The Three Principles of True Teaching
& Their
Application in My Life
a
sub-project for the Foundation Course for Facilitators (2005-06)
Facilitator
: Ameeta Mehra
A
course by The Gnostic Centre,
Student : Anuradha
Part 1 : True
Education
·
The Context …………………………….. 2
·
A True & Living Education …………………………….. 3
·
The Principles of True Education …………………………….. 4
Part 2 : True
Facilitation
·
Preparing to Be a True Facilitator …………………………….. 5
·
Experiencing the Three Principles
o
The First Principle …………………………….. 6
o
The Second Principle …………………………….. 10
o
The Third Principle …………………………….. 13
·
Application in My Life …………………………….. 16
Part 3 :
Conclusion …………………………….. 17
Appendices
·
1 : The Task of the Educator …………………………….. 19
·
2 : The Integral Teacher …………………………….. 22
Total Number of Words : 4,660
Date of Submission :
The Three Principles of True Teaching
& Their
Application in My Life
In 1920s, as part of a series of articles on
a National System of Education, Sri Aurobindo[1]
enumerated three principles of true teaching and education[2].
The early 20th century was a time of great educational changes in
the European world[3],
though these ideas had not yet travelled to
Sri
Aurobindo visualized a great future for
For Sri Aurobindo, each nation was a living
entity with its own soul, its unique potential and purpose – only by fulfilling
it could each progress and contribute to the world progress as well. The word
‘national’ did not connote a return to the past or a narrow hugging of cultural
limits, rather, as explained by Sri Aurobindo,[6]
it meant basing oneself on one’s roots, the innate swabhava[7]
and swadharma[8]
of the national culture, without alienating oneself from the best that existed
in other nations as well. But, the foundation must be in one’s own life-blood
and not in ideas alien to one’s soul, one’s place of birth, one’s chosen karmakshetra[9].
Macaulay
managed to subvert this ancient principle – to hit at the psyche of the
individual and through it to pygmy the national psyche. Sri Aurobindo presented
a program to reverse this. While he focused on the growth of the individual as
the most powerful element in education, his aim was not limited to the
individual, but linked the individual to the nation and the nation to whole
humanity:
“… there are three
things which have to be taken into account in a true and living education, the
man, the individual in his commonness and in his uniqueness, the nation or
people and universal humanity. It follows that that alone will be a true and
living education which helps to bring out to full advantage, makes ready for
the full purpose and scope of human life all that is in the individual man, and
which at the same time helps him to enter into his right relation with the
life, mind and soul of the people to which he belongs and with that great total
life, mind and soul of humanity of which he himself is a unit and his people or
nation a living, a separate and yet inseparable member.”[10]
As in the Indian view, the
individual, the nation, the larger humanity – each is a representation of the
Divine,
The Principles of True Education
How does one impart a true and living
education – based on what principles? According to Sri Aurobindo:
“The true basis of
education is the study of the human mind, ... the educationist has to do, not
with dead material like the artist or sculptor, but with an infinitely subtle
and sensitive organism. … he has to work in the elusive substance of mind and
respect the limits imposed by the fragile human body. …
It is only by strengthening and
sharpening these instruments to their utmost capacity that they can be made
effective for the increased work which modern conditions require.[11]
The muscles of the mind must be thoroughly trained by simple and easy means;
then, and not till then, great feats of intellectual strength can be required
of them.”[12]
Further, Sri Aurobindo makes three
unconditional statements – statements that reverberate deep inside the being
and reveal deeper and deeper meanings as one becomes more and more inwardly
receptive:
1) The first principle of true teaching is
‘that nothing can be taught’.
2) The second principle is ‘that the mind has
to be consulted in its own growth’.
3) The third principle of true teaching is ‘to
work from the near to the far, from that which is to that which shall be’.
A
first reading of the three principles reflects the imperative need to found
education on one’s own innate genius[13]
rather than importing ideas in the name of modernity. It points to the
essential belief of
The
question naturally arises, who is to impart such an education?
