Short Biography of Sri Aurobindo and His Aims of Education

Introduction:

Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) occupies a very important position among the contemporary Indian philosophers of education. He had a wide knowledge in Eastern and Western, ancient and modern systems of education and principles of educational psychology. He presents an integral philosophy of education. Despite being an educationist and philosopher, he was a yogi, guru, poet and nationalist.

Short Biography:

          Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose) was born in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India on 15 August, 1872. At the age of seven he went to England for higher studies. On his return in 1893, he joined Baroda College. At this time, he was fluent with many foreign languages, but less familiar with Indian culture. He spent twelve years in Baroda serving as a teacher, secretary to the Maharaja of Gaekwad and also the Vice Principal of Baroda College. It was only after staying in India for twelve long years that he could understand the harm that the British rule had done to the Indian civilization and he slowly and gradually started showing interest in politics. His initial political activism involved emphasis on the urgency of demanding total freedom from the British government. He finally moved to Bengal in the year 1906 and got in touch with revolutionaries and inspired young revolutionaries. In 1908, the British arrested him in the connection with the Alipore Bomb Case. He was subsequently released after one year of solitary confinement. After the release, he started two new publications: Karmayogi (English) and Dharma (Bengali). In April 1910, he secretly moved to Pondicherry (which was then a French colony) to start a new life. In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo set himself on a path of spiritual learning and evolution by practicing secluded yoga continuously for four years which he termed as ‘integral yoga’. He proposed the importance of spiritual practices in human transformation into a divine entity.

Aims of Education:

          The philosophy of education propounded by Sri Aurobindo is based upon certain fundamental principles. These principles are triple, as follows:

          First, the child should himself know and develop; the teacher should only be a guide. This is true for everyone without distinction of age and sex.

          Secondly, education must suit the particular qualities, capacities, ideas, virtues, etc. of the person concerned. The second principle in the words of Sri Aurobindo is, ‘that mind should be consulted in its own growth.’ There should be no imitation. Each individual and each community should have a system of education suitable to its nature. Everywhere the basic principle is to follow one’s own ‘svadharma.’ The aim of education is self-realization in the individual as well as in the community. Education should help the growing soul to dram out what is best in itself and to make it perfect.

          ‘The third principle of education’, according to Sri Aurobindo’, ‘is to work from the near to the far, from that which is to that which shall be.’ This is a corollary of the second. Everything should be natural to the student, not only the aim but also the means of education. The national system of education should be rooted in the national language. This, however, does not imply any antagonism to foreign languages.

          The aim of education, as defined by Sri Aurobindo, agrees with the definitions of the aim of education advanced by most of the important philosophers of education in East and West. Education is a process to realize the inner nature of the educand. In this process, the educand uses the different elements of education to realize his own nature. Thus, education, according to Sri Aurobindo is paido- centric.

Means of Education:

          Means of education, according to Sri Aurobindo, should be developed according to human nature. The means of education are determined not only by the psychology of the human individual but also that of human society.

          The instrument of education, according to Sri Aurobindo, is the mind or Antakharan; Antakharan according to Sri Aurobindo consists of the following four layers:

1. Chitta: This is the reservoir of past memories and mental impressions. It is from the ‘chitta’ the active memory selects the needed thing when needed.
2. Manas: Manas is the second layer. It receives images coming from sense organs and translates them into thought sensations.
3. Buddhi: Buddhi or intellect the real instrument of thought, is the third layer. Its functions are of two types as follows:

1. Functions and faculties of the right hemisphere: These include judgement, imagination, memory and observation. Its abilities are comprehensive, creative and synthetic. This part of the mind is the master of knowledge.
2. Functions and faculties of the left hemisphere: These are critical and analytic and include comparison and reasoning. They perform the functions of distinction, comparison, classification, deduction, inference and conclusion.

Both require proper training and development in a sound system of education.

4   .Intuitive perception of truth: Fourth layer of the mind is the power of intuitive perception of truth. This power of the mind has to be developed.