The Besant Spirit Volume 2

ANNIE BESANT

THE
BESANT SPIRIT

COPYRIGHT REGISTERED
All Rights Reserved

THE
BESANT SPIRIT

VOLUME 2
IDEALS IN EDUCATION

COMPILED MAINLY FROM THE WRITINGS.
OF

DR. ANNIE BESAJfl

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE

ADYAR, MADRAS, INDIA

1939

Printed by C. Subbarayudu at the Vasanta Press,
Adyar, Madras, India

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

THE response with which Volume I of this series has
been received has necessitated a slight modification
in our original intention, so that this Volume II will deal
exclusively with Educational matters, to be followed
shortly by a third volume devoted to Indian problems.
We earnestly hope that this little trilogy may prove
of help to all students in the various domains of
life they deal with.

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INTRODUCTION

IN introducing the second volume of The Besant Spirit
I feel very thankful to dwell on an aspect of Dr. Besant
with which I become familiar during my many years of
association with her in the field of education, espec-
ially in India.

It was in 1903 that I first had this privilege when
Miss Arundale and myself came to Benares to help
Dr. Besant in her wonderful educational work in con-
nection with the Central Hindu College. I look upon
the ensuing years, about ten in number, as among the
happiest of my life, for I had, a unique insight into the
way in which a very great leader engaged herself in
the building of the lives of the young citizens of the
land.

In the first place, she was SHE. It was, of course,
her personality that made all the difference, that so
quickly removed all dross and so brightly polished the
plenteous gold. It is always the personality of the
teacher that counts far above his erudition, his genius,
his attainments. The first work of a teacher is to
inspire to inspire before he teaches and as he
teaches and after he has taught. Without the power

10 THE BESANT SPIRIT

of inspiration he is as nothing. But with this power
he may raise a race of great citizens, some among
whom will become leaders of their country.

Dr. Besant inspired. If I look back upon her work
in the Central Hindu College I see her as one who
gave fire to the students as a whole, and no less to
each individual pupil, however young, however ordi-
narily unreceptive to external influences She electri-
fied ! And I see with the utmost clarity of vision that
every teacher worthy of the name must have some
power to electrify, to pull a lever which shall set a
soul in movement towards its destiny

She hastened her students, those who came into
contact with her, on their way, so that they began to
find life really worth living. She evoked from them
the eagerness to do well that which lay before them
to do be it study, be it games, be it what form of
activity it might.

She gave them a sense of responsibility, at what-
ever age they might happen to be. She treated
them, however young, as friends of hers with no
question as to difference of age or capacity. And
by this I mean that she respected them, as she her-
self won respect from them. They never felt that
they had to give her something that they did not
receive from her, that they had to give something
to her which they could not expect to receive
from her.

INTRODUCTION 1 1

She might be primus inter pares, but it was they
who accorded to her the primus, and she who ever
treated them as pares. So they became uplifted in
her presence, and in her absence she was a happy
reminder to them of all she would like them to be.

She never asserted herself. She never laid down
the law. She never spoke as one having authority.
She lived her own life finely, as everyone should live
his or her life. And this living was her control over
the students of the School and College a perfect
control because it was most welcome.

She would often tell the students how she regarded
life, how it was compassion that meant most to her,
compassion for the weak and helpless of whatever
kingdom of nature, and how happy she was when she
had the opportunity to help

She would tell them how during part of her life
religion had meant so little to her, but that as the
years passed, and as she understood religion more
truly, she knew that in the great religions of the world
lay great and beautiful truths which must never be
lost, and which could be lived to the greatest advan-
tage of all who could see them. She warned her
students against thinking that there were no pearls
of price in any faith. She said that these pearls were
indeed there, though often hidden by man's misuse
of religion, by his distortion of it. We must seek
these pearls and rejoice in them, even though there

12 THE BESANT SPIRIT

may be many who would kill religion because to their
blind eyes it is bare of pearls.

I think that one of her most glorious services to
education in India lay in the great foundations she
then laid of a deep and reverent insight into the
essential value of religion, and into the essential
brotherhood of all religions. Much fortunately has
.been recorded of her work in this important field
of education. Then she would tell them with eyes
afire of the deep worth of true and unselfish patriot-
ism. She would reveal to them how passionately
the word is no exaggeration she herself, foreign-
born though she were, but mainly Irish as she would
.say with a provoking twinkle in her eyes, loved this
adopted Motherland of hers. She would declare in
the most inspiring accents that no sacrifice could ever
be too great in the service of India, and her young
audience would be breathless in eager yearning.

She would speak to them of reverence as of no
Jess splendour than compassion, and she would speak
as none but she could speak of the wondrous rever-
ences whereby India's past became great, and by the
example of which India shall become great again as
her sons and daughters strive to reach the stature of
their Aryan nobility. She would speak to the parents
and teachers of the reverence-worthiness of their
children, and she would speak to the children of all
that they owed to parents and teachers.

INTRODUCTION 13

And out of reverence comes graciousness and
dignity, refinement and deference. How well I re-
member her telling us of the great precepts contained
in Manu Smriti, of the great sacrifices, of the great
dharmas, of the great ashramas in fact of the order-
ed and purposeful life which each might lead however
circumstanced.

Often and often, too, she would speak to us of
chivalry, and especially of the chivalry to be observed
in games, for the Central Hindu College was a games
College. Perhaps we were more games conscious
than curriculum conscious, or even than examination
conscious except when the fateful and terrible moment
of examinations descended upon us like the sword of
Damocles released.

