The Indian education system, influenced by the theories of Thomas Macauley long ago, has been contributing to the fragmentation of families while turning man into a machine, the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, said on Saturday.
“The present education system does not contain 95 per cent of the elements needed to make life meaningful and man’s soul is neglected,” the seer said while interacting with students and faculty members of the SOA University here.
“Man has indeed become a machine which only feeds itself and procreates. The purpose of life has gone haywire. The whole thing is not leading us to development but destruction,” he warned.
“A developed city or Mahanagar today is one where you don’t get clean air, water or soil. It’s time we pondered over the way we have been perceiving development till now.”
The Shankaracharya hit out against the cutting down of forests and “mindless” exhaustion of mineral resources, pointing out that it could have serious repercussions. “We have just seen in Uttarakhand what nature can do if we continue to tinker with it,” he said.
Dependence on machine for almost everything has rendered people jobless. The intention has been to ensure more production in quick time by employing the least number of workers so that people have more time for themselves.
The same is true for faster travel. “But though people have been saving time, unfortunately they are not using it for such activities which would make their lives meaningful,” he observed.
Asked as to how the growing terrorism in the country could be tackled, the Shankaracharya said that though India’s Vedic culture has enriched the world with knowledge, the Constitution given to the people and the present method of governance “are far removed from the same.” “What we have been witnessing is a result of this anomaly,” he said.
Replying to another question on the need for women’s empowerment, the seer said women must be protected “as our whole culture is dependent on them.” “A person, as he or she grows up, is more influenced by the mother rather than the father,” he pointed out.
The gathering was attended by SOA University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof RP Mohanty and Principal Advisor to the President, Prof DP Ray and Deans of different institutes.