More
than the implications of these principles for teaching and curriculum, for the
education system or the nation or humanity – all of which at some level is
quite clear in my mind – it is this question that has always interested me.
Even while engaging with such an education and trying to practice it for the
last 20 years, there is always an awareness of being far away from being a true
facilitator. Somehow this quest – to be a true facilitator – centred itself
around these three principles in the recent course that I enrolled for. The
following is a record of my engagement with these.
Preparing to Be a True Facilitator
I took up the Foundation Course[14]
to break out of a mould and to intensify my consciousness; to once again get
into some disciplined sadhana. With
the beginning of the course a number of things happened, which I had not
bargained for, in my work life and relationships, affecting my approach to the
course and my ability to learn from it. Many a times I thought of giving up as
I found myself unable to give myself fully to the course. Still I plodded on
and luckily I was not thrown out as well. Gradually I found a pattern emerging.
Each session of the course opened one door for me – not the door, but
still it took me onto something that was necessary to work upon in my nature.
Overtly, it had nothing to do with ‘education’ or ‘facilitation’ but was a
response to my own need to grow and inwardise. There was an unwillingness to
share this process with anyone or to record it even, except inwardly and at
times, sporadically, in my journal. I was not even sure that everything that
was happening was indeed sincere or I was just fooling myself. But as I felt
much quieter than before and it helped me to organize my work better, as well
as be less affected by interpersonal dynamics, I refrained from questioning it
too much.
As
Ameeta[15]
asked us to figure out the ‘key to our progress’[16]
and work on it, I was without a clue. Everything seemed to revolve around the
need to remember the Divine in work, to forget oneself and give oneself
unconditionally to the Divine, to experience that it was the Divine and not me
who was the doer – to concretely experience it. Various things in myself
that hindered this process kept coming up – I chose one for my sub-project.[17]
And then the sessions on ‘the three principles of true teaching’ happened. I
felt the words encased a significance that had to be experienced more than
mentally understood. Such was the experience through the three meditations
facilitated by Ameeta on the three principles of true teaching. And this is
what drove me to choose this topic instead. Simultaneously, various thoughts
came – not so much to do with ‘facilitation’ but ‘becoming’ a certain kind of
person, developing certain qualities and states of being in myself – all still
answering to my need for ‘disciplined sadhana’.
These I recorded in my journal.
Experiencing
the Three Principles
“The first
principle of true teaching is that nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an
instructor or task-master, he is a helper and a guide. His business is to
suggest and not to impose. He does not actually train the pupil’s mind, he only
shows him how to perfect his instruments of knowledge and helps and encourages
him in the process. He does not impart knowledge to him, he shows him how to
acquire knowledge for himself. He does not call forth the knowledge that is
within; he only shows him where it lies and how it can be habituated to rise to
the surface. The distinction that reserves this principle for the teaching of
adolescent and adult minds and denies its application to the child, is a
conservative and unintelligent doctrine. Child or man, boy or girl, there is
only one sound principle of good teaching. Difference of age only serves to
diminish or increase the amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not
change its nature.”[18]
As
Ameeta read out the above, the following was evoked in me in the meditation
that accompanied the words……
My
experience… …
I
am in a deep hallowed place with beautiful rocky peaks and a bright blue sky
peeping into that deep crevice, at whose bottom I stand. … And, in the centre
of the sky is this beautiful white gold sun. … There is a direct link between
the sun and me. We are connected. My face is upturned to it, like that of a
young child …… receiving it, bathing in it, being one with it. … The teacher is
outside the crevice, somewhere on the side – just a silent, distant presence –
but there. … Only I and the sun exist, but with a quiet awareness of all that
is around.
Implications
for facilitation… …
Simultaneous
with the experience the following became clear as regards what I needed to work
on:
·
State
of being – Deep, connected, focused on the sun.
·
Attitude
– Love. To allow the other too to have this experience.
·
Personal
limitation – A deep resistance to my own goodness.
The
experience evoked the above, without any conscious mental thinking.
What
it set off in motion… …
I
thought I will work on ‘Courage to manifest goodness’. The inner focusing
revealed the following……
The
worst negative in my being
Is
that which negates my own divinity.
