ENLIGHTENED APPROACH OF GURU NANAK DEV JI: AN INSPIRATION IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION

Research Paper

Education

E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 3 | March 2020

ENLIGHTENED APPROACH OF GURU NANAK DEV JI: AN INSPIRATION IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION Dr. Richa Aggarwal Assistant Professor, Education Department, DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, India.

ABSTRACT In the history of last hundreds of years there have been great philosophers and thinkers on education. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is one of the thinkers whose valuable thoughts regarding education has left a significant mark on the concept of education. In today's scenario, it appears that humanity is lost and there is a crisis called value crisis.

Education for the sake of materialistic gains is taking up the place. The spirit of life seems to be missing. So, in this type of situation, Guru Nanak Dev Ji's precious thoughts are very much necessary to be remembered and implicated in the field of education to reshape and reconstruct the society. A widespread awareness about Guru Ji's thoughts is needed among the teachers of today and the would be teachers to deal with the young minds and hence shape the upcoming future. The present paper throws light on Guru Nanak Dev Ji's general philosophy, place of education in his thoughts and his enlightened ideas on aims of education, practical approach towards education, contents in education, curriculum in education, methods of teaching and way of teaching. Apart from this, the true teacher as perceived by Guru Nanak is also discussed in the paper.

INTRODUCTION: It has been ages that the humans are striving for the attainment of the highest state of feeling of fullness and peace. The great philosophers and Gurus have always helped man in dealing with life where education has always taken the highest position to help to acquire the ultimate goal. At present, the conceptualization of education needs the light of thoughts of a versatile genius to regain the main essence of education and hence life. A saint and a prophet Guru Nanak Dev Ji took birth in 1469 A.D. at Talwandi whose thoughts touched every phase of life.

He wandered in search of right knowledge and the right way of life. Since, there is no doubt that the basis of right knowledge and right way of life is right education. Consequently, the deep thoughts of Guru Nanak Dev Ji grew as an inspiration for the educationists and threw light from time to time in the field of education.

The significance of education holds prime focus in his teachings and it can be witnessed by his different sayings enlightening the concept behind education. One such beautiful thought is as under: “Through shallow intellect, the mind becomes shallow,

According to Guruji's conception of God, God symbolizes 'Nirguna' and 'Saguna' to let the man know him as both. And, the guru is the communication between the man and God which is necessary for self identification. As a ladder to the main aim of self realization, religion holds an important place in the thoughts of Guruji. Guru Nanak Dev Ji declared religion simply as gymnastic of the mind which helps in connection of man's soul with God. He carried the slogans like “Deeds not creeds” and “Work is worship.”The above ideas of Guru Nanak Dev Ji form the base of his thinking for education and his general philosophy and educational philosophy hold a close association throwing light on the crux behind the concept of education.

ULTIMATE GOALS OF EDUCATION: The aims of life set by Guru Nanak Dev Ji were self realization and self manifestation which are the ultimate goals of education. He appreciates and preaches the development of higher values in human life. According to him greatest good of man lies in developing the divine consciousness and attaining perfection in the spiritual nature.

Guru Nanak says that: “He alone is the man of wisdom

and one eats the fly, along with the sweets.”: Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Who gains self knowledge,

In his writings, reflections of a remarkable position given to the educator can also be seen which is visible through the following thought:

And attains the realization of God, “Let no man in the world live in dilusion, That seer alone becomes acceptable in the court of God, Without a guru none can cross over to the other shore.”: Guru Nanak Dev Ji Who becomes enlightened in his life, Although there is absence of systematic philosophy of education by him but his precious thoughts delivered at various occasions prove to be very much helpful in throwing light on his ideas towards the educational philosophy propounded by him. In his scattered discourses, there are massive references displaying meaning and role of education, importance of teacher, content and methodology in education, responsibilities of the learner, relationship of education with society and religion etc. These discourses provide a rich material regarding the views of Guru Nanak Dev Ji on education. As a thinker he said: “The more we think about the discipline of education the more the service to humanity will be done.”