Frequently, when her engagements permitted, and
often when they did not permit, she would attend the
matches in which the various teams might be engaged.
She would be happy if we won, provided we won
well. She would be no less happy if we lost, provided
we lost well. And by " well " she did not merely
mean after having played our best, but even more
after having behaved with the utmost chivalrousness
towards our opponents. I remember her saying on
more than one occasion; "I am proud of my sons."
And her pride was pride in the honour we had added
to our College and so to India, in our behaviour as
Indians, in the fact that we honoured our opponents

14 THE BESANT SPIRIT

far more than we sought any advantage for our-
selves.

She wanted the students of her Central Hindu
College and Collegiate School to be good students
She wanted them to be reasonably successful in
their examinations though she was well aware of
the utter futility of examinations She wanted them
to be good at sports of all kinds. But above all,
and supremely, she wanted them to be gentlemen
m the finest sense of the word. To this end she
directed all her energies and available time, for even
when she gave lectures, she never omitted to apply
the theme as it might be developing in any parti-
cular address to the unfoldment of character, to the
intensifying of the gentlemanly spirit, to the stimu-
lation of good manners. I do not think she had a
greater pleasure during her association with the Central
Hindu College than when a Director General of Educa-
tion in India wrote that the students of the College
and School had good manners and were gentle-
men. She felt that the educational work she had
been so largely instrumental in establishing was fulfilling
its purpose.

Vulgarity, crudeness, coarseness, irreverence, cruelty,
the spirit of ridicule all these were abhorrent to her,
and since she was so great an example of the opposite
of all of them I am bound to say we did not suffer
from them to any appreciable extent. She was above

INTRODUCTION 15

all else a gentlewoman and her pupils had every
incentive to be gentlemen.

You see that all these things came first with her so
far as real education was concerned. The subjects of
the curriculum and all the discipline very much second.
By no means did she ignore them. She knew the
importance of study and she recognised the inevit-
ability of examinations under the prevailing ignorance
as to the true purpose of education. But she wanted
discipline to be self-discipline, and study to be happy
study, with no element of coercion in it.

And she was ever emphatic that graciousness,
courtesy, reverence, friendliness, compassion, service
and where expedient sacrifice, understanding, dignity,
grace these were the vital subjects of education, and
must always come first, must always have pre-eminence
over all other elements of education.

How different was the atmosphere of the Central
Hindu College from all other educational atmospheres
I have contacted. How different the spirit of education
from the spirit of education then prevailing, and
prevailing now for the matter of that. How different
the ideals of the Central Hindu College, based as they
were on the spirit of India and not on a foreign spirit
as was then, and still is now, the prevailing system of
education.

It is most regrettable that the much vaunted Wardha
scheme of education brings us little if at all nearer to

16 THE BESANT SPIRIT

the establishment of an educational system based on
Indian traditions and Indian needs. The Wardha
scheme is largely a fanatical scheme having an utterly
inadequate contact with the deeper fundamentals of
the nature of real education. It misses so many
essentials and stresses so many elements of secondary
importance. It seems evident that the present
foreign-trained generation must pass away before the
ground can be clear for a penetrating perception of
an Indian education which shall be really Indian.

While in this last physical incarnation, Dr. Besant vividly
evealed the true spirit of Indian education, as will in
part appear in the pages which follow. But just as in
politics fanaticisms of all kinds obsessed both crowds
and the then leadership such as it was, so that she was
rejected of the multitudes and their advisers, so also
in education she was ignored and the great education-
al organisation which she built up was suffered to die
by those very people in whose truest interest it was
for it to live and grow. Dr. Besant's educational
activities survive, her spirit survives but in one or two
educational institutions, and those in southern India.

It is sad to see her birthday being celebrated year
after year with fulsome flattery by those very people
who worked against her when she was what we
miscall " alive ". Indeed is her name being exploited,
even to the extent of being given to institutions and
activities of which she would never have approved.

INTRODUCTION 17

Those of us who knew her greatness and did our
utmost to stand by her in her great fights for freedom
must now preserve her memory from insult and
preserve in its purity that spirit which made her
the leader she was, that spirit of the noble gentle-
woman that made her leadership so wonderfully
compelling,

THE FOUNDING OF THE CENTRAL
HINDU COLLEGE

The Theosophical Society, from the time of the
arrival of its Founders in India, has always been deeply
interested in the education of young Indians in the
spirit of the Motherland. Colonel Olcott, President-
Founder, started the Olcott Harijan Free schools for
the education of the Panchama outcastes, dotted
India with Hindu schools, Boys' Aryan Leagues and
libraries, and sponsored and published Arya Bala
Bodhini for Hindu boys

When Mrs. Besant first came to India in 1 893, she
was deeply stirred by the condition existent in educa-
tion, She found young Indians given only a purely
secular education by Government which was leading
them from their own deep philosophy and culture into
agnosticism and materialism With her characteristic
vigour and determination, she lectured throughout
dndia, attempting to revive interest in Hinduism.
2

18 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Five years after her first visit to India, at a meeting
held in Benares on 10 April 1898, at which were also
present Babu Upendra Nath Basu and a number of
prominent Theosophists, it was " resolved that the
Central Hindu College be started next July." An
Executive Committee was formed on the spot " to-
carry on the scheme " and Arthur Richardson, Ph.D.,.
was appointed as the first Principal of the College.

