7 Nov 2011 —
Question
Q191: Education?
Question 191:
“Amma says: ‘There are two types of education: education for livelihood and education for Life.’
How do you understand this?”
Please make your answer brief and clear (maximum 5 or 6 lines).
What I understand is that “education for livelihood” implies the needs of food, water and shelter and the sciences regarding the protection of the body from diseases and disasters, and “education for Life” implies looking beyond one’s individuality and looking higher to see oneness in the beauty of creation in which the Creator is hidden like the tree in the seed.
In my humble opinion, education for livelihood is studying hard and getting many degrees in the academic field with the objective of getting a good job and earning for a livelihood. But even an illiterate person may have the supreme wisdom of what life’s purpose is and he must be having a spiritual goal and spiritual qualities like humility, tolerance, truthfulness which are more important for leading a purposeful, selfless human life. in this world there are many with high qualifications and good education for a livelihood, but very few people have education for living a truthful, spiritual,meaningful life. Education for life is more important.
Education fo Livelihood is the mind’s journey into the world; cultivating precision and distinction.
Education for life is the hearts journey into the terrors and joys of our humanity that draw us deeper into our soul.
They can, at some point, be the same if they melt into love.
education of livelihood addresses education of the physical.
education for life would be the education of the physical, emotional, and physic levels of life.
one addresses livelihood as physical survival.
i would say true life education has only now been made available through a Life Master. One who has awoken to all levels of Life.
Education for livelihood is the education that we generally get from our schools, colleges and universities. They teach us about the external world knowledge and the means to earn a living from the knowledge thus acquired. Whereas Education for life is the knowledge of the inner world , the knowledge of spirituality, the knowledge of our inner being, our true Nature which is the knowledge which will give Eternal happiness.
education for livelihood is the one we must have to run in the world of maya it iss the jnana only.education for life is in the search of vijana.
One education is for enabling to play the role we are playing presently and the important ediction is of releasing self and that education is the most important. Luv u MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Education for livelihood makes you get a degree, a job and cover your materialistic needs.
Education for Life teaches you how to deal with the various matters of life: difficult moments, proper interactions with others, understanding yourself and your duties, being patient, aware, selfless, keeping a space for God’s presence and His will in your daily, respecting dharma and values, etc.
from my experience i know,,that in the process of education for livelihood lie lessons for life as well, if you are aware you will notice, you will learn, no different school, amma is teaching all the time.
Education for livelihood is like food for the body and
Education for life is like food(love) for the mind(Soul)
Education for livelihood readies us to earn money which is needed for survival in this world. Education for life readies us to face challenges in life with courage. Only a sadguru can teach us the education of life. A spiritual person handles difficulties in life differently. The more detached a person is, more stronger he will be. It can be said as education of life is managing and controlling one’s on mind.
Education for livelihood = basic survival
Education for Life = knowing your true nature
Education for livelihood means like Graduation, Post-Graduation, Diplomas, PhDs, typing, shorthand, other technical skills – all these help us to earn money so that we can buy a house, buy food, buy clothes, buy material things that perish after sometime. But we need this education, and we need to money to survive in this world. This education is taught by mortal beings, who have gained such degrees like us and they can only solve some mathematical problems with the help of some formulas etc.
Education for life is like a Solitaire. It’s priceless, and it helps us to lead a good life. We understand what life is, Who the real ‘I’ is, and how to lead a righteous life. In order to acquire this education, we need the tutelage of a Mahatma, a guru.
Education for livelihood is the skill one requires to work in a specific field, while education for life is the ethics in life of what is wrong and what is right.When faced with certain situations in real life we must know what is righteousness and accordingly act, while the wrongs and sins has to be avoided, as lord wishes us to lead life with purity.
Todays education lacks in the provision for ” Education for Life”.. It just gives education for living.. for earning money and spending it for sense gratification and so on..
Once people start getting money after their so called education, they even do not know how to spend it- that is the drawback of today’s young generation..
There should be adequate provision in the education system to provide the younger generation “The Value of the Vedic principles and the great Indian culture in the childhood itself.”
