What is Hindu religious education? Presently in our Nation Bharat, under Article 29 and 30 of the constitution, the miniority religious communities, have been given special rights and protection to impart religious and linguistic education to their children, by establishing their own religious educational institutions, such as the Muslims and the Christians mainly, though the Sikh’s the Buddhists, Parsi and Jains, are also classified as minorities under the constitution, but generally, these religions are actually, home grown, and can be treated as broadly part of the Hindu religion, and they too do not have religious educational institutions to teach their religion to their children, they are also considered part of the Hindu community, and can be treated as sects, which have grown out of Hindu religion.

Whilst the Muslims and the Christians, have their own religious institutions to teach their religion to their children, like the Madrasas, and the General Schools, of the Christian communities, named after their religious Saints, the Hindu’s do not have any formal provision in the Constitution, to impart Hindu religious education to their children.

Article 30 promises all minorities, both linguistic and religious to establish and administer institutions to impart religious and linguistic education, Article 29, of the constitution provides protection for the religion, culture, and language of these minorities. The institutions so established, have freedom to operate and impart education to serve the purpose of their interest as a community.

However, there is no such provision for imparting religious or linguistic education for the majority community in our constitution, this must be, because the writers of the constitution must have felt, that the majority community will attend to their needs on their own, and care for their own interest, being the majority community.

The present scenario is such that, though there are some very small Hindu religious institutions, imparting some religious education, that too the religious teachings of some saints, of Hindu Origin, to their followers, there is however, no formal Institution which imparts Hindu Religious education to the children in an established and administered manner.

The schools we have currently, is based on western concept, which has been established in our nation, by the British, we get to see British literature like Shakespeare, British poetry, British Prose, and the sciences being taught to the children, such as maths, physics, chemistry, medicines, technology, computers, history, economics, geography etc.

Whilst we need the sciences to be taught to children, as a necessity, and they are good, but the imparting of British culture in our schools, shows that, we have completely ignored our own culture and teaching our own Indian literature, leave alone Hindu religious education.

I will draw out the list, which is a part of what is missing in our schools, The Vedas, the Puranas, the Upanishads are not taught to our children. Our most important religious book-The Bhagwat Gita is not taught. The Agam Shastra, which is the Science of building Temples is not taught. The Stories of our Religious Gods and Goddesses, Shiva, the 9 Mataji’s, Ganesha, Krishna, Bramha, Vishnu and the entire Cosmic order of our God’s and Goddesses, are a Subject of our Children to grow up listening, The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are not Taught. The Epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata are not taught. The Four Yoga’s taught by Swami Vivekananda are not taught, Giana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga are not taught. Indian Home-Grown Poetry is not taught. The Knowledge of the Yugas are not given.

The knowledge of the observance of Bhramacharya is not taught, and most importantly, the Science of Yoga and Dhayana is not taught, which is vital for the success of the child, to gain maturity and consciousness. This is the Greatest gift or contribution of Bharat to the world, and it is not taught formally in Bharat itself!

The Science of Martial arts Kalari, which was invented by Bharat, and then absorbed by other countries, like China and Japan, and given a different name there, is more famous in our world, than the Origin of Martial arts Kalari, which is forgotten in our own country, except in a few institutions, to name Isha foundation.

The ancient Science of Ayurveda, the natural cure, is present in our country, but most of it is lost, need to be taught to our children.

Our own home-Grown religions to name Buddhism, Jainism, The Sikh religion, which are a part of the Hindu fold, these religions teachings are not taught. The Teachings of Buddha, The Teachings of the Jain Tirthankaras’, Bhagwan Mahavir, The Teachings of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh are not taught to our Children.

The sacred language of Sanskrit, the origin of all languages in the world, is all but forgotten in Bharat, the place of its Origin. The Chinese have preserved their own language, so have the Japanese, the Koreans, the Arabic, the French, the Italians, the Russians, but our own nation have not preserved it’s own Sacred language-Sanskrit. Knowing Sanskrit will open all the ancient scripts and books of Bharat, and children knowing Sanskrit can read and learn about our own Hindu Religion in its original form the Sanskrit scripts.

There are many Saints and their lineages in Bharat, like Sai Ram, Shankar Mutt, and Sankracharya, Raghavendra Swami, etc.. their life and their teachings are not taught.

The True story of our Freedom Struggle, and the Heroes who laid down their life’s for our Bharat is not taught, there were many Famous Kings and Queens, their Dynasties, there were many famous personalities from Ancient Bharat to the nearer present, about them noting is taught.

For example Sardar Vallah bhai patel, and his contribution to shaping India, K.B. Hedgewar the Founder of RSS or Rashritiya Sewak Sangh, and the RSS lineage and Great contribution to our nation building, Subhas Chandra Bose and his famous independence army, The King Ashoka, and his story, on whom the Ashok Chakra is based, our national emblem, The Great Women of Bharat, Rani Laxmi Bai, Mira Bai, Sarojini Devi Naidu, Raja Harishchandra, Etc.. The list is very big.. the story of such famous people of Bharat, is yet to be told to and inspired to the Children of Bharat.

There are no books meant for children narrating this and teaching Sanskrit, or Kalari, which is the True Indian Heritage, this is part of Hindu Religious Education to be taught to our Children, all missing!

One way to start Hindu religious education is to establish Hindu religious educational institutions, and administer them to our children, where the practical Sciences like Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Technology, Computers, etc is also taught, apart from Yoga, Dhayana, Kalari Martial arts, Sanskrit, and the Ancient Sciences, Heritage and Culture of Bharat is Taught.

A Second an easy method would be to introduce this education in all Government Schools, where for Muslim and Christian children, learning this Hindu Religious Education, can be left Optional. It would of interest to note that of the total number of Schools, 90% of all Schools and Colleges in India are Government run, so introducing them there, would serve to cover 90% of Children studying in India, and the rest 10% of schools which are private schools, will follow the example of Government Schools, and later can be made Mandatory for them also. This way, our Hindu Religious education can be imparted, in a Successful and scaled up fashion, with quicker results for our Bharat.

Another note, the Sports needs to be given prominence in our Government Schools, physical fitness is very important to building the personality of our children. Secondly, the NCC (The National Cadet Corps), training needs to be made compulsory for all children both in Government and Private, for the Children to be exposed to the Army, Navy and Airforce Training, which will instill some discipline and order in our Sweet Children, and get them oriented to the defence forces of our Bharat!

Doing these changes and Introducing Hindu Religious Education, will ensure, the success of our Children as Citizens of Bharat and of the world, making them proud of our nation, and starting their life’s with consciousness and maturity, and the pace of success and development of our nation will definitely happen at a Galloping speed! Imagine how fast we move in our 21st Century, in the right and responsible manner. It is vital to the future of Bharat!

Since Currently Hindu religious education is missing now, formally for our Children, to some Children it comes by chance, this knowledge, or by accident, through self acquisition and persual of this, and may be sometimes, more significantly, whatever they can get from their parents, otherwise they have no formal guidance, and go by default to the nearly British format schools and colleges in our Bharat, with no religious or Spirituality, and fail in life, due to ignorance, and lack of consciousness of the truth about life, and the true nature of our existence, which would come naturally, if they were to be imparted Hindu religious education! May God bless the children of Bharat, and through this article, the Government Authorities take steps towards imparting Hindu religious and linguistic education!

Rajesh D Sanghvi.
Author of Book :
Jai Mataji My Book on Human Welfare.
Human welfare worker at Isha Foundation, of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudevji. Coimbatore Vellangiri Hills Tamil Nadu. India.