A blind
anger rises, a desire to crush
Anything
that is soft, sensitive, good, true, beautiful.
An anger not
loud by itself
But powerful
enough to initiate cruelty.
A cruelty
not crass by itself
But
manipulative and subtle
Rushing out
to damage the fragile opening of the other.
Over time
the cruelty has diminished against others
But now it
is a hostility
A
rude negation – through mental justification and vital reaction – of my own
good impulses.
It
stops me from expressing my own goodness – goodness that prompts me to show
that I care, that I’m there for another, that I too would like to share in what
bothers the other.
Goodness
that prompts me to encourage the other, to make an extra gesture of kindness
and generosity, to nurture the other.
Goodness
that I’ve often lived before
And that has never weakened me.
----------------
something in me today
comes up and says
no, don’t express it
or the other might find
you weak
might get to see how
vulnerable you are
might get close to you
might
take you for granted
goodness might make you
dependent on the other
might lead you into more
responsibility
----------------
don’t show it
cover it up with
indifference, unconcern,
strictness,
authority, command, impatience.
and I give in
to this
false posturing of self-esteem and ego.
and I see my
relationships crumbling
and the
other getting hurt
and I too experience the
pain
but abhimana binds me.
an inner hostility.
Such -------------------
a -------------------- waste.
That
was it. Then I hardly did anything. There was no push to actively do anything.
But little things started happening. It was as if the consciousness was
genuinely engaged with it – oh, so different from all those times when the
mental resolve was the motivating factor. But not being used to this new way of
working, I often doubted my sincerity. I was not making an effort, so how was
anything going to happen? But day by day small things were happening – I was
happier, easier, more naturally kind and laidback with people – it was as if I
was retrieving something of myself but in a newer way – quieter, less
pretentious, at ease with itself.
There was a sense of freedom –
freedom from thinking about others or thinking of what they thought of me,
freedom from thinking of the results of actions… an easy spontaneity… as if I
was released from a subtle trap of my own making. And there was nothing else to
do – just to be – to allow oneself to be oneself.
Was there a connection between this
experience and that of the first principle? All seemed connected – not
mentally, but somewhere within.
I myself was surprised at this lack
of effort – especially after the intensity of the negativity. The only
explanation I could find was that the very intensity had helped the negative to
reach its abyss and therefore, the return was easier – certain. The offering
had been sincere and it was the Grace unfolding the inner aspiration in action.
That’s why it all seemed so easy. But still, there seemed to be something more
that still had to come.
This state continued. And then came
the next session where Ameeta took up the second principle of true education……
“The second
principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The idea of
hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a
barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must be induced to
expand in accordance with his own nature. There can be no greater error than for
the parent to arrange beforehand that his son shall develop particular
qualities, capacities, ideas, virtues, or be prepared for a prearranged career.
To force the nature to abandon its own dharma
is to do it permanent harm, mutilate its growth and deface its perfection. It
is a selfish tyranny over a human soul and a wound to the nation, which loses
the benefit of the best that a man could have given and is forced to accept
instead something imperfect and artificial, second-rate, perfunctory and
common. Every one has in him something divine, something his own, a chance of
perfection and strength in however small a sphere which God offers him to take
or refuse. The task is to find it, develop it and use it. The chief aim of
education should be to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which
is best and make it perfect for a noble use.”[19]
Again, the
reading was accompanied by a powerful meditation which evoked the following
experience in me……
My experience… …
Need
felt for……
Intensity.
A question… …
What is that something in me that is divine,
a chance of perfection? I really don’t know.
To
work on inwardly receiving the meaning of these principles and to apply these
in my own life. The following four areas emerged spontaneously:
·
My
interaction with the team[20]
·
At
L’avenir[21]
·
Towards
myself
·
My
family
What
it set off in motion… …
I
knew with certainty that there was no need any more to work on ‘Courage to
manifest goodness’. It was the three principles that I needed to work on. So
that’s what began.
