Teacher, Society and Revolution

 

 

Date unknown.

This discourse was first published in KRANTINADA MONTHLY 1968 to 1969.

 

 

I would like to tell you a few things which I see about teachers and the society. Perhaps there will be no agreement between the way you think and the way I think. Perhaps I may be opposing the positions taken in the current code of education. I am neither an educationist nor a social reformer.

 

It is my good fortune that I can talk about some fundamental aspects of education and society.

 

The possibility of any truth about education dawning on educationists should be taken as almost nil. They have been thinking for the last five thousand years, but the present condition of education, its structure, and the type of man that is produced, is so totally wrong that it is natural that only unhealthy and confused leaders are born out of it all. The thinking that is done by the sociologists is also sick and unhealthy; otherwise human beings, their life and their thinking, would have been quite different. Since I am neither an educationist nor a sociologist, it is possible that I can tell you things which can be seen only by looking at the problems directly.

 

For those for whom the scriptures are important, the solutions become more important than the problems. Since I do not know the code of education I can talk directly about the problems.

 

The very first thing I would like to say is that the present relationship between the teacher and the society has proved dangerous. What is that relationship? The relationship is that the teacher is a slave and the society is the master or owner. What work does the society ask from the teacher?

 

Society wants the teacher to inculcate the old jealousies, old enmities and old thoughts coming down from the past thousands of years into the minds of young children. Those old people, who are as good as dead or dying, want to bequeath, pass on, such things through the teacher into the minds of new generations. It is very surprising that the society demands this type of work from the teacher and the teacher continues to do such work.

 

This is a great disgrace for the teachers. The disgrace is that the diseases from which the past century suffered are passed on to the current century, through the teacher, as needed by the society.

 

This is needed because the old structure, the vested interests connected with that structure, and the blind beliefs established in that structure, do not want to die. They want to continue to live within the society.

 

Because of the job done by the teacher, he is respected. Without flattering the teacher and without respecting the teacher, it is not possible to ask for this work from him. That is why it is said that the teacher is a guru, respectable, and his advice must be listened to. Why? - because the society wants to bequeath its whole pattern of beliefs to its children through the teacher.

 

The Hindu father wants to make his son a Hindu, and a Mohammedan father wants to make his son a Mohammedan before he dies. The Hindu father also wants to bequeath to his children the dispute with the Mohammedans. Who will do this? The teacher will do it. The old generation wants to impose its blind beliefs on the new generation. Its scriptures, its priests and everything else is to be imposed. It gets this work done through the teacher, but what is the result?

 

The result is that material wealth is increasing in the world, but mental faculties do not develop. As long as there is that great burden of old thoughts on the minds of the children, their mental faculties cannot develop. In a small child there is the burden of a culture five thousand years old. The very life of that child is crushed under that burden. Because of this, the flame of consciousness cannot be lit and the individuality of the child cannot develop.

 

The material wealth increases because whatever is left by the parents is increased or improved upon by their children. But their mental faculties cannot develop because the children are conditioned in that respect. The child adds, without any hesitation, one more floor onto the building bequeathed to him. He is pleased to do it. And the father is also pleased that his son has added one more floor. But if anyone improves upon the ideas already narrated in the Gita, then those who have inherited Mahavira's, Buddha's, Krishna's and Rama's ideas, will be in great difficulty - for them it is necessary to live within the precincts of the mental structure bequeathed. No new structure can be built. Efforts have continuously been made for thousands of years so that the son does not surpass his father in regard to mental development. There are many devices and contrivances for that.

 

So, material wealth increases in this world, but mental poverty also increases along with it. There are many dangers when the mind is small and the material wealth is greater. Just as we progress in material wealth and leave our forefathers behind, similarly we should leave them behind in mental and spiritual development also. In doing so, it is no insult to our parents, it is respectful. The right type of father is one who lovingly desires that his children leave him behind in every respect. But it is dangerous if the father does not want his child to go ahead of him in any field. So far, the teacher has helped the father in not allowing the child to go ahead.

 

It is madness to feel that if we begin to think further than Krishna or Mahavira or Mohammed, it will be an insult to the latter. Because of this, the whole education has remained past-oriented, instead of being future-oriented.

