6

CONCEPT OF INTEGRAL EDUCATION

Thoreau and Emerson, both alumni of Harvard, were once reminiscing over their alma mater, in the course of which Emerson is believed to have said that the University had by now all the branches of knowledge.

"Branches are fine", Thoreau is believed to have commented. "But what about the roots?"

The primary purpose of education, if not forgotten, had remained ignored for long. Way back in 1909, Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Karmayogin. "The first necessity for the building up of a great intellectual superstructure is to provide a foundation strong enough to bear it. Those systems of education which start from an insufficient knowledge of man, think they have provided a satisfactory foundation when they have supplied the student with a large or well-selected mass of information on the various subjects which comprise the best part of human culture at the time. The school gives the materials, it is for the student to use them—this is the formula. But the error here is fundamental. Information cannot be the foundation of intelligence, it can only be part of the material out of which the knower builds knowledge, the starting-point, the nucleus of fresh discovery and enlarged creation. An education that confines itself to imparting knowledge, is not education. The various faculties of memory, judgement, imagination, perception, reasoning, which build the edifice of the thought and knowledge for the knower, must not only be equipped with their fit and sufficient tools and materials, but trained to bring fresh materials and use more skillfully those of which they are in possession. And the foundation of the structure they have to build, can only be the provision of a fund of force and energy sufficient to bear the demands of a continually growing activity of the memory, judgement and creative power."

—The Brain of India

We find his concept of an ‘integral education’ already inherent in this passage, although the phrase was used much later by the Mother. In a series of articles published in the Arya in the second decade of the 20th century (subsequently compiled under the title War and Self-Determination), we find him laying emphasis on the child as a soul—a truth which any sound system of education must recognise, first and foremost, and then proceed to help its other faculties to develop.

"The child was in the ancient patriarchal idea the live property of the father; he was his creation, his production, his own reproduction of himself; the father, rather than God or the universal Life in place of God, stood as the author of the child’s being; and the creator has every right over his creation, the producer over his manufacture. He had the right to make of him what he willed, and not what the being of the child really was within, to train and shape and cut him according to the parental ideas and not rear him according to his own nature’s deepest needs, to bind him to the paternal career or the career chosen by the parent and not that to which his nature and capacity and inclination pointed, to fix for him all the critical turning-points of his life even after he had reached maturity. In education the child was regarded not as a soul meant to grow, but as brute psychological stuff to be shaped into a fixed mould by the teacher. We have travelled to another conception of the child as a soul with a being, a nature and capacities of his own who must be helped to find them, to find himself, to grow into their maturity, into a fullness of physical and vital energy and the utmost breadth, depth, and height of his emotional, his intellectual and his spiritual being."

Between the twenties and the thirties of the 20th century, Sri Aurobindo’s seer-vision encompassed the entire range of human life—with all its activities, social, political, cultural, educational, etc., so much so that we do not know of any other savant in recorded history to have tackled so many subjects at so very lofty planes. His return to the issue of education again and again was unavoidable and again and again, in different contexts, he highlighted the unique role of the soul. Reflecting on the possible contribution of education to a divine life on earth, he says :

"But it has not been found in experience, whatever might have once been hoped, that education and intellectual training by itself can change man; it only provides the human individual and collective ego with better information and a more efficient machinery for its self-affirmation, but leaves it the same unchanged human ego. Nor can human mind and life be cut into perfection,—even into what is thought to be perfection, a constructed substitute,—by any kind of social machinery; matter can be so cut, thought can be so cut, but in our human existence matter and thought are only instruments for the soul and the life-force. Machinery cannot form the soul and life-force into standardised shapes; it can at best coerce them, make soul and mind inert and stationary and regulate the life’s outward action; but if this is to be effectively done, coercion and compression of the mind and life are indispensable and that again spells either unprogressive stability or decadence. The reasoning mind with its logical practicality has no other way of getting the better of Nature’s ambiguous and complex movements than a regulation and mechanisation of mind and life. If that is done, the soul of humanity will either have to recover its freedom and growth by a revolt and a destruction of the machine into whose grip it has been cast or escape by a withdrawal into itself and a rejection of life. Man’s true way-out is to discover his soul and its self-force and instrumentation and replace by it both the mechanisation of mind and the ignorance and disorder of life-nature. But there would be little room and freedom for such a movement of self-discovery and self-effectuation in a closely regulated and mechanised social existence."

—The Life Divine

Since Sri Aurobindo made this observation, mankind has witnessed several instances to corroborate it. Among many tumultuous events of the twentieth century is the World War II—revealing how fragile an assurance education and all the trappings of so-called civilized societies were against an upsurge of dark elements in man or against a hostile force taking possession of him—showing him as he is in his utter nakedness.