On 7 July 1898 a College, affiliated to the Allaha-
bad University and a Collegiate School were started
with only two classes in a small house in Benares.
Mrs. Besant's fervent appeals touched the hearts
of the Indian people, and monthly subscriptions
amounting to Rs. 350 were soon guaranteed for six
years.

The aims of the new College were clearly stated to-
be supplemental to and not rivalling those of already
existing institutions, i.e., it would be a religio-secular
college, teaching the deep truths of the Hindu Religion,
and seeking to unite the best of Hindu culture with the
best of Western principles of education a "college
and school wherein students shall be taught to live and
think as true Hindus while assimHating all that is best
and highest in European learning, so that their lives
may be moulded from the very beginning ... as only
they can be by The Theosophical Society."

Lord Curzon expressed great sympathy with the
Central Hindu College Scheme, and his pn'vate secretary*

INTRODUCTION 1?

personally wrote to Mrs. Besant wishing success to
the movement.

Among the first of those pioneers who helped Mrs.
Besant were Babu Bhagavan Das, Babu Upendra Nath
Basu, Babu Gnyanendra Nath Chakravarti, Pandit Cheda
Lai, Mr. Bertram Keightley, Dr. Arthur Richardson,
Miss Lilian Edger of New Zealand, and Miss Palmer
from America. Dr. Richardson was the first Principal
and Mr. Harry Banberry the first Headmaster.

The movement made such great strides in its first
year that the first anniversary of its founding was
celebrated on 27 October 1899 in its own palatial
buildings and grounds, valued at Rs. 50,000, the gift
of the Maharaja of Benares. It had a staff of eleven
teachers, mostly Indians, an enrolment of 177 students
of whom thirteen were being educated without charge.
In the library were 2,500 volumes, many of them very
valuable, some Rs. 7,000 had been promised to build
a laboratory, Rs. 6,000 had been offered to establish
a scholarship, and from private funds a boarding-house
for 40 pupils was under construction.

In order to stimulate interest, Dr. Besant herself
gave a course of lectures in the Autumn of each year
on Hiudu religion, ethics, and philosophy.

The fame of the College spread all over India, and
the general interest necessitated the merging of
Colonel Olcott's Arya Bala Bodhinl into a journal for
the college called The Central Hindu College Magazine-

20 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Many are the pitiful tales told in these days of
children who walked literally for hundreds of miles,
living on the rice-balls found at places of sacrifice,
to request admission to this school of their dreams,
where they could gain a truly Aryan education.

The Board of Trustees, on which served many
leading orthodox pandits of Benares as well as men
high in the service of the Crown, had the confidence
of the public. As a result the movement grew and
within two years' time over Rs 1 ,40,000 in cash and
Rs. 80,000 in real estate had been donated.

In 1903 Dr. Arundale came to Benares, first as a
professor, later as Headmaster, then Vice-Principal,
and finally on the death of Dr. Richardson, he became
Principal.

That the Central Hindu College met a real need
was evident from the " grand chorus of approbation "
constantly given it from the Indian Press, expressing its
debt of endless gratitude to The Theosophical Society.

From 1903 to 1913, the College grew in numbers
and influence and finally came the movement for the
establishment, around this nucleus, of the Benares
Hindu University. Dr. Besant with characteristic gen-
erosity acceded to the request that the Central
Hindu College be merged in the University, as such
a University she had long visioned, and so the College
was turned over to the University Governing Board,
of which she was a member, upon its foundation.

INTRODUCTION 2t

NATIONAL EDUCATION IN INDIA FROM 1913

When it had been resolved to hand over the
Central Hindu College to the Hindu University in
Benares in order to meet the demand of the govern-
ment that an existing College should be the nucleus
of the proposed University. The Theosophical Edu-
cational Trust was founded to carry on the traditions
so nobly promulgated by the Central Hindu College.
Its objects were " to establish schools and colleges
open to students of every faith, in which religious
instruction shall be an integral part of education/'
Under its fostering care the ideals of national Edu-
cation spread abroad and in 1914 fifteen schools-
were under its management, attended by 2608
pupils and staffed by 122 teachers. From then on
the number of schools under the management of the
Trust grew each year, ranging through Panchama and
Sanskrit Schools, to Elementary and High Schools
and Colleges affiliated to Universities. The ideals
for which the T. E. T. stood gained a much wider
acceptance even than the schools themselves, for
the public eagerly welcomed ideas which brought
education into touch with practical affairs and with.
Indian life.

In 1916 it was decided to form a "Society for
the Promotion of National Education/' as a result
of which the T. E. T. resolved at its annual meeting oa

22 THE BESANT SPIRIT

27 December 1916 to make a present of its colleges
4nd schools to the Society " as far as possible " and
gave its President " power to use the Trust as a
nucleus for the proposed Board of National Education "
thus making the T. E. T. the seed of an even greater
movement. In May 1917 many prominent All-India
leaders of the various political persuasions assisted at
its inauguration and enthusiastically accepted places
on its Board.

Dr. Besant continued to give constant counsel
and inspiration, and both she and Dr. Arundale did
much by their many articles in the press to arouse
and keep alive the interest of teachers and parents
in the fundamental aims and methods of education.
Undoubtedly also the speech made by Dr. Arundale at
the National Congress meeting in Lucknow in 1917
greatly stimulated its growth.

A further step in spreading inspiration in the edu-
cational field was the founding in 1917 at Adyar of the
Theosophical Fraternity in Education, with Dr. Besant
.as Patron and Dr. Arundale as President.