 

Any developmental, creative activity is always future-oriented.

 

Our whole education is past-oriented. All our doctrines, ideas and ideals are taken from the past.

 

The past is that which is dead and gone. We are trying to impose things which are thousands of years old on the minds of our children. Not only do we impose the ideas, but we call a child ideal who proves himself a good follower of the old beliefs. Who is praising such a child? This is being done by the teacher, and that is how the leaders of society, religions and the state are exploiting the teacher.

 

The teacher is made to believe that he is the disseminator of knowledge. He is not the disseminator of knowledge; he is the preserver and maintainer of the status quo, of the knowledge that has developed in the past, and he is an obstacle to the knowledge that can develop. He does not allow anything to leave the parameter of the past. As a result, we continue to do many types of foolish things. Those old things are not allowed to die. The politician has also understood this, and he is also exploiting the teacher. What is surprising is that the teacher is not aware of this exploitation done in the name of service to the society. How many kinds of exploitation are being done!

 

Once I went to address a congregation of teachers. It was Teachers' Day. I asked them: If a teacher becomes a president of a country, what is the honor bestowed on the teacher? In a teacher becoming a president, what teacher is honored? According to me, if a president of a country becomes a teacher, then I would definitely understand that the teacher is honored.

 

If a president of a country feels that his job is useless and he feels that it is a joy to be a teacher, if he wants to be a teacher and becomes one, we will definitely understand that the teacher is being honored. But if a teacher becomes a president of a country, the honor goes to the politician, not to the teacher. If a teacher feels honored when he becomes a president of a country, is there anything wrong in a teacher wanting to be a headmaster or school inspector or an education minister? There is honor where there is position. There is position where there is the state. Our whole structure of thinking is such that the state is above everything; so the politician is above everything and everything else is below.

 

The politician, knowingly or unknowingly, makes his thoughts and ideas enter into the minds of children through the teacher. The priest is also doing the same thing. In the name of religious education this is going on, and every religion goes on trying to make their beliefs and tenets, right or wrong, enter into the minds of children. This is being done at such an unripe age, when the children cannot think. There is no greater crime perpetrated on humanity.

 

What crime can be greater than making the child believe that what is in the Koran is the truth, or what is in the Gita is the truth; or if there is God it is Mahavira, Krishna or Mohammed? To put all such things into the mind of a child who is innocent, ignorant and unacquainted with the world, is a worse crime than anything else.

 

Recently there was the question of the independence of India, so the politicians said that the teachers and the students must both participate in the independence movement. When these politicians came into power, they said the students and teachers must keep away from politics. The communists and socialists say, "No, it is not necessary for the students to keep away from politics.

 

Both the teachers and students must participate in politics." If the communists come into power tomorrow, they will say that now there is no necessity for them to take part in politics. Whatsoever is in the interest of the politicians in power becomes right, and an attempt is made to make the teachers and students believe it to be right.

 

According to me, one can become a teacher in the right sense only if he has within him a powerful, burning flame of rebellion.

 

A teacher who has no such flame of rebellion within him will become an agent of some policy, some interest - be it of society, be it of religion, or be it of politics. Every teacher must have that burning fire of rebellion, of thinking and of reflecting. But have we got that fire of independent thinking? If not, are we anything more than shopkeepers?

 

To be a teacher is a great thing. What is the meaning of being a teacher? Do we ever think about it?

 

You may be teaching the children, as is taught all over the world, that they should love others.

 

But have you ever thought that the whole structure of your education is built not on love but on competition? You claim to teach love, but the whole arrangement is to teach competition. Where there is competition there can be no love. Competition is a form of envy, a sort of burning sensation, jealousy. What are you teaching?

 

When one child comes first in a class, the other child is told that he is lagging behind and this fellow has come first. You are teaching him to flatter, to compete and get ahead. You are teaching ego, telling them that one who has come first is higher, and one who is behind is lower. In books you tell them to be humble and loving, whereas your whole arrangement teaches them to hate, to envy and come first. One who comes first is being awarded gold medals and merit certificates; he is being garlanded and photographed, and others, who are behind, are insulted by the system.

