Then what should we do for education in religion? The seed of religion is there in everybody because life is there in everybody. We should create opportunities for the growth of that seed, and remove the obstacles on the path of that growth. If this can be done, the seed sprouts on its own, out of its own strength, out of its own longing for life; it does not have to manufacture sprouts. The sprout becomes a full-fledged plant, the plant becomes full of leaves, flowers and fruits. We only provide an opportunity, and all else follows by itself.
How can there be an education in religion? The schools can provide the atmosphere and opportunity for the seed of religion to sprout. The schools can help remove the obstacles to its growth. In doing this, there are three very vital elements.
The first element is courage. One must have irrepressible courage. Courage is the basic requirement in the search for truth and for climbing to God. Courage is needed to climb the Himalayas and to reach the depths of the Pacific, but in the search for God, greater and deeper courage is necessary because there is no higher peak and no deeper ocean than God. But the so-called religious people are not courageous. In fact their religiousness is a mask for their cowardliness. There is fear behind their religion and God. I would like to tell you that a fearful mind can never be religious, because fearlessness is the very life of religion. Courage arises from fearlessness.
So the first thing is not to teach fear of any type, or of anything.
The second is to educate in fearlessness. What a great strength, luminosity and light fearlessness is! It is on the rock of fearlessness that the temple of religion is built.
But our so-called religions are exploiting fear, and so to date it has not been possible to build the temple of religion. Can temples be built on the quicksand of fear? Even if they are, how long can they last? When I go to temples, mosques and churches, I find that people trembling with fear have gathered there. Their prayers are embodied forms of their fears, and the God in front of whom they kneel down is the very projection of their fear. So man runs towards God during difficulties, because he is more fearful at that time. In old age man runs towards God because his approaching death makes him very fearful. Go to the temples and churches: you will find only such people who are nearing death or who are as good as dead.
We do not want to teach fear. Fearlessness is to be taught, only then can religion be for alive people.
What is the fear of teaching fearlessness? There is one fear - that a young man may deny God.
This fear is there because our very concept of God is based in fear. But what is wrong in denying such a God? In fact, accepting such a God is wrong.
I would like fearlessness to grow to such an extent where even that God whom we have not known can be denied. Where there is no denial of untruth, there is no fearlessness. Where there is no denial of untruth, how can there be the search for truth?
According to me, the atheism arising out of fearlessness is nothing but the other side of theism.
Such atheism is a must, it becomes a ladder to theism. One who cannot even be an atheist, how can he be a theist? Theism is more difficult than atheism. One who is afraid of becoming an atheist will be a false theist. He becomes a theist out of fear of becoming an atheist. Of what value can such theism be?
I respect an atheism based on fearlessness more than a theism rooted in fear, because where there is fear, there can be no religion, and where there is fearlessness, there is the door to religion. It is an experience, a joy to pass through an atheism born out of fearlessness. Through it the soul definitely becomes more strengthened. One who becomes a theist before becoming an atheist is a false theist because the inner atheist continues to hide within. One who has lived through his atheist within, transcends it and becomes free of it.
Atheism means the period of non-acceptance. If the society is against God and religion, then to deny that too is atheism. Passing through non-acceptance of things widely accepted and believed is atheism. For the maturity of the individual such a period is very valuable and beneficial. One who does not pass through it remains immature forever. This passing through non-acceptance is possible only if one has courage and fearlessness.
What is the greatest courage? Non-acceptance of false knowledge is the greatest courage.
If you do not know that "God is," do not just believe it. However much someone may pressure you, allure you by promising heaven, or make you afraid by cursing you to go to hell, do not ever agree to believe in what you do not know. Better to give up heaven or be ready to go to hell, but it is not right to be fearful. Only one who has such courage is capable of discovering the truth. What can a fearful mind do? It is ready to believe anything only because of its fear. In a theist society such a mind becomes a theist. If he is in Soviet Russia he will become an atheist. He is just a dead limb of the society, he is not a living individual, because life in an individual comes only out of fearlessness.
One man met me just yesterday. He said he believes in the immortality of the soul - and all over his face, fear of death was written. I asked him if his belief was because of the fear of death, because those who are afraid of death feel great solace in being told that the soul is immortal.
On hearing that, he became a little troubled and asked, "Isn't the soul immortal then?"
I said, "It is not a question of the mortality or immortality of the soul. The question is whether a person who is afraid of death can ever know or search for the soul. Fearlessness is very necessary in the search for truth."
I want to say the same to you: A man believes in the immortality of the soul in the same proportion as he is afraid of death. The belief is as strong as is the fear. Can such a man ever be ready to open his eyes to the truths of life? The path to truth passes from nowhere else but fearlessness.
