�ݺ�ߣ

1
Education: A Framework According to
Gurbani
Gurinder Pal Singh
vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw ]
vihgurU jI kI Piqh ]
Gurbani Vichhar Program
Chardikalaa Foundation and
Sikh Gurdwara San Jose, California
June 1, 2014
06/01/2014 (C)Gurinder Pal Singh

Some Background
2
A few years back the Sikh Foundation, Palo Alto was toying with a plan to open
an advanced school for Sikh Children in Merced, in collaboration with the UC
Merced. UC Merced invited them to come and make a presentation about it
Dr. Kapany took Tejinder Singh, our young son along for the presentation. There
Tejinder spontaneously came up with the statement “Sikhs and Education are a
natural fit. Guru Nanak the Founder of Sikh religion was the greatest
teacher ever born…”.
The education that Guru Nanak started, brought about a religious, social and
political revolution in its wake. It is because of this we renamed our Khalsa School
as “Guru Nanak Khalsa School”
Some Stereotypes about Sikhs
1. Sikhs are good farmers
2. Sikhs are a Martial race
3. Sikhs are hard working
4. Sikhs know how to enjoy life
5. But …Sikhs and Education….have not been connected

Education and Gurbani
3
ਵਿਵਿਆ ਵੀਚਾਰੀ ਤਾਂ ਪਰਉਪਕਾਰੀ ॥
Contemplate and reflect upon knowledge, and you
will become a benefactor to others.
ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਵਿਵਿਆ ਵੀਚਾਰੈ ਪੜਿ ਪੜਿ ਪਾਵੈ ਮਾਨੁ ॥
By Guru's Grace, contemplate spiritual knowledge;
read it and study it, and you shall be honored.
Gurbani and lives of our Gurus are source of Spiritual
Knowledge and enlightenment. We will examine if the
methods employed in Gurbani are applicable to other
fields of education.

Aspects of Education
4
Knowledge
Delivery
Knowledge
Content
Stages of
Accomplishment
Education should lead to overall development of human potential
Results should be measurable and visible. Today we will focus on
Knowledge Delivery

Knowledge delivery
5
1. Use of mother tongue
2. Poetry, Rhymes
3. Repititions
4. Graphical Presentation
5. Quantification
6. Singing and Music
7. Listening
8. Letters
9. Role of Teacher/Mentor (Guru)
10. Role of Class (Sangat)
11. Learning by Questioning
12. Role of Practice
13. Education is for everyone
Knowledge has many dimensions and no one
method can describe it completely.

Use of Poetry, Rhymes
6
• Pleasing to the ears. Makes education fun and colorful
• Nursery rhymes develop vocabulary and imagination
• Makes easy to remember facts
• Generally used for emotional information (right brain
info), use on the factual or reasoning information (left
brain info) is lagging.
1. Poetry writing is treated as a natural gift
• Sikh Gurus were great Poets
2. Poetry writing classes are not common
• Can computers be programmed to convert text
into poem?( many uses for such an app!)
3. Sikhs/Punjabis are good at writing poetry. Should
redirect their talent for education.

Repetition
7
In Sri Guru Granth Sahib, each message is
repeated many times
• Repetition helps in memorization
• Deeper understanding
• Helps in imbibing the underlying message
• Aristotle wrote “It is frequent repetition
that produces natural tendency”
Scientific research shows that repetitions
help develop the Associative Memory

Graphical Presentation
8
Graphical tools were not available at time of Guru Sahibs, but Guru
Nanak Dev Ji brilliantly used words to describe his thoughts
graphically, e.g.
ggn mY Qwl riv cMdu dIpk bny qwirkw mMfl jnk moqI ]
DuUpu mlAwnlo pvxu cvro kry sgl bnrwie PulMq joqI ]
jW,
so dru kyhw so Gru kyhw ijqu bih srb smwly ]..
A picture is worth thousand words. Benefits of graphics or graphic
language in communicating knowledge cannot be overemphasized.

Quantification
9
Guru Sahiban were very aware of assigning even quantitative
values qualities of their subject of worship. Of course for
Waheguru it was always zero, infinite, priceless or
indescribable e.g.
srgun inrgun inMrkwr, sMun smwDI Awip ]
jW
qumrI giq imiq qum hI jwnI
jW
Amul gux Amul vpwr
Quantification is an important aspect of education. Gurbani
does not ignore it.