 

When you are insulting the one who is behind are you not goading his ego to push him to the forefront? When the one who has come first is being honored, are you not boosting his ego? So when the children are thus trained in ego, jealousy and competition, how can they love? Love is that which allows the loved ones to go ahead. Love always means to remain always last.

 

I will tell you a small anecdote to make this clearer. There were three Sufi saints who were to be hanged until dead. So-called religious people are always against real saints. While they were waiting to be hanged, they were sitting in a row. The hangman would call out the names, one after the other, and would hang them.

 

The hangman cried out the name, "Nuri," that he should come forward.

 

But the person whose name was Nuri did not get up; instead another person got up and said, "You hang me first."

 

The hangman said, "Your name is not Nuri. Why are you in a hurry to die?"

 

The one who had come forward replied, "I have loved Nuri and I have understood that when it is a question of dying, to come forward, and when it is a question of living, to remain behind. I would like to die before my friend dies. If it is a question of living, my friend should live longer than me."

 

Love speaks like this. What does competition say? Competition tells you to stay behind while dying and go on ahead when it is a question of living. Can the world be a better place to live in when the poison of competition and ambition is being poured into the minds of children? When a child is keen to go ahead of others and others are wanting to leave him behind, then, after being educated for twenty years, what will he do in life? He will do what he has been taught.

 

Every person is pulling the other down. From the peon to the president, everyone is pulling the others down. In this process, if a peon somehow becomes a president, we tell him it is a matter of great pride and dignity for him. Actually there is no greater violence than that of pushing oneself ahead by pulling others back. But we are teaching this violence and calling it education.

 

In a world based on this violence, if there are continuous wars it is no wonder! If in a world based on this education, when palaces are being built near huts, what is the wonder if people living in a palace are pleased at seeing people living in huts die? So there are poor people and there are others who have so much more and still do not know what to do with it. This is all due to the present education, and the teacher is also responsible for this. For this world which is created by such education the teacher is responsible. He has become an instrument for exploitation. In the name of giving education to the children, the teacher has become an instrument in the hands of the vested interests.

 

If this is education, then it will be better to stop educating completely. Perhaps that way a man will be better off. An uneducated man living in a forest will be a better man because he has more love and less competition, more heart and less mind.

 

We call this education! We teach children just the contrary of what we expect them to do; our whole structure teaches contradictory things. What do we teach? We teach sympathy and generosity.

 

But how can a competitive mind be generous and sympathetic? If there is sympathy in the mind of a competitor, how can he compete? The competitive mind will always be hard, violent and non- generous - he has to be. Our system is such that we don't realize that one who is pushing himself forward by pulling others back is a violent man. He is violent, and we are making him ready for violence. This way the factories of education are increasing. We call them schools and universities - this is a sheer lie.

 

These are factories where sick minds are created, and such sick minds are leading the world into a ditch. Violence is increasing and competition is increasing. Everyone's hand is at everyone else's throat.

 

Those who are sitting before me will ask: On whose throats have we kept our hands? But if you look deeply, you will find that everybody's hand is at the throat of someone else, and that everybody's hand is in the pocket of someone else. How long will this continue? Where will it stop? From where are these hydrogen bombs and atom bombs coming? From competition and rivalry! It makes no difference whether this rivalry is between two individuals or two nations. It makes no difference who is doing it - whether it is Russia or America - there is competition and one has to get ahead.

 

If you are making an atom bomb, we shall make a hydrogen bomb, a super hydrogen bomb, but we cannot remain behind. We are not taught to remain behind. If you kill ten people, we will kill twenty. If you are destroying one country, we will destroy two countries. It means that we are ready to destroy everything, but we cannot remain behind.

 

Who is creating this situation? It is all due to our education. But we are blind and we are not able to see the problem. We are teaching children not to be greedy and fearful; but what are we actually doing to them? - we are teaching them greed and fear all the time.

 

In the old days there was the fear of hell and the reward of heaven. It has been taught for thousands of years. There is the fear that I may go to hell; there is greed that somehow I should reach the heaven. Wherever there is reward and punishment there will be greed and fear. But what do we teach our children? What is the method of our teaching? The only method is to teach greed and fear. Either we punish them, or tempt them by offering gold medals, a good reputation, a better post, or a high status in society.

