Pestalozzi (Schöner) 1808 A Lover of Children Introduction ...a very ugly man with bristly hair, a face lined with smallpox scars and covered with freckles, an irregular and prickly beard, with no neckerchief; a man whose badly buttoned trousers drooped over his socks as these did over his rough shoes; a man with a panting, jerky walk, with eyes which at one moment sparkled, wide open, and at another closed in inward contemplation, with features which sometimes reflected a deep sorrow and then sometimes the purest joy, with a voice which was now hesitating and now impetuous, now soft and harmonious, and now storming like thunder. ..We

Learning is Recollection Introduction What is learning? How do we learn? These and allied questions are central in determining the roles of the teacher and the pupil. There is a view that learning is effected by a stimulus-response process, and that learning manifests in modified behaviour. According to this view, the rudimentary power of responding to a stimulus is an innate reflex in the pupil which can be conditioned by various series of stimuli, either natural or designed. This view is intimately associated with the theory that the mind in its original state is a tabula rasa, a blank slate, over which sensati

Jean Jacques Rousseau, Painting by Quentin de La Tour Holding the Hand of the Pupil Introduction How did it come about that a man born poor, losing his mother at birth and soon deserted by his father, afflicted with a painful and humiliating disease, left to wander for twelve years among alien cities and conflicting faiths, repudiated by society and civilization, repudiating Voltaire, Diderot, the Encyclopedic, and the Age of Reason, driven from place to place as a dangerous rebel, suspected of crime and insanity, and seeing, in his last months, the apotheosis of his greatest enemy — how did it come about that this man, after

Bertrand Russell at the age of nine What the Educator Needs and What His Pupils Should Acquire Introduction Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) has been acknowledged as one of the leading mathematicians of our times. His philosophical writings have made a great impact on contemporary philosophical thought. His writings on social reconstruction have stimulated radical thinking about some of society's important institutions. In the field of education, although his contributions were not as massive as in mathematics and philosophy, he was considered an ardent leader of those who held that education ought to e

THE HUMAN DISCIPLE Introduction There are moments when all that we have learnt, believed and practised seems to lead us to perplexity and confusion, and we find ourselves helpless and at a stand-still. The norms and standards of conduct we have followed so far come into sharp conflict and we no longer know what to do or how to act, even when we are aware that some action is necessary. These are moments of crisis, and in our state of helplessness we are apt to give up the battle of life. Fortunate are they who, at such a moment, have a questioning and seeking mind and a teacher nearby to whom they can turn for advice, knowledge and inspiration. At

PART SEVEN Integral Yoga: Synthesis of Science and Spirituality The integral yoga as developed by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is, although perfected in all its aspects, still an unfinished chapter opening itself to the future that is in the making. It is impossible to turn this yoga into a religion; it has no dogmas and rituals that can be mechanically believed in or practised. It is a multisided Way that is still being traversed; it is open to any individual for his or her free choice to traverse in the way that is suitable to his or her own law of nature and development; it is also available to humanity as an indispensable aid to its advance towards the highest ideals o

PART ONE Yoga and Evolution Evolution can, when examined in its inner processes of development, be seen to be basically a process of yoga; and yoga can, when examined from the point of view of the instruments which are selected for application for purification and concentration, be considered to be a process of evolution. However, yoga and its processes aim at acceleration of the processes of natural evolution, and they eliminate more and more effectively the ordinary tardy method of slow and confused growth that we find in the processes of natural evolution. As Sri Aurobindo points out: ".. .the natural evolution is at its best an uncertain growth under cov

PART THREE Experimental Nature of the Integral Yoga The unique feature of the integral yoga is that it is not based on speculation but it has been built and is even being built by rigorous methods of experimentation, based on the relevant accumulated knowledge of the past experiences and realizations as also on the basis of a constant thrust towards what is needed unprecedentedly for the evolutionary manifestation of the supramental consciousness and power on the earth. Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's works testify to the long and arduous process of experimentation carried on day after day for years and decades. If we study the life and wor

Preface Yoga has for long been conceived as the discipline that necessitates rejection of life and its activities. The Integral Yoga, on the contrary, maintains that all life is Yoga and that life can greatly be helped if we apply the principles of yoga to the problems of life. All life must be accepted, but all life must be transformed by the application of the Integral Yoga. It is further contended that the contemporary problems of life have reached a critical stage and that criticality can be resolved only if we apply principles of Integral Yoga to the problems of the contemporary crisis. The purpose of this book is to elucidate this view of the Integral Yoga and to br

Kireet Joshi (b. 1931) studied philosophy and law at the Bombay University. He was selected for the I. A. S. in 1955 but in 1956, he resigned in order to devote himself at Pondicherry to the study and practice of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He taught Philosophy and Psychology at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education at Pondicherry and participated in numerous educational experiments under the direct guidance of The Mother. In 1976, the Government of India invited him to be Educational Advisor in the Ministry of Education. In 1983, he was appointed Special Secretary to the Government of India, and he held the post until 1988. He was Member Sec