During the next few years there was steady and
satisfactory progress, but financial support fell cons-
tantly short of the urgent needs and the burden of
the monthly expenditure was being borne by Dr.
Besant practically alone, or with such assistance as
came because of or through her. A financial tour
undertaken by Dr.' Arundale in 1921 to stimulate

INTRODUCTION 23

interest by magic lantern lectures and talks, resulted
in the collection of Rs. 65,000.

A new venture was started in 1922 by Dr. J. H.
Cousins and others the Brahmavidyashrama, which
aimed at being an International University hoping
to counteract the modern tendency of over-special-
isation. In 1924 the S. P. N. E. gave up its specific
work and once more the T. E. T. took over the
reins of management. Their work constantly devel-
oped and their success can be measured by the rapid
spread of their methods to many other institutions.

Since then even more ambitious work has been
started and in 1925 the World University Association
was inagurated with Dr. J. Emile Marcault as its
Director. Its objects were to bring to a synthesis the
various sciences of man, and to diffuse among scientif-
ic circles the results already obtained. From the
first the results and the recognition obtained in the
outside world were very encouraging and in 1927 an
Indian Section was founded and local groups took up
the work all over the country. The Brahmavidyashrama
was affiliated to it and the Theosophical Fraternity in
Education was re-organized with a view to diffusing
among the public the idea of a Theosophical University.

Still the work went on and in 1934 the Besant
Memorial High School was founded at Adyar to per-
petuate in a practical manner the services of Dr. Annie
Besant to Education. It is a co-educational school

24 THE BESANT SPIRIT

attended by 200 students, many of them boarders,
and staffed by 20 teachers. The hope is that it may
blossom into a College and later into a University.
Working in close cooperation with it is the Inter-
national Academy of the Arts founded in 1935, with
Shrimati Rukmini Devi as its President. It has two
objects : to emphasize the essential unity of all true
art and to work for the recognition of the arts as
inherent in effective individual national and religious
growth.

It can thus be seen that unremittingly and steadily
the work in the educational field in India has gone
forward under the inspiration and leadership of the
successive Presidents of The Theosophical Society,
The ideals set before the movement in Dr. Besant's
" Principles of Education " have been constantly before
the eyes of Theosophists throughout India.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Publisher's Note 7

Introduction . . .9

Indian Ideals in Education .... 27
The Ideal School ... . 58

The Ideal Teacher ... .68

The Ideal Student ... . 78

Principles of Education . . .106

A Scheme of National Education for India . 115

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION

WE are to seek for the Indian Ideals which flowered
into the National Life ; for every country has its own
Ideals, and according to the nature of the Thought
which is the generating Seed, so is the nature of the
National Life which grows up therefrom, and sends
forth the branches and bursts into the blossoms which
are the products of the National Activity.

The Secret of India's Immortal Youth

Says the Upanishat : " Man is created by Thought,
and what a man thinks upon that he becomes ; there-
fore think upon Brahman." l So also with Nations,
since there is no creative Thought other than that of
Brahman in manifestation ; and because there were so
many in India who ever thought of that Supreme,
therefore did India flower out into a civilization
unrivalled in the depth of its Philosophy, in the spirit-
uality of its Religion, and in the perfection of its
Dharma of orderly and graded Individual and National
Life, expressing as none other has ever done that
balance, that equilibrium, which is Yoga ; that which
saved her, when all the contemporaries of her
1 Chhandogyop., Ill, xiv, 1.

28 THE BESANT SPIRIT

splendid Nationality have been carried away by Time's
tremendous rapids, and scattered as wrecks over the
far horizon of the boundless Ocean of the Past. She
shares their Past, but they do not share her Future^
for not theirs the secret of her immortal Youth.

And what is that secret ? It lay hidden in her
Education and her Culture, or rather in the Ideals,
which created these ; for the Idea is prior to the form,
and if to-day men think that her strength is dissipated,
her energy outworn, it is because she has for a
moment for what is a century and a half but a
moment in her millennial life ? sold her birthright, as
her Mother's first-born child, for a mess of western
pottage. Let her turn again to her Ideals, and she
shall renew her strength. For Ideals are the generat-
ing Life which unfolds through many incarnations,
embodies itself in many a successive form, but remains
ever true to type. We, who believe in India's Immor-
tality, do not need to reproduce the bodies, the forms,
of the past , but we need that that life, the life of the
Mother Immortal, shall embody itself in new forms,,
but that it shall be Her life, and not another's.

Education and Culture

Let us distinguish between Education and Culture.

Education is the drawing out and training of inborn
capacities and powers brought over from former
lives and developed in the Svargic or Deva world

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 29

Which lie as germs in the Vijnanamayakosha, the
intellectual aspect of the re-incarnating Self, the
triple-faced Jivatma, or Atma-Buddhi-Manas. These
germs, ready to sprout forth and to grow, germs of
the qualities which are to manifest through the Mano-
mayakosha, are as it were, sown in that stage of the
consciousness which we call the Lower Manas, for the
expression of which, with the emotions, the Manomaya-
kosha is framed. First, the preparatory stage of
re-incarnation begins in which this kosha, the sheath
of the mind and the emotions, is formed then
followed the Pranamayakosha, that of passions and
Jife-energy ; and then the Annamayakosha, the sheath
formed by food, the dense physical body. These
three are new with each rebirth, and education has
not only to draw out and distribute the germs through
each sheath, but to develop them, train, and make
the sheath sensitive and responsive to the impacts
from the external world, accurate in recording them,
and in sending them on to the mind, which connects
the impression with the object causing it, and thus
establishes relations between itself and the outer
world, these relations and the action of the mind upon
them being Knowledge. Observation by the sense-
organs in the physical body ; the effects of these on
the sense-centres, as sensations ; the perception by
and the action of the mind on these by memory,
analysis, comparison, classification, inter-relations

30 THE BESANT SPIRIT

(causes and effects), reasoning on them, anticipation,
all these form the field of Knowledge which is tilled by
Education.