 

In the days when I was a student, there was a saying: If you study well you will be made a baron, a ruler, a president. We create such temptations in the minds of children. Have we ever taught them to live a life of peace and joy? No. We have taught them to live life by rising to higher positions.

 

We have taught them how to earn more money and have better clothes. We have taught them to be more and more greedy, because that is called success. Is there any place for those who are unsuccessful?

 

In this system of education there is no place for unsuccessful people. We are just creating the fever of success, and so it is only natural that one who wants to succeed in the world does what he can do. Success hides all wrong doings. How a man rises to become a president from the position of a peon is no more in question once he has become a president. No one bothers how he has become a president, by what means, by what treacheries, by what lies and by what tricks. There is no need to ask how he became a president. Neither anybody will ask, nor is there any question of asking. Once a man becomes successful all sins cease to be. Success is the only goal. Then why should I not succeed by telling lies and by becoming dishonest? If I try to tell the truth and I become unsuccessful, then what else shall I do?

 

Thus we have made success the center of life; and when lying and dishonesty increase, we become very unhappy. As long as success is the only standard of evaluation, there will be lies, dishonesty and thefts. They cannot be removed, because what can be done if one is able to succeed only through dishonesty and stealing? Everything else is subordinated to success when success is the only value. We go on shouting and crying that dishonesty is increasing. It is bound to increase, because that is the fruit of all that we have been teaching for five thousand years.

 

Success is not of any value. Success is not a matter of great respect or honor. A man must be fulfilled, not successful. It is better if a man becomes unsuccessful in a good cause rather than becoming successful in a bad cause. Respect should be given to good deeds, not to success. But success has become a value and the whole of life is revolving around that center.

 

An education commission was set up recently. Its chairman said, "We are teaching our children to speak the truth. We are explaining this in many ways, but children continue to tell lies, many times."

 

I asked the chairman whether he would like his son to be a scavenger of the roads or a peon in a school, "or would you like your son to also become a chairman of a commission or an overseas ambassador, rising slowly step by step to the very top? If he became a scavenger, wouldn't you be disturbed?"

 

He said, "It would definitely disturb me!"

 

Then I said, "If that is going to trouble you, do you really want your son to be truthful and honest?"

 

As long as a peon is not respected, and as long as a president is respected, there can be no honesty in the world, because a peon cannot continue to remain a peon. Life is not so long that he can just sit idly by in an expectation of success, taking shelter in truth alone. If untruth brings success, who is mad enough not to resort to untruth! The whole situation is such that not only you, but even the god made by you and the paradise created by you, respect only the successful people. If a peon dies, he is potentially fit for hell. No president ever goes to hell - they go directly to heaven!

 

We will have to destroy the centrality of success. If you really want to do something for your children and if you love your children, remove the centrality of success and create a center around fulfillment.

 

If you have any love for mankind and if you really want to establish a new world, a new culture and a new man, you will have to give up and destroy your old foolishness and think how a rebellion can be created from within. Now everything is wrong, so the wrong man is created.

 

A teacher must fundamentally be a great rebel in this world; then only can he lead the new generation on. But the teacher is the greatest traditionalist and goes on repeating the old crap. The teachers do not change. Have you heard of a teacher full of rebellion? He is the most orthodox and traditional person, and therefore more dangerous. The society does not receive its well-being from him.

 

What sort of rebellion do I expect from the teacher? Should he burn houses, derail the trains, or burn the buses? No. Don't let him take me wrongly. I only say that his approach towards his values - our values - should have a spirit of rebellion and that he should think clearly as to what exactly is going wrong.

 

When we tell a child that he is a donkey or foolish or an idiot because somebody is far ahead of him, think if what you are saying is right. Can there be two persons equal in this world? Is it really possible that the one whom you are calling a donkey can become like the other who is standing ahead of him? Has it ever been possible? Everyone is just as he is; there can be no question of any comparison. There should be no comparison and no evaluation with others.