The immortality of the soul is not the belief of a fearful mind but a reality encountered by a totally fearless consciousness.
A fearful mind does not seek the truth but seeks security. A fearful mind does not seek the truth but seeks consolation. Then he catches hold of any belief that gives him security and consolation.
What security and consolation can concepts and beliefs provide? Except in truth there is no security, contentment and peace. In order to realize truth, it is necessary that the mind have the courage to give up false securities and consolations.
So I call courage the greatest religious virtue.
A teacher, a priest, was teaching some children about courage, and the children asked him to give an example. The teacher said, "Let us assume that twelve children were staying in one room in a resthouse in the mountains. The night was very cold. When these children were going to bed after a tiring day, eleven of them drew their blankets over themselves and slept. But there was one boy who knelt down in one corner of the room to say his night prayer. I call this courage. Isn't that boy courageous?"
Just then one boy stood up and said, "Let us assume that there are twelve priests staying in a resthouse. If eleven priests kneel down in prayer before sleep, and if one priest draws his blanket over himself and sleeps, is he not courageous?"
I do not know through what embarrassment that priest had to pass. I also do not know how he escaped the predicament created by the children. But I definitely know one thing - that the ability to be one's own self is courage. The ability to be a man free from the crowd is courage.
To make a person his individual self is to give him courage. Confidence in one's own self is courage.
Courage is self-confidence.
Along with courage, teach awareness. This is the second important element in education in religion.
If there is no awareness, mere courage can be dangerous, because instead of becoming self- confidence it can become insane ego. Courage is power, but awareness is the eye. One can walk with courage but only with awareness can one see where one is going.
You may have heard the story of a blind man and a lame man. There was fire in a jungle, and the blind man and the lame man had to save their lives. The blind man could run but could not see. In a jungle that has caught fire, it is as good as inviting death if one who has no eyes begins to run.
The lame man could see but could not run. What is the value of eyes that have no legs? Then they thought of a way out and saved their lives. What was the method? Very simple. The blind man carried the lame man on his shoulders.
This story is not of a blind man and a lame man - it is a story of courage and awareness. If one has to save his life in a jungle of ignorance that is on fire, it is necessary to make awareness sit on the shoulders of courage.
Ordinarily, a man lives unconsciously, as if in sleep. That sleep is of self-forgetfulness. That sleep can be broken by becoming conscious and aware through self-remembrance. The children can be educated in the direction of self-remembrance, right remembrance of one's own self, and self- awareness.
The arrow of consciousness is ordinarily pointing outwards. We are aware only about whatsoever is outside us; but that arrow of consciousness can be pointed towards one's own self also. What we experience then is our very being. Becoming aware of that is the happening which leads one from the sleepy life of darkness to the awakened life of light.
The prayers, devotional songs and music going on in the name of religion do not bring any self- remembrance in us, rather they bring self-forgetfulness. The happiness of such people is that of unconsciousness and sleep. These are all mental intoxicants.
I call full consciousness and awareness the search for religion. A university can become a foundation for, and provide an opportunity for, learning awareness. Awareness at the level of body, mind and soul can be taught. Doing everything with awareness slowly fills one's life with consciousness. The endeavor to remain aware and be a witness to every mental activity has the capacity to make one's mind awake in an unprecedented way. At the same time, remaining aware each moment of what one is becomes self-realization in the end.
The third step is silence.
Words, words and words fill one's mind with too much tension and restlessness. Thinking, thinking and thinking, the mind loses all its relaxedness. Silence means relaxation of the mind. It is by knowing silence and living it that the mind always remains fresh and youthful. In total silence the mind becomes a mirror in which truth reflects.
What can a restless mind know? What can it search? It is so involved in itself that it cannot look in any other direction. Deep peace, total silence and the totally relaxed state of a thoughtless mind are required for knowing the truth. Such a state of mind is meditation.
Children can be led into the direction of a restful mind. To leave the mind totally relaxed and free is the fundamental rule for mind-rest. It is like floating in a river, not swimming; similarly, floating on the waves of mind, not swimming at all, an effortless effort takes one into a deep peacefulness which is not otherwise known to man.
Whatsoever meaning and joy is hidden within life, it all uncovers itself in such peacefulness.
Whatever is the truth of life is also attained. In fact, it was already the case but we were not aware of it because of our restlessness, and in peace it is uncovered and comes face to face with you.
The education in religion is education in courage, awareness and peace. The education in religion is education in fearlessness, awareness and thoughtless silence. Such an education can definitely become the foundation stone for a new humanity.
I hope you will think over what I have said. You do not have to believe what I have said, you have to think and contemplate on it. You have to give unbiased thinking to it. You have to test it on the touchstone of experiment. From every fire test, the truth comes out more refined.
- Revolution in Education, #4