learning ?

What seems to be the purpose of learning?

Niranjan Garde Faculty niranjangarde@gmail.com

Dear Students,

I am often reminded of the question that why should students (and by extension – we or the society) be concerned about what they see around and exactly WHAT is it that they need to be concerned about? Clarity regarding “what” will give you an approach to “how” (process) of achieving the outcome. If you are very lucky, you may be able to come to terms with “why” of the phenomenon. Here are a few things that I keep thinking about -

We see things as “objects”. The problem with the object is that we don’t see it as being related to us – it is different (because of the belief that you are different). Believing that things are different indicates that they are distinct from you, or you are separate, they can be consumed or they can be judged and can be used or abused and can be thrown away at will. This is an attitude – a way of perceiving things around us. What it creates or fuels is a sense of fear and the craze of hoarding things. Thus, our mind has to be trained continuously to decode the phenomenon of object and see it as a “pattern” of relationships. This means, to understand that the object and you are interrelated, thus your decision to do anything to the object is going to affect you as well. Secondly, to perceive object as a set of interrelationships (as an ecosystem) – or a system of dependence on many things. Thirdly, to see or realize that the object (in a moment of Space-Time) is a continuum of many ideas/ processes/ intentions from the Past and which will appear in new ways in the Future – a cyclic/ spiral behavior of Time. In each of above imaginations of phenomenon, our level of awareness grows to an extent that we do not just think only for a moment, we do not just think only for us, but include the entire universe. In other words, we move beyond limitations or compulsions of thoughts imposed by our body and mind. The sense of separateness diminishes substantially and that is the way we develop empathy for Creation. Ethics is an integral part of this realization. This also changes our intentions behind our actions. It is easy to see that as long as we think only as per what our body or mind demands, we operate in gross intentions – we hoard things, we fight, we become jealous, we get entangled in the web of desires and we keep running. If we realize existence as a “pattern” of things – interconnected in the moment and with Past-Present-Future (as a whole), ‘we’ gain access to that Force which is not bounded by Time. Our intentions cover the welfare of the Cosmos – not just you and me. This is what evolving our mind to achieve greatness and this is what should be expected out of education. In other words, can we realize that our body and mind are “channels” or mechanisms or conduits to realize the Unknown? Or the body and mind are “extensions” or “expressions” of the Unknown? The Unknown is always there. At the core of our experience of existence, is this dimension that lies

beyond everything else. At an existential level, ‘we’ generally define our selves through mind-body. That is – we treat the mechanism as the final reality of life. Hence, we make short sighted decisions, we defend, we judge – all in the compulsion of ‘protecting’ ourselves; protecting our ‘body’ and protecting our ‘constructed identity’. Somewhere in life, if we keep questioning this tendency of ourselves to behave in this way, we are represented by the dilemma of choice/ decision making process. For whom are we taking a decision? What is the motive behind our decisions? What do you call benefitting us or others? Are ‘we’ different from ‘them’? These questions are indeed hard to entertain. And harder to get to a sustainable answer. I hope in the academic (and professional) environment we realize that, there is no such thing as a teacher and a student – as separate things. Each one of us is here to learn, to give and to share – for we belong in some ways to the same concerns - which are about the nature of environment and our role in it. We do belong to the same Force that generates the good in us. Hence, we have a responsibility to play – which is of motivating ourselves and others to reach to the best of our abilities for whatever benefit our actions are bound to generate.