 

A small stone is small, and a big one is big. There is a small plant and a big plant. A grass leaf is a grass leaf and a roseflower is a roseflower: as far as nature is concerned, it is not displeased with the grass leaf and pleased with the roseflower. It gives life to the grass leaf with as much happiness as it gives life to the roseflower. If you put aside the human mind, between a grass leaf and a roseflower, which is bigger and which is smaller? Nothing is bigger or smaller! Is the blade of grass lower than a pine tree? If that were so, God would have destroyed the blade of grass and only pine trees would have remained in the world. But the values fixed by man are wrong.

 

I would like to tell you some deeper things in this connection. First is this; remember that as long as we continue to compare one man with the other we will always remain on the wrong path. That wrong path is that we are creating a desire in man to be like someone else; and the fact is that no one has been or can be like any other man.

 

Rama died many many years ago, and Christ also died many years ago. Why is there no other Christ born, although thousands of Christians are busy twenty-four hours a day trying to become a Christ? Thousands try to become a Rama; thousands of Jainas and Buddhists try to become a Mahavira or a Buddha, but why has not even one become like them? Does this not open your eyes?

 

I am not talking about the Rama of Ramleela - please do not think that I am talking about such a Rama, playing the role in a drama. Some people pose as a Mahavira by becoming naked. I am not talking about such a Rama or a Mahavira.

 

In your whole life have you ever seen one man exactly like any other? In the whole world not even one pebble can be found equal to another. Here everything is unique and unparalleled. As long as we do not respect the uniqueness of every individual, rivalry, competition, murders and violence will remain. Until then, everyone will try to get ahead through dishonesty, and will try to be like someone else. If this happens, what sort of results do we expect?

 

Will the flowers in a garden become mad? If great teachers go and explain to them that the jasmine flower should be like the champa, or the champa should become a jasmine, which is very beautiful, will that happen? No, because the flowers are not mad like men. A flower is not so foolish as man to get involved in such thoughts. The flower will not listen to such talks of teachers, philosophers, idealists or so-called religious people.

 

If the flowers listen to such talks, what will happen to the garden where the jasmine tries to become a champa? In that garden flowers will not grow, all the plants will become withered. Why? - because however much the jasmine tries to become a champa, it cannot. It is not its nature. In its effort to become a champa, the jasmine will not even become a jasmine, which it was destined to be.

 

This has been the great misfortune of man. The greatest misfortune or curse for man has been that he is desiring to become like someone else. Who is teaching this? Who has set up this conspiracy?

 

It is only our education for thousands of years that is responsible. Now, if these old pictures of Rama and Buddha become glamorless, then the teacher will want you to become like a Gandhi or a Vinoba Bhave - to become like anyone else, but never to make the mistake of becoming your own self, because you are useless. It was Gandhi who was born for a purpose: is it then that God has made a mistake in creating you? If God was wise enough he would have created just ten or fifteen fixed types of people like Rama or Buddha; or if he was even wiser - like most religious people are - then he would have created just a single type for all the people. What would happen then?

 

Just think of this world, where five billion people are like Rama. What will happen to this world? The whole world will commit suicide within fifteen minutes. Life will be so full of boredom, seeing Rama everywhere, that it will die. If all bushes produce only roseflowers, what will happen? Roseflowers will not be worth looking at - no need to see them at all.

 

It is not without significance that every person has his own individuality. It is a matter of great pride that you are different from others. There is nothing higher or lower; everyone simply is. Everyone is in his own space; therefore all types of valuations are wrong. But we have been teaching these wrong things.

 

What I mean by rebellion is that we should think and reflect deeply on what we are teaching our children. Are we actually poisoning their minds? Poison can also be administered with love - and teachers and parents are doing just that. This must now be stopped.

 

There have been religious revolutions in this world. People of one religion have accepted another religion. Sometimes they have changed the religion under somebody's advice, and sometimes by seeing a sword pointed at their chest, but that makes no difference. If a Hindu becomes a Mohammedan, or a Mohammedan becomes a Christian, the man remains the same. Religious revolutions have not made any difference.

 

There have been political revolutions. One ruler is thrown out and another has occupied his throne.

 

One who was occupying one piece of land has gone, and one who was staying on the neighboring land has occupied it. One whose skin was white was removed, and one with black skin has taken his place. The inner ruler remains the same.

