Page 1 of 4

The innermost core of Education

“I look upon religion as the innermost core of Education.”i

Swami Vivekananda made this significant statement about Education. We need to

understand exactly what he meant by these words. If we draw our own conclusions, limited by

our prejudices about the word „Religion‟, without trying to understand Swami Vivekananda‟s

import, we will be entering into the fundamentalist‟s realm. There are indeed some Hindu

organisations that have done this and they have already been black-labelled as such by the

thinkers in society today.

Religion and Education are words that are commonly used by everyone. Therefore they

carry many shades of meanings to many people. Our aim in this article will be try and attempt to

understand what Swami Vivekananda could have meant by the use of the word „Religion‟ and

then try to understand the meaning of the above statement.

Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism – these are what we generally understand by

religion. Each of these is a religion that has millions of followers. Which religion could Swami

Vivekananda have meant when he said that religion is the innermost core of education?

In one place, Swami Vivekananda said, “Religion is the idea which is raising the brute

unto man, and man unto God.”ii When we look at the word religion from this generalised point

of view, we find that the word has been made free from the trappings of any of the „isms‟ that is

generally understood by the word religion. Hence we may understand that „Education‟s

innermost core is the idea that is raising a brute unto man, and a man unto God.‟ Now, this

makes sound sense. It is in fact possible – although not an easy task, but possible – to frame a

complete educational philosophy based on this statement.

Our task would have perhaps been easy, if this were the only statement that Swami

Vivekananda had made on the meaning of religion. He has however also used the word religion

on many different occasions in many different ways. We may need to consider all those ideas

comprehensively before we can arrive at a conclusion of what he exactly meant when he said

religion is the innermost core of education.

Swami Vivekananda once said “Religion is being and becoming.”iii How is it possible for

someone to „be‟ something and „become‟ that thing again? Or is it to be understood that Swami

Vivekananda wants us to „be‟ one thing and „become‟ something else? How are we to resolve this

conundrum?

Furthermore, we all know that „being‟ and „becoming‟ are two transitive verbs; they

always need a direct object to make sense. Hence, we can ask „being what?‟ and „becoming

what?‟

One way of understanding this is to take the help of the Advaita Vedanta Philosophy.

This school of thought holds that every person is capable of existing in a state of pure awareness.

We are always aware of something or the other. Supposing we were to be able to be just aware

and not aware of something; the Vedanta scholars hold that this is the highest state of existence

Page 2 of 4

to which every man can raise himself, and achieving which a man is said to have achieved the

goal of human life. And that, they assert, is true religion. Thus, we may understand that this is

what Swami Vivekananda, who was an avowed Advaitin himself, means by the term religion.

But, what is interesting is that the Advaita Vedanta scholars do not give any importance

to „becoming‟. According to them, any act of „becoming‟ is the very antithesis of „being‟. They are

never tired of asserting that one can „be‟ only when one stops „becoming‟. Here, however, we

may have to take the help of some other schools of philosophical thought such as the Kashmir

Shaivists who speak of „manifesting‟ and „becoming‟ along with „being‟. But, this argument may

seem farfetched since we do not find any references of Swami Vivekananda trying to incorporate

ideas of these schools of Indian philosophy, which have been traditionally considered as the

„fringe schools‟, never having been the mainstream in the philosophical circles of India.

Fortunately for us, Swami Vivekananda himself has clarified on this issue in atleast two

places. He says, “Try to be pure and unselfish – that is the whole of religion;”iv “To be good and

do good – that is the whole of religion.”v Thus, we find that religion, according to Swami

Vivekananda, means being good and becoming good, being pure and becoming pure, being

unselfish and becoming unselfish.

We must however face the fact that there is an anomaly in this interpretation. How can

someone „be good‟ and „become good‟ at the same time? If a person is good, then where is the

question of his „becoming‟ good again? Similarly, if a person „is‟ already pure, then where is the

question of his „becoming‟ pure once again?

In order to resolve this conflict, we may have to elaborate a little on the conception of

man that Swami Vivekananda has. Swami Vivekananda holds that man is a complex of many

layers. Again, he seems to borrow this concept from the popular view held by the Advaita

Vedanta school of thought. Man is conceived of as having many layers. Each layer has been

given a name too. Man therefore is visualised as having the Annamaya, Pranamaya,

Manomaya, Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya layers in himself. In layman terms, the

Annamaya layer refers to the body, the last three layers correspond to the mind, while the

Pranamaya layer is the layer that interlinks both the body and the mind. These five layers

together with the inner core of pure awareness constitute the personality that we call man. A

person will have to identify each of these layers in himself, then negate them progressively and

finally get established in the innermost core of pure awareness, says Advaita Vedanta.

