3. Enlightened Education

All around us, there are many examples of how an enlightened master works. Now that we have these examples, we should use this opportunity to correct some mistakes.

One grave mistake society has made is in the creation of our modern education system. There is no continuity of tradition in modern education. Ancient masters, on the other hand, followed the lineage, and maintained spiritual tradition.

It might come as a surprise for many of us to know that our society has changed a great deal. We actually have little or no freedom now. Our lives are bound by rigid rules as dictated by our society and there are expectations of proper behavior heaped on young children.

In the gurukul system that was designed by the enlightened masters, children were free. They lived as one with nature and could relate with flowers, forests, trees, animals, and earth. Until the age of seven, children simply lived as a part of nature, with no idea that they were individuals. They were not even aware that they had a body. They simply lived as a part of nature.

The reasons for this are profound and deep. The enlightened masters were laying down in childhood the very first spiritual lesson: connecting to the ether energy. This is fundamental to any spiritual practice.

Today, we have moved away from this ether energy of which we are an intimate part. From the all pervading energy that we are, we have moved to rigid gender based rules. We dress up even infants in distinct male or female clothing. We expect girls to behave in a different way from boys and we have different norms of acceptable behavior for both. The enlightened masters knew that expression of gender was transient. They moved as one with the Existential energy and also taught their disciples the same thing.

Another natural fact, a true fact of nature, which will shock people today: nobody is totally male or female. When we are born, every one of us has characteristics of both genders within us. A man is only 51% male! He is 49% female. Similarly a woman is only 51% female, and 49% male. Inherently, every individual joyfully expresses both characterstics with the more prominent percentage expressing more, and they become beautiful beings.

But the rigid rules of our society do not tolerate the expression of the opposite gender within ourselves. In fact, society conditions us to suppress the opposite gender characteristics. Our social norms rigidly classify us into one gender from the moment of birth. This gives rise to suppression of the opposite gender within us. This suppression takes the form of lust for the opposite gender outside of us. This is how attraction for the opposite sex starts.

In the gurukul system, every child in the country belonged to the master, the Guru. Such was the beautiful system they designed. It was flexible for the group and yet easily individualized, and so the individual flourished. The master, who had an enlightened insight into the core of human nature, was at the helm of affairs.