The ways of the
wise men are different and are not easily understandable to the mental-dwarfs.
The same is the case with us. We fail to understand the ancient sages and
‘Rishis’. They used to give things [including education] ONLY to the deserved
people and had the talent to know which one suits which thing. Unfortunately,
we don’t have that gift in spite of all our advances. In the ancient India, the
sages classified the people into different categories [castes] and gave the education
concerned to their field of functioning. It was their point that all types of
educations are not needed to all people.
At present too,
all are not learning the work of a barber or doctor or engineer or layer or
carpenter or cobbler. When we are in need of certain operation we are hiring
the concerned worker like going to a barber for hair cutting and the like. The
same was the case with education in the ancient India. If a learned man was in
need they will hire one and this applies to reading and writing as well.
By birth a
person is given a profession, the profession of his father and there was no
need to hunt or search for livelihood. Father and mother at home were used to
teach their children of their profession.
Certain people
are not given some specialized knowledge but, all people were given the basic
education that includes morels. In other words the man making education was
given to all and the specialized education was given only to the concerned
individuals. All were not taught to read and write but, the common masses were
aware of lots of things from the scriptures. They had the knowledge of the
scriptures but, of course they were not taught in the schools as in the present
era. The dissemination of knowledge followed totally a different route than the
present class room methods. For example ‘hari katha’ [telling stories,
scriptures to masses] and ‘Natakas’ [enacting plays] are some of the means of
educating the people apart from many others. The temples of India too were the
places of leering and they followed different ways of teachings to the masses.
Even the
‘women’ were not neglected in the olden days as many moderns think. They were
also given common education alike the men and were treated in a more humane and
dignified manner than the treatment given to the modern day women.
They were
sharing their works and the knowledge was given to them accordingly. No one was
interfering with the business of others. All were used to follow certain common
principles and they were leading a harmonious and happy life than the modern
day individuals.
Finally, it is
true that they did hide certain specialized knowledge from certain people.
Knowledge is a powerful tool and in the hands of unsuitable persons it turns
dangerous. Imagine what would happen if a person like Bin Laden learns the atomic
bomb technology. This is just an example of giving the knowledge to the
unsuitable persons. If not to this extent, certain knowledge in the hands of
the unsuitable/ inappropriate will cause trouble in the society.
So, due to
these and other reasons of their own, the ancients indeed denied certain kinds
of knowledge to different people but, they gave the general and basic education
to all without any restrictions and prejudices.
Another thing is that the common man thinks in a selfish
way. So, if certain types of educations are given to the common people, they
will misuse it for their selfish motives and create troubles to other persons
or in the society or for themselves too. Hence, certain advanced educations
were not given to all but, ONLY to the deserved and matured individuals.
In the modern society, the common man’s
life will not take a step without education. If you want to work or not you
need ‘education’ otherwise we can’t live in the society. If you want to depend
on others – you need education, either to be an employer or an employee or in
other ways too. But, the ancient people were masters of their own life, almost
all of them doing their hereditary business and not working under others.
The majority of the modern people are
‘cunning’ hence to safe guard ourselves among the cunning people we need lots
of education. But, the ancient people were all innocent beings with no or
relatively no cunningness and the living was very easy there.
Moreover the ancients are ‘heart oriented’
people so they didn't think much of education. But, contrary to them
we are ‘brain oriented’ people and we are concerned more with the brain
oriented thing, ‘education’ and criticism.
So, ‘education’ in the modern sense was not
a matter of concern in the ancient days.
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