Hi,
It is said that 'vidya dadaati vinayam.' It means that education gives humility. The sloka extends further suggesting that humility gives character, from character one gets wealth, from wealth one gets righteousness (dharmam), and from righteousness one gets happiness. The more one gets educated the more humble one becomes. If that does not happen and the person becomes arrogant with education, it makes all that learning he possesses worthless. Let us look at this story of Svetaketu from the Upanishads that reveals the key factor for a meaningful learning.
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Once there lived a sage Uddalakka. When his son Svetaketu attained the age of 12, he sent him to a guru for learning the vedas. Svetaketu stayed there in the gurukul for 12 years; learnt the vedas; and returned home as a proud scholar. He told his father that he had learnt everything, and there was nothing else for him to learn. His father immediately felt that Svetaketu became an arrogant person and wanted to correct him. So, he asked him one day, "Svetaketu, you are saying that you learned everything and you think that you mastered everything. But tell me, have you got the knowledge by which you can see what can not be seen, hear what can not be heard, perceive what can not be perceived, and know what can not be known?"
Svetaketu understood his mistake and wanted to learn from his father. So he asked his father to teach him that knowledge. Immediately Uddalaka asked him to bring the fruit of a banyan tree. When he brought it, he asked him to break it, and Svetaketu broke it.
Uddalaka: "What do you see in it?
Svetaketu: "I see small seeds in it."
Uddalaka: "Break one of the seeds and tell me what you see?
Svetaketu: "Nothing."
Uddalaka: "You are unable to see, but there are small particles that are the source of the banyan tree that germinates from there and grows on to become a huge tree. That is the essence of everything. And that is the essence of all creation."
Uddalaka went on teaching his son Svetaketu through some more powerful examples that helped Svetaketu learn to become humble thereafter. And, like his father, he also became a great saint in due course of time.
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HUMILITY is the key to all learning. You ought to have it in the first place to be able to learn. Then you should continue to stay humble in order to be able to put that learning to proper use. After all, learning is a continuous process, and it never ends for a wise person.
What in your opinion are other factors that are fundamental to learning?
To your success,
With love,
Siva
PS: More insights on this story can be read from the article given at the links below:
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