Culture is the result on the mind of certain forms
of knowledge, and is based on these ; but it differs
from Education in that it is not the drawing out and
training of faculty, but is the result of the exercise of
faculties on subjects which arouse sympathetic emotion
and imagination, broadening the mind, eliminating
personal, local and racial prejudices, acquiring an
understanding of human nature in its many aspects,
and contacting the life-side rather than the form-side
of creatures ; hence the quick internal response to
other lives, and the intuition of the unity of life
beneath the diversity of life-expressions. The differ-
ence between Education and Culture is symbolised
by the condition of entry into the School of Pytha-
goras, acquaintance with " Mathematics and Music ""
the capacity to use the Intellect Higher Manas,
or Manas in the Vijnanamayakosha by synthes-
ising the products of the mind and discovering
the laws producing them, and by the purifying of
the emotions by Beauty. Literature and Art are the
instruments of Culture. Science and the " clear cold
light" of reason are the area and the guide of Edu-
cation. The Life in Nature and the intellectual intui-
tion, which recognises truth by its harmony with his
own nature "whose nature is Knowledge" are

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 3f

the area and the guide of Culture. If these are
completely separated during the plastic period of
youth, Science tends to hardness, and, in over-speciali-
zation, to narrow-mindedness and intolerance ; Culture
tends, when exaggerated, to false sentiment and
fastidiousness in non-essentials. The training of the
instruments of knowledge and the storing of the me-
mory with facts is the work of Education by others in
youth, and their application to new facts and condi-
tions is the self-education which continues during life.
Culture in youth consists in the unconscious develop-
ment and refinement of passions into emotions amid
beautiful surroundings, for the contact with beautiful
objects and the evoking and the control of the emo-
tions in response to them, and the moulding of these
by Literature and the Arts, develop the discrimination
which is an element in self-culture, the critical faculty
which manifests as a balanced judgment, not as mere
fault-finding, and lends poise, dignity and gentleness
to the attitude towards life. We shall see in a few
moments how Beauty was an essential feature of the
Indian Ideal of Education and Culture, and the necessity
for the revival of this Ideal in modern life.

Educational Systems : Ancient and Modern

But let us first realize two fundamental differences
between Ancient and Modern Systems of Education,
in their relation to the State, one of them prevailing

32 THE BESANT SPIRIT

alike in India and in Britain, and the other peculiar to
India.

In the Ancient System of India, Education and
Culture were self-controlled, and while the State, the
-organized Nation, profited by them and from them
drew its dignity, its religion, its morality, its effective-
ness, and its consequent efficiency, the Legislative
and Executive Departments of its Government exer-
cised over them no control, and did not interfere with
their management. Kings built Universities and be-
stowed on them wealth, but claimed in them no author-
ity. A Monarch might enter into the Convocation
of a University, but no one rose to greet him and he
took his seat like any other visitor ; but on the en-
trance of its Head, the "Venerable of Venerables,"
all rose and turned their faces towards him and in
-silence awaited his words. The University was the
Temple of Learning, and the learned were its only
Hierophants. When Learning visited Royalty, when
a Wise One entered a Court, even Shri Krishna
descended from His throne and bowed at the feet
of the Sage.

In the Modern System, Education is under the
control of a Government Department, the Legislature
makes laws for it, the Executive appoints its Directors,
or the Ministers, who are really its Masters, sends its
inspectors into its Schools and Colleges, and puts the
Educators into a steel-frame, which it mis-names

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 33

efficiency. This is now alike in East and West. But in
India, where Kings had been its nursing fathers and
had poured out their treasures at its feet, the foreign
Government ignored the Ancient System, and, as its
rule spread, Education and Culture died of starvation
in the Kingdoms which became Provinces The splen-
did inheritance from the Indian Past Hindu, Buddhist
and Muslim disappeared, leaving only the Schools of
Pandits, maintained by Indian Princes or by the reve-
rent charity of the Hindus, till but one University, that
of Nadiya, survived ; the Temple and Musjid schools
remained for a while and the muffasal village school
that which the East India Company, on being com-
pelled by the British Parliament to spend a lakh on
Education, called in 1814, " this venerable and bene-
volent institution of the Hindus," 1 after the testimony
of Sir Thomas Munro in 1813, that there were " schools
established in every village ".- The East India Company
ascribed to these the " general intelligence of the
natives as scribes and accountants ".* Dr. John Matthai,
in his Village Administration in British India, says that
*' when the British took possession of the country,"
they found in most parts of the country (except western
and central India) that " there existed a widespread

1 Village Administration in British India, Chap. II, para v, p 43.

* Evidence before the Two Houses of Parliament, March and
April, 1813, see Note D, in James Mill's History of British India,
Vol. I, p. 371, 5th edition.