Singing and Music
10
Gurbani is organized in Ragas. Keertan or singing Gurbani
is the principle mode of worship for Sikhs.
Modern research supports that music and mindful singing
exercises and improves all aspects of brain.
Singing and music are
also part of other religious
traditions. Secular
education does not make
adequate use of it.
Sikhs/Punjabis have a
great talent for music and
singing. This should be
exploited for knowledge
delivery.

Listening and Imbibing/Practicing
11
Hearing is a physical phenomena.
Listening is mindful hearing.
Gurbani lays great emphasis on Listening and
Practicing (suxIAY Aqy mMnIAY)
Listening improves mental focus.
Practicing builds up the actual skills.
Both are required for learning.

Use of Letters
12
Guru Sahiban have emphasized the importance of
letters.
AKrI nwmu AKrI slwhu ]
AKrI igAwnu gIq gux gwh ]
AKrI ilKxu bolxu bwxu ]
AKrW isir sMjogu vKwix ]
Letters form the basic elements of reading and
writing. Guru Sahib has talked about the importance
of learning these in the 15th century, when most
people were probably illiterate!

Need of a Teacher/Mentor
13
Gurbani emphasizes the importance of a teacher for spiritual
education,
guru pauVI, byVI gurU, guru qulhw hir nwau ]
The Guru is the Ladder, the Guru is the Boat, and the Guru is the Raft to take
me to the Lord's Name
kwlir bIjis durmiq AYsI ingury kI inswxI ]
siqgurU bwJhu Gor AMDwrw fUib muey ibnu pwxI ]
Without proper knowledge/guidance most well intentioned efforts can
also be worthless. Teacher should be selected with care,
gurU ijnw kw AMDlw cyly nwhI Twau ]
Having a proper teacher is obviously very important for secular
education as well.

Importance of Classroom: Sangat
14
Gurbani lays great emphasis on company of those who are trying
to gain the same enlightenment,
vfBwgI imlu sMgqI scw sbdu ivswh
Gursikhs pray for the company of other Gursikhs, just as good
students seek admission to good universities
iqn kI sMgiq dyhu pRB mY jwick kI Ardws ]
Picking up improper company for pursuit of knowledge can be
disastrous. (e.g. Party town universities or colleges!)
bgulw kwg nIc kI sMgiq, jwie krMg ibKu muiK lwieAY ]
Participation in class increases commitment, enhances focus and
allows us to learn about other perspectives on the issue and
enhances learning. Teachers learn too from a participative class.

Learning By Questioning
15
Guru Nanak Sahib was a great teacher. He made
people learn great lessons, by making them ask
questions or examine their own actions.
1. Haridwar Sakhi
2. Incident at Mecca
3. Wealth of Duni Chand
4. Story of Janeu
Critically examining the knowledge is an important part of Learning. US Govt
is now implementing a new education standard called “Common Core” where
students will be encouraged to critically examine whatever they read and also
critically examine the processes they use to get results in Math and science.
Guru Ji was far ahead of everyone else!

Learning By Practice
16
Bhai Lehna was a Bhagat of Vaishno Devi, before
he met Guru Ji. He was a person of high caste.
Besides giving him the spiritual knowledge, Guru Ji
taught him the dignity of labor by,
Making him work in the fields (carrying dirt laden wet
grass on his head)
Retrieving the utensils from the dirty water and many
other such stories

Education is for Everyone
17
After Bhai Lehna was transformed to Guru Angad Sahib, he started
teaching young people the Gurmukhi script, made them do physical
exercises and sewa in Langar.
1. He chose Gurmukhi script and Punjabi language, and not Sanskrit or
any other “scholarly language”, because education is for everyone
and not only for the Brahmins or other higher caste people
2. He prescribed physical fitness for everyone, not only for the warrior
class
3. He prescribed physical sewa for every one, as manual effort is for
everyone and not only the lower castes.
Some Punjabi folks have these traits ingrained in them. This makes
them successful in every part of the world, even though they do not
have high university degrees.

Summary
18
1. Gurbani and the lives of Sikh Gurus provide us a very
comprehensive and well tested framework for designing
a modern education system
• Sikhi and education are intimately connected. We
need to work on it to realize our full potential

�ݺ�ߣ

Framework for education_based_on_gurbani - Gurinder Pal Singh (Vichaar)

More Related Content

Framework for education_based_on_gurbani - Gurinder Pal Singh (Vichaar)