But when we meditate on the issue, we are most likely to arrive at an impasse. We stand convinced that the awakening of soul in man is the answer to the state of human predicament, but how to bring about the fulfilment of that condition?

There comes the relevance of Yoga.

But what is Yoga? While Yoga means union, union with the source of our being, people often understand by Yoga Hathayoga, practice of a system of physical postures, breath-control etc. to arrive at certain experience or to achieve certain powers. There are also other distinguished schools of Yoga: Rajayoga, which leads the seeker to various states of trance, Jnanayoga, a discipline to grow closer to the goal through Knowledge, Karmayoga and Bhaktiyoga which lead the seeker to the same goal through Action and Devotion respectively.

But Sri Aurobindo presents Yoga in a far more natural perspective. "In the right view of both life and Yoga, all life is either consciously or sub-consciously a Yoga", he says and proceeds thus :

"For we mean by this term a methodised effort towards self-perfection by the expression of the potentialities latent in the being and a union of the human individual with the universal and transcendent Existence we see partially expressed in man and in the Cosmos. But all life, when we look behind its appearances, is a vast Yoga of Nature attempting to realise her perfection in an ever increasing expression of her potentialities and to unite herself with her own divine reality. In man, her thinker, she for the first time upon this Earth devises self-conscious means and willed arrangements of activity by which this great purpose may be more swiftly and puissantly attained. Yoga, as Swami Vivekananda has said, may be regarded as a means of compressing one’s evolution into a single life or a few years or even a few months of bodily existence."

—"Life and Yoga", The Synthesis of Yoga

Sri Aurobindo saw that since the different schools of Yoga aimed at one goal, one union, a synthesis could be achieved among them :

"By the very nature of the principal Yogic schools each covering in its operations a part of the complex human integer and attempting to bring out its highest possibilities, it will appear that a synthesis of all of them largely conceived and applied might well result in an integral Yoga. But they are so disparate in their tendencies, so highly specialised and elaborated in their forms, so long confirmed in the mutual opposition of their ideas and methods that we do not easily find how we can arrive at their right union."

Again, those who got a taste of the Infinite through Yoga looked upon the finite world as something almost superfluous. Since everything in this phenomenal world was subject to death and other sorts of impermanence, Yogis who grew acquainted with the indescribable glory of the Power that was beyond the universe (transcendent), developed an attitude of contempt for the things that were phenomenal.

But Yoga cannot be integral unless it found both the finite and the infinite as aspects of the same Power—call it Divine or Godhead or Brahman or the Supreme Reality. "The ultimate knowledge is that which perceives and accepts God in the universe as well as beyond the universe and the integral Yoga is that which, having found the Transcendent, can return upon the universe and possess it, retaining the power freely to descend as well as ascend the great stair of existence."

—‘Three Steps of Yoga’, The Synthesis of Yoga

Needless to say, a concept of Integral Education is in line with the Integral Yoga, both the disciplines pointing at a progress in the direction of realising the best qualities inherent in man, an urge for perfection and thirst for knowledge and truth. Like Integral Yoga visualising not only a realisation of the soul, but also a transformation of the gross physical, vital and mental aspects of man into Divine instruments, the Integral Education intends at preparing all aspects of the students through a creative cultivation of their potentialities, to become, with full awareness and a sense of joy, vehicles of a higher consciousness. Since there is always the fear of the meaning of the phrase ‘Integral Education’ being diluted—for much will depend on the capacity and understanding of those who are trying to put the idea into practice and the opportunities available to them—it is necessary that those concerned do not forget its sublime goal. The Mother expects the process of integral education to help ushering in the next phase of human evolution, when man would have crossed his mind to step into the Supramental. She says, "To pursue the integral education that leads to the Supramental realisation a four fold austerity is necessary and also a four fold liberation."

‘Four Austerities and Four Liberations’ —The Mother

She makes it transparently clear that by austerity she does not mean asceticism or self-mortification. Far more difficult than the practice of such external methods is mastering power over one’s self, "to maintain the consciousness always on the peak of its capacity and never allow the body to act under the influence of a lower impulse."

The gradation, she says, is from above downward and they need not be followed in that order mechanically—each one formulating his own system according to his capacity and personal needs.

She explains the austerities from the bottom of the list. The discipline of Beauty requires to form a programme following which one can build a body beautiful in form, harmonious in posture, supple and agile in its movements, powerful in its activities and resistant in its health and organic function.

The body, to prepare itself for receiving a higher consciousness, must follow a sound routine regarding sleep, food, physical exercise and other activities. "To reach this ideal goal one must strictly shun all excess, all vice small or big, one must deny onself the use of such slow poisons as tobacco, alcohol, etc. which men have the habit of developing into indispensable needs that gradually demolish their will and memory."