When Swami Vivekananda says religion is being and becoming, we may understand it in

this way: we have to identify each of these layers and negate them and get established in the

innermost core of pure awareness. But we need not stop there. We will then have to re-assume

each of the five layers. When we do that, a wonderful light seeps from the innermost core of our

personality into each of the layers of our personality and transforms us. This re-assumption, this

re-identification with the body and mind after knowing by personal experience that our core is

pure, unalloyed consciousness is what is meant by „becoming‟. Swami Vivekananda has used

another word for this second phase of religion; „Manifesting‟.

Page 3 of 4

We may need to clarify an important point in this connection. All the world-religions

have dogmas. For the Christians, it is sufficient if one „believes‟ that Jesus is the only begotten

Son of God and they hold that this belief has salvific value. Muslims hold the same belief

regarding their Prophet. So do the Hindus about their innumerable gods and goddesses. With

Swami Vivekananda, however, belief is not religion.

Swami Vivekananda says elsewhere, “Religion means realisation and nothing short of

that.”vi We may ask „realising what‟? The above deliberation would now amount to this –

Religion means realising that the innermost core of our personality is pure, unconditioned

awareness. Modern minds may ask what is exactly meant by the word „realising‟ in this context.

This is because today, this word means merely „to understand‟. The word however had a totally

different connotation in the times when Swami Vivekananda used it. Swami Vivekananda

himself clarifies the meaning of this word in his talks in Thousand Island Park when he says,

„Realising is making it a part of our lives by constant thinking of it‟vii. Thus, religion means

knowing for sure, by personal experience, that I am pure consciousness; and knowing it so well

that my entire life is henceforth governed by this knowledge. It is something like this: Suppose

there is a street urchin. One day, some officers come along and take him away to the palace and

tell him that he is actually a prince who had been kidnapped when he was a newborn baby and

that now he has been brought back to the palace to take his rightful place as the prince heir-

apparent. Imagine the tremendous change in his entire personality that this knowledge brings

about! Realisation can be understood as something like that.

So, where does all this deliberation leave us now? Our aim was to understand what

Swami Vivekananda meant when he said „Religion is the innermost core of Education‟. For

doing that, we started to unravel what Swami Vivekananda meant by religion. The first idea of

religion was that it was an idea that progressively raised an uncultured brute to manhood and

then that man unto Godhood. The second idea of religion elaborated on what that idea was. It

consisted in realising that the core of our personality was pure consciousness and after knowing

this fact by personal experience, to make all aspects of our personality shine with that

knowledge. All these seemingly different thoughts on religion and education have been clarified

by Swami Vivekananda himself. He once very famously said, “Education is the manifestation of

perfection already in man”viii. The innermost core of a person is pure consciousness. Pure

consciousness is what is called divine in common parlance. Since it is pure, unalloyed with any

modifications, it is perfect. That divinity will have to be „manifested‟, or allowed to shine forth,

through all the layers of his personality. The process of discovering that innermost core of

divinity within us is religion and the process of manifesting that divinity through all the layers of

our personality is education.

Now, the question that arises is this – Education is always with reference to the teacher

and taught; in whom should this personalised experience be present for the process of education

to happen?

Swami Vivekananda says “My idea of education is personal contact with the teacher –

Gurugriha vaasa. Without the personal life of a teacher there would be no education.”ix Thus, the

teacher has to have a personal experience that he is neither the body nor the mind but that he is

Page 4 of 4

pure consciousness and then he has to bring to bear the light of that realisation onto every

aspect of his personality. When such a person teaches, then education as envisaged by Swami

Vivekananda happens. If any of us feel that this is too utopian a conception, then we may point

out that such a process of education did happen quite recently in Dakshineshwar where Sri

Ramakrishna trained his disciples. The Dakshineshwar phenomenon shows us however that

when such a qualified teacher teaches, then similar transformations occur in the taught too.

One may rightly ask as to what will be the case when the teachers are not of the calibre of

Sri Ramakrishna. Indeed, Sri Ramakrishna‟s case was an exception, meant to be the ideal. We

hold that in all other cases, the very process of teaching others will be the vehicle of personal

unfoldment for the teacher. By means of participating in the teaching process in a formal school

or college environment, with a particular attitude, a teacher will gradually identify the various

layers of his personality, then negate them and then get established in the innermost core of

pure awareness. Furthermore, using the formal school or college environment itself, in which he

has been placed by a complex set of social forces in play, he will then re-assume each of the five

layers and continue to teach others. The details of exactly how this formal, present day

educational set-up can be used profitably for the personal unfoldment of a professional teacher

is a very big topic that will be dealt with in a later article. But, for now, we suffice by holding that

it is in this light that we must understand Swami Vivekananda‟s words ““I look upon religion as

the innermost core of Education.”

i Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol5, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 231 ii Ibid, Page 409 iii Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol3, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 253 iv Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol6, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 244 v Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol6, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 245 vi Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol3, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 377 vii Inspired Talks by Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, Entry On Monday July 8th, 1895 viii Letters of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 70 ix Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda, Vol5, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Page 224