In the scriptures also mentioned manily two types of education.That is Para vidya and Aparavidya.Para vidya stands for education for life and Apara vidya stands for education for livelihood.Both are equaly important and required in our day to day life.Physical education, medical education,education of arts and science,mechanical education etc. are come under the catagory of Apara Vidya(Education for livelihood) and it help us to earn money for oue survival.(Roti,Kapapda,Makkan)But a Doctor who dedicate his knowledge of medicine for serving the soceity ,we can say it as Paravidya.Eg:-Doctors who serve in the our most beloved Amma’s AIMS hospital.The Paravidya is the True education which provides us with an equilllibrium in all the different vicissitudes at the different levels of one’s own existence.To live in balance and sail safely upon the uncertain waves of the ocean of life,across both its smiling weather and stormy days , one must have a constant perception of the Real.(This is the words of His holiness Chinmayanda Swamiji)
Thankamani!! u are abselutely right..Education for life(Paravidya)is playing an important role in acquring livlihood in a right way.It is like an airconditioner.
if education for livelihood( Aparavidya)satisfy our matirial desires ,education for life(Atma vidya or Paravidya) satisfy our spiritual thurst.Both spiritual and material life is controlled or balanced by Paravidya or Atmavidya by playing a role of an airconditioner.Means Spiritual knowledge helps to balance our meterial needs.Paravidya makes an appeal to man to exercise his rational faculty of discrimination between the True and the false in him to renounce the false and the to identify himself or herself with the True and permenent in him.Eternal Bliss(Paramanandam)can come only to the one who has developed this faculty to discriminative between the Real and unreal to attach himself to the Real.
With pranams to ammas lotus feet.
As per my understanding Education for livihood includes to fulfill our basic necessities as well as to maintain relationship with our surrounding people and environment for normal ongoing of life. whereas education for life means learning from our mistakes observing and understanding from others mistakes and reach the goal of human life that he is destined for.
It is great to learn water is H2O,there are different systems like digsetive,respiratory excretory to protect your body,the gravitational force to guard your planet etc etc are all education for livelihood.But the greatest grandeur and glory is learning about the creative force behind all these expressions;The SELF in all ,the spiritual education of life.
One to fill your stomach and other to fill your heart..
Education that helps only to acquire a job is education for livelihood. Example our current education system. Education that teaches us how to lead a virtuous life is education for life. Example our Amma’s teachings.
One teaches to take from society.
Other teaches to give to society.
one to know everything about the world. The other to know about ourself.
One is education to live life well in a human world. The other is to educate on how to live life as and with God.
One is for world and one is for the Spirit.
I understand that neither is taught in public school! At least not very well, unfortunately…
The way I understand this is as follows, the education we get when we go to college and strive towards earning a degree, later leads into a career is, ‘education for a livelihood.’ This education is what is going to sustain our livelihood. The latter, the education for life as I see it is what we learn by living. It is the learning that takes place within us every day. I believe this is the process we each go through (internally) to correct our character flaws.
These words of Amma are really amazing. To my understanding I firmly believe that the sole purpose of Human Life is Self-realization. There can be no other purposes. So when Amma means Education for Life, it is all about God, Spirituality and Selfrealization. Every living being has life but only human beings have the power of descrimination. With this power of descrimination human beings should persevere to attain Liberation or Moksha which is freedom from endless cycle of births and deaths. That is what I understand from Amma’s immortal words.
Education for livelihood makes one know the world one lives in.Education for life makes one know and understand oneself. Self-knowledge will serve as a clear window to the world outside.
in my view, the foundation of education should be love, not intellect. Intellect is only a means. If there is love within, then the intellect becomes just a means to spread and develop love. And if there is no love within, then the intellect becomes a means for spreading lovelessness.
What do we teach? What do we give in the name of education? Do we offer any education of life? Do we give any education in living? Do we teach the art of life? Not at all. We teach some words; we teach some mathematics, some language, some chemistry or physics, some history or geography. But what do we really teach through all this teaching? Just some words.The education of words, mere accumulation of words, mere wealth of words, certainly becomes a weight on the brain but neither does it make the brain free, nor alive, nor thoughtful, nor does it provide any originality in looking at life, nor does it give the art of living or teach ways of living. So far, this is what we have been calling education!
Education for livelihood: to get Roti, Kapda aur Makhan
Education for life: to do nam, dhyan aur seva