Sri Aurobindo says, “The education of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his life. For that we have to pray “Mother! Keep me happy by being truthful, sincere, obedient, grateful and by serving the Divine.”. That includes all kinds of education / knowledge.
Mother on commenting on this said,” Yes, that is good because when you are happy here it means you are on the right path – but immediately you feel uneasy or not so happy, it means there is something wrong which you have to attend to – something wrong with you which you have to correct –which will be an education to matter, vital, mind or spirit.
Sri Karmayogi says our aim- in the name of education to child is to make the children fit in to the society and its rules and parameters. It is social, not psychological. The world- at least in the west-it failed miserably, and they are now encouraging the children to explore themselves. Sri Karmayogi says there is no prosperity for those who goes by rule of social norms, methods etc., without going for its true content. For example-gone are the days like only educational degrees are valued unless you have content knowledge in the subject. Now coupled with that you need IQ & EQ. Every field worldwide proves that. There are also failures. So Sri karmayogi asks us not to forget the following in Indian context.
• Caution.
• God is the origin.
• Fundamentals cannot be ignored.
• Limits must be honoured.
• Life is sustained by the great deeds.
• Growth of good/ deeds needs freedom.
• Society is an integrated live organism.
• Taste of Ignorance changing into taste of Jnanam is evolution.
The foremost is the continuation as the changed context permits. We can see the changed social context and their correspondence in changed psychological context of children. The self-affirmation of children is the only rule. What we need is psychological individual.
But Sri Karmayogi says, the future is only for spiritual individual. This can only come through the education which gives- Spirit in life – should be our goal for the future. In practice, it is spiritual values in life. Honesty, loyalty, integrity, cleanliness, Self-giving – are the spiritual values. They all sum up in a life of utter Truthfulness. If we can give our children an education that gives them an experience in life that Truth is of value, and it is the only thing of value, we will have discharged our spiritual duty to the next generation.
