8 Phenomena of Varieties of Spiritual Experience: Synthesis in Integral Realisation There is, however, an important problem from the phenomena of the varieties of spiritual experience. In the course of the history of yoga, there have been detailed investigations of the object of knowledge, status of yogic knowledge that has been obtained through yogic processes and the results of yogic experiences for the highest well- being of the individual and the world at all levels of existence, spiritual, mental, vital, and physical. In this course of development, the field of inquiry would have been much easier and much simpler if methods were uniform and if th

Appendix I Here is another document, even more definite in character, which, the writer being a Swiss, I translate from the French original.¹ "I was in perfect health: we were on our sixth day of tramping, and in good training. We had come the day before from Sixt to Trient by Buet. I felt neither fatigue, hunger, nor thirst, and my state of mind was equally healthy. I had had at Forlaz good news from home; I was subject to no anxiety, either near or remote, for we had a good guide, and there was not a shadow of uncertainty about the road we should follow. I can best describe the condition in which I was by calling it a state of equilibrium. When all at once I experienced a

Notes and References 1. Rig Veda, 1.10.1,2 2. Rig Veda, V.19.1 3 The nature of the crisis that Arjuna underwent is described vividly in Chapters I &. II of the Bhagavad Gita, and the relevant portions are appended in Appendix XV (p. 192) 4. Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL), 1971, Pondicherry, Vol.20, p.63 5. Ibid., p.2 6. Sri Aurobindo's poem "Divine Worker" that describes the state of consciousness of the divine worker is appended at Appendix VIII (p.157) 7. Quoted by Bertrand Russell in his History of Western Philosophy, paperback edition, 1996

7 Recapitulation: Some Questions and Answers What has been stated so far is only a glimpse of the varieties of yogic experience, and what is stated is far too inadequate even to serve as a preface to the descriptions of yogic experiences available in the history of relevant literature. A few broad rough strokes have been cast, and many important systems of yoga such as those of the Veda and the Upanishads, and many traditions of the East and the West have been either just mentioned or altogether unpardonably ignored. (a) From what has been indicated here and what can be gathered, — if we make a studious and critical study of the important literature on yogic expe

I A Preliminary Note If experience is a means of knowledge, and even of higher and the highest degrees and kinds of knowledge by identity in which the subject and the object of knowledge are united, and if such experiences are a means of growth, of ennoblement of character and personality, of expansion, deepening and heightening of consciousness and will-force, then yoga stands out, — considering the methods that it has developed for attaining depths, heights and widenesses as also objectivity and certainty, — as a human endeavour of the highest value. For yoga is, at all levels of its stages, based on experience and it develops by accumulation of experience, and its

8 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 1. Dr. Aruna Khasgiwalla (AK) Reader, Faculty of Social Work, M.S. University of Baroda, Opp. Fatehganj Post Of- fice, Fatehganj, Baroda-390 002 Tel. "No.310411 (0), 310623(R) 2. Dr. Bharti Desai (BD) Reader, Deptt. of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda-390 002. 3. Mr. Caeser D'Silva (CD) Headmaster, Firdaus Amrut Centre, Ahmedabad-380 003. Tel. No.786-6393 (0) 4. Mrs. Geeta Mayor (GM) Trustee-Executive, Sangeet Kendra, "The Retreat" (Opp Underbridge), Shahbagh, Ahmedabad-380 009. Tel. No.786- 7901 (O)7866751(R) Page

6 CONTENTS OF EDUCATION Aims of education determine the contents and methods of education. If our aim is that of life-long integral education, the contents of education have to be conceived quite differently from what are normally pursued in our present system of education. In India, almost all schools follow a curriculum which was originally designed to arrive at the end of the educational process within a limited period and to fashion clerical abilities among students. Gradually, it has been expanded to suit the needs of producing lawyers, engineers, medical doctors, businessmen and teachers. Vocational courses have only been recen

4 EDUCATION FOR PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT I 1. Let me begin with a brief reference to the 1972 Report of the International Commission on Development of Education, established by UNESCO, -- the report which conveys its theme so aptly through its own title, "Learning to be". The Report had become very famous during the seventies, but it has unfortunately receded into the background. To know, to possess and to be -- this is the central demand of life, and, rightly, this ought to be the central demand of education, particularly when, as in the Report, there is a clear and categorical recognition of the need for a

1 EDUCATION FOR TOMORROW What innovations do we need? And Why? 1. The modern age is marked by breath-taking discoveries and inventions. But nothing is perhaps so significant and pregnant for the future as the discovery of the child and the modern educationist's efforts for the invention of the New Education which would be appropriate to the ever-fresh discoveries of the mysteries of the child. 2. The modern educationist has been wonderstruck by the tremendous feat of learning that the child performs in the first few years of its life. What is the secret, he has asked, of this tremendous speed of learning? 3. He has observe

5 A MODEL FRAMEWORK OF TEACHING — LEARNING SUITABLE TO INTEGRAL EDUCATION It is not intended to present here a model of the required framework as the model, but as a tentative and experimental model that could be utilized, with the necessary modifications, for innovative experiments. The new model will be so flexible that it can accommodate or adjust itself with the various programmes of education of varying durations. In particular, this model will aim at providing the necessary structure and organization so as to permit the art of self learning and integral development o