 

There have been economic revolutions in this world. The capitalists have been removed and the laborers have occupied their place. But just by occupying that place has the laborer become a capitalist? No, capitalism has gone and professional managers have come in. They also have become as dangerous as the capitalist exploiters. Nothing has changed - classes have continued.

 

In the beginning there were two classes: rich and poor. Now there is a class to which money is distributed and there is a class which distributes the money. Whosoever has enough power remains in power, and those who are powerless are those who are not in power. New classes are formed but classes have remained.

 

Whatever experiments have been made so far in four or five thousand years for the welfare of humanity have all been failures. Up to now this one experiment has not been made, and that is the revolution in education.

 

It is for the teacher to make such an experiment. I feel that he can bring about a great revolution.

 

The political, economic or religious revolutions have not as much value as the educational revolution can have. But who can bring about such a revolution? It can be done by those rebellious people who can think and question what they have been doing so far.

 

One thing should be clear in their minds, that whatsoever they have been doing so far is wrong because the results are wrong. We have to think: From where has the present man come? From where has the present society been born? All these wars, all this violence that goes on, this suffering, anguish, helplessness and poverty in the world - where are all these coming from?

 

Certainly there is some fundamental mistake in the education that we are imparting. So think and wake up. But you must be busy with some other calculations.... There are conferences of teachers held, and it is complained that students have no discipline, and they deliberate as to how the students can be disciplined. Be compassionate; let the students be completely undisciplined - because we know the results of the discipline imposed for five thousand years. Students have been under discipline for thousands of years, and what has happened?

 

What is the meaning of teaching discipline? It means that whatever the teacher says should be taken as right. It means if the teacher sits on a platform, the student should sit on the ground; and when you meet the teacher, greet him with folded hands in salutation, or it is even better if you touch his feet. Do not even doubt what the teacher says. Go in the direction he asks. If he asks you to sit, sit; if he asks you to stand up, stand up. This is the type of discipline so far. But it is a conspiracy to kill man so that no consciousness, no awareness and no wisdom remains in that man.

 

What do they do in military training? They make the recruit take exercises for three or four years.

 

All sorts of foolish things are taught: turning right and turning left. Let them go on doing as ordered so that their intelligence is destroyed. What will happen by telling a man to turn right or left? How long can his mind remain unaffected? If he refuses to turn right or left, you punish him. Within a few days his intelligence will be destroyed and his human qualities will also die. If you tell him to turn right, he turns like a machine. If you tell him to kill someone, he kills. He has ceased to be a man, he has become a machine. Is this called discipline? And we wish that there should be this discipline in children also. So we give the children cadet training, teach them to be soldiers, teach them how to hold guns and kill.

 

I do not think man has even understood during these five thousand years what these things imply.

 

Discipline means that a man becomes dead through it. The more disciplined a man is, the more dead he is.

 

Then do I tell you to ask your students to rebel and jump up and fight in schools, or that they should not allow others to learn? No, I am not saying this. I am telling you to love the children. Think about and wish for their welfare and well-being. Because of this love and desire for their good, the discipline which is not imposed will begin to emerge, the discipline which is born of the very intelligence of the children. Love a child and see if it brings discipline in him. This discipline is not the one that comes by turning left and right, but from the very mind, heart and soul of the child. Try to awaken his intelligence and thinking.

 

Do not say that your's is the only truth. Do you know what truth is? But every man says that what he says is the truth. It makes no difference if you are born thirty years earlier. Just because someone is born thirty years after you, do you know the truth more than him? It is possible that he may have less false knowledge than you because he does not know as much, and that you have accumulated all sorts of nonsense and false things in your head. But you feel that you are wiser because you are older by thirty years. You have the power to punish so you want to discipline him.

 

This world will be far better if nobody tries to discipline the other. Love - love is your guide. Live a love-full life. Always think good of the child and think what you can do, and how you can do it, for the good of the child. It is impossible that that love and that desire for his well-being will not bring discipline in him and will not bring respect for you.

