Upskilled for Life

Modern education gives us degrees, but does it prepare us for the realities of life? It may teach us how to win battles at work, but does it teach life skills?

Dron Acharya, the royal preceptor of the Pandavas and Kauravas, taught them the skills of warfare. His favourite disciple was Arjuna. He taught him to wield every weapon including the Brahmastra. Having had Dron Acharya as a teacher, why did Lord Krishna need to counsel Arjuna and teach him the Bhagavad Gita? Because Dron Acharya gave just job skills, to Arjuna. Krishna imparted life skills and spiritual wisdom to him. And it was through that wisdom that Arjuna was able to deploy his knowledge of warfare and become a key player in winning the Mahabharata war. But what about us? Do we have life skills? Spiritual wisdom? Who will teach us?

From the time a child is born, the parents are anxious about school admissions. Because education is of prime importance in shaping the persona of a child. Education in India over the last few years, has been under the scanner for being inadequate and incomprehensive as it stresses upon learning by rote and is not churning out students who are employable. They have theoretical knowledge but have no exposure to practical knowledge.

Presently, our education system is undergoing a complete overhaul. ‘The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) focuses heavily on improving employability by integrating vocational skills, practical learning, digital literacy and entrepreneurship into mainstream education, aiming to bridge the gap between academia and industry, create job-ready graduates with critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and promote lifelong learning through flexible entry/exit points and industry collaboration.’

The syllabus and the content are being updated, reframed and made relevant to present day needs with a view to futuristic goals. A lot is being done but we still have a long way to go. The Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini, is contributing hugely in making NEP compliant educational content, for the Prime Minister’s DIKSHA Portal. Baby steps, but significant nonetheless.

Besides academics taught at school, home is the first place of learning for the child; the mother being the first teacher. In times where the norm is that all young mothers are working women, the children are at a disadvantage because they do not get adequate time and attention from the mothers.

Nature is another great teacher that no one seems to care to learn from. There are learnings in watching the sun rise because the sun teaches us duty, regularity, punctuality, etc. There are learnings from watching a seed grow into a plant; there is a sense of awe and wonder at how something as tiny as a dry seed can have within itself, a mighty fruit bearing tree. There is a learning in watching how birds wake up at the break of dawn and feed on grains and greens and drink water only after a few hours of having had their meal. They essentially abstain from eating after sunset. But, how much time are our children spending in nature anyways? Do they even have the time or inclination to learn from it?

Nature or Prakriti is the visible half of the invisible God. There is no one who can teach life skills better than nature. Did you ever think what would happen if the Sun refused to rise? Or if mango trees refused to bear mangoes? Or if cows refused to give milk? Or if the rains did not come? Or if the wind refused to blow? How would we survive? Nature and all its constituents are the best role models that exemplify execution of duty. They teach us values like discipline, devotion and determination too.

With the internet being so loaded with information, there is no dearth of knowledge. It is out there for all to access. Sadly, people want knowledge, but they don’t have time to gain it. A doctor friend recently said, “Everyone has become a Google-doctor now. People just google their symptoms and take medication. The resultant disasters are known only to the doctors in the emergency section of the hospitals.” Little knowledge is dangerous. No one has time to read a long text or watch a complete video. That’s why YouTube shots and Instagram/Facebook reels have become popular; because people’s attention span is very limited. To gain knowledge, you have to delve into the subject. You have to spend time and focus your energies to learn. But it seems time is always in short supply …

Life seems to have become a delusive amalgam of joy and grief, calm and stress, clarity and confusion … all of us are cognitively enhanced and cerebrally empowered; but do we have just knowledge or do we have wisdom?

To put it in perspective, ‘Knowledge is, knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is, not putting it in fruit salad. Philosophy is, wondering if tomato ketchup is a smoothie!”

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, “The end of knowledge is wisdom, the end of culture is perfection. The end of wisdom is freedom, the end of education is character.”

All education must teach life skills in addition to imparting knowledge that should lead to wisdom. Each of us needs to ask ourselves, “Do I have life skills? Or do I possess merely job skills?”

One of the most important skills we need in modern times is how to find peace and quiet. We all want happiness and contentment. But is anyone teaching us how to achieve them? Is anyone teaching us how to achieve the purpose for which we were endowed precious human birth? Let’s not wait for anyone to teach us … let’s upskill ourselves and find our own path.

We need to shift the focus from mere survival and existence in the world, to looking within, living in the awareness of God and surrendering to Him. Sometimes, when we feel overwhelmed by the chaos or brouhaha around us, we want to just close our eyes and withdraw. Withdraw into what? Withdraw from stress to stillness. Because stillness, quiet and calm can be found only within.

Bhagawan Baba while talking about the Bhagavata Puran, the holy scripture containing Lord Krishna's life stories and conversations with devotees, stated: "Bha stands for bhakti (devotion), ga stands for jnana (wisdom), va stands for vairagya (detachment), and ta stands for mukti (liberation)." So Bhakti can be broken into: Devotion+ Wisdom+ Detachment+ Liberation. Baba explained, "Devotion leads to wisdom, which leads to detachment, which then leads to liberation. So, listening to the stories in Bhagavata, you build devotion and love for God in your hearts, which eventually clears the path to liberation, the very purpose of human birth."

Baba said, that education today is just a process of filling the mind with the contents of books, emptying the contents in the examination hall and returning empty-headed. But true education consists in the cultivation of the heart. The cultivation of Love is the greatest need of today. Learning to earn a living is only half the job. The other half is to make life worthwhile and meaningful.

Find your path … make your life worthwhile and meaningful before time runs out!

Dear reader, do subscribe to my blog if you would like to read similar content about practical Indian culture and Spirituality. The subscription is free. I would be happy if you can share this further. Thank you.

Published in the Daily Guardian 27.12.2025

https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/2025/12/26/e-paper-today-mumbai-27-december-2025/