3 Matthai, Loc. c/t.

3

34 THE BESANT SPIRIT

system of national Education". 1 Even in 1838 r
Adam's Reports show a similar state of things in
Bengal. He reports the results of an enquiry, held in
1835-1838. made in typical districts of the Presidency,
and found both Toles and Madrasahs (High Schools)
and Pathashalas and Maktabs (schools attached to
Temples and Musjids) Colleges were found, he
writes, in " all the large villages as in the towns The
age of the scholars was from about five or six to
sixteen. The curriculum included reading, writing, the
composition of letters, and elementary arithmetic and
accounts, either commercial, or agricultural, or both '"
I may add that in the Village Schools " Elementary
Arithmetic" included multiplication tables not of only
12 X 12, but up to 20X20. The Schools however
continued to dimmish in number The Quinquennial
Review for 1907-1912, shows 2,051 Madrasahs in
1907 against 1,446 in 1912, and 10,504 Musjid
Schools in 1907 against 8,288 in 1912.

Let us pause for a moment on the age of the
scholars mentioned above. In the old days, the
education of the child up to the age of seven seems
to have been more .in the Home than in the School.
From seven to sixteen, the boy was to be taught and
trained in school, and then to pass on to the Univer-
sity. The stage of infancy ends at seven, and up to
that age, the body should be the first care, and lessons

1 Loc. at., p. 42.

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 35

should be in the form of play, and great freedom of
choice should be given to the little ones No care in
later life can restore the stamina of the body ill
nourished, or unwisely nourished, during those first
seven years of life With the joint family system there
were children enough in the household, including
those of the dependents, to make a society for
the children, in which they learned unconsciously
lessons of kindness, of courtesy, of gentle manners
and refined speech, of little sacrifices born of love, of
mutual helpfulness and mutual service With the
narrowing of the home circle, the playing school is in
many ways better and the children are happier in the
merry games and the gay company of their little
comrades But the school must be well-chosen, the
teachers tender and helpful , songs, stories and play
that exercises and trains the senses, the hand and the
eye, and teaches graceful harmonious movements, are
enough

From seven to fourteen are the years for training
the memory and the emotions, for the stories of
heroism and of virtue that inspire, drawn from the
history of the Motherland, and great man and women ;
stories, too, of other countries, of all that can arouse
enthusiasm and inspire to service. Thus will the child-
ren have their minds and emotions so trained as to fit
them to cross in safety the perilous bridge between
childhood and youth. From fourteen to twenty-one

36 THE BESANT SPIRIT

is the time for hard mental study. By sixteen, the
special capacities will have shown themselves, and
will mark out the best avocation for the future life,
and specialized Education may safely begin. This is
but the barest indication of the broad stages in the
preparation for manhood and womanhood, the Ideal
of the Student Order of the well-regulated life. 1 But
the knell of popular education was struck in 1854,
when Sir Charles Wood tried, and the Government
supported, the singular experiment of teaching the
people in a foreign tongue, with the result that after
seventy years, only 3.4 per cent of the people
receive primary education. So we have three stages
in Education in India in relation to the State . I. Lavish
'help from Rulers and complete liberty of Education,
paid for by the wealthy and free to the poor, who,
in exchange, served their teachers and performed
household duties , II. Entire neglect for 97 years,
with an interval when a lakh a year was spent on it ;
III. The Government English-speaking Schools and
Colleges, and later Universities with, of recent years,
partial and grudging introduction of the vernaculars.

Education and the State

How shall we apply the Indian Ideals to the salva-
tion of Modern Education and Culture in India ? That is
the question which Indian Universities alone can solve,

1 Ancient Indian Education, Rev. F. E. Keay, pp. 145,146.

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 37"

and before they can answer it, nay, before they can
even begin the task, the old relationship must be recreat-
ed between the State and the Universities. Learning
must again be inspired with the Ancient Ideals, and
these will be embodied in new forms. And in order
that these new forms shall be expressions of India's life,
and not strait jackets to confine her, the old Freedom
must be restored to Education and Culture. Govern-
ments should assign to educational and cultural
institutions the material means for their support, gifts
of land, grants of money for buildings, and for the
necessary equipment, so that they may be able to
give to the Nation the priceless assets of learned and
skilled men and women of high character, to carry on
the work in every department of National Life.
Money given to Education by the Nation is not a
gift, but an investment. It returns high interest to
the Nation as well as power and happiness to the
individual. Learned men produce literature which
raises the Nation in the eyes of the world and, far
more important, spreads knowledge over the earth,
literature which ennobles and inspires not only
contemporaries, but generations yet unborn. Science
makes discoveries which add to human knowledge,
increase man's power over the forces of Nature, and
if it tread only righteous paths will preserve, uplift
and strengthen human life and human happiness. Only
by Education and Culture of man's spiritual, intellectual,.

38 THE BESANT SPIRIT

emotional and physical nature can he be lifted
from the savage to the Sage and the Saint,
can poverty be abolished, can society be made
fraternal instead of barbarous, can crime, the fruit of
ignorance, be gotten rid of, and international and
social peace replace war and the strife of classes
Avidya is the mother of poverty, of sorrow, of
misery. It is the darkness which the Sun of Vidya
must chase away.

A generation of really educated people, with a
proportion of the cultured, will change the face of
India. Japan educated her people in forty years.
As rapid as was the destruction may be the recovery,
and each successive generation will show an improved
result. Already 1 Indian Ministers have made Primary
Education free in seven Provinces and compulsory
in three, compulsion to be introduced as rapidly as
possible in the other four. When India gams her
own political Freedom, may she be wise enough to
restore Freedom to Education and Culture, and, once
more, the highest Honour to Learning.

