Terming that the child has Attention Deficit Disorder has a Disease (ADD); Does it have a reality? Sadhguru explores.

Question: I am a high school teacher and wanted to ask for your advice about how not to make a mistake with children, how to inspire them. About fifty percent of the pupils in my class take Ritalin because they are being tagged as having ADD or ADHD. (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) What would your advice be?

Sadhguru : With so many doctors and psychiatrics and all this, I don’t think a ‘normal’ child is born anymore. There are no ‘normal’ children because whatever they do, there is a label for them. If they are active, they are ‘hyperactive’ – ADHD. If they are a little slow, it is something else. Whichever way they are, one label is fixed, nailed to them, which they have to carry for the rest of their life. Someone can run fast, someone limps, someone does something else – this is all normal. This is how human beings are. It is just that because we are trying to put all of them into one slot, they look abnormal.

It is like your traveling bag. At the airport, they have this measuring device that your bag is supposed to fit into; otherwise some of the airlines don’t let you take it. Almost nobody’s bag fits into that; I am sure only the terror guys have come with the right-sized bag. But the normal passengers don’t fit their bags into it because when people travel they need things – they take this, they take that, they buy this, they buy that – it will be bulging and it won’t fit. So all these are abnormal people.

Have you seen a perfect mango tree? Similarly, have you seen a perfect human being? Unless they are machine turned out, there is no question of whatever you call perfect. Our idea of perfection is so messed up. Our idea of perfection is we must be able to put everybody into the same hole, then they are perfect. Because we are trying to put everybody through the same kind of schooling, everybody should become a doctor, or an engineer, something – children are enduring this torture. Because of that, somebody looks like they have ADD or ADHD. Otherwise, every one of them is capable of doing something. Some may just be so happy, they may not do anything.

You must see the deer in the forest. At around eight thirty, there will be bunches of deer here. Simply. They eat, romp around, they don’t work. The castrated bullock which is drawing the cart will look at them and say, ‘Those useless deer, they do nothing.’ What to do? Even the elephant does nothing. He doesn’t romp, he rampages through whatever he sees. But it is fine. That is how they should be. Unfortunately, we became industrialized societies – that means we need cogs in the wheels. We don’t need human beings anymore; we need some nut and bolt which fits into the system we have created. Well we are partially successful as we have quite a few nuts.

Because of that, everybody looks abnormal. Probably the fifty percent that you think are abnormal are probably normal human beings. The other fifty percent are machine turned out. I don’t want to make such a sweeping judgment but it is unfortunate that we are going this way. We are not thinking of living, we are thinking of productivity, so we are trying to produce machines which will produce more. Because of that, any machine that does not produce what you think it must produce suddenly looks abnormal. It is not necessary that all of us should be equally capable. Some can walk, some can crawl, some can fly, it is all right. Why are we setting this nonsensical idea that only if somebody is able to do this much, he is a normal human being? It is not necessary to set that. It is a crime to label a child as this or that because he has no clue what this stupid game is you are playing and already he is labeled, and he has to carry it for the rest of his life because you are comparing your child to your neighbor’s child.

The education system is not going to change tomorrow, but at least you don’t have to label those who are with you right now. It is all right that he cannot do what somebody else does. You do not know what he may do. I should tell you this. A few doctors came from the United States. They were in Mysore and without telling me they decided to visit my father. My father’s idea of success is you must become a doctor. His whole life’s dream was to be a doctor and he became one. And his dream was that all four of his children should become doctors. One by one, we failed him; I was the hopeless hope. When I was eleven, twelve years of age, I declared, ‘No way is that going to happen.’ So these doctors wanted to know something about their Guru when he was not one. They asked, ‘Please tell us something about Sadhguru when he was young.’ My father thought and said, ‘He was such a dull boy. But now he has become a genius.’