 

There will be a difference though. Now the situation is that the more conscious a child, the more undisciplined he is; and the more of an idiot a child is, the more disciplined he will be. What I am trying to tell you is that if discipline comes through the medium of love, then there will be no discipline in idiots, but the more alert and conscious a child is, the greater will be the discipline that will arise in him. Now only dull children who have neither any life nor any inspiration have discipline. Those who have consciousness and the ability to think are undisciplined. If there is love, things will be reversed. The discipline of idiots has no value. The discipline that comes of consciousness has value because a conscious discipline means it is born out of thinking and it can refuse the wrong demands of discipline.

 

If the youth of India and Pakistan were disciplined through their own consciousness, is it possible that the authorities of Pakistan could ask the Pakistani youth to go and kill the Indian people? Or could any Indian politician ask the Indian youth to go and kill Pakistani people? They will immediately ask the politicians to stop such foolish talk. They will say, "This is an unintelligent idea and we cannot do it." But at present, the idiots have been taught discipline and if they are asked to kill they do, because for them discipline is the truth.

 

The politicians and priests have preached discipline in this world. Because these authorities have no intelligence, no rebellion and no thinking power, they try to turn the whole world into a military camp. Through many many ways they try to make sure that nobody creates any trouble.

 

You may or may not know, but many methods have been devised. In Russia, they have made machines which, if there is any rebellion in the mind, any ability to think, they brainwash it away - because a rebellious person is dangerous. He can speak against the government and he can provoke the people against wrong things. Earlier, different tools of discipline had been in use, but they were not totally effective. Now they have found these new methods of putting right the minds of those about whom they have suspicions. These are dangerous trends, all over the world - more dangerous than the atom and hydrogen bombs.

 

But will the teachers cooperate in such things? I would like to leave this question for your discussion:

 

Are you in agreement with this world? Are you in agreement with man as he is today? In agreement with the wars, violence and dishonesty? If not, think and find out what has gone wrong in the education that is given. It is obvious that whatsoever is being given is wrong.

 

If a teacher is rebellious, and if his view of life is thoughtful and wise, he is beneficial to the society.

 

He can be helpful in creating better and better societies in the future. If he is not, he will only fill the minds of new children with old rubbish. He has been doing this for a long time. There has to be a revolution, a big revolution, whereby the old educational structures are destroyed and new structures with new values are created. In that new structure there is no value in success and in ambition, and being first or last is not a matter of respect or insult. There has to be no comparison of one person with the other. There should be love and an effort to develop children through love. It is possible to develop a new and marvellous world full of absolute fragrance.

 

I have told you these few things with a view to awakening a few people from their sleep. But there are many whose sleep is so deep that they feel I am disturbing them in their sleep. However, if only a few awaken and open their eyes, perhaps from whatsoever I have told you, they may find a few useful things.

 

I do not say that whatsoever I have said is right and the truth, because that is what the old teacher claims. I have only conveyed to you my viewpoint. It may be wrong, there may not be an iota of truth in it, and so I do not insist upon your agreeing with me or believing in me. I only ask you to think on these matters. Think, and if you find anything right in what I have said, it will no longer be mine, it will be the result of your thinking. You will not become my followers; you will have found it out of your own wisdom and it will be yours.

 

Please think about these few things. Presently the world needs so many shocks for it to be awakened, so that some thinking is born. We are almost asleep, as good as dead. And everything just goes on passing by. I hope you get some shocks from several directions, so that you open your eyes and begin to think.

 

The greatest responsibility of the teachers is to save themselves from politicians, to save themselves from presidents and prime ministers. All the problems in the world are because of them. Do not let a politician take birth in children. But politicians create the ambition to come first. Once you are number one, where else will you go? Number one is to be found in politics. In the newspapers you will find only their photographs and names printed daily.

 

Let there be no competition among children. Develop love and joy towards life, not competition and rivalry - because one who fights with others, slowly, slowly is finished; and one who seeks his own bliss, not rivalry in life, becomes a beautiful flower full of fragrance and beauty. May God help you in having this wisdom, in having this rebellious spirit.

 

I am full of gratitude for your listening to me in silence. I greet the divine residing within you. Please accept my greeting.

 

-Osho, "Revolution in Education, #1"