LIGHT OF EDUCATION IS LIGHT OF GOD

COMPILED BY: Santosh Chowdhury

There is a popular adage: The best gift a parent can present to his children is a best library. I would like to add that the best gift a citizen can offer to his society is a best library. According to the great writer Pramath Chowdhury, good libraries everywhere are as important as good hospitals.  Abraham Lincoln said, “If someone gives me a book that I haven’t read, he is my true friend.” After Lincoln’s mother’s death when his father married the second wife, she came to her husband’s house with the wealth of three books. “A good book contains more real wealth than a good bank,” said Roy L. Smith. Iceland, a small European country, with less than 3.5 lakhs people has emerged as one of the richest and happiest country by virtue of its people’s extensive reading, writing and book publishing trade. The three great Indian Presidents were devout readers and emerged as great writers, namely Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. Dr. Radhakrishnan wrote: “Books, the vistas they unveil, and the dreams they awaken, have been from the beginning my constant and unfailing companions.” When he was offered Presidentship for the second term, the saintly president declined because he wanted to live a solitary life and devote to more learning and writing and thus he emerged as a great writer. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a saintly patriot, acquired no material possessions but a huge library. President Kalam kept himself always burning for great achievement by the magic power of reading inspirational and devotional books and rose to the peak of success. It was one of the dreams of the great president that every house in India should possess a good library. His most favourite inspirational book was: Light From Many Lamps. Our former President Pranab Mukherjee in spite of being poor performer in science subjects that hindered him to become a doctor or engineer rose to the crown of success by virtue of his voracious reading habit. He is known as book crazy. For Mahatma Gandhi, the books were his best friends to spend his leisure hours. Sri Aurobinda was an avid reader and great writer who was nominated for Nobel Prize for his work – SAVITRI. Sri Maa wrote: One sentence of a book has the potential to drive a man to the pinnacle of success. Mother of Marry said about Albert Einstein to his daughter whom Einstein was supposed to marry, “This rascal has been changed by his madness of reading.” Shirshendu Mukhopadhyaya writes: Books drives man to pursue the Truth. Paramahansa Yogananda was an avid reader of religious literatures.

Let us see what the three men, namely Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who have rebuilt America’s history have said about books: Thomas Jefferson – “I cannot live without books.” Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Many times the reading of a book has made the future of a man. Books are for nothing but to inspire. If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he read.” Henry David Thoreau – “A truly great book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down and commence living on its hint......What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.......... Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. ” “Employ your time in improving yourself by other people’s writings so you shall come easily by what other have laboured hard for.”-Socrates. “More than any other single invention, writing has transformed human consciousness.”- Dr. Walter Ong. “libraries are another heaven for human hunters.” – Henry David Thoreau. “The fact that these people, ten or twenty years after leaving grade school, high school or college, come and take this training is a glaring commentary on the shocking deficiencies of our educational system.”- Dale Carnegie.

Reading is so powerful that a single book, or even a single sentence, for that matter, can change your life, like ‘The Greatest Salesman in the World’ did for Matthew Mc Conaughey.  Reading is the chisel that releases our full potential. Reading helps us chip away the rough edges and reveal the work of art within. Without his chisels Michelangelo could never have created his masterpiece. Reading and writing expand our mental powers. The greatest Greek philosophers, writers, and mathematicians came up with a whole new way of looking at the world because reading and writing expanded their minds and gave them fresh, new perspectives through which to view the world. Reading is an astounding mental exercise. Lots of books equal lots of bucks. Personal Growth books Dominates Best Seller Lists. Dr. Marder’s advice: “.....Read books which tend to elevate your taste....refine your imagination.....clarify your ambition.....and raise your ideals.” If you do, the hidden powers of reading will make you grow richer in all areas of your life.

BOOKS GIVE US WINGS - Slogan for the Center for the book, Library of Congress