The Place of Mother Tongues

After Freedom in the Educational and Cultural field
is won, for it is not possible until this Freedom is
possessed, the very first thing must be the restoration
of the Mother-tongues of India to their proper place

1 In 1925. [Ed]

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 39

in that field. Nothing so denationalises a people as
the imposition upon them of a foreign tongue, domi-
nating their life and thought. When Germany, Russia
and Austria rent Poland into three fragments, each
banned the Polish tongue in the schools and imposed
its own. Macaulay, with the most generous feeling
and the most utter ignorance, urged the substitution
of the English language, literature and civilization for
those which he regarded as heathen and superstitious.
The Mother-tongues were despised, and a gulf was
dug between the English-educated minority and the
learned in the ancient Mother-language and the
middle classes educated in tongues derived from it.
The free Universities will use the languages of the
country throughout all schools and colleges, with
English as a second language, and probably other
tongues as well. So far, the Universities have given
little culture , that has been gained by individuals for
themselves. But free Universities will have curricula
which shall give both Education and Culture. Students
will, as of old, be surrounded with Beauty in the
Schools, the Colleges, the Universities.

The Place of Religion in Education

The second basic difference between the Ancient
System and the Modern English one, as imposed on
India, is the absence of religious and moral educat/on.
Jn Britain itself, the religion of the country and the

40 THE BESANT SPIRIT

morality based on it are taught in the Schools as an
integral part of education ; lately, as Nonconformity
and Free Thought spread, a conscience clause has
been introduced exempting children, whose parents
objected to the Anglican form of Christianity or to
Christianity itself, from compulsory attendance at the
religious services and lessons. But when the rule of
the East India Company spread, and English Education
was introduced into India, the Government Schools
dropped religious and moral teaching, since, on the
one hand, a Christian Government could not teach
heathen religions, and, on the other, as there were
several religions in India, the Government must treat
them all equally, and therefore remain neutral in
regard to them. Thus Indians must pay the taxes
which keep up Government and other Schools, and
must further send their children to these, or to
Missionary Schools where an alien religion is taught,
or open their own Schools and teach any religion they
belong to, Government giving them grants-in-aid.

Modern Education in India has practically confined
itself to the training of the mental and intellectual
nature, and has ignored the unfolding of the spiritual
nature, the evoking and training of the emotional
nature, and, until lately, the development and training
of the physical body to a high state of efficiency.
The result has been, in the older generations, the
over-strain of the nervous system, the enfeebling of

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 41

the physical health, the shortening of the period of
vigorous maturity, often a sudden breakdown, or, at
best, the premature appearance of debility and old
age. Further, the exclusive development of the
intelligence and the neglect of the emotions has
overstimulated the self-regarding instincts, and has
largely destroyed the feeling of Social and National
Dharma, of duty to Society and to the Nation ; hence
the decay of public spirit, of social service, of res-
ponsibility and of sacrifice for the common weal,
which characterize the good citizen as distinguished
from the good man. These were prominent in the
results of the Ancient System ; as Shri Krishna said :

Janaka and others indeed attained to perfection
by action ; having an eye to the welfare of the
world, thou also shouldst perform action Whatso-
ever a great man doeth, that other men also do ;
the standard he setteth up, by that the people go.
... As the ignorant act from attachment to action,

Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment,
desiring the welfare of the world. ... He who on.
earth doth not follow the wheel thus revolving,
sinful of life and rejoicing in the senses, he, O
Partha, liveth in vain. 1

Vocational Education

This brings us to a very serious question, which has
to be decided before you can settle the grading of
your Education and Culture ; that which in the West

1 fihagavad-Gita. Hi, 20, 21, 25, 16.

42 THE BESANT SPIRIT

is called " Vocational Education " This is founded on
the realization of the fact that in modern days society
is no longer a cosmos, but has fallen into chaos, into
anarchy, and that this disorder must be remedied if
modern civilization is to survive. As society in the
ancient Indian Ideal was a community of rational
beings, not a fortuitous concourse of atoms, it was
regarded as an organism, a body politic with definite
organs, each discharging a definite function, for the
benefit and health of the whole community. This
system was called Caste, and it was necessarily built
up by Caste Education. The qualities of each pupil
point to his natural avocation in the Nation. The lad
who loves the open air and the care of animals, should
not be an accountant, or a clerk in a city office Nor
should the quiet youth who seeks study and loves
figures be sent off to a farm or a market gardener's.
This is recognized in the " learned professions " : Law,
Medicine, Engineering, demand and have separate
instruction. A sturdy athletic lad, fond of games, is not
tied down to a stool in a Bank, but is made an
Engineer, to plan out railways, or enters some other
active occupation. A budding philosopher must not
be sent to a factory, nor a poet to a coalmine.
While a general level of Education and Culture should
be reached, so that mingling of different types should
be useful and agreeabie, specialization is necessary
after this is attained. At Takshasila, it was not thought

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 43

unreasonable that a poor student with an aptitude for
some branch of learning, should meet the cost of his
board and lodging by cutting firewood and helping in
domestic affairs. In studying he was on equal terms
with a student whose father paid one thousand pieces
for his education. No student was allowed to have
any money, and a King's son was as poor as the son
of a Brahmana peasant

Students there were taught according to their caste.
The Brahmana followed Literature as a rule, while the
Kshattnya learned less Literature, but became skilled
in the use of arms Medicine and Surgery and
Anatomy were there for the future physician, Mathe-
matics for the astronomer. The courses include so
much that to follow them all was manifestly impos-
sible.

