Online Education : Rationale and Effective Methods

The process of evolution does not follow an optimisation protocol to minimise or maximise a single cost function. And it is this which leads to the limitless variety in living systems that we see all around us. Plants, insects, bacteria, viruses, animals and humans, all belong to this one big family of living organisms, but are so different from each other. Each has its own trajectory of evolution and they all share a common goal, i.e. to live and grow! Interestingly, this immense variety that we see among living systems also exists within the human family too. Even humans living under very similar circumstances often turn out to be so different from each other. For example, although Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle are sisters and famous singers, their style of music is so different from each other! Just see your own siblings and cousins. Very rarely will you find someone who is just like you. As far as we know, this is a unique human trait and not shared by any other living organisms. Should not this very important feature of the human species be factored in while designing our education system? Obviously, yes! 

What does it mean to be a Sthitaprajna?

Enlightenment, Moksha, Nirvana and Liberation are some of the commonly used terms used to define the goal of the spiritual process. Although these terms are very popular and often serve as an inspiration for people to take up spiritual practices seriously, they have some very serious limitations. Most importantly, usage of these terms often creates a negative attitude towards the material/physical world. Serious seekers of Moksha often look down upon the physical world as impure and wish to spend long hours in seeking the pure consciousness. These terms also creates unnecessary friction between the so called spiritual seekers and the so called materialists. The former often consider the latter to be ignorant and selfish, while the latter consider the former to be lazy bums who do not wish to contribute to society. This artificial divide between spiritual seekers and materialists seems to be a latter development in Indian history since Ramayana and Mahabharata do not provide any evidence for it. In both Ramayana and Mahabharata, the main protagonists, Rama and Krishna, are both spiritually enlightened as well as ruling Kings. In fact, in verse 2.55 of the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna provides a precise term to describe people who have struck the perfect balance between the world of spirit and the world of matter, and strongly urges Arjuna to seek this state of being:

प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् । 

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ||

O Pārtha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental modifications, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be of steady intellect (Sthitaprajna).