Date: June 2, 2025
Venue: Sri Aurobindo Society
“Our call is to young India. It is the young who must be the builders of the new world,—not those who accept the competitive individualism, the capitalism or the materialistic communism of the West as India’s future ideal, nor those who are enslaved to old religious formulas and cannot believe in the acceptance and transformation of life by the spirit, but all who are free in mind and heart to accept a completer truth and labour for a greater ideal.”
~ Sri Aurobindo
On June 2, 2025, the BhāratShakti team organised a workshop titled Yuvā Shakti: Indian View on Character Development for students of Sardar Patel University, Gujarat at Sri Aurobindo Society. BhāratShakti department has been organising similar workshops for the students of the same University for the last couple of years. See previous reports HERE and HERE.
The 2025 Yuvā Shakti workshop was inspired by a few insights which Sri Aurobindo gives us about Aryan character development as an essential aspect of true education.
Participants included 25 undergraduate and post-graduate students from various departments and colleges of the university and several faculty members and university coordinators. The students were attending a Study Camp in Pondicherry organised by the university. Apart from the students, professors Dr. Parambhai Pathak, Prof. Rajesh Kariya, Dr. Jigna and three other faculty members were also present.
Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti, conducted the first session where she invited the students to share their understanding of what “Character” means. Many of the students came up with insightful views on the matter and some queries were also addressed relating to it. The discussion was mostly kept in Hindi.
Thereafter, Dr. Mehra brought up the subject of what is meant by Arya and the Aryan character as explained by Sri Aurobindo in his various writings. She brought out some specific points about how to cultivate these Aryan qualities using illustrations and anecdotes. She highlighted a few quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother regarding these virtues and invited students to share their understanding.
A short animation film based on a tale told by the Mother on Self-control was also shown to the students. This film was made by Ms. Biswajita Mohapatra, the design and administrative assistant at BhāratShakti.
For another session, an interactive exercise inspired by the Bhagavad Gita was facilitated by the BhāratShakti team. Each student were asked to pick a slip from a basket on which was written a specific quality. They were supposed to share their understanding about the quality and share whether it is a quality of daivic prakriti or asuric prakriti.
The students shared many thoughtful responses which helped everyone deeper their understanding. Dr. Mehra explained that Sri Aurobindo reminds that we all have these qualities within us to varying extent, and through our sustained effort, will-power and Divine Grace we can transform our lower nature.
Thereafter, the students were given an exercise to go through a picture exhibition of 20 posters which contained pictures with quotes from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Aryan character to note down a couple of points that resonated with them so that they could share their views on it. Ms. Biswajita Mohapatra under the guidance of Dr. Mehra had designed these exhibition posters.
After a tea break, Ms. Shruti Ramteke, Manager, AuroMedia facilitated a session where the students were divided into four separate groups for enacting and performing to express a certain idea expressed in selected quote from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. This team activity involved students figuring out how to use the language of the body as a means of expression.
The groups were given ten minutes to discuss amongst themselves what they understood by the quote and how they will express its meaning and essence through a small team performance. Ms. Ramteke went around each of the four groups to see if the students needed any assistance. Each of the faculty members also joined the group discussion.
Each group was then invited to present their performance. It was amazing to see how the students were able to plan a meaningful performance of about 5 minutes each, within such a short time. These short theatrical performances – in Hindi and Gujarati – beautifully expressed the theme of their assigned quote.
After a brief discussion on the themes highlighted during the performances, Mr. Narendra Murty, Research Associate, BhāratShakti, shared a couple of short stories emphasising the role of self-knowledge as part of one’s character development.
Thereafter, our esteemed Chairman Mr. Pradeep Narang had a short interaction with the students and was very pleased with their responses. He spoke to them of the value of quietening the mind and the challenges one faces in this regard. He asked them some engaging questions on what is understood by character development.
A short online valedictory programme was also arranged. Prof. Niranjan Patel, Vice Chancellor of Sardar Patel University, Dr. Bhalendu Vaishnav, Chair of Sri Aurobindo Integral Studies, Sardar Patel University and Ms. Rajeshwari Singh, President of Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Kendra at Vallabh Vidyanagar joined online. They were accompanied by Dr. Vibha Vaishnav and a few other well-wishers of the annual student study camp to Pondicherry.
Prof. Patel shared a few words of encouragement and interacted with Sri Aurobindo Society Chairman as well as the participating students. Dr. Bhalendu Vaishnav also addressed the gathering. Prof. Rajesh Kariya gave a vote of thanks and expressed gratitude for the collaborative spirit which guides the annual Yuva Shakti workshop at Sri Aurobindo Society. The workshop came to an end with the felicitation of the professors of the University.
The workshop was a resounding success which the students enjoyed thoroughly. It engaged the youth through a series of discussions, storytelling and engaging activities and collaborative work to highlight the value of virtues such as courage, humility, non-detached action and thirst for deepening and widening one’s knowledge of self and the world, as part of one’s overall character development. All sessions were kept interactive so as to engage the young minds and hearts.