Principles and Goals of Integral Education

XIII

SAICE: The Cradle of a New Humanity

The preceding chapter may have sounded a rather depressing note. But this is just a passing aberration. The dark clouds are bound to float away after some time. The true destiny of SAICE is great and glorious! It is fixed by divine dispensation and cannot be checkmated by any agency, human or occultly hostile. The real purpose of this unique educational Centre is to help in the building up of a new humanity. The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the life-long Tapasya of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo have for their central aim the transformation of ignorant, imperfect and all-suffering humanity into a race of divine men, and on a far lesser scale the goal set before SAICE, the Mother's dream institution, is to help its students to grow into a new type of humanity freed from many of the current flaws and weaknesses associated with the race everywhere on the globe. This vision is clearly and unambiguously encoded in the "Students' Prayer" given by the Mother to the students of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. The Prayer is as follows:

"Make of us the hero warriors we aspire to become. May we fight successfully the great battle of the future that is to be born, against the past that seeks to endure; so that the new things may manifest and we be ready to receive them."

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Some words, expressions and phrases are quite significant in this particular prayer meant for our students. These are: hero warriors; to fight successfully; aspiration; enduring past; future; new things. All these expressions should make it quite clear to all our students why they are here in Sri Aurobindo Ashram, studying in SAICE, and what the Mother expects from them. It is not brilliant careers, prosperous lives, social renown, lucrative jobs, great scholarship and things of that sort which they are preparing themselves for here in this unique institution, but to be candidates for the new humanity that is sure to emerge in the future. This they should never forget. Mother is there to help them always in fulfilling this task. But they, on their part, have to make a constant and sincere effort to make Mother's Grace effective. We append below some passages from the Mother's writings which should act as beacon lights to our students and as sure guidelines. With this help, they have to shape their actions and reactions in course of their daily life if they would like to be true children of the Mother and be fit to belong to the new humanity which is the dream-vision of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo so far as the ultimate product of SAICE is concerned. But before that it is worth recalling here what the Mother said to some of our students when they recited before her the "Students' Prayer" on one particular occasion.

"I am very pleased to hear the ideas and sentiments you have expressed just now and I give you my blessings. Only I wish that your ideas did not remain as mere ideas, but became realities. That should be your vow,

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to materialise the ideal in your life and character. I take this occasion, however, to tell you something that I have wanted to tell you for a long time. It is with regard to your studies. Naturally there are exceptions, but it is the exceptions that give force to the rule. For instance, you asked for leave today. I did not think you required more relaxation. Your life here is organised on a routine of almost constant relaxation. However, I agreed to your request. But the way in which you received the 'good news' pained me. Some of you even seemed to consider it a victory. But I ask, victory of what, against what? The victory of inconscience against the joy of learning and knowing more and more? The victory of unruliness against order and rule? The victory of the ignorant and superficial will over the endeavour towards progress and self-conquest?

This is, you must know, the very ordinary movement of those who live in the ordinary condition of life and education. But as for you, if you wish to realise the great ideal that is our goal, you must not remain content with the ordinary and futile reactions of ordinary people who live in the blind and ignorant conditions of ordinary life.

It looks as if I were very conservative when I say so, still I must tell you that you should be very careful about outside influences and ordinary habits. You must not allow them to shape your feelings and ways of life. Whatever comes from an outside and foreign atmosphere should not be permitted to jump into you — all that is mediocre and ignorant. If you wish to belong to the family of the new man, do not imitate pitifully the

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children of today and yesterday. Be firm and strong and full of faith; fight in order to win, as you say [in your prayer], the great victory. I have trust in you and I count upon you." (CWM, Vol. 12, pp. 153-54)

Students of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, never forget these reassuring words of the Mother: "I have trust in you and I count upon you." Show your gratitude to her by sincerely trying to fulfil her expectation. Act and react, and behave, always and in all circumstances, as genuine students of the Mother's Dream Institution. Do not consider SAICE as a replica, may be a brilliant one, of other conventional centres of learning. Never forget the unique aims and purpose that led to its establishment and put all your effort for their realisation.