As I focused on the experiences
sparked off by the two principles, and asked myself how I could practice these
myself, this is what emerged……
To
practice with myself… …
---------------- inner quietude supported by economy of
speech
---------------- the power of the visual, experiential and
textual mantra : the words of Sri Aurobindo, the resulting inner experience and
images – a means to re-contact that state of consciousness where the
understanding comes from within
---------------- focusing and offering, being quiet and
receptive before and during facilitation
---------------- keep the focus on understanding the
individual needs of the students (especially in workshops for teacher-students)
---------------- in workshops (such as for parents) where
individual work is not the focus, evoke the Mother’s Presence[22]
and disallow the mind to intervene – but use it for expression, organization,
explanation – practice economy of speech based on an inner sense of when to
stop speaking
---------------- rest in the Mother’s Presence as much as I
can
---------------- discover : what is that divine quality in me
that I must nurture and develop for a right and noble use
To
practice with colleagues… …
---------------- quality of love without attachment or
preferences – a psychic kindness and goodwill in dealing with the other
---------------- focusing on that which is unique in the
other and taking joy in it rather than focusing on the negative – to
concentrate exclusively on what the other wants to be, to forget as entirely as
possible what she does not want to be
---------------- to nurture; let the inner goodness guide me
in nurturing the other – those who are in my care
---------------- to balance authority, hierarchy, discipline,
demand for perfection with love, care, trust, respect and freedom
---------------- to create a learning environment
---------------- quietude and economy of speech
To
practice with my family… …
---------------- quietude and remembrance of the Mother
---------------- evoking the best in the other
---------------- balancing intimacy, familiarity, casualness,
ease, jocularity with intensity, demand for something deeper
---------------- re-understand the needs of the other – by
stepping back and detaching from habitual perceptions
---------------- to share – allow the others to see – the
deeper parts in me
At
L’avenir… …
---------------- to encourage the team to tune their
consciousness to ‘what is that divine quality in each child’ and to nurture
that especially – this might be the next step for report writing which is the
culmination of planning and actual work.
“The
third principle of education is to work from the near to the far, from that
which is to that which shall be. The basis of a man’s nature is almost always,
in addition to his soul’s past, his heredity, his surroundings, his
nationality, his country, the soil from which he draws sustenance, the air
which he breathes, the sights, sounds, habits to which he is accustomed. They
mould him not the less powerfully because insensibly, and from that then we
must begin. We must not take up the nature by its roots from the earth in which
it must grow or surround the mind with images and ideas of a life which is
alien to that in which it must physically move. If anything has to be brought
in from outside, it must be offered, not forced on the mind. A free and natural
growth is the condition of genuine development. There are souls which naturally
revolt from their surroundings and seem to belong to another age and clime. Let
them be free to follow their bent; but the majority languish, become empty,
become artificial, if artificially moulded into an alien form. It is God’s
arrangement that they should belong to a particular nation, age, society, that
they should be children of the past, possessors of the present, creators of the
future. The past is our foundation, the present our material, the future our
aim and summit. Each must have its due and natural place in a national system
of education.”[23]
My experience… …
By now I had prepared myself for no
experience, but still, during meditation the following image came……
And then when Ameeta asked us to reflect on
applying this third principle in our own lives – with ourselves and in teaching
and facilitation, for the system, the following words just flowed……
for myself… …
that which shall be
that which must be
i want that to become
near to me,
whereas in my daily awareness
that is now far.
that which is close to me every day
and traps me into ordinariness
into being less than what I am,
what i want to be,
that i want to become
far, very far, extinct.
for that which shall be
is actually that
which is me,
and what can be more
close than that.
the near and the far
are the same, constant,
it’s i who move.
to become what i am
is the whole journey.
for me it means… …
to stick to a discipline
because that is based
on acknowledging my limitations
and is a safeguard against these.
it is also the scaffolding
which will make me progress.
the discipline is informed
by what i want to be
and that is
… to be very close to the mother
because in Her arms alone
i’m safe
and myself.
for teaching and facilitation… …
i’m bound by my ego
when i teach.