GENERAL PHILOSOPHY OF GURU NANAK DEV JI: In absence of philosophy of life, no theory of education can be framed. Guruji's general philosophy including name, nature, truth, conception of god, man and religion should be known.

As per his thoughts, cultivation of universal outlook and evolving of grace of name marks the real education. Thus, establishing the nectar of name in mind and expressing it through creativity is the main essence of aim of human life. As per Guru Nanak Dev Ji, man is the measure of everything; he is the noblest creation of God and is supreme creature of earth. So, he appeals to the mankind to understand and recognize the essence within and become an image full of light. He preaches the truthfulness in one's character.

through the grace of the Guru.”

GURUJI'S PRACTICAL APPROACH TOWARDS EDUCATION: As marked by Teja Singh, “He enjoyed upon his followers to open elementary schools in their villages, so that wherever there was a Sikh temple there was a centre of rudimentary learning for boys and girls. This system has continued upto very recent times and may be seen even now in certain villages.” Thus, these lines are a clear indication of Nanak's practical approach and pious steps towards education. This educational approach was a never ending educational drive which enlightened the modern educationists of the present era.

CURRICULUM IN EDUCATION: The curriculum suggested by Guru Ji has strong religious and ethical foundation focusing on moral, social, religious and cultural values. His Patti, Dakhani Onkar, Janam Sakhis and various anecdotes of his life display his thoughts regarding the constituents to be involved in curriculum. Overall, whole world, philosophy, humanity, health education, science were his main areas comprising the curriculum.

CONTENTS OF EDUCATION: Religious and moral education holds emphasis in Guru Nanak's education philosophy. Practical arithmetic was also found to hold a significance place in the curriculum. He gave the highest place to divine knowledge and considered it to be the highest education.

Ÿ

Copyright© 2020, IERJ. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms.

International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]

49

Research Paper Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 3 | March 2020

He emphasized the learning of the mother tongue. He made Punjabi as the spoken language of his times and preferred instructions to be delivered in Punjabi it helped him to reach the masses and provide them education. Apart from Punjabi he also gave due importance to learning of other languages of the nation as well i.e. Sanskrit etc. He being a true nationalist gave utter importance to the national culture and condemns the adoption of any other foreign culture and language.

Book keeping was considered as an art and it was taught to every student of that times. As trade and commerce was considered to be the first and the last resort for many so book keeping was an emphasized activity.

utmost importance to achieve the goals of education.

THE TEACHER: Guru Nanak provides the teachers with highest status and marks the profession as a noble profession. According to him, ultimate goal of education cannot be achieved without the role played by the teacher. His concept of a teacher lies in the selfless service for the pupil and heart full endeavors to lift the pupil towards the aim. Teacher is considered as a ray of light imparting guidance. As per him, without a teacher a pupil cannot develop virtues and hence education.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji's view for a true teacher: “He alone is a really educated teacher,

In his times study of different biographies and the history and culture was given high importance. Biography formed an interesting literature and by the time of the tenth guru there was lot of biographical literature which was available for reading. Elements of history and culture were considered to be forming the values in humans.

Who is God centered-Gurumukh, Who awakens divine intelligence in his disciples, Who meditates on the divine name with concentration,

In Guru Nanak's philosophy great significance is given to music and poetry.

This is the reason that in his 'Baani' we see a combination of poetry and music. For attaining the divine knowledge, the path suggested by him was the path of music and poetry. According to him, music helps in loosening of mind and inclining towards devotion and bliss. This is the reason that the musical recitation of 'shabadas' was considered to be a very important part of the curriculum.

Ÿ

Guru Nanak wanted to build up a community comprising of strong people.

He says, “Sport and Play are the minds amusement”. Thus, he gave extreme significance to physical education.

Ÿ

Emphasis was laid by him on manual labour. According to him manual labour helps in keeping the mind and the body fit.

Ÿ

Art and Craft were also given high respect and were considered to be tools to attain the ultimate goal laid by the Guru.

Ÿ

Guru Nanak planned the daily routine of his disciples and apart from the formal instruction informal programme of learning also helped in developing a man of high virtues and spiritual perfection.

