Date: August 22, 2025
Venue: Matriniketan
As part of the residential programme organized by Uditam: Institute for Integral Healing, Sri Aurobindo Society, Mr. Narendra Murty, Research Associate, BhāratShakti, was invited to facilitate a group discussion on Friday,
August 22, 2025. All the participants were teachers at various Auro Schools; so for his session, Mr. Murty decided to focus on some insights on Teaching from the writings of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.
Mr. Murty began the session by relating the story of Pygmalion and Galatea from Greek mythology which was later recreated as a play titled Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and also adapted as the famous Hollywood film My Fair Lady. The main idea being, what we expect from the students often turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we are appreciative and show that we have high expectations of them, they accordingly rise to the occasion and try to live up to the expectations of the teacher. Conversely, adverse criticism and conveying low expectations often results in demotivation and destruction of morale. So the “Pygmalion Effect” actually acts as a motivator (or demotivator).
Thereafter, Swami Vivekananda’s insight that “Education is the manifestation already in man” was explained that all knowledge was basically a process of inner unfoldment. Arguments given by Swami ji with regard to Newton discovering the gravity were discussed. Thereafter, three of Sri Aurobindo’s principles on Education were enumerated and explained.
- Nothing can be taught and that the true teacher is a helper and a guide.
- The mind of the student has to be consulted and nothing can be taught going against the Swabhava and Swadharma.
- From Near to Far, which implies that the environment, heredity, upbringing, culture etc. have to be taken into account.
And finally, the aspects of TEACHING, EXAMPLE and INFLUENCE as taught by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis of Yoga were explained using the story of Ekalavya from the Mahabharata and a Zen story titled The Tunnel.
Shri Pradeep Narang, Chairman of Sri Aurobindo Society was also present and he too gave his valuable inputs by sharing some of his personal experiences. The session concluded with some questions and interactions on the problems and challenges that teachers face in the regular course of their teaching. It was concluded that teaching is a very challenging and demanding profession because the materials of the work consists of “human minds” and the importance of example and influence was emphasised.