only when i connect to the mother
and remove myself
from between the learner & Her
do i teach well,
and move towards
what i want to be.
at present i cannot see
what is near for the student
and what far.
i try,
but my real concern is myself.
if i can create that for myself,
i see it happens too for the other.
i use at times methods to facilitate it –
modes of interaction, participation,
reflection, experience,
but they work truly
only when i am that what i want to be.
so that indeed is the key for me.
but remembering this
means i begin from the student,
and what seems to me her immediacy.
that helps.
also it helps for me to further discover
the other,
and fine tune my teaching.
for the system… …
an absolute feeling of joy, freedom &
release
fills my heart
when i imagine this principle
being applied … nay, lived in the system.
what tremendous potential unleashed in each
one,
what a dynamic curriculum,
and the teachers released
from the misery of boredom & routine,
the students from their teachers.
learning & teaching based on
each becoming & growing into their
own uniqueness.
an unimaginable variety.
and yet so rooted in sameness.
a true foundation for harmony.
may this come true.
Did I consciously apply the three principles
in my daily life? No, not really. But they often surfaced in my consciousness
and I linked back to the experiences, reflections, aspirations the meditations
around them had evoked in me and that centred me, deepened me. Also, before the
teacher education sessions that I facilitated since then, I would just
concentrate on these principles and make a prayer, offering my attitudes to the
Mother and praying that I did not intervene between the learners and Her, that
I facilitated from a quiet mind and did not speak more than was necessary, that
I could feel Her Presence through the workshop, that each student could go back
with Her touch. There were sessions where all this happened – at least that is
what I experienced, and those where only a little of it happened. This is now
my reference point for whether ‘I’ facilitated well or not – not anything else.
Simultaneously
have begun processes of disciplining myself – in the mind, in the vital and in
the physical – through exercise, reflection, meditation, and working upon my
attitudes in work. My day now has a rhythm, a timetable that helps me balance
my various needs and keep a core of quietude intact. At the same time, I still
feel, I am very much mid-way and have not even confronted several things within
me – may be it is a period of consolidation before the battles re-begin – but
whatever it may be, without this discipline, for me, it will be difficult to
maintain a link with my own aims and be ready for what is to come further.
The
three principles for me have been a lever of change to inwardise and reflect,
to make an effort to become that which I want to be. That, I feel, is the very
first step, before translating them into ‘skills and processes of
facilitation’.
The
individual aspect is not all – it is the beginning, the foundation for a larger
work – which for each may be different. As the individual contacts one’s own
soul, the sensitivity to the nation soul and the soul in humanity is bound to
develop as well. When the individual blossoms in accordance with one’s own swabhava and has the freedom to fulfill
one’s own swadharma, the same is
bound to happen for the nation and humanity as well. This is an experience that
for me has been easy in certain cases (as for the soul of
I would only like to add another dimension
to the understanding of the three principles……[24]
·
‘From
the near to the far’ – The nearness can be physical or psychological or both.
But there is another level of nearness which one is initially not aware of and
which actually seems far – that of one’s own inner being, the inner seeking,
the psychic presence within. Often life, others, one’s own outer being does
everything to prevent one from finding this nearness. It is the action of the
Grace that catalyses certain events which bring the inner reality close to
oneself. The educator can be one such catalyst.
·
‘The
mind has to be consulted in its own growth’ – Our outer being is made up of
contradictory elements and the mind too is divided. The mind that has to be
consulted is the deeper self – not the surface mind.
·
‘Nothing
can be taught’ – It is only when the inner learner is awake that we truly
learn. Therefore, ‘nothing can be taught’ but everything can be learnt. Even
within oneself, for one part of the being to teach another something (when one
is working upon the change of nature or a habit, an attitude) is possible only
with the participation of the psychic, the teacher and the learner within –
without that, all mental or vital control is temporary.
I
invite you to read and re-read Sri Aurobindo’s words[25]
– while normally we use many words to express one idea, his words encase many
ideas at the same time, and it is only as one deepens and deepens further, that
various meanings begin to unfold, each adding more beauty and dynamism to the
whole.