Maybe you have fifty percent geniuses in your classroom and you are missing the whole point. They cannot go by your systems of A+B=C. He doesn’t understand; it doesn’t make any sense. Why is A+B equal to C? Simply because somebody says so. Maybe he can’t fix his mind into that framework, but you don’t know what is happening in his mind. You don’t know what he is able to see. If you make him feel ashamed of what he is not able to see, he may never speak about what he is able to see, and you don’t know what you are missing by that. He may be seeing something that nobody has seen.

The ingenuity of a human being may do much more than education could ever do. Does it mean to say we don’t need education? No, that is not the point. What is needed is to build a human body and human mind to its full capacity and have the necessary balance to be able to use it. Towards what? It need not be towards anything. If human beings walk sensibly, if they live sensibly, it is good enough. The purpose of life is life alone. Fulfillment of life is in experiencing life in all its dimensions and that will remain a possibility only when we remain seekers of Truth and not believers of instructions or dogma that is thrown at us either by teachers or priests or pundits or scriptures that they all fall back on.
Love & Grace,
Sadhguru.

Source Link : http://blog.ishafoundation.org/sadhguru/spot/is-your-child-normal/

Dialogue on Relationship between a Teacher and the Student - An Enlightening Experience with J. Krishnamurthi

J.Krishnamurthi : An Enlightened Master (Who will be hereon refered as "K")

Renee Weber : Professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. (Refered as "RW")

Renee Weber : My general question has to do with what one might call a sense of all or nothing in what you say. Take, for example, teaching and education. One of the things you seem to say is that a teacher who isn’t completely free from fear, sorrow and all human problems, cannot really be a genuine teacher. That leaves the impression that one is either perfect or useless.

J.Krishnamurthi : I think there must be a misunderstanding here.

R.W. : Hopefully.

K. : Because if one says that until one is perfect, or whatever word one likes to use, and is free from certain states of mind, one cannot teach, that would be an impossible situation., wouldn’t it ?

RW : Yes

K : The student, or whoever is learning from you, will be lost. So is it possible for the educator to say, I am not free, you are not free, we are both conditioned, we have various forms of conditioning, let’s talk about it, let’s see if we can get free of it. That way you can break it up.

RW : Don’t you think the educator has at least to understand this process better than the student ?

K : Perhaps he has read more about it, has studied a little more.

RW : But he may not necessarily know how to do it better.

K : So in communicating with the student, or in communicating with with himself, the educator realizes that he is both the teacher and the student. Not that he has learnt, and then transmits, but rather the teacher is both educating and being educated. He is doing both.

RW : You are saying he is not an oracle who delivers. If he is open he is learning and teaching in the same time.

K : That’s really a good educator, not one who just says,”I know and I’ll tell you all about it”.

RW : Which means that such a person has to be, I suppose, free from faults such as pride.

K: Those are obvious things. Suppose I am an educator and am full of arrogance, vanity, ambition and all the rest of it, the usual nonsense that goes on in human beings. In talking with the student or with somebody I am learning, learning that I am arrogant and that the student is also arrogant in his way, so we begin to talk about it. And a discussion like that, if one is honest and really self-critical, self-aware, has tremendous possibilities.

RW : But you are saying that this process can take place between teacher and student even though neither of them is perfect ?

K : I wouldn’t use that word, I don’t know what perfection is – then we go off into something else. But if we could establish a relationship with the student or with each other in which an open dialogue takes place, a free, self-critical, self-aware dialogue of questioning, doubting, inquiring, then we are both learning, are both communing with each other’s point of view, with each other’s difficulties. So, in that way, if one really wants to go very deeply into the matter, you help each other.

RW : It’s not necessarily my view but suppose somebody says: that raises a problem because it may make the student feel that the teacher doesn’t know any more than he does, it may undercut his trust.

K: I would tell him, look, I have studied a bit more than you have. I have gone into, for instance, various Indian, Buddhist philosophies, I have studied, I know a little bit more about it.

RW: Exactly.

K : It doesn’t mean I am something extra-ordinary.

RW : So you feel if the teacher just very honestly…

K : That’s his function.

RW : ….speaks of the strengths and weaknesses: “I know more, but I don’t know everything”.

