Aurobindo on education pdf. On Education 2022-10-09
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Sri Aurobindo was an Indian independence activist, philosopher, and yogi who is best known for his philosophy of Integral Yoga. In his philosophy of education, Aurobindo believed that education should not simply be about imparting knowledge, but rather about helping individuals to realize their full potential and become integrated, harmonious, and spiritually evolved beings.
According to Aurobindo, the ultimate goal of education is to help individuals to realize their true nature and purpose in life. He believed that this could only be achieved through a holistic approach to education that integrated the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the individual. Aurobindo argued that traditional education systems, which focused solely on the acquisition of knowledge and skills, were incomplete and insufficient for the realization of one's full potential.
Aurobindo believed that education should be designed to cultivate the inner life of the individual and to awaken the individual's higher consciousness. He argued that this could be achieved through a combination of formal education and spiritual practices such as meditation and yoga. Aurobindo believed that education should also be flexible and adaptable to the needs and abilities of each individual student, rather than being a one-size-fits-all approach.
In Aurobindo's view, education should not be limited to the classroom, but should be integrated into all aspects of life. He argued that education should be a continuous process that continues throughout an individual's life, and that individuals should always be striving to learn and grow. Aurobindo believed that the role of the teacher was to guide and inspire students, rather than simply imparting knowledge.
Aurobindo's philosophy of education has had a significant impact on the field of education in India and around the world. It has inspired the development of alternative education systems that focus on the holistic development of the individual and that seek to awaken the inner life and higher consciousness of students. Aurobindo's ideas about education continue to be influential today and are considered by many to be a valuable alternative to traditional education systems.
Aurobindoâs Vision on Education
All this can be realised by means of a fourfold discipline, the general outline of which is given here. The ideas of impending human evolution and global futurism became the foundation of his spiritual philosophy, sociological theories, political ideology and educational thought. If the child, from the very beginning of his existence, learns good habits, it will save him a good deal of trouble and inconvenience for the rest of his life; and besides, those who have the responsibility of caring for him during his first years will find their task very much easier. Enter our bodies in thy Yogic strength. Without love the world would fall back into the chaos of inconscience.
They are always a clumsy attempt to express something else, the true thing which escapes our superficial understanding. So one can say that the psychic life is immortal life, endless time, limitless space, ever-progressive change, unbroken continuity in the universe of forms. It may be said that from the very first days, even the first hours of his life, the child should undergo the first part of this programme as far as food, sleep, evacuation, etc. The mind, if it is to keep its vigour and youth, must progress constantly, revise its notions in the light of new knowledge, enlarge its frame-work to include fresh notions and constantly reclassify and reorganise its thoughts, so that each of them may find its true place in relation to the others and the whole remain harmonious and orderly. May we become pure and spotless, this is our prayer, O Mother, make thyself manifest.
Moreover, the senses should be used as instruments to approach and study the physical and vital worlds in all their complexity; in this way they will take their true place in the great endeavour towards transformation. He should be helped to develop a taste for food that is simple and healthy, substantial and appetising, but free from any useless complications. And if she has in addition a conscious and definite will to form the child according to the highest ideal she can conceive, then the very best conditions will be realised so that the child can come into the world with his utmost potentialities. It goes without saying that no boasting or vainglory should enter into his account, for the slightest vanity would make him no longer a guru but an imposter. But it is the psychological action that is most important and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in what you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. Then you decentralise, extend and widen yourself; you begin to live in all things and in all beings; the barriers separating individuals from each other break down.
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There is a prevalent belief that brilliant minds are found in weak bodies. In summary, austerity in feelings consists then of giving up all emotional attachment, of whatever nature, whether for a person, for the family, for the country or anything else, in order to concentrate on an exclusive attachment for the Divine Reality. By means of such patient intervention each crisis can be turned into a new progress, into one more step towards the goal. The middle two subsections include written and tape-recorded messages to the participants in the competitions and the annual demonstration of physical culture organised by the Department of Physical Education. Continence is therefore the rule for all those who aspire for progress. For example, the neophyte is always very eager to share with others the little he has learnt. Each one will then have to apply as much of it as he can in the best possible way.
It is the same for you. Besides, it eliminates all possibility of the intervention, help and collaboration of the vital. Often a child feigns illness to avoid some troublesome Page 14 obligation, a work that does not interest him, or simply to soften his parents' hearts and get them to satisfy some caprice. But we shall return to this point in due time. Mother, thou risest on the eastern horizon, the dawn comes with the glow of thy divine limbs scattering the darkness. For that, to attention and concentration should be added observation, precise recording and faithfulness of memory.
For, in the wake of the last wars and the terrible nervous tension which they provoked, as a sign, perhaps, of the decline of civilisation and social decay, a growing vulgarity seems to have taken possession of human life, individual as well as collective, particularly in what concerns aesthetic life and the life of the senses. Towards the Future was produced in 1949, The Great Secret in 1954 and The Ascent to Truth in 1957. All education of the body should begin at birth and continue throughout life. One is that the chief aim of life is to be happy; the other that one is born with a certain character and that it is impossible to change it. It gives an openness towards the true consciousness pervading here and working out everything.
Generally speaking, schooling is considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. Lastly, we have all the words that are spoken for the purpose of teaching. If you want your physical being to be a perfect instrument for the manifestation of the supramental consciousness, you must cultivate it, sharpen it, refine it, give it what it lacks, perfect what it already possesses. In the battle of life, in India's battle, we are warriors commissioned by thee; Mother, give to our heart and mind a titan's energy, to our soul and intelligence a god's character and knowledge. All methods that can develop this faculty of attention from games to rewards are good and can all be utilised according to the need and the circumstances. One's entire physical activity should be organised to help the body to grow in balance and strength and beauty. Giver of force and love and knowledge, terrible art thou in thy own self of might, Mother beautiful and fierce.
If you cannot do it yourself, you must direct the child to those who are qualified to answer or point out to him some books that deal with the question. In contrast with the types of education we have mentioned previously, which progress from below upwards by an ascending movement of the various parts of the being, the supramental education will progress from above downwards, its influence spreading from one state of being to another until at last the physical is reached. According to him, physical development and holiness are the chief aims of education. Consequently, when we speak of austerities, it is not out of contempt for the body nor to detach ourselves from it, but because of the need for control and mastery. The art of resting one's mind is something to be acquired. It is only if a child chooses freely to work for his family and does this work as play that the thing is admissible. To see that her thoughts are always beautiful and pure, her feelings always noble and fine, her material surroundings as harmonious as possible and full of a great simplicityâthis is the part of education which should apply to the mother herself.
Nothing of the kind. It is already so difficult to know exactly what is happening in oneselfâhow can one Page 59 know with certainty what is happening in others? One must not do this or that because it seems easier or more amusing; there should be no change of training until the instructor considers it necessary. It is for him in his wisdom to know to what extent he can and ought to sacrifice the one to the other. The scope for progress is infinite and can be applied to the smallest thing. Make us great, make our efforts great, our hearts vast, make us true to our resolve. But then the report should be confined to the work alone and not touch upon private matters. The most important idea is that the unity of the human race can be achieved neither by uniformity nor by domination and subjection.
