask question. But in modern education system keeping quiet is considered a virtue. Traditionally, student is one who asks and a teacher is one who answers them. Just like Lord Krishna answers to Arjuna or Sukadev Goswami answers Parikshit Maharaja. But it is quite opposite in today’s modern education system.
He talked about the importance to teach local history because there is always a story behind the name of the place and how it got developed. These local history make one learn and understand the local area very well and the significance of these places. But today’s education system has made us so sterilized that we don’t care and we don’t know what is around us and What is happening around us? We have no understanding about this and we have forgotten the history. Because of non-understanding of local area, we are losing thousands of flora & fauna every year.
Prabhuji concluded by saying that modern education is taking us away from our culture and land. It is alienating us from our land and our culture and making us forget how to learn to live off our land.
Reported by HG. Rama Lakshman Das