Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c6.s3.20

c6.s3.20

In such a scheme of Education, mere study as such occupies a very subsidiary place. The Upanishads mention three steps of education called (1) *Śravaṇa*, (2) *Manana*, and (3) *Nididhyāsana* [*Bṛi. Upa.*, ii, 4, 5]. *Śravaṇa* is listening to words or texts as they are uttered by the teacher. It is the system of oral tradition by which India has built up her whole culture through the ages; the system called *Gurupāramparya* or *Sampradāya* which Udyotakara (in his *Nyāya-Vārttika*) defines as ‘the uninterrupted ideal succession of pupils and teachers, by which knowledge is conserved and transmitted’ (Sampradāyo nāma Siṣhyopādhyāyasaṁbandhasya avichchhedena śāstraprāptiḥ). Thus the Book of Knowledge in those days was called *Śruti*, “what was heard.” This character of Knowledge also fixed its form known as *Mantra* or *Sūtra* by which the maximum of meaning was compressed within the minimum of words, of which the crowning example is the letter *OM* containing within itself a world of meaning. Knowledge did not then exist in the form of MSS. which could be stored up in a library like household furniture, for knowledge was the furniture of the mind, while the teacher himself was the living and walking library of those days. For thousands of years, even up to the time of Kumārila (*c.* eighth century A.D.), it was considered sacrilege to reduce the Veda to writing, for learning was not reading but realization, and knowledge was to be in the blood, as an organic part of one’s self. Another point to be noted in this connection is that *Śabda* or Sound by itself has its own potency and value, apart from its sense, and its intrinsic attributes, its rhythm, and vibrations should be captured. *Śabda* is Brahma. “The Word is God.”