The Mother gives more importance on the quality of sleep than the length of the period of sleep and advises to go to bed keeping the mind clear and calm. A brief meditation may help.

Exercise should be chosen keeping in mind the body’s capacity and need.

And then comes the question of work. "For the man who wishes to perfect himself, there is nothing like small and big work, important work or unimportant." One can cultivate the secret of finding interest in any work one is required to do.

The result of this discipline is liberation in action. The body and the actions thereof would no longer remain in bondage to Nature’s dictates, to impulses and lower desires.

Then comes the ‘tapasya’ of Power—observing emotional austerities. ‘Vital’ means the seat of life-force. "It is in the vital that thought changes into will and become a dynamism of action. It is also true that the vital is the seat of desires and passions, of violent impulses and equally violent reactions, of revolt and depression."

Generally those who do not wish to be the victims of their vital desires completely suppress them, starve them. But that is not austerity. True ‘tapasya’ in this aspect of our being is to utilise the senses with discrimination and discernment. "The senses should be able to bear everything without disgust or displeasure.... the senses should be utilised as instruments to approach and study the physical and vital world in all their complexity... It is by enlightening, strengthening and purifying the vital and not by weakening it that one can help towards the progress of the being."

The vital, when properly taught, can become a flame of aspiration for the higher life. Liberation from desire will obtain for the seeker peace, serenity and power.

Coming to the tapasya of Knowledge, the Mother lays great emphasis on the need for right speech. "Man is the first animal upon earth to be able to use the articulate sound. He is indeed proud of it and exercises this capacity without measure or discrimination. The world is deafened with the noise of his speech and at times you almost seem to miss the harmonious silence of the vegetable kingdom", she says.

True knowledge can be gathered in silence, not through arguments and assertion. There prevails a general impression that those belonging to the academic or intellectual fraternity are more reasonable than the average man in their speech. The Mother says, "It is nothing of the kind, however; for even here, into this home of ideas and knowledge, man has introduced violence of his convictions, sectarian intolerance, passion of preference."

Mental austerity is a great discipline; control over one’s speech is far more important than keeping mum. Often people pass judgement over others. But how much does one know oneself that he should judge someone else ?

"Be silent in your mind, keep steady in the true attitude, that of constant aspiration towards the All-Wisdom, the All-Knowledge and the All-Consciousness. Then, if your aspiration is sincere, if it is not a mere cover for your ambition to do things well and to be successful, if it is pure, spontaneous and integral, then you will speak simply, you will utter the words that should be uttered, neither more nor less, and they will possess a creative power," she answers.

This discipline will liberate one from ignorance.

Last is the tapasya of Love. This emotion or passion is generally looked upon as irresistible. Through so many social and moral rules and laws man has tried to keep this emotion under control, but in vain.

But, the true love, the Divine Love, of which the human passion of love is only a caricature, a distortion, alone can bring about man’s ultimate union with his source, the Divine.

"One who has known Divine Love, finds all other love obscure, mixed with smallness and egoism and darkness. It looks like a bargain or a struggle for superiority and authority: and even in the best of men, it is full of misunderstanding and sensitiveness, frictions and misgivings."

"Besides, it is a well-known fact that you grow into the likeness of that which you love. If therefore you want to be like the Divine, love Him alone. One who has experienced the ecstasy of the communion of love with the Divine can alone know how insipid, dull and feeble all other love is, in comparison. And even if the most austere discipline is needed to arrive at this communion, nothing is too hard, too long, too severe, provided it takes you there; for it surpasses all expression."

"It is this wonderful state that we wish to realise upon earth; it is this which will transform the world and make it a habitation worthy of the Divine Presence..."

—The Mother : On Education

An integral education will recognise the individual not as a vague combination of matter (body) and spirit, but a personality having four distinct aspects: (a) Physical, (b) Vital, (c) Mental and (d) Psychic. An ideal system of education must open up avenues for the best possible development of each of these faculties of the student.

In a right environment, the inner being of the student, the soul, the psychic, must dominate the other aspects of his being. That will ensure harmonious growth of the person.

Each child is unique. Creation finds a delight in variety and multiplicity. Hence, clubbing a group of students together and judging them applying a common, mechanical yardstick is wrong. Each one has a possibility, a hidden capacity, a talent. Environment and opportunity must be created for that latent quality to blossom.

Man as he is, is not the final product of Evolution. Sri Aurobindo visualises the advent of a new man. The mental man must prepare to pave the way for the advent of the Supramental man. The mental man will be transformed into or evolve into the new being.

The syllabus for Integral Education is all life—and promises that are there beyond the present conditions of life—and behind the appearances of life. For it neither matter nor spirit is unreal, but the traditional dichotomy between them is unreal.