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Vivekananda defines education thus, 鈥淓ducation is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.鈥�^[1] Explaining this point he says that knowledge is inherent in man. Knowledge is always inside, it does not come from outside. He says 鈥淲hat we say a man 鈥榢nows鈥�, should in strict psychological language, be what he 鈥榙iscovers鈥� or 鈥榰nveils鈥�; what a man 鈥榣earns鈥� is really what he 鈥榙iscovers, by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.鈥�^[2] Thus according to Vivekananda our soul is a mine of infinite knowledge. When we say we learn something, actually we discover that. That was already in our mind. It is not purely new. Only it was unmanifested. He explains this with the example of Newton. Newton discovered gravitation. The law of gravitation was not waiting for Newton. It was in his own mind. The time came and he found it out. He says that the falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all the previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation. The law of gravitation was not in the apple, nor in anything else of the Earth. It was in the mind of Newton. Therefore all knowledge, both secular and spiritual is in the human mind. It is not outside the mind. According to Vivekananda in many cases it is covered, and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say, 鈥榃e are learning鈥�.

Vivekananda was one who had experienced in his own life all the truths about which he spoke. This is equally valid when he addressed the subject of education. He knew that education plays a vital role in curing the evils in society, and is critical in shaping the future of humanity. He contributed valuable thoughts on the subject that are relevant even today. We now consider his oft-quoted definition of education, 鈥楨ducation is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.鈥� This definition of education is one of the remarkable insights. First of all, the word 鈥榤anifestation鈥� implies that something already exists. And that is waiting to be expressed. Therefore the main concern in learning is to make the hidden ability of a learner manifest. As Vivekananda said, 鈥榳hat a man learns鈥� is really what he 鈥榙iscovers鈥� by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge. Vivekananda was influenced by Vedanta philosophy to the greatest extent. All this thoughts were actually presentation of the Vedanta philosophy only in a new form. According to the Vedanta philosophy, knowledge is inherent in a human being, like a spark in a piece of flint. To bring this inherent ability strike of suggestion is needed. 鈥楳anifestation鈥� implies spontaneous growth, provided the impediments, if any, are removed.

Next in importance in Vivekananda鈥檚 definition of education is the expression 鈥榓lready in man鈥�. This refers to a human beings potential. Potentiality means the range of the abilities and talents, known or unknown that man is born with. 鈥楶otential鈥� speaks of the possibility of awaking something that is lying dormant. According to Israel Scheffler, the word potential has three aspects.

In his book 鈥極f Human Potential鈥� he considers these aspects in the following way:

1. The capacity to acquire a specific characteristic or to become someone who possesses it. For example, we might say 鈥楬e has the capacity to become a Maradona, the world famous soccer player.鈥�

2. The propensity is an attribute which implies what a person is likely to do when the opportunity comes and freedom of choice is available. It suggests something about a person鈥檚 motivation. For example, Radindranath Tagore鈥檚 propensity, expressed in his Nobel winning Gitanjoli, indicates his strong desire to discover the wonder behind this creation.

3. The capability indicates a person鈥檚 motivation and efficiency in working towards an intended outcome. It refers to something more than a person鈥檚 capacity to perform. Rather, it is a person鈥檚 strength and capacity to get rid of obstacles to his learning. Such obstacles may be lack of motivation or obstacles in his environment.

Thus, these three concepts capacity, propensity and capability emphasize three aspects of education. These are respectively:

1. That which makes learning possible.
2. The development of learning and
3. Self-development or self-empowerment.

Again the word 鈥榩erfection鈥� in the definition of education of Vivekananda is also very significant. Every act connected with learning, training etc. is part of a process directed towards an end. The word 鈥榩erfect鈥� implies completion, or something being made whole. The English word 鈥榩erfect鈥� has come from the Greek word 鈥榯eleics鈥� which suggests the idea of attaining a goal. Drawing on these meanings we may conclude that perfection in educational parlance is the goal of actualizing the highest human potential. So this definition of Vivekananda implies the actualization of the highest human potential. Knowledge is already in our mind. We need to draw them out.

