On May 6, 2022, Dr. Beloo Mehra was invited to deliver an online talk as part of the YES Talks. YES – Yoga, Education and Spirituality – is an initiative started by Dr. Ramesh Bijlani of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch, based on the idea – Yoga is education. Education is incomplete without spirituality. Spirituality in practice is yoga.
The series of YES Talks is a special offering for the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo. The weekly on-line talks on Fridays are launched as a humble step towards the realization of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s dream of a better world in not too distant a future.
In order to contextualise what a dharma-centric education may be or what we understand by learner as a soul-in-evolution, Dr. Mehra in her talk made references to the New Education Policy which is an attempt to bring into our national consciousness some of the higher goals that our education must pursue.
She emphasised if our goal is that educational philosophy, policy and approaches are grounded in the eternal spirit of India and in her evolving soul, we must ensure that we start off our thought process with a good understanding of the Indian vision of the concept of man – the individual, and the aim(s) of human life.
Pointing out briefly the integral view of a human being, she spoke about how a good education which values all-round holistic development of the learner can truly become progressive and dharmic in a real sense is when an emphasis is given on the integration of all parts of the being around one’s central truth – the psychic being. The need for psychic education was emphasised as a way to make education truly dharmic.