K : Say I am discussing Buddhism, for example or Aristotle or Plato – take Plato. You have studied more than I have. I haven’t studied Plato at all, but you have. So you say, look, I know a little more, naturally, otherwise I wouldn’t be your professor.

RW : Exactly, otherwise I shouldn’t be, it would be dishonest.

K : But as I haven’t read Plato or Aristotle or any of these people, I would say, look, I haven’t read them but I am willing to go into this very thoroughly, not from any particular point of view, not from Aristotle’s, Plato’s or the Buddhist point of view, but as a human being dealing with another human being, lets discuss these things: what life is about, what existence is for, whether there is justice at all in the world, which there isn’t, and so on.

RW: I think that makes it far clearer because at least under those circumstances, caring and self-critical adults would feel that they can teach others. Whereas if they have to be perfection itself, then who could do it ?

K: But there are very few people who are self-critical, honest with themselves, aware of what they think , whether they put their thoughts into words properly and so on. I mean one has to be tremendously honest in all this.

RW: What do you think makes one person capable of that and not another ? You say there are so few people who are totally honest. Why is that so ?

K: That’s a fact, some people are serious, some people are not.

RW: What quality does it take for a person to be very honest with himself ?

K: Not to be afraid of discovering what you are, not to be ashamed, not to be frightened to discover. Being able to say simply, this is what I am: I am lot of words, a lot of other people’s ideas, I am incapable of thinking anything for myself, I am always quoting, I am depending on the environment and pressure and this and that. Unless one is self-aware and self-critical you end up like a….

RW: So it takes at least the awareness and courage to say it.

K: I don’t like to use the word “courage”.

RW: What word would you use ?

K: A man who is really serious, who wants to investigate all this, is naturally fearless, he will say, all right, if I lose my job, I lose my job.

RW: But let’s say even without a outside judgement, like a job, don’t you think many people feel or fear that If I look all this straight in the face, even for myself, it will make the problem worse, not better ? That’s what they fear.

K: It would bring about much more uncertainty.

RW: That’s it and therefore…..

K: Face that uncertainty. Rather than saying, well, it will bring me greater uncertainty, greater problems, so I won’t do anything – Which is really a senseless existence.

RW: Well, you would probably say it is running away and hiding.

K: Yes, partly hiding.

RW: They might also reason – I have heard people say this – that the other thing will disintegrate me, I won’t be able to function as a sane person.

K: What you call sanity may be insanity. What is going on in the world is quite insane. If you want to fit into that insanity, all right, be one of the insane. But suppose, you don’t want to be insane, then you say sorry, I’m against the current or not going along with it.

A Must, Must, Must, Must, Must, Must, Must Watch Video, if we care for our children

Wisdom and Salt Water from Priya Ravi on Vimeo.

Time is running out. Are we doing enough to enhance our creativity ? Osho talks on creativity

Right now the whole world is in a chaos: the painter is making shoes, the man who was meant to make shoes is painting. Naturally, if you see the painting it looks crazy – it is no wonder! Everybody is somewhere where he is not supposed to be. It is such a mess!

I am reminded of a great surgeon. He was the greatest surgeon in his country, very much respected, a Nobel prize winner – and he was retiring. He was almost seventy-five, but still no young man was capable of doing such artful surgical work as he was capable of. Even at the age of seventy-five, his fingers were not trembling. He was a brain surgeon. In your small skull there are seven million nerves – you can think how small they will be – and when somebody is operating on the brain to remove some nerves, the danger is he may cut other nerves which are so close together, so the hand has not to shake at all.

At the age of seventy-five he was still a perfect surgeon, and all the doctors and the surgeons had given him a party because he was retiring. They were dancing, singing, but he was sitting in a corner, sad, with tears in his eyes. One of his old friends came by and he said, ”What is the matter? Everybody is so happy and you are looking so sad – I even see tears in your eyes.”

