In English
Man is behaving mostly as animal, partly as man
The prime cause for this tragedy is the neglect of the spiritual and moral aspects of the human personality. Man feels no obligation towards family, society, nation or mankind. He worships his ego, more than any thing else. He is proud of his technological advance - the travel in space, the computers, the unravelling of the atom. But, look at the confusion and the conflicts in the political, economic spheres of life! Man has not been able to overcome greed, pride and hatred in the national and religious aspects. His narrow loyalties towards his caste, colour and creed persist to the detriment of higher ideals. Confusion in the sphere of education has grown into enormous proportions. He has not yet been successful in sublimating his animal impulses into human attitudes. He is therefore behaving in a ridiculous manner, mostly animal and partly man. Today, man is madly engaged in accumulating money for the sake of the comforts it can bring. He is wading in sorrow and joy from moment to moment, in the pursuit of sensual pleasure. Just as death follows life, anxiety follows wealth. The rich man is persecuted by troubles just as a crow with a piece of meat is pursued by dozens of hungry birds who follow the crow. Man's ambitions are increasing every day everywhere. Contemporary civilisation is piling fear upon fear on all parts of the world. Instead of high thinking and simple living which was the ideal of ancient times, modern India is adopting the ideal of 'low thinking and high living. The system of education is to blame largely for this downfall. realised the eternal values enshrined in Culture. He attempted to promote these values through the primary schools he sponsored. When he was in prison, a British officer who visited him often asked him, "I find you sad and worried today. Tell me why?" and Gandhi replied, "I find that the educated person has a hardened heart, more hardened than the heart of an uneducated person. This is something that should not happen. The system is fraught with danger." This made Gandhi try his experiments in imparting Indian ideals to the tender minds in primary schools. The same officer approached Ba! Gangadhar later and told him how Gandhi had accused Western education of hardening the heart. He asked , "But, I find you have not been spoiled at all by the Western system of education." replied, "I asserted that I am what I am, inspite of the system of education through which I had to pass."