Building Character

…In the old days, I am told, we are told, that the essential thing about education was the relationship between the pupil and teacher, the guru and the chela. That was easily possible then because you did not have then these large colleges, the universities, [instead] the ashram, where a small number of pupils went to their teachers and discussed matters with him and thus came into intimate contact with a mind which was more trained, more experienced and therefore could help in discussing matters. In the ultimate analysis, remember, every person has to discover his path by himself or herself. A teacher or a guru can help by pointing out the ways, by making it easier for you to go. But you have to go there by yourself. You cannot be carried anywhere. That applies to the whole of life, to find your own way. If you are rather of a higher calibre, you may find your way quickly or go further. Anyhow, whatever your calibre might be, you have to find your way yourself, mentally and physically, and all the process of education is to help you to train your mind and body to be able to find your way through life. Not merely through your examination—that is only a small part of testing and trial—but rather through life’s difficult courses.

Now as I said, these are questions which one likes to discuss with bright and forthcoming minds. If you want me to come and talk to you, let us say about some job or other, well, it might be interesting to you or to me, but it is not a subject which requires great agility of mind. It is, rather, it could be, much more interesting if you and I sit down and discuss some of the extraordinary problems that this world presents today or that India presents today. Some problems not affecting yourself or myself directly, but rather humanity as a whole, or the people of India as a whole. We are of course part of humanity and part of the people of India, and therefore anything that happens in the world affects us. So, one would like to discuss that because, in the course of discussion, different aspects of truth come up before one’s eyes and it helps us to think afresh.

You know perhaps that some of the greatest books that we have in India are the Upanishads. What does the word Upanishad mean? It means, sitting near by. Sitting near. I hope I am correct. That means sitting near, the pupil and teacher, and discussing things and trying to probe what is truth, by question and answer of the eager mind, young men and young women’s minds, wondering something, trying to find out what all this talk about this world is, life and problems, and this teacher trying to help. Ultimately it is for the young mind to find out, the teacher helps a little. But the main thing is, first of all, this desire to find out, this wish to find out what all this is. This is Jigyasa, if you like to call it. This certainly is the effort to find out. After that, the other things follow. If you have not even got any desire to find out, obviously, there is nothing to find out for you. You remain where you are. So, the desire and the effort are necessary, and the whole process of education is to awaken your minds, develop your bodies, in particular wakening your minds to this fascinating world and universe; and then it depends upon your capacity, your mind, how far you can go forward. A university should give you training, so that your mind becomes like a razor’s edge, sharp, piercing, going forward and trying to understand.

All that has happened in the world ever since homo sapiens began, ever since something resembling a human being started living in this world, whether it was hundreds and hundreds, or thousands of years ago. All that has happened is the development of the human mind; and out of that mind has come wonderful things. What is the difference between a human being, and let us say, an animal? There are several differences. One very odd difference, if I may say so, is—I hope I am right again—that the human being can laugh and an animal cannot laugh! It is an interesting difference but the major difference is memory. Memory means past experience stored, by which you can profit….

Extracts from Nehru’s Speech at Central College Cricket Pavilion, Bangalore, 16 January 1960.

From:-Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru second series volume fifty six (1 – 25 January 1960)