When
I read or hear or think of Sri Aurobindo’s words, my consciousness gathers
itself at the heart centre, or deep behind the frontal mind, or above the head
– with an awareness of the three being interlinked as well. Even though the
word ‘mind’ is used, the three principles seem to refer to a deeper
consciousness within the learner that already knows and is guided by the
essential nature – the swabhava and swadharma of the learner. There is no
question in my mind about how the information is to be imparted – the three
principles seem to refer, for me, to igniting that inner spark, recognizing the
seeking in the learner and to respond to that with a gentleness of the
angels………
-
Anuradha
Appendix
1
Sri Aurobindo has presented to us three
principles of true teaching:
- Nothing can
be taught
- The mind has
to be consulted in its own growth
- From the
near to the far, from that which is to that which shall be
These raise in us certain questions about
the process of learning and therefore, the process of teaching. The first
being: How do we learn?
Reflect upon how you learn. There may be
various ways, but at the core of it all is an inner readiness to learn. No
matter what the outer circumstances, if there is an inner readiness, one
learns. Even when the knowledge, or rather, the information comes from outside,
it is the receptivity of the learner that determines its impact. If the inner
will, interest, receptivity are lacking, no amount of outer resources,
coercion, suggestion can instill learning. On the other hand, even if the outer
resources are lacking, the will of the learner who is seeking, finds ways to
learn. Practice, exposure, guidance help, but are not the initiating factors.
The initiation is from the learner – from something in him or her that wishes
to learn or chooses to learn. So, nothing can really be taught – it is the
learner who initiates learning. And therefore, as an educator, it is that inner
readiness of the learner that must be my first preoccupation.
This naturally brings us to the next
question: Who learns? Obviously, the learner. But, what within the learner?
What is it that is ready or not ready, what is that seeks to know? It is the
entire being of the learner – at times it may be a physical need that demands
fulfillment – for instance, the need for health, balance, agility, stamina,
grace. Or it may be a vital desire that will not rest till it is satisfied –
for instance, the desire to gain power, skills, expertise, ability to
accumulate wealth, to interact, to be looked up to, to have friends, good
relationships, control over one’s emotions, to have one’s way, to be the best,
to compete, and so on. It may be the mind’s interest in knowledge, information,
facts, concepts, the how and why of things, a need to enlarge and enrich
itself, to expose itself to various experiences. Or it may be the inner being’s
will for peace, beauty, harmony, love, joy, wisdom. All these have to be taken
into account, for all these create that readiness in the learner. All this has
to be consulted, but as the various needs in the learner conflict, it becomes
important to discern what needs to be given precedence over others, and why.
This too is the task of the educator.
And lastly: What is to be learnt? If
learning depends on an inner readiness and the needs of the learner, then
obviously the subject matter too should be that which the learner is seeking.
That alone is near to the learner, all else is far. It is a psychological
proximity.
* * *
* * * * * *
To understand the three principles of true
teaching it is important that one understands the entire map of personality, the
true person and the ranges of consciousness, the aim of creation that Sri
Aurobindo has placed before us through his various writings. The three
principles cannot be understood superficially, for then it becomes a dangerous
exercise, often leading one into foolishnesses such as not teaching at all,
letting children grow as wild animals, focusing only on the immediate and
forgetting the wider perspective, and so on.
Based on the good work of various
educational thinkers, many methods have come up: learning by doing, learning by
discovery – the heuristic approach, playway method, and so on. All have a place
in Integral Education, but in no way do they define what Integral Education is.
What the three principles of education point towards is far greater than all
these methods.
Though Sri Aurobindo uses the word ‘mind’ it
is not this frontal mind that he is referring to. When he says, ‘the mind has
to be consulted in its own growth’, it is not to say that just follow the whims
and fancies, the changing moods and ideas of the child or the learner. He
refers to the innate ‘swabahva’ – the
mode, the innate nature of the ‘self’ (swa)
– one’s own true nature – and he indicates the key by saying that everyone has
a divine quality – something unique to his self-expression, to the unfoldment
of his true self, his reason for taking birth and his contribution to the
larger divine plan – cultivate this, help the child to be true to this. Follow
this.
