Principles and Goals of Integral Education

XII

Two Potent Sources of Dilution

More than sixty years have passed since the Mother established the Ashram School with a very high goal in view — the goal of building up a new type of humanity and preparing the children for a glorious future. At first, she herself held the reins. The students and the teachers, the parents and the guardians, all understood sufficiently well the aims and the mission of this unique Centre of Education. But after the Mother's physical withdrawal from the scene, a distinct change has come in on all fronts, slowly and imperceptibly at first but markedly and quite fast in recent years. Let us try to understand how this state of affairs has come about.

In the earlier phase of SAICE, most of the parents who sent their children here for their education left them to the Mother's care. As a result the overall influence on their young and sensitive children was very wholesome. These young students imbibed the ideals of the place quite smoothly. But in recent times things have been somewhat different. We are constrained to state that many parents and guardians today do not much care to understand fully the implication of the "Students' Prayer" and of the "Declaration" given by the Mother to the students of her Centre of Education. For the benefit of the readers we are quoting here those two documents of supreme importance:

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Students' Prayer

"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."

6 January 1952

Declaration

(The Mother indicated that repetition of the statement below, a hundred or a thousand times each day, until it becomes a living vibration, would help the student to instil in himself the right will and motive for studying.)

"To be repeated each day by all the students:

It is not for our family, it is not to secure a good

position, it is not to earn money, it is not to obtain a

diploma, that we study.

We study to learn, to know, to understand the world,

and for the sake of the joy that it gives us."

(CWM, Vol. 12, p. 202)

Well, these two documents of the Mother have not been fully taken to heart by many of us, especially the students. These words have not yet become a living part of our vision and consciousness. They are a far, almost inaudible, sound to the ears and heart and consciousness of the majority of present-day students of SAICE.

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This is about our students. But what about the parents and guardians? We are sorry to say so but it is a fact that many of the parents are sending their children to SAICE with other motives than what the Mother had envisaged. They are eager to send their chilren here because they know that the education is ludicrously inexpensive, not taxing their budget at all and that to come out of SAICE with a so-called "Certificate" is a passport for their children to secure good jobs. How can we then expect that these students with their dreams of money and job and social position will co-operate in the fulfilment of the Mother's ideal of building up successful hero warriors of the future.

This is the first source of dilution corrupting our present-day students—surely not all of them but a large number without doubt—and this has its origin in the undesirable influences transmitted to them in a steady stream from their parents and guardians.

Now about the second potent source of dilution: this comes from the apparently innocuous factor of the Annual Vacation in SAICE. Let us elucidate.

As distinguished from other centres of learning, Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education does not believe in giving periodic long vacations to its students. Study, according to its principle, should be the main occupation and preoccupation of the students and it should be a continuous and uninterrupted one. We have no Puja vacation, no summer vacation, no Christmas vacation or any other long vacation of the same genre. We have no occasional holidays either to celebrate religious or national festivals. Except for the Sundays and the first day of every month (called the "Prosperity

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Day" when the inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram collect their monthly requirements), and, of course, the "Darshan Days", SAICE has no holidays earmarked for its students. Classes continue throughout the year in two sessions every day (first, from 7-45 a.m. to 11-30 a.m., and next, from 1-50 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.). And in the absence of any other holidays and vacations, they have sufficient time at their disposal to make a thorough and sustained study of their self-chosen subjects. The proficiency they acquire is naturally of a very high order. Also, what is more important, their exposure to the Ashram atmosphere and to the basic values of SAICE as formulated by the Mother, becomes thorough and continuous. But there is a single exception.

There is one long annual recess—from November 1 to December 15. This long period was originally arranged with a particular purpose in view. The students used to prepare themselves collectively for a many-sided cultural programme on the 1st December and a demonstration of physical education activities the very next day, on the 2nd. Almost all the students stayed back in the Ashram during this period and there was no interruption in their life-style.

And then things began to change, slowly and almost imperceptibly at first, but in later years more clearly. We mean to say that by and by the students of SAICE stopped participating in the Annual Day programmes in the Ashram; instead, they felt it more desirable to go to their parents' or relatives' places elsewhere and come back only before the actual re-opening, for the next academic session beginning on the 16th of December. In recent times, many more have taken to this habit. And in this they are encouraged by their

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parents and guardians. And the adverse psychological consequence of this long absence on the consciousness of the students is easily imaginable. Outside, in their respective places of temporary sojourn, these students are exposed to many undesirable influences and they actively imbibe other value-systems which are current in ordinary worldly life but poles apart from the values which the Mother's vision of a new education wanted to instil in their growing consciousness. When they come back to the Ashram after this long break to resume their studies in Mother's School, they almost feel like fish out of water and, what is still more ruinous, they potently disturb the atmosphere of SAICE and knowingly or unknowingly corrupt the other students.

Now, how to neutralise the bad effects of these two sources of dilution: the negative influences of a particular category of parents and guardians, and the adverse exposure to submerging outside values the students imbibe during their long sojourn in an alien milieu? We have no answer to offer here. We can only refer our sympathetic readers to some of the passages from the Mother's writings concerning this twin problem.

