Today, as we are grappling with the definition of spirituality, especially since actor Rajnikanth declared his pursuit of “spiritual politics”, Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri, the Vice-Chairman of Mata Amritanandamayi Math and President of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, offered a simple definition of it at the beginning of his keynote address on day two of TNIE’s ThinkEdu Conclave, linking it directly to education.
“There are two types of education - education for a living and education for life. While education for a living is studying to become a scientist, a doctor or such; education for life is understanding the essential principles of the life, nature of the mind and world. This is spirituality,” he said.
Clearing the fact that spirituality is not linked to any religion, he further added that every one of us is practicing spirituality without realising it as such, “It is nothing different from the world or the worldly life.”
So an amalgamation of both the components would result in a great education. And with great education, comes a certain power — power of science, economics, business and more. And rather than letting the power for corruption, the Swami suggests that we use it in the service of others.
“We must move away from the mantra of today’s generation, which tends to always ask ‘What’s in it for me?’, where no one does anything unless they are paid for it or get something in return,” he said,.
The Swami said t is the collective job of both parents and teachers to encourage students to ask the right questions, “the deeper the questions, the better the answers,” he says.