Lessons in positive thinking, wellbeing seminars and
workshops in emotional intelligence - can an A-level in happiness
really be far behind?
by RICHARD SCHOCH
At Wellington College, one of Britain's top public schools,
headmaster Anthony Seldon is piloting an initiative that may eventually
see lessons in happiness added to the curriculum in both the state and
independent sectors. What an unhappy prospect.
Dr Seldon's endeavour is well-intentioned. He is right that young
people should learn that happiness does not lie in celebrity, wealth or
conspicuous consumption, not least because popular culture - from
makeover television programmes to the cult of cool - tells them that it
does.
The problem is that Wellington is opting to teach happiness through
positive psychology which, in my view, can amount to little more than
self-help with a veneer of academic respectability.
Excerpt from Lecture on Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 2, Text 17,
February 17, 1975, Mexico
A living man
means spirit and matter combined. And a dead man means the matter is
there; spirit is gone. So you can distinguish what is spirit and what
is matter. So similarly, there is, as this is material world, there is
another spiritual world. We living entities, we, by nature, we are
spiritual, but because we have got the potency either to live in this
material world or in the spiritual world, therefore we are called
marginal. The real position is, because we are spiritual, we should
live in the spiritual world. At the present moment we have lost our
spiritual constitutional position; therefore we are in this material
world. Just like a man is generally healthy, but sometimes he falls
sick, so at the present moment our condition is sick. It is called bhava-roga.
Bhava-roga. Bhava means to become, and roga means disease.
What is that bhava-roga? We are appearing, taking birth in the
material world. This is called bhava: "You become." And after
sometimes you become finished, means death. This is called disease. Bhava-roga.
Yes. We have to cure this disease and come to our healthy standard of
life. That opportunity is here in this human form of life. If you want
to cure this material disease and revive your healthy condition of
eternal spiritual life, the opportunity is here. Therefore our only
business in this human form of life is to cure this material disease,
not to aggravate it. Disease should be cured, not to increase it. But
at the present moment we are mad after increasing the disease. We are
acting in such a way that we have to accept another body. That means
material disease will continue.
So to live irresponsibly like cats and dogs is very risky life. Because
so long we shall be engaged in the matter of sense
gratification—material life means sense gratification—we shall increase
our prolongation of repetition of birth and death. So this
irresponsible life of eating, sleeping, sex life and defense like cats
and dogs will not help us. Therefore... Because this kind of activities
will oblige me to accept another body, and as soon as we accept another
material body we become subjected to the stringent laws of material
nature. And the material miserable conditions are summarized into four
items: birth, death, old age and disease. So those who are not in
knowledge of the spirit soul, they are very irresponsibly prolonging
his life in material activities. Material science could not find out
the spirit soul within the body because the magnitude, the dimension of
the spirit soul, is very, very small. That is stated in Padma
Purana,
balagra-shata-bhagasya
shatadha kalpitasya cha
bhago jivah sa vijneyah
sa chanantyaya kalpate
Balagra
means the tip of your hair. Divide into ten thousand parts. That one
part is the dimension of the soul. That is there within the body. So
material science has no such instrument or perfection of study that
they can see such a small particle. Therefore these foolish people say
there is no soul, but the practical application—the soul is there;
therefore the consciousness is there; therefore the body is working in
order. The soul is minus, the consciousness is minus—this body is a
lump of matter.
So we have to study this very intelligently. Then we'll understand that
what is soul, what is the business of the soul, why the soul is
entrapped in this bodily, material body, why there are so many
varieties, body. This is a great science, and that science is explained
in this Bhagavad-gita. Actually, at the present moment
there is no education, because education means to understand my
identity. The so-called education which is going on, that is called
art. Of course, they also say, "B.A., M.A., Bachelor of Art, Master of
Art." It is just learning an art only; it is not education. Just like
an electrical electrician. He knows the art how to put the negative and
positive wire and bring electricity. That is an art. But that
electrician does not know what is the science of understanding soul.
The modern education, they are simply giving lessons on some art,
generally known as technology. So by that advancement of knowledge we
can construct high skyscraper building, nice motorcar, nice airplane,
nice machine. That is art. But we do not know what is going to happen
next life, my soul. That we do not.
So this is the distinction between avidya and vidya. Vidya
means knowledge, and avidya means ignorance. Suppose you
construct a very nice skyscraper building and next life you become
something—you remain a rat in that house—then what is your benefit? The
soul has to accept a body according to his karma. If by karma
he has to accept the body of a rat, it will not be excused by nature
that "You have constructed skyscraper building; therefore you'll again
come and live there." No, that is not possible. If by karma you
are fit for becoming a rat or cat, nature will give you that body. On
account of your high attraction of the skyscraper building you can
remain there, a rat and cat, but you cannot enjoy anymore. Therefore
every human being should be very intelligent that "What is going to
happen, my next life?" and prepare for that because it is said..., avinashi
tu tad viddhi: "That small particle is avinashi," means
it is not going to die; the body is going to finish. Then if my next
life, next body, becomes rat and cat, then what is the benefit I get by
this skyscraper building I have constructed with so hard labor and
perseverance? This is knowledge. If you simply become interested on
this small span of life, say, fifty or sixty or hundred years, utmost,
but if you neglect your eternal existence, is that intelligence? We are
teaching that science, and the Bhagavad-gita is there.
Take advantage of it.