Srila Prabhupada, in his instructions on Gurukula, said that if children are raised at an early age to practice austerity with the proper example, they will see it as “fun”. In addition to the children being raised in the Vedic tradition of parental affection by the teachers and Resident Acarya, the Geetha Pathshala Gurukula will train the students become inculcate in the students to become both selfless and self-reliant, capable, determined, and resilient through traditional practices of begging alms and practicing austerities of simplicity in daily life. They will be trained in the mood of service to the Lord and His devotees, their teachers, the cows, and ultimately all living beings.
Geeta Pathshala was a name designated by ISKCON Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in his essay “Gita Nagari”, written in 1956 in Back to Godhead magazine, where he lays out a vision for the culture, education, and social structure that all human beings require to be spiritually and materially successful in life, the system of Daiva Varnashrama as set down by the Lord Himself.
A revolutionary feature of the Geetha Pathshala will be that in time it begins training young boys not older than seven to give a complete early life education with the goal that some amongst them will graduate and themselves become Gurukula Acharyas.
Another revolutionary feature of the Geeta Pathshalla Gurukula experience will be that the part of the teachers' job and that of the Resident Acarya will be to carefully observe the student's inclinations, nature, and abilities to determine what particular Varna they would best type of higher education to pursue in the adjacent Varnasram College located on the property after graduation.
The four faculties of the Varnashrama College are based on Catur Vidya, namely
- Anviksiki, the Science of Philosophy
- Trayi, the Science of Education (Brahmana varna)
- Danda Niti, the Science of Politics (Ksatriya varna)
- Varta, the Science of Economics (Vaisya varna)
The Varnashrama College will have an additional faculty called Traditional Technologies offering different traditional types of apprenticeship including various small-scale cottage industries.
Our educational model at the Bhaktivedanta Geeta Pathshala is in keeping with Lord Krishna’s instruction in the Bhagavad-gita, catur- varnyam maya sristam, guna-karma-vibhagasah (Bg 4.13). Education imparted to students will be aptitude-based learning (guna) and such holistic education transforms naturally into a performance-based occupation (karma).
We do not depend on modern-day degrees and certificates that largely prepare individuals for technical and industrial-based work, described in our Vedic sastras as ugra karma, horrific activities. Our Gurukula does not administer grades as we normally find in the modern-day educational system.
Because of this, our educational institution will not be connected with any formal educational system not found in our Vedic literature. We are not preparing students to join the “normal” workforce after they complete their training and studies. Rather, we will encourage and assist them to integrate into established varnashrama-based communities in an occupation suited to their learning, temperament, and performance.