Education requires a dynamic awareness of the level of those being educated. Suppose a math teacher with a triple PhD in calculus is teaching children at a primary school level. That teacher may delight in doctorate level math and may delight in seeing their students get to that level, but they need to explain simple arithmetic suitable for the primary level, thereby equipping and encouraging students to advance toward the next grade. If instead they teach advanced math concepts that are beyond the cognitive need and capacity of the students, they will end up intimidating and discouraging their students, who may even give up on studying math altogether.
We need to cultivate a similar dynamic awareness when we share spiritual truths with others. Even if we are at an elevated level in our philosophical conceptions and ritual practices, our audience may be ready for nothing more than just baby steps toward exploring spiritual consciousness. If that is the case — and that is likely to often be the case, given that most people nowadays grow up in a largely nonspiritual environment — we need to speak spirituality at a level that will encourage them to take incremental steps forward.
If we delve into abstruse philosophical or ritual technicalities, especially in terms of aggressively emphasizing differences between different paths, that kind of knowledge may intimidate, alienate, or discourage seekers. Such an emphasis may hinder their spiritual growth or even impel them to give up spiritual exploration entirely. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (03.26) alerts us not to disturb the minds of people who are at a preliminary spiritual level due to their physical attachments and metaphysical unawareness. Rather than berating them for where they are, we need to expertly engage them and guide them towards the next level in their spiritual progression. This is the mood of compassion, this is the key to responsible education, and this is the Gita’s recommendation for effective outreach.
Summary:
For education to be helpful, focus on where people are and what the next step for them is, not where we are or where we want them to be.
Think it over:
- For education to be helpful, what awareness do educators need to have? Why?
- What kind of emphasis in spiritual outreach may harm people’s spiritual exploration? Why?
- For effective education, what should we focus on and what should we not focus on?
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03.26: So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness].
Audio explanation of the article is here: https://gitadaily.substack.com/p/effective-education-what-to-not-focus
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
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