Chapter 3: Why are studies a burden?🔗

While studying most of the information goes into conscious mind, some gets into subconscious mind and very little gets past our subconscious into the unconscious mind. That is the problem. Not enough information gets to the unconscious mind that is why we must repeatedly study and review the same information. Biologically there is an error in the way our brain handles memories. That is why studying is so difficult. While watching movies and reading novels with high interest memory works well. Memory does not work the same way for studying. There is a fundamental system error that we can correct with the right technique and learn how to create interest in studying. How the system got the error, how to correct it and how to create interest is what this chapter is all about. We are going to learn the techniques to understand how the system got its error, and learn how the memory circuits work. Are we clear about the memory circuit?

If you feel studies are a gift you will achieve eighty percent or more, otherwise studies are a burden and you will achieve less than eighty percent. In this session we are going to deal with the truth. Our educational conditionings about studies have created a big tumor inside us. We are going to examine why studies have become such a big burden.

In Gurukul days there was no specific classes or classroom. Under the trees, by the pond, by the well were all classrooms. The whole class was alive with interest. The routine started in the morning with imaginative play. Then Sun Salutation yoga. Chanting Vedic mantras followed. Then the main Guru would come and join the group to teach about life, math and all the subjects in an integrated way. All the teachings were fun, alive and energizing. In our present school system when a class is boring we think about sleeping, avoiding and anything but class. No classes were boring in Gurukul. Gurukul teachers treated the students like they were adult friends. Teachers would not do anything to make the students feel they didn't want to learn. If something happened that interfered with student learning the teacher personally resolved the situation with love, but now schools are punishment for children.

Now students go to school in fear and leave with relief. Does any child love to go to school and feel sad to go home? No! Children leave school like getting up off a hot pan. From a young age the process of studying is not taught and is wrong. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam says in Gurukul days the Mother took care of the child until age seven, then the father took over until age fourteen. From fourteen to twenty one Gurukul took care of the child. After twenty one the guru handed the young adult over to god. In those days students were brought up with Spiritual truths, now society brings up children with unrealistic materialistic goals. Now children are bussed to school from a very young age. Putting a young child on a bus is a traumatic experience. So traumatic that the child yells like he is experiencing cruelty. At the age of four this is the first harm society does to its young children. The child’s freedom is wrenched away like pulling a tooth, plus they have to leave all that is familiar and face strange adults in a strange environment. At a young age children’s urge to play is a natural expression of their curiosity and creativity, but schools force children to play by the school’s unnatural schedule. During the play time the teacher will supervise and direct children to play now. The child will not feel like playing in such an oppressive environment. The child will only feel the pain of the lost freedom and imagine leaving school.

Kids at a young age are already in bliss. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was invited to speak in a large school with over two thousand students. When he arrived at the school he found a small one room school house with a handful of young students. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam told the teacher that students of this age are already in bliss and they don’t need spiritual teaching. The teacher convinced Swami that after traveling all this way he could surely sit for a few minutes. Swami sat in a chair and the students gathered around like ducklings to a mother duck. Everything Swami said got the children laughing. They were already in bliss!

Taking away a child’s freedom is like taking away his toy. The child will see the school as the thug who took away the toy of his freedom as his enemy. The feeling of the school being his enemy unknowingly enters his unconscious mind. He may not remember consciously, but unconsciously he will continue to feel school as the enemy.

Small story A rat was relaxing on a table after a great meal. A cat saw the rat and pounced up onto the table. The rat jumped down off the table and sees the other rats are also running. The rat runs as fast as he can along with all the other rats. The cat jumps off the table and catches the rat and asks the rat why he ran in this direction. The rat explained that all the other rats were running this way!!

At the age of fourteen or fifteen students see everybody running towards good marks. They don’t understand why, but because everybody else is he also wants good marks. In our unconscious minds school is the enemy, but students want good marks so the struggle begins. That’s why studies are a burden. That’s why achieving good marks is such a struggle.

The other rats don’t now why they are running either. In the beginning a few rats started running without knowing why, now they all run. As the student runs for marks he thinks he is interested in reading, but unconsciously there is no interest. Reading becomes a struggle without knowing the reason. The unconscious barrier has only to do with school so all other activities such as going to the movies, reading for enjoyment or playing are not affected. Because of the unconscious school barrier we have lost our natural interest and curiosity that generates our desire to do everything, but school.

The enemy of our enemy is our friend. Like this, having fun is the enemy of our studying, so the enemy of studying is our friend. That's why having fun is our friend. Studying has created a deep wound in our being when our freedom was wrenched away from us. So anything that is against studying or restricted freedom is desirable. We can read for pleasure, seven hundred pages in a week and remember much of it, but seventy pages of studying is too much because of our wounded unconscious mind. This is our wound and no amount of outside help will make any difference. We have to heal ourselves. The healing begins with the understanding of how the wound was created, with the forced removal of our freedom at a young age and being forced to study. When the teacher is in the room our energy is low, but when he is out of the room we feel energized because we don't have interest and dislike studying, not necessarily what is being taught. If we enjoyed our studies we could read our text book like we were reading Harry Potter, but our wounded unconscious makes other choices. If you don't study you get zero, but if you study you get two zeros with a one in front (100). Unconsciously you don't want to study, but consciously you want to get two zeros after the one. So we have to focus our attention and concentrate. We can't concentrate on our studies, but concentration has to happen. Concentration is forcing information into the unconscious. All the sensory inputs we get is left in the conscious mind with some getting into our subconscious. It is our interest and concentration that makes the difference. Can anybody study in a relaxed way? Consciously we want to study and get things done, but we procrastinate. There is a good movie so we procrastinate by watching the movie instead of studying. Because of our procrastination our studies become even hard work. The higher academic achievers got where they are with a lot of hard work. Their hard work set the example that we are all running after, but the method of hard work to attain two zeros after the one is misguided.

When you feel anger towards someone for some reason the only way to permanently resolve the situation is to forgive them with heartfelt sincerity. Not forgiving someone because we have no choice, or because they are more powerful or have bigger friends. That is forced, forgiving and remembering. That is not true forgiveness. Forgive and forget is what happens when someone does something that wounds us mentally or physically and makes us angry, but we are compassionate and mature enough to understand that what they did was the result of their inherent nature and not really a conscious choice so we forgive them. The forced forgive and remember leaves an unconscious wound that reduces our energy and must be dealt with sooner or later. Forgive and forget removes the tension of the anger and lets us carry on in bliss. Like the person who did you wrong and you were unable to forgive and forget what they did because they really didn't understand the consequences of their actions we need to forgive and forget the people, events and society that created the wound in us about school. We need to sincerely forgive whatever happened to us so we can get that event out of our unconscious and reclaim the energy and stop letting it affect us after all this time.

to forgive and forget:

Close your eyes and remember one incident that negatively affected how you feel about education. Totally relive that moment with as much detail as possible. The more completely you remember the more complete the forgiveness will be. While you are experiencing that moment feel forgiveness, genuine heartfelt forgiveness. When you feel the energy you have dissolved that tumor. Repeat this technique for each trauma you can remember being associated with school.