Now the passages from the Mother's writings which, we hope, will prevent you from being derailed from the right Path. Victory to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother!

The Mother Speaks:

(1)"We want to show to the world what must be the new man of tomorrow. Is this the example that we will set before them?" (Ibid., p. 154)

(2)"I insist on the necessity of having good manners. I do not see anything grand in the manners of a gutter snipe." (Ibid., pp. 154-55)

(3) "Do not mistake liberty for licence and freedom for

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bad manners: the thoughts must be pure and the aspiration ardent." (Ibid., p. 155)

(4)Question: "Isn't this immense freedom we are given [here] dangerous for those who are not yet awake, who are still unconscious ? How can we account for this good fortune we have been given?"

The Mother's Answer:

"Danger and risk form part of all forward movement. Without them, nothing would ever move; besides, they are indispensable in forming the character of those who want to progress." (Ibid.)

(5)"Discipline is indispensable to be a man, without discipline one is nothing but an animal....

One begins to be a man only when one aspires to a higher and truer life and accepts a discipline of transformation.

For this one must begin by mastering one's lower nature and one's desires. (Ibid., p. 156)

(6)"When a child wants to impress you by telling you stories of the wealth of his family, you must not keep quiet. You must explain to him that worldly wealth does not count here [in this Ashram], ...that you do not become big by living in big houses, travelling by first-class and spending money lavishly. You can increase in stature only by being truthful, sincere, obedient and grateful." (Ibid., p. 159)

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(7)"Lord, we pray to Thee:

May we understand better why we are here,

May we do better what we have to do here,

May we be what we ought to become here,

So that Thy will may be fulfilled harmoniously."

(Ibid., p. 126)

(8)"Let our effort of every day and all time be to know You better and to serve You better." (Ibid.)

(9)"You who are young, are the hope of the country. Prepare yourselves to be worthy of this expectation." (Ibid., p. 122)

(10)"...your future is in your hands. You will become the man you want to be and the higher your ideal and your aspiration, the higher will be your realisation, but you must keep a firm resolution and never forget your true aim in life." (Ibid.)

(11)"If the growth of consciousness were considered as the principal goal of life, many difficulties would find their solution." (Ibid., p. 123)

(12)"Only those years that are passed uselessly make you grow old.

A year spent uselessly is a year during which no progress has been accomplished, no growth in consciousness has been achieved, no further step has been taken towards perfection.

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Consecrate your life to the realisation of something higher and broader than yourself and you will never feel the weight of the passing years." (Ibid., p. 122)

(13)"It is not the number of years you have lived that makes you grow old. You become old when you stop progressing.

As soon as you feel you have done what you had to do, as soon as you think you know what you ought to know, as soon as you want to sit and enjoy the results of your effort, with the feeling you have worked enough in life, then at once you become old and begin to decline." (Ibid., p. 123)

(14)"When, on the contrary, you are convinced that what you know is nothing compared to all which remains to be known, when you feel that what you have done is just the starting-point of what remains to be done, when you see the future like an attractive sun shining with the innumerable possibilities yet to be achieved, then you are young, however many are the years you have passed upon earth, young and rich with all the realisations of tomorrow." (Ibid.)

(15)"For a happy and effective life, the essentials are sincerity, humility, perseverance and an insatiable thirst for progress. Above all, one must be convinced of a limitless possibility of progress. Progress is youth; at a hundred years of age one can be young." (Ibid.)

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(16)"To know how to be reborn into a new life at every moment is the secret of eternal youth." (Ibid., p. 124)

(17)"The work we do is not done with the expectation of something in return, but simply to help the progress of humanity." (Ibid., p. 363)

(18)"What a child should always remember:

The necessity of an absolute sincerity.

The certitude of Truth's final victory.

