Page 38 - NAMAH-Oct-2024

Namah Vol. 32, Issue 3, 15th October 2024

Divine in every aspect of life. Indeed, this the principle on which we must build, that the
has been the master-key of the Indian mind central motive and the guiding ideal. It must
(2). be an education that for the individual, will
make its one central object the growth of the
Although definitions of spirituality vary soul and its powers and possibilities, for the
in different philosophical and academic nation will keep first in view the preservation,
paradigms, there is a consensus in modern strengthening and enrichment of the nation-soul
psychological terms that the term spirituality and its dharma and raise both into powers of the
covers three broad aspects: the “Realisation of life and ascending mind and soul of humanity.
one’s Full Potential;” the “Meaning and Purpose And at no time will it lose sight of man’s highest
of Life;” and “Happiness from Within (3).” object, the awakening and development of his
Training of students must not be limited spiritual being (4).”
to the vast volumes of information; it must
include crucial non-technical attributes which While the national leaders were preoccupied
go on improving their outlook of life and with the struggle for political independence,
pursuit of the true aim of life. Notwithstanding Sri Aurobindo envisioned that real freedom
the immense importance of including spirituality and the renaissance of the country can be
in mainstream education and its growing achieved only by faithful pursuance of ideals
importance, spirituality remains the ‘missing that stem from the roots of Indian civilisation,
link’ in our academic agenda. Pursuance of the soul of the nation.
any educational goal which does not take
cognisance of the value of one’s innermost He wrote:
Self leads to truncated growth.
“A spiritual ideal has always been the characteristic
In the words of Sri Aurobindo, “India has idea and aspiration of India. But the progress of
seen always in man the individual, a soul, a Time and the need of humanity demand a new
portion of the Divinity enwrapped in mind and orientation and another form of that ideal. The
body, a conscious manifestation in Nature of old forms and methods are no longer sufficient
the universal self and spirit. for the purpose of the Time-Spirit. India can no
longer fulfil herself on lines that are too narrow
“Always she has distinguished and cultivated for the great steps she has to take in the future.
in him a mental, an intellectual, an ethical, Nor is ours the spirituality of a life that is aged
dynamic and practical, an aesthetic and and world-weary and burdened with the sense
hedonistic, a vital and physical being, but all of the illusion and miserable in utility of all
these have been seen as powers of a soul that God’s mighty creation.
manifests through them and grows with their
growth, and yet they are not all the soul, …

“…it should be clear that the only true education
will be that which will be an instrument for
this real working of the spirit in the mind and
body of the individual and the nation. That is

38