Knowledge and Craft-work

Q. I do not understand why you give equal importance to the acquisition of knowledge and the learning of craft-work at the same time.

A. They must be given an equal importance. It used to be so in olden times. The student went to the teacher with a bundle of sacrificial sticks in his hands which indicated his readiness to work and his humility. The former consisted of fetching wood from the forest and water for the use of the Guru. The student also learned something about agriculture, cow-keeping etc.

To-day, this is not so, and that is one of the reasons why there is so much hunger, injustice and vice in the world. Literacy, i.e., learning of books, acquisition of intellectual knowledge and useful manual work in various crafts are not different, though they may seem so. Efforts to separate them and break the link that binds them together, results in the misuse of knowledge. The intellectual side of it is like the husband, and manual labor like his wife. The bond between the two is indissoluble. Divorced from manual labor, this husband is to-day acting like a libertine. He casts his evil eye here, there and everywhere and yet remains unsatisfied and in the end falls down tired and spent.

Manual Work

Indeed, if a comparison has to be made between the two, the first place will have to be given to manual work, for a child does not use his intelligence first but his hands and feet. Gradually, he learns to use his eyes and ears and begins to understand things only when he is four or five years of age. But this does not mean that with greater power of understanding he can neglect his body. If he does so he will destroy both the body and the mind. The intellect finds its expression in action by the body. To-day, the exercise of the body has come to be confined merely to gymnastics. Formerly, this need was satisfied by useful labor. There is no suggestion that boys should not play games or take part in sports etc. But there should not be any great need for games merely for health's sake. Rather, they should be rest and relaxation of both the body and the mind. There is no place for indolence in education. Whether learning a craft or acquiring knowledge of the three R''s, education must always be interesting. If a boy gets bored either with reading and writing or craft-work, the fault does not lie with him but with the method of education and the teacher.

— Navajivan : July 3, 1927