Two facets of progress – service and integral education

From the speech of Droupadi Murmu, after taking oath as President of India, two things – service and integral education – stood out.

Murmu quoted the 19 th century Saint poet of Odisha, Bhima Bhoi, “mo jivan pachhe narke padithau, jagata uddhara heu”, roughly translated as “the world must be saved even if I suffer hell for that cause.” The previous line in the original poem adds more meaning to this line, “how can I tolerate the pain of others?” Though it is difficult to give the exact rendition of the spiritual vision of the saint poet and also keeping in view the difficulty of translation of spiritual poetry, the import is very clear. There is pain everywhere, and seeing this pain, the poet suffers himself, his kindred spirit weeps at the pain of others, and he is willing to sacrifice himself, all his belongings and even his life, if that sacrifice can alleviate suffering of others. This poem reminds another famous poem from 15 th century Vaishnava poet, Narsinh Mehta, “Vaishnava jana to tene kahiye jo pir parai janere”, meaning those individuals who can feel the suffering of others and work to alleviate that suffering can be truly called divine.

Murmu’s reference to Bhima Bhoi and his song in this 21 st century tumultuous world is not without significance. While the founders of modern India saw politics as a medium of service, thus earning the appropriate epithet, public servants, the politics after a few decades of independence degenerated. We seldom have leaders of the stature of Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India. After his presidential term ended, Prasad retired to Patna and lived an austere life. There are even stories that his simplicity surprised many of his visitors. One can think of another great leader, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India. One of my friends from Gujarat who had an opportunity to work with the daughter of Patel, Maniben, told me that he had seen Maniben wearing a sari with patchworks. The point here is not to glorify the simplicity, but the spirit of sacrifice that undergirded their work. Simple living, high thinking – guided their work. The spirit of service and sacrifice slowly started evaporating from Indian politics with the passing decades after independence. Politics remained no more a noble profession, but a means to earn money and fame. Hence, the reference of President Murmu to Bhima Bhoi is a great reminder to all politicians and to all aspirants to be politicians that politics must not be a means for self-aggrandizement, but a means to service to the people and the nation. This view of politics also approximates the view of politics as held by Greek thinker Plato, for whom politics is a noble profession, and it requires rigorous education, including physical training, to do service to the nation.

Coming to education, President Murmu referred to another great Indian, Sri Aurobindo. While pointing out that this year marks 150 th birth anniversary of the Yogi and philosopher, Murmu said she was inspired by Sri Aurobindo’s integral education. In fact, during her early career she taught at one of Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Center in Odisha. It is no surprise, hence, that Droupadi Murmu’s views towards life, society and politics have been colored by that integral perspective, as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo. In summary, Sri Aurobindo’s integral education calls for a transformation of individual and collective life in a spiritual light, in which individual’s physical, vital and mental developments are shaped by that light. His motto, ‘All life is Yoga’ encapsulates such a viewpoint. Without entering into a detailed analysis of Sri Aurobindo’s integral education, it will be sufficient here to say that such an approach to education is very much needed in our time of manifold crises and turbulence. We as a human race progressed tremendously in the field of science and technology, and which Sri Aurobindo would well approve of, but in the realm of inner development and spiritual progress, we have lagged far behind. That chasm, integral education would tell us, must be addressed in right earnest. There are reports that the youth of India spend significant time in social media without any substantial gain, and a lot of youthful energy is wasted on trivia, and those energy, dynamism, as Murmu rightly alluded to, could be invested in right purpose for the development of youth, and for the growth of the nation. All round development of the youth and all-round development of the nation are connected, and in this direction, the education must not be an enterprise to generate certificate earning youth seeking jobs, but also youth not only qualified for jobs but also imbibed with a spiritual mission, as invoked by Bhima Bhoi and Narsinh Mehta.

I wish the very best to President Droupadi Murmu. It would perhaps be no exaggeration to say that at this critical juncture of India’s destiny, President Murmu appeared as a right leader to steer India to its rightful place in the world by pushing Indians – Indian youth and Indian leaders – to cultivate inner development and act out from there.

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