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WORKING WITH THE YOUTH

The future of any nation, and of humanity as a whole, lies with the youth. Many a wise people have expounded on the incredible potential that lies with the young people. They are not only a storehouse of infectious energy, and perhaps it may even be a very superficial way of looking at what makes youth so special; but it is qualities like transparency, frankness, honesty, a spirit of adventure, and a burning idealism that makes youth such a special time in one’s life. It is the age where “sky is the limit” and one is most ready to give oneself to a purpose, a call that is able to captivate the young mind. Indeed, youth is the initial garden of one’s life, where the seeds of the most beautiful flowers or those of the most poisonous weed are sowed. 

Youth also is one of the most fertile periods of one’s life. A young mind, intellect, heart is constantly athirst and seeking for ways to enlarge itself, to widen and deepen itself. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother placed much importance on the overall development of young people, and they saw that the future of humanity does not lie centuries away, but it is being created in the hearts of young men and women right now. Sri Aurobindo expressed his will thus: 

Our call is to young India. It is the young who must be the builders of the new world,... all (those) who are free in mind and heart to accept a completer truth and labour for a greater ideal. 

The Mother too has placed much stress on how important it is to remain young, not only for the pursuit of Yoga, but even to live a full life. She says:

We can say that youth is constant growth and perpetual progress-and the growth of capacities, possibilities, the field of action and range of consciousness, and progress in the working out of details.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is an unusual ashram, and was even more so almost a century ago when it came into being, owing to the emphasis it places on not just spiritual growth, but on physical perfection, intellectual growth, and an increasing subtlety, beauty and finesse of emotions. Sri Aurobindo’s work of transformation makes it imperative and indispensible for those on his path to not shun any aspect of human existence but constantly strive and work towards its transformation into its higher form. With this living ideal, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram-Delhi Branch from its early years itself felt a need to work with the youth. The Mother’s International School, counted among the most respectable schools in Delhi, was founded in 1956. This was followed by conception of Mira Nursery School for young children. Within the next few years of that, the Ashram had also started reaching out to young people spread all over India through its “National Integration Camps” with the objective of augmenting the truth of unity behind diversity that makes a beautiful country as India, and also to educate them about the grand vision of Sri Aurobindo and Mother for India and the unity of human beings all over the world. In 1981, Mirambika Free Progress School was started, which was devoted to understand and implement the vision of Integral Education as envisioned by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. It is one of the very first schools in India to implement alternate pedagogy and has been an inspiration for many others to start experimenting with education which takes the child beyond the blackboard and the classroom. Matri Karuna Vidalaya was another baby of the Ashram, which strove to reach out to the economically underprivileged young children with more progressive ideas and practices of learning and education. However, due to certain Government policies, these forward-looking initiatives had to be discontinued. 

In 1989, the Ashram turned towards those young people who, due to lack of resources or other difficult familial and social reasons, were unable to continue their studies further. Almost all of them belonged to poorer socio-economic backgrounds. SAIVT (Sri Aurobindo Institute of Vocational Training) was thus born. Keeping in view our commitment to National Integration, we select participants from all different states of the country. So at any given time we have youth from 15 or more states thus ensuring National Integration. Since the vocational training course is held on the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch premises, it has two distinct features. Firstly the trainees are not segregated from the community at large on the campus and are able to mingle into the crowds of the Ashram, the teacher trainees, the guests and visitors from all over the country and abroad. This makes them an integral and organic portion of the community. Automatically their living standard is raised and even more important their standard of thinking and communicating improves thus building a self-confidence which is of great help to them in later lives. Secondly we give so much stress on an all-round development of the individual body, mind, emotions and spirit and the emphasis is more on an integrated growth of the personality rather than the goal of only improving their vocational skills, the trainees are highly benefited from this attitude. The six months' stay in the Ashram teaches them the merits of a simple, hygienic and regulated life style, acting as a base for a morally upright life. The contact with the wide variety of people in the Ashram develops leadership qualities and widens their horizons of their knowledge and is also extremely educative and beneficial. We strongly feel that after completion of this six months training programme, the participants go back with attitude and skills that enable them to function better as productive citizens. 

We also strive to upgrade their value system and equate them with the rich cultural heritage of our country to which they are abundantly exposed in the beautiful and serene Sri Aurobindo Ashram Campus. 
 

To fulfill all these objectives we have a well-structured everyday schedule that helps them to bring discipline, focus and channelizes their energies more constructively.