The possibility of constant progress with the will to

achieve." (Ibid., p. 150)

(19)(Adapted):

(i) An ideal child does not become angry when things seem to go against him. (ii) Whatever he does, he does it to the best of his capacity and keeps on doing in the face of almost certain failure. (iii) He always thinks straight and acts straight, (iv) He does not get disheartened if he has to wait a long time to see the results of his efforts. (v) He faces the inevitable difficulties and sufferings without grumbling. (vi) He never slackens his effort however long it has to last. (vii) He keeps equanimity in success as well as in failure. (viii) He always goes on fighting for the final victory though he may meet with many defeats. (ix) He knows how to smile and keep a happy heart in all circumstances. (x) He does not become conceited over his success, neither does he feel himself superior to his comrades. (xi) He appreciates the merits of others. (xii) He observes the discipline and is always honest.

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(xiii)He has faith in the future which is rich with all the realisations that are to come, full of beauty and light.

(xiv)He is full of love for all those who are around him.

(xv)He is full of confidence in the Divine Grace. (Vide ibid., pp.150-52)

(20)"The true wisdom is to be ready to learn from whatever source the knowledge can come.

We can learn things from a flower, an animal, a child, if we are eager to know always more, because there is only One Teacher in the world — the Supreme Lord, and He manifests through everything." (Ibid., p. 129)

(21)"When you feel that you know nothing then you are ready to learn." (Ibid.)

(22)"You see, my child, ...you are too busy with yourself. At your age I was exclusively occupied with my studies—informing myself, learning, understanding, knowing. That was my interest, even my passion....

My mother was perfectly right and I have always been very grateful to her for having taught me discipline and the necessity of self-forgetfulness in concentration on what one is doing.

I have told you this because the anxiety you speak of comes from the fact that you are far too busy with yourself. It would be far better for you to attend more to what you are doing..., to develop your mind which is still very uncultivated and to learn the elements of

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knowledge which are indispensable to a man if he does not want to be ignorant and uncultured." (Ibid., p. 130)

(23)"I told you that to yield like that to the impulses of the vital was certainly not the way to control it." (Ibid., p. 132)

(24)"Force yourself to study and your depression will go away." (Ibid.)

(25)"Studies strengthen the mind and turn its concentration away from the impulses and desires of the vital. Concentrating on study is one of the most powerful ways of controlling the mind and the vital; that is why it is so important to study." (Ibid., p. 133)

(26)Question: "... intellect is like a mediator between the true knowledge and its realisation down here. Does it not follow that intellectual culture is indispensable for rising above the mind to find there the true knowledge?"

The Mother's Answer:

"Intellectual culture is indispensable for preparing a good mental instrument, large, supple and rich, but its action stops there.

In rising above the mind, it is more often a hindrance than a help, for, in general, a refined and educated mind finds its satisfaction in itself and rarely seeks to silence itself so as to be surpassed." (Ibid., pp. 138-39)

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(27)"All that you know, however fine it may be, is nothing in comparison with what you can know, if you are able to use other methods." (Ibid., p. 139)

(28)"The best way to understand is always to rise high enough in the consciousness to be able to unite all contradictory ideas in a harmonious synthesis.

And for the correct attitude, to know how to pass flexibly from one position to another without ever losing sight even for a moment of the one goal of self-consecration to the Divine and identification with Him." (Ibid.)

(29)"One must learn always not only intellectually but also psychologically, one must progress in regard to character, one must cultivate the qualities and correct the defects; everything should be made an occasion to cure ourselves of ignorance and incapacity; life becomes then tremendously interesting and worth the trouble of living it." (Ibid., p. 124)

(30)"...become my ideal child aware of your soul and the true goal of your life." (Ibid., p. 127)

Let us conclude this last paper on "SAICE: The Cradle of a New Humanity" with the following admonition of our Sweet Mother:

"Now, what the intellect has understood let the whole being realise. Mental knowledge must be replaced by the flaming power of progress." (Ibid., p. 141)

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