Principles, Experience and Education

If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.

- Chairman, Wipro Corporation Azim H Premji

There comes a great sense of reassurance to one when great men say or convey something that you have always believed in.

I first heard a similar kind of argument in one of the stories in the book Baalala Baba Sai Baba . The story goes like this - There used to be a Brahmin - forget the name - let's call him X who was a great devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba, and one who was proud about his knowledge in various sciences. He had a doubt in his mind about the meaning of a sloka in Gita and he was in a state of unease about it. He did not want to go and tell anyone, including Baba about his doubt - but resisting his temptation of avoiding his doubt, he went to Baba and asked - "Baba, I have understood the meaning of every sloka in Gita except this one, and it really hurts me for not being able to understand it" - then Baba smiled and asked - "My dear X, glad to know that you have understood so many slokas, but tell me one thing, have you ever tried to follow what is conveyed in at least one of the slokas?" to which the reply from X was in the negative. Baba continued - "Forget understanding everything in Gita. Pick any one of the slokas - the sloka that you like the most, try and put whatever is said in that into practice and stick to it, you'll find that in no time you'll be able experience all the situations that are explained in the Gita - it is as good as you being able to come up with Gita from your own experience". X felt ashamed and was about to leave the place when Baba called him back and explained the meaning of that sloka he did not understand.

Of course a single sloka in Gita does contain at least 5 ideas. So in that sense, you can replace Gita with anything of your choice.

In a sense, I have a belief that each person in the world and each and everything in the nature has so much to offer to us that once we start living those 5 ideas you realise the complexities in doing so, and finding a way out to ensure that you stick to the 5 ideas gives you a great learning place. If people say that hands-on learning is a great way of learning - then what else is the the world, if not a platform for hands-on or sometimes even life-on learning?