It’s not the teacher’s idea of right and
wrong, good and bad, but the child’s own inner sense of these things that must
be the guide. It’s the child’s true nature that will indicate his interests,
his needs of learning, his path to progress – and this is what the teacher must
be tuned to fully.
Therefore, the teaching becomes an unfolding
– the inner self already knows. The teacher’s work is simply to create the
conditions for this knowledge to come forth – whether through the right
learning materials or environment or questions – but most of all through a
silent influence that evokes the inner being of the student to shine forth.
Does it mean that Maths, Geography, History,
Science, Language – nothing will be taught? That doesn’t seem to be the meaning
at all. If we reflect on our own learning, learning that has left a deep impact
on us, has been meaningful to us in our lives, we see that something else is
behind it besides the act of teaching and sometimes even the teaching is not
there, but it is through life, through experiences or significant times –
either difficult or happy.
What is it that has truly made us learn? It
might be an inner receptivity, a true need, a zeal to know, a desperation …
something independent of the teaching and the teacher. It is this that is the
central thing and unless it is this that is the central thing and unless this
comes into play, all that is taught will be lost, temporary, superficial. When
this need is active, then anything can be learnt and retained. The true
interest is awake and the consciousness of the learner completely engaged. This
is the secret of true teaching. That’s why Sri Aurobindo says, ‘nothing can be
taught’. So, evoke the knower, the learner within each student, and that will
make the teaching alive, lasting, powerful.
And what is it that is meaningful for the
learner? That which is near to it in consciousness. That which it needs to be …
the law of graduality in place which makes sure that one progresses little by
little – integrating all that one is – into that one must be. Only that which
evokes a response in my consciousness, which is close to me, will make sense to
me. But the idea is not to stay at this stage. ‘From that which is, to that
which shall be’. For the inner being carries the entire map of one’s progress –
not only inner progress, but progress in all domains – physical, emotional,
social, intellectual. It is like the inner and unfailing jyotishi.
So all the three principles combine
beautifully in unfolding the power of the true self – manifested in all the
aspects of the being – through that unique quality, the unique possibility that
each individual represents.
And the work is not only individual, but
also collective. As Sri Aurobindo says… ‘The past is our foundation, the
present our raw material, the future our aim and summit.’ And one must
remember, this is a scheme he presents for a national system of education, a
truly man-making and nation-building education.
-
Anuradha
Appendix 2
“The
Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the
Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the
disciple. Teaching, example, influence,—these are the three instruments of the
Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the
passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is
productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering
within. He will seek to awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the
growth of the faculties and the experiences by a natural process and free
expansion. He will give a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an
imperative formula or a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any
turning of the means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His
whole business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force
of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel.
The example is more powerful than
the instruction; but it is not the example of the outward acts nor that of the
personal character which is of most importance. These have their place and
their utility; but what will most stimulate aspiration in others is the central
fact of the divine realisation within him governing his whole life and inner
state and all his activities. This is the universal and essential element; the
rest belongs to individual person and circumstance. It is this dynamic
realization that the sadhaka must feel and reproduce in himself according to
his own nature; he need not strive after an imitation from outside which may
well be sterilising rather than productive of right and natural fruits.
Influence is more important than
example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his
disciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his
soul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that
which he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For
the greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine
consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into
all who are receptive around him.
And
it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not
arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His
work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a
representative. He is a man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a
Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, at highest a
Power or Presence of the Divine calling to him other powers of the Divine.”[26]
“Nothing
can be taught to the mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge
in the unfolding soul of the creature. So also all perfection of which the
outer man is capable, is only a realising of the eternal perfection of the
Spirit within him. We know the Divine and become the Divine, because we are
That already in our secret nature. All teaching is a revealing, all becoming is
an unfolding. Self-attainment is the secret; self-knowledge and an increasing
consciousness are the means and the process.”[27]
- Sri Aurobindo