METHODS OF TEACHING: Methods opted by the Guru were more traditional than formal through which his thoughts were clearly transferred to the masses. Different methods which were used were: 'Kirtans', Storytelling method, celebration of festivals, sense of humor and dramatic technique.

Who stores name in his mind, Who gains the gain of God realization, Which is the main purpose of human life.”

Extensive journeys were done by the Guru as travelling was considered to be important to gain knowledge. As per his conduct, it is displayed that a teacher should be well versed with the world to become efficient enough to impart good teachings to the taught.

CONCLUSION: The Educational Philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev Ji is based on humanism.

According to him, if conceptual framework of education involves humanistic values as the essence then definitely reshaping is possible leading towards the ultimate aim. Guru Ji aim towards all round holistic development of the child. He opposes only bookish and theoretical knowledge and favours the wider knowledge along with emphasis on functional and purposeful knowledge. As per his thoughts a person with real research is a creative man. Guru Nanak marks school as an institution for upliftment of the society and focuses the reconstruction and regeneration of the society for the better tomorrow. He propagated education for national integration and secularism. He proposed women education to be an important aspect and favoured democratic education. Although, Guruji did not present a systematic form of educational philosophy but still his ideas and thoughts enlightened the concept of education. He marks real education as the one which liberates and leads to illumination.

REFERENCES:

Quest and inquiry method were focused so that real education can be gained. He gave practical illustrations and proceeded from particular to general and did not involve complexities in theories.

Both individual as well as collective methods of teaching were used by the Guru.

According to McLeod as per the Kartarpur pattern frequent regular instructions were given to individual followers but the form recorded in Adi Granth corresponds more closely to the delivery of instructions in regular gatherings.

Discussions and lecturing methods were the main methods which were opted.

Observation and travelling was considered to be a very effective approach to gain knowledge.

He considered motivation, sympathy and love to be the best method of teaching.

For educating children the methods were made more organized and hence more systematic. Overall the methods were same, but more focus was given to oral, memorization, repetition and recitation. Monitorial system was also opted. The child who was quick at learning assisted the teacher in making the students repeat and recite.

1.

Alag,S.S.(2009).An Introduction to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ludhiana: Miller Gang Publisher,30-37.

2.

Internet Archive : Full text of “Educational Philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev Ji”.

Retrieved from https://archive.org

3.

Kaur,A. (1983). A study of educational philosophy of Sikh Guru's, Fourth Edition(1983-88), M.B. Buch (Ed), New Delhi:NCERT,66-67.

4.

Leitner, G.W. (1971). History of Indigenous Education in the Punjab since Annexation and in 1882, Department of Language, Patiala(Punjab),1.

5.

McLeod.(1968). Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 230.

6.

McLeod, W.H.(1968). Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford: Clarendon Press,178.

7.

Raina,A.(2010). Conception and aim of education according to Guru Nanak. Retrieved from https://www.sikhphilosophy.net

8.

Singh, B.V. (1927). ed. Puratan Janam Sakhi, Amritsar: Wazir Hind Press,4-5.

9.

Singh,T.(2004).Guru Granth Sahib : A Guide to path of peace for humanity,Abstracts of Sikh,1(1),36-39.

10. Sodhi,T.S. Educational Philosophy of Guru Nanak. Bawa publications.

11. Vaswani,J.C.(2000).Guru Nanak,The Prophet of Peace,The Sikh review,481,14-15.

WAY OF TEACHING: Guru Nanak never imposed any idea on his disciples, infact invited debates and discussions and hence established his point convincingly. Guru Ji marked the importance of individual differences.

Ÿ

Ÿ

Being with an insight he rose to the level of the people and conveyed his teachings and thoughts. According to him matching the mental level of students was a key factor to cater the needs and for meaningful development of the students.

Ÿ

Nanak's thoughts display the importance of close connection between the teacher and the taught.

Ÿ

Discipline was given due importance in the teaching learning process and the connection between the discipline and the disciple was considered to be of

50

International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]