Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti was invited by Sri Aurobindo Society, West Bengal State Committee to speak on the topic – “Integral Education and a Teacher’s Dharma”.
This event was held on January 27, 2025 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8, Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata, at 6:00 PM. About 40 people including several teachers and educationists attended the talk. The event opened with a welcome address by Shri Subrata Sen. Dr. Dilip Kumar Roy, retired professor of Philosophy from Presidency College, Kolkata and recipient of Sri Aurobindo Puraskar by Sri Aurobindo Samiti, Kolkata & the Governor of West Bengal, gave the opening keynote address in which he briefly summarised Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s vision of Integral Education and its significance for the future evolution of humanity. This was followed by a brief introduction of Dr. Mehra given by Shri Subrata Sen.
In her talk Dr. Mehra highlighted that a truly Integral approach to education must ensure that the various instruments of the soul – body, life and mind – are well prepared and trained and developed to their highest potential, and that students are prepared to pursue an inner life or a life of self-discovery and self-transformation along with engaging in all aspects of a worldly life after completing their formal education. If we truly want this to be the goal of education, then the role and influence of a teacher cannot be underestimated. She said that in this information age where one just has to make a few clicks on the keyboard or on phone, or just give command to ChatGPT, the need of the hour is a rebirth of the teacher. This implies that a teacher must rediscover his or her dharma as a facilitator for integral progress of the learner.
Dr. Mehra spoke breifly about the Vedic vision of a guru, and further added that in India we have also recognized that a teacher can be working at various levels – depending on his/her own inner level of development and growth of consciousness as well as preparation. She connected this with Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s insight that an educator’s true role is that of a gentle facilitator who tries to create an ideal atmosphere where the learners can discover, with proper impetus, the knowledge that lies hidden within them through gradual unfolding and development of various faculties. For this, it is important that they are fully aware of the complexity of a human being, so that they can be more conscious of their dharma to help the learners grow and develop to their full potential.
Dr. Mehra reminded that one of the most basic goals in the Integral education is to attend to the inner needs of every individual student. The education imparted should not be impersonal and group-oriented. It has to be sensitive to the total personality of each individual child.
To be a successful teacher teaching in the right way as recommended by the Mother, Dr. Mehra said that one should rigorously refrain from stereotyping one’s manner of teaching, from making it the same for all the students. A teacher must possess a great flexibility in his or her approach, and must also consciously develop an inner sense of understanding the specific temperament and need of each learner. A teacher should remember that each child is a soul in evolution and requires a different approach through which it will fully blossom in its uniqueness. She narrated two Upanishadic stories to illustrate this point further as they provide two examples of unique teaching styles from Indian cultural history.
Another point Dr. Mehra highlighted as part of teacher’s dharma is to have a constant thirst for progress. This she said, is perhaps the best way a teacher can prepare herself or himself for the changing paradigm of education and to facilitate an awakening of the true thirst of learning in children. Highlighting the need for rethinking teacher education and preparation, Dr. Mehra brought in some references to what has been proposed in the National Education Policy 2020. She highlighted that the inner dimension of teacher preparation can no longer be ignored if we want to work with an integral approach to education.
The outer focus of all existing professional development programmes and mentoring appraoches is highly limited. With the help of some examples from Indian cultural and historical tradition, Dr. Mehra pointed out that what made these mentors and teachers truly remarkable was the higher and deeper consciousness from which they acted in the world. These mentors had greater self-mastery, had a deeper vision of their purpose and work in life, a deeper understanding of the significance of their work for the larger world. They had a vision for a better world, but they were not merely visionaries; they also had the will to execute their vision and transform into well-planned action.
Dr. Mehra then brought attention to the three ways a teacher or a guru works, according to Sri Aurobindo – instruction, example and influence. She emphasised that the teacher should be the living example of what he asks the students to become. A teacher who is a seeker, an aspirant on the path of inner growth and self-discovery is a real-world role model for the students, and can gradually, through her example and influence, awaken in the growing minds and hearts an urge for constant progress and inner discovery.
A teacher’s own inner work will be a key factor in facilitating students’ inner un-folding, emphasised Dr. Mehra. This led her to bring attention to the significance of psychic education as the most fundamental aspect of Integral Education. Ultimately, a true and living education will be built on the ideal that the teacher must have faith in the child’s inner teacher to guide his or her own becoming. Dr. Mehra reminded that undoubtedly, this applies equally to the teacher herself – to have a faith in her own inner teacher – whatever one may call That Presence, the Divine Spark within.
Dr. Mehra concluded her talk by emphasising that a teacher’s ability to facilitate the learner’s journey of discovering his or her inner teacher is dependent upon her current state of unfoldment and her connection with her inner guide. This is truly a teacher’s dharma – to work constantly to awaken the inner teacher, the psychic presence which alone can guide in ways beyond mind’s reasoning ability. She added that our teacher education programmes must aim at facilitating such blossoming of educators as whole and integrated persons.
Some interesting questions about psychic education came up during the Q & A session after the talk. Dr. Mehra pointed out some of the practical tips that the Mother has given in this regard.
The session concluded with a Vote of Thanks delivered by Shri Biswajit Ganguly, Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata. Dr. Mehra presented a set of her published books for the Bhavan library to Shri Ganguly.
Recording of the talk will be available soon.
