The Education of The Heart

Jan 21, 2022

Many Bharatiya families are rooted in the mastery of ancient traditions, directly handed down over thousands of years uninterrupted, with the unspeakable advantage of learning from one's parents, those people who have no hidden agendas and absolutely and purely want the best for the family.

This transparency is the greatest proof of authenticity. Such families invested time and energy to teach basic priceless values, recipes and principles to their children while the children are young, when things become part of the way of being. These include language, daily routines, foods that link to the biochemistry of the child's immune system, and a hunger for proper exercise and play. Coordination, technical skills and facility with animals can also be learned easily in childhood, but are more difficult in later age.

The power of storytelling is part of this tradition. Philosophy is taught through the epic adventures in the Mahabharata and Ramayana, alongside local stories of the devas and devis, so that the emotions that relationships elicit can be deciphered and processed by young adults, quelling the emotions that rise up, and teaching how to master the ripus of the mind.

The traditional Bharatiya family will discuss that devas are not icon worship, but rather the power within us that is symbolized by the facets of a deva. The millions of facets in the diamond of our being are like the thousands of deities that populate the stories and mythology now devolved as Hinduism. The endless nature of our being is sanatana, and how to live according to those values is sanatana dharma, a way of life and not a "religion."

Watching elders handle difficult situations and harness emotions but process them models mature responses for children. This is the education of the heart, an education that is not possible in the disposable environments of classroom-based learning in westernized schools. Without trusted mentors, the heart does not open. Relationships that bring up emotions that are not processed create wounds and phantom obstacles. Praising education that is objective and unemotional denies the powerful roles of feeling and emotion in learning any fact, science, or skill.

Respect for self is also nurtured in these great families through encouragement of younger members to learn new skills and find excellence in something that inspires the heart. Competence in small skills grows confidence and self-awareness in children. Acknowledgement for tasks well-done without fake praise develop a young mind's strength to try new skills. Failure in an open-hearted environment allows them to ask questions and understand deeper issues under the failure. Artificial material rewards are fleeting for children, whereas authentic emotional investment and willingness to teach and reteach are much more valuable for them. Being out in the world together, at the market, on the fields, in the playground, temple or visiting homes of the needy teach children how to interact with the larger world and very different groups of people who do not have any care for them.

The 64 kalaas and the 15 vidyas are known in traditional Bharatiya families. In them are embedded skills of fine motor coordination, graceful movement, and navigating the physical forces and elements of the world. Skills of horse riding or gold smithing or sailing a boat are learned with much effort when children are safely cradles among family and taught. Cleaning the house together and preparing food teaches the priority of nourishment and the joy of feeding others as the only gift we can gift to anyone where they can feel "enough." For only with food does every person have a limit, after which they are full. Beyond the prasanna -- or inner joy of being filled inside completely to satiation -- can one experience the punyata, fulfillment by giving to others.

In any traditional Bharatiya family, periods of time are devoted to gathering in which a discussion will rise, known as ad-da. Led by an expert of a topic and fueled with a few questions, members of an ad-da group take the topic forward, encouraging others to listen and participate as they feel adept. Ad-da is immensely educational, informal and profound in transdisciplinary reaches from all members of the family. The benefits of ad-da include a sense of belonging, witness to history known in the family, access to cultural knowledge that is not written but is known, and development of curiosity.

The wisdom of hygiene and subtle energy through practices of ucchisttha aka joottha or ettho are passed through traditional families and inferred in the ayurvedic teachings of janapadaa-ud-dhwansa, how to survive epidemics.

These basic trainings of living develop qualities of soft power in a person -- focus, exploration, aptitudes and skills, interest in others, civic sense and service, play and contagious joy, activities of rest and rejuvenation for self-care. Soft power attracts others and makes an individual able to integrate into many environments comfortably. These are explored and mastered in families that strive to provide education of the heart, knowing it is the true education that humans strive to master in life.

Everyday Ayurveda

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