THE MOTHER ON PARENTS AND GUARDIANS

(1) Question: "What is the role of parents or guardians in the Ashram? How should they contribute to a better education of their children?"

The Mother's Answer:

"Here, the first duty of the parents or guardians is not to

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contradict either by word or example the education that is given to their children.

In a positive way, the best thing they can do is to encourage the children to be docile and disciplined." (CWM, Vol. 12, p. 367)

(2) Question: "There are several children here who are sent by their parents just for their education. The idea that they are only students and that they will go away from here after their studies, is already firmly fixed in their minds.

Once we know that these children have a clear idea of what they want to do, is it not better to advise them officially to go and study elsewhere? Or, because they have already been accepted, should we allow them to continue their studies and finish them here?"

The Mother's Answer:

"Unfortunately, there are many parents who send their children here not because they think that they will have a special education here but because the Ashram does not ask money for their studies; and consequently parents need to spend much less money here than elsewhere.

But the poor children are not responsible for this transaction, and we must give them a chance to develop fully if they are capable of it. Therefore, we accept them if we see a possibility in them. And it is only when they clearly show that they are incapable of benefiting from their education here that we are ready to let them go if they want to." (Ibid., p. 362)

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(3)"But there is one thing, one thing which is the main difficulty: it is the parents. When the children live with their parents I consider that it is hopeless, because the parents want their child to be educated as they were themselves, and they want them to get good jobs, to earn money — all the things that are contrary to our aspiration....

The parents have such a great influence on them that in the end they ask to go away to a school somewhere else.

And that, of all the difficulties — all of them — that is the greatest: the influence of the parents. And if we try to counteract that influence the parents will begin to detest us and it will be even worse than before, because they will say unpleasant things about us.

That is my experience. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the children have taken a bad turn because of the parents." (Ibid., p. 434)

(4)"This seems indispensable to me. We should write a circular letter saying: 'Parents who want their children to be educated in the ordinary way and learn in order to get a good job, to earn their living and have brilliant careers, should not send them here.'

We should... And that is very important." (Ibid.)

(5)"...there are many, many parents who send their children here because it is less expensive than anywhere else. And that is worse than anything, worse than anything. We should... we should... we must absolutely tell them: 'If you want your children to be educated in order to have a brilliant career, to earn money, do not send them here.'" (Ibid.)

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(6)"There were some children who were doing very well and were very happy. They went to their parents for the holidays and came back completely changed and spoiled. And then if we tell them that, it will be even worse because their parents will tell them, 'Oh, these people are bad, they are turning you against us.' So... the parents must know that before they send them [their children]." (Ibid., p. 435)

(7)"The danger is not the children, it is not laziness, it is not even that the children are rebellious: the danger, the great danger is the parents." (Ibid.)

(8)"Those who send their children here should do it knowingly, they should do it because it is unlike anywhere else. And there are many who won't come.... And those who come only because it is less expensive, well, they will stop sending them [their children]...

I would like the attitude of our school to be made known to people before they send their children, because it is a pity when the children are happy and the parents are not; and that creates situations that are ridiculous and sometimes dangerous." (Ibid.)

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THE MOTHER ON HOLIDAYS

(1)Question: "Mother, every year we give a special prize to the best students of groups of A1 and A2. This year there is a boy who has worked very well throughout the year, but now he has gone home for the holidays and hasn't taken part in the [Annual] Demonstration of December 2. Do you think he should still be given the prize for this year? "

The Mother's Answer:

"All depends on how he left: whether it was to obey his parents or whether he wanted to go himself. If he wanted to leave, whatever his outer merit, it would perhaps be better not to give him the prize, because that would mean that we attach no importance to the inner attitude and to the student's understanding of the aim we pursue, that is, to prepare the men of tomorrow for the new creation." (CWM, Vol. 12, pp. 365-66)

(2)Question: "Mother, why and how does one lose one's spiritual gain by going outside? One can make a conscious effort and your protection is always there, is it not?"

The Mother's Answer:

"To go to one's parents is to return to an influence generally stronger than any other: and few are the cases where parents help you in your spiritual progress, because they are generally more interested in a worldly realisation.

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Parents who are chiefly interested in spiritual realisation do not usually ask their children to go back to visit them." (Ibid., p. 161)

(3)Question: "Some children ask me what is the best way of spending their holidays here [in the Ashram]."

The Mother's Answer:

"It is an excellent opportunity to do some interesting work, to learn something new or [work on] some weak points in their nature or their studies.

It is an excellent opportunity to choose some occupation freely and thus discover the true capacities of their being." (Ibid., p. 358)

(4)Question: "Mother, do you approve of students going to spend their holidays at home or elsewhere? "

The Mother's Answer:

"Rather, one could say that what the children do during their holidays shows what they are and how far they are capable of profiting from their stay here. Thus, the case is different for each one and the quality of his reaction indicates the quality of his character.

Truly speaking, those who would rather stay here [in the Ashram] than do anything else, are ready to take full advantage of their education here and are capable of fully understanding the ideal they are taught." (Ibid., pp. 358-59)

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Here ends the Section on 'Two Potent Sources of Dilution."

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