He said, ”Yes, there is a reason. In the first place I wanted to become a dancer, I never wanted to become a surgeon. My parents forced me. Although I became the most famous surgeon, it was not my heart’s desire. I would have been far happier just with a guitar on the street as a beggar – a singer, a dancer. ”All this fame has meant nothing to me. All these awards have meant nothing to me. Each award has only reminded me of one thing, that I am losing my life and I am not where I am supposed to be.
And now my whole life is finished. These tears are... I am crying because... why could I not rebel against my parents, and just do whatever I wanted to do?”

The world is so miserable. Ninety percent of its misery and anguish comes from the fact that everybody is doing somebody else’s work. Naturally he is not happy; he cannot put his whole soul into it.

So the parents should not decide where their children are going, in what direction. It should be decided by psychoanalysts, psychologists, teachers who have watched those children for four years during their basic education. The children should be given tests so everything is clear, where they will feel a fulfillment.
Now parents decide for a better job; their reasons for deciding are different. They are not deciding for the child and his potential, they are deciding for financial reasons, for respectability. If he becomes a great engineer or a surgeon he will have a good life, a comfortable life; he will have a respectable life. Their intention is not bad, but the path to hell is paved with good intentions. The question is not their good intention, the question is what is hidden in the child that needs a flowering.

And that is possible now. We can find out what is hidden in a child and let him move in that direction. Perhaps he may not have a very comfortable life, but he will have very contented life – and what is comfort in comparison to contentment?
Perhaps he may not become world famous, but who cares? How many people know him does not make any difference. But dancing or singing or painting, he will have a fulfillment, a flowering.
His life will be juicy.
His aura will be of joy.
This whole world can be a paradise; we just have to put everybody in his own place. Right now everybody is in the wrong place: nobody is happy, nobody is blissful, nobody is contented. And the whole responsibility is on how we start bringing up children.

A letter written by Abraham Lincoln to the Headmaster of the School

A letter written by Abraham Lincoln to the Headmaster of a school in which his son was studying. It contains advice, which is still relevant today for executives, workers, teachers, parents and students.

A WORD TO TEACHERS

• "My son will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just and are not true. But teach him if you can the wonder of books... but also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hillside.
• In school, teach him it is far more honorable to fall than to cheat...
• Teach to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him he is wrong.
• Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough.
• Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone getting on the bandwagon...
• Teach him to listen to all men; but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.
• Teach him, if you can how to laugh when he is sad...
• Teach him there is no shame in tears.
• Teach him to scoff at cynics and to be aware of too much sweetness.
• Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to highest bidders, but never to put a price on his heart and soul.
• Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob... and stand and fight if thinks he is right.
• Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the courage to be impatient. Let him have the patience to be brave.
• Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have faith in humankind. This is a big order, but see what you can do. He is such a fine little fellow my son !
  
• Abraham Lincoln

Taare Zameen Par - Movie of this century

...................................................................................................................................................Directed by Aamir Khan, It was an awakening experience, watching this movie. Despite trying to be a responsible parents towards our children, we unconciously destroy their very source of joy, their very being. The movie is realistic with a very strong message and depicts a life of our school children, who has to go through a unneccesary torture by parents and teachers. I wish that every parents and teachers watches this movie. Unfortunately, the movie is available only in Hindi Language in the original form.
I remember visiting my son's school on eve of Science Exhibition held in his school. Though the school in which he studies is very famous. You will find that the school's article appears on all newspaper. But there is a proverb that everything that shines is not a diamond. There were various stalls arranged, where students try to explain any one aspect of Science through experimentation. What was shocking that even before I could approach them, they would start explaining their subject. There was fear that they may forget their subject. Everything was memorised, even by the grown up children. Fear was very apparent on their faces. Memorising without understanding is the most destructive way of learning, which is encouraged in all our schools.


I wish that all beings in this planet are rejoiced in whatever way they can contribute to the richness of our planet, never imposing our own mind and belief on them. Giving them freedom to be themselves, where joy of the being has victory over material profit, where stillness of the being wins over the power trip of the society.