aurobindo ghosh

AUROBINDO GHOSH

Introduction

            Aurobindo Ghosh was born in 1872 in Calcutta.  At the age of 6, he went to England and studied the masterpiece creations of ancient philosophers, social thinkers & poets and he became well.  Versed in many languages.

            He returned to India in 1993.  He served for 13 years in Baroda state under the Gaikvad ruler.  Then he resigned and jumped into political struggle.

            He arose the feeling of nationalism in the people of India through  his papers namely 'Bandematram',  Karmayogin' and 'Dharm' and declared complete independence as the goal of struggle of independence the suffered imprisonment many times for his active involvement in the struggle of freedom.

            He spent the rest of his life in this Ashram doing Yoga Sadhana, meditation for spiritual growth and development.  He preached to the world his philosophy of Dharam, spiritual growth, Brahamacharaya, Yoga and Educational ideology.  He died in 1950.

Philosophy of Education:

            Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was not only a great philosopher but an eminent educationist also.  He stresses that the main aid of a teacher is his conscience.  This conscience has 4 stages namely (i) Consciousness (ii) Mind (iii) Intelligence and (iv) knowledge.  Education should develop all these 4 stages as much as possible.

            As an idealist, Aurobindo's philosophy of education is based on spiritual penance, practice of yoga and Brahmacharya.  He held the view that any education involving all the three factors will definitely develop man to the fullest extent.

            According to him, a man does not possess a physical spirit only, he is endowed with higher mental, godly intelligence and a very high spiritual element also.  Not only this,; he has a capacity to recognize and realize God.  To realize this great aim,; he has to develop his powers of thinking, concentration and deep meditation together with other divine faculties to the fullest.

            According to him, real education is that which provides a free and creative environment to the child and by developing his interest, creativity, mental, moral and aesthetic sense finally leads to the development of his spiritual powers.

            Sri Aurobindo himself writes - "that alone would be true and living education which helps to bring out to full advantage all that is in individual man".

Basic Principles of Educational Philosophy:

1. Education should be import and through the medium of mother - tongue.
2. Education should be child centered.
3. Education should be according to the mental aptitude and psychological needs of the child.
4. Education should develop to the full the latent powers of the child.
5. Education should achieve the physical purification of child.
6. Education should develop consciousness. 
7. Education should train the senses of child.
8. Education should develop he soul substance of an individual.
9. Brahmacharya should be the basic foundation of education.
10. Subjects of education should be interesting.
11. Education should develop all the faculties of child to make him a complete man.
12. There should be religious thing in education otherwise it will spread corruption.

Aims of Education:

1. Physical Development and Purity:

            The 1st aim of education is to achieve complete physical and pure development of a child.   According to him, it is the body which performs all religious obligations.  He not only emphasized physical development but purity also.  Without no spiritual development is possible.

2. Development of Senses: 

            The 2nd aim of education is to train all the senses namely hearing, speaking, listening, touching, smelling and tasting.  According to him, this sense can be fully trained when nerve, chitta and manas (mind) are pure.  So through education purity of senses is to be achieved before any development is possible.

3. Mental Development:

            The 3rd aim of education is to achieve mental development of the child.  This mental development means the development of all mental faculties namely memory, thinking, reasoning, imagination and discrimination.

4. Development of Morality:

            Another essential aim of education is to develop the child morally.  He has emphasized that without moral and emotional development, mental development becomes harmful to human.   Progress for the moral development of a child, emotions, impressions or habits and nature are the three essential factors.  According to him, hearts of children should be developed to show extreme love, sympathy and consideration for all living being.  This is real moral development.  Thus, the ideals of a teacher should be so high that the child is able to reach higher and higher stages of development.

5. Development of Conscience:

            Another important aim of education is to develop the conscience.  According to him, it has four levels namely (1) Chitta  (2) Manas (3) Intelligence & (4) Knowledge.  A teacher should develop all these four levels.  This will promote the development of conscience.

6. Spiritual Development:

            Another aim of education is to promote spiritual development.  According to him, every human being has some element of divinity in him.  In his own words " 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".

Curriculum:

            Shri Aurohindo Ghosh prescribed free environment for the child to develop all his latent faculties to the full and suggested all those subjects and activition of child's interest to be included in the curriculum such subjects and activities should possess elemeris of creativity and educational expression.  He wished to infuse a new life and spirit into each subject and activity through which the development of super human being could become possible.

1. Primary Stage:

            Mother - tongue, English, French, Literature, National History, Art.

2. Secondary Stage:

           Mother- tongue, English, French, Arithmetic, Art, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Physiology, Health education, social studis.

3. University Stage:

            Indian and western philosophy, History of civilization, English literature, French literature, Socialogy, Psychology,  History of science, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, international relations and integration.

4. Vocational Education:

            Arts, Painting, Photography, sewing, Sculptural drawing, Type, Shorthand, cottage industries, carpentry, Mechanical and Electrical engineering, ;Nursing,; indian and Eropean Music,  Dramatization and Dancing.

5. Methodes of Teaching:

            Shri Aurobindo Gosh has laid stress upon the following principles of methods of teaching.

1. Freedom of child.
2. Love and sympathy for the child.
3. Education through Mother Tongue.
4. Education According to interest of the child.
5. Education through self-Experience
6. Emphasis on Learning by Doing.
7.  Education through co-operation.
8. Education According to the Nature of child.

Conclussion:

            The most significant contribution made by Sri Aurobindo to the world of education is his integral approach.  To day human beings every where suffer from one sidedness in through and action.  In the beginning of the present century there were 'isms' in different fields of thought including philosophy Psychology, and education.  Scholars were classified into different schools.  To day, into disciplinary studies have shown that all human science are closely connected among themselves and also with Philosophy.

References:-

1.      Dr.A.Meenakshi Sundram, "Education challenges in Indian Society", Kavyamala publication.

2.      J.C. AGARWAL "Theory and principle of Education", Vikas publication.