Education according to Vivekananda is not book learning, nor is it diverse knowledge. Education is not the amount of information that is put in to the brain and runs riot there, undigested, all our life. He says we must have life-building, man making, character building assimilation of ideas. He says 鈥淚f education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world, and encyclopaedias are the rishis.鈥�^[3] From this it has been cleared that getting more and more information from books and any such other sources is not education according to Swami Vivekananda. This view of Vivekananda directly rejects the concept of a bright student in present times. In present times a student is measured through his marks got in the examinations.

It is a well-known fact that negative thoughts weaken our minds. We generally find in our day to day life that parents are constantly taxing their children to read and write, telling them they will never learn anything, and calling them fools and so forth. Latter on the child actually turn out to be so in many cases. Therefore education cannot be imparted by negative words. Kind words are necessary while imparting education to the children. To put Vivekananda 鈥淚f you speak kind words to boys and encourage them, they are bound to improve in time. What holds good of children also holds good of children in the region of higher thoughts. If you can give them positive ideas, people will grow up to be men and learn to stand on their own legs.鈥� ^[4] He again says in language, literature else, we must not point out the mistake that people are making in their thoughts and actions. We have to point out the way in which they will gradually be able to do these things better. According to Vivekananda a pointing out mistakes, wounds a man鈥檚 feeling.

Since education is the manifestation of perfection already in man, therefore a teacher鈥檚 duty lies only in taking away the obstructions in the manifestation of that perfection. He says 鈥淵ou cannot teach a child any more than you can grow a plant. All you can do is on the negative side-you can only help. It is a manifestation from within; it develops its own nature-you can only take away obstructions.鈥�^[5] So a teacher鈥檚 duty is to offer them opportunity and remove obstacles; that is, if he provides creative environment the rest will happen by itself. The teacher鈥檚 role is not unimportant. It necessitates the teacher鈥檚 personal, constant contact with the student. The student must live with the teacher like in the Upanishadic times according to Vivekananda. Vivekananda here supports the ancient gurukul system. And the teacher, on his part, has to undergo a proper training to equip himself better for his task.

While delivering his lecture on education Vivekananda criticized the present education of India. There is no doubt that Indian education has some good points, but it has more bad points than the good points. According to him it is not man-making education. It is merely and entirely a negative education. He says 鈥淭he education that you are getting now has some good points, but it has tremendous disadvantage which is so great that good things are all weighed down. In the first place it is not man-making education, it is merely and entirely negative education. A negative education or any training that is based on negation is worse than death.鈥�^[6] He says in India we must have a hold on the spiritual and secular education of the nation. Again the whole education system should be kept under our own hands and it must be on national lines. It must be according to the national needs. And such education should be imparted through national methods as far as practicable. He did not want Indian education to be controlled by any foreign nation. It is because western education makes man selfish. He says 鈥淚t is one of the evils of your western civilization that you are after intellectual education alone, and take no care of the heart. It only makes man ten times more selfish and that will be your destruction.鈥�^[7]

Vivekananda says that the ideal of all education should be man making. The end and aim of all training is to make the man grew. At one point Vivekananda criticizes the western civilization. He says that it is one of the evils of western civilization that we are after intellectual education alone takes no care of the heart. It only makes men ten times more selfish. He says when there is conflict between the heart and the brain the heart should be given preference. It is because, it is the heart which takes one the highest plane, which intellect can never reach; it goes beyond intellect and reaches to what is called inspiration. Therefore he asks to cultivate the heart.

From the above discussion it has been surveyed that according to Vivekananda knowledge is inherent in human mind and education is only the manifestation of that knowledge. Again Vivekananda has given importance on self-learning. A teacher should only remove the obstacles from the way of student鈥檚 learning. Another point is that only information gathering is not education. Vivekananda was in favour of the ancient education system of India. He did not like the present system of education which is not man-making in his view.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

[Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda], Vol.4, p-358.

[2]:

Ibid, Vol.1, p-28.

[3]:

Ibid, Vol.3, p-302.

[4]:

Ibid, Vol.7, p-170.

[5]:

Ibid, Vol.5, p-410.

[6]:

Ibid, Vol.3, p-301.

[7]:

Vivekananda, Swami, My Idea of Education, p-52.