As most progressive people, hypnotized by words,
object to Caste, because it has been abused, if you
wish to avoid prejudice, you can drop the word and
call it Vocation But, as Shri Krishna pointed out

The four castes were emanated by Me, by the
different distribution of qualities and actions. 1

This is the essence of Caste ; the utilization of
physical heredity to provide bodies suitable for the
manifestation of the qualities was an advantage, but
unessential, and could only be secured by the

' Loc. at., iv, 13.

44 THE BESANT SPIRIT

co-operation of Devas with men, the men following the
Dharma laid down for each caste and thus preserving
a sub-type of physical body, to which the Devas
guided the appropriate egos, i.e., the egos who had
evolved the given " distribution of qualities." The
group of qualities was that which fitted the ego to
discharge one of the functions of one of the funda-
mental organs of the body politic . Education,,
spiritual, intellectual, moral, physical , Government ;
Organisation of Production and Distribution ; Pro-
duction. In each there are many subdivisions, as
Government would include Kings, Assemblies, Judges,
Lawyers, Police, etc. These are the predominant
and essential groupings of qualities, whether they
are called Castes or Vocations. In the Aryan Race,
the four great groups were called Castes, and Caste
was a scientific system of Social Service, accord-
ing to the inborn qualities of the individual, birth
being a convenient, but not essential, concomitant.
While it remained on these lines it was honoured.
It became a matter of National and Social Privilege,
and is now therefore resented and, in its present
form, it is doomed to disappear. Sub-castes arose
sometimes from guilds of artisans, like goldsmiths,
who now form a fairly powerful sub-caste in Southern
India. Families carrying on the same occupation
tended to live together in a particular area in a village,
and made a " cheri," of their own. Others arose

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 45

on religious points, or different customs. But those
connected with occupations were the most numerous.
Under the Ancient System, youths were trained
for their future functions, National and Social, and
this is reappearing in the West, as specialised and
vocational training, no longer confined to the learned
professions, such as Law and Medicine, but extending
over all avocations, commercial, trading, industrial and
manual, turning the unskilled into the skilled, and thus
increasing the value of each to the Nation, each
with his own vocation, necessary and honourable,
because a function of the organized National life

It is remarkable that John Ruskm, with his far-
reaching vision as artist and poet, as well as Auguste
Comte, with his encyclopaedic knowledge and keen
and lucid intelligence, both recognized the necessity of
rescuing Europe from its anarchic social condition, if it
were to survive John Ruskm, in his Unto This Last, says .

Five great intellectual professions, relating to
daily necessities of life, have hitherto existed in
every civilized Nation :

The Soldier's profession is to defend it.

The Pastor's to teach it.

The Physician's to keep it in health.

The Lawyer's to enforce justice in it.

The Merchant's to provide for it.

And the duty of all these men is, on due occa-
sion, to die for it.

" On due occasion," namely :

The Soldier, rather than leave his post in battle.

46 THE BESANT SPIRIT

The Physician, rather than leave his post in
plague.

The Pastor, rather than teach Falsehood.

The Lawyer, rather than countenance Injustice

The Merchant what is his " due occasion " of
death ?

It is the main question for the Merchant, as for
all of us. For, truly, the man who does not know
how to die, does not know how to live. 1

Ruskm then proceeds to discuss the Ideal Merchant,
and, doubtless quite unconsciously, he describes the
Ideal Vaishya But I must not follow him further
on this line, as it would lead me away from Education

Auguste Comte's classification is not so good, as it
is based on a separation of Capital and Labour, and
on a rigid barrier of birth instead of on a distribution
of qualities.

It is, however, worthy of note that two thinkers,
one purely intellectual, the other artistic, should both
revert to what is supposed to be an outworn supersti-
tion, and that the intuition of the artist has carried him
to the truth of the existence of a law of Nature of
essential importance to society, the disregard of which
is menacing civilization. The law unites length of
days and general prosperity with the assignment of
human beings to the National function for which
their qualities fit them. For the proper discharge of
that function they must also be fitted by a suitable
Education

1 Loc. c/t . pp. 37, 38.

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 47

India must once more have an Ideal whereby to
shape an Education suited to her needs, and to her
coming lofty position among the Nations of the world.
Can she find a loftier Ideal than that which was her
Pole Star in the Past, and which preserved her through
an antiquity the history of which remains alone in the
" Memory of Nature," in the archives of her Rishis, in
her own literature, an antiquity which cannot be
checked by what is called history, for so far none
exists earlier than her own, and archaeological re-
searches extend it ever further and further back, and
so far tend to confirm her claim to an immense anti-
quity All we can say is that history as recognized
in Europe, shews nothing contrary to it, and that
Europe-recognized history has never known her save
as learned, wealthy, prosperous, great in her com-
merce, her trade, her arts and her crafts, in the
magnificence of her courts and the skill of her artifi-
cers and her agriculturists, her people brave and
gentle, courteous and hospitable to strangers, until
the interlude of which the charter signed by Elizabeth
of England was the embryo, and which will close
when she is again Mistress in her own household

I have spoken of the Honour paid to Learning in
India ; whether it was Ancient, Middle or Modern India,
whether in the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim Period.
Learning was sought for its own sake as the mark of
the highest human development, that of Man, the

48 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Thinker, short only of the supreme achievement of
the Paravidya, SELF-REALIZATION. Even to that,
Jnana was one of the paths.

The Ashrama Ideal

It is worthy of notice that, in India, Education spread
downwards , it was not built up from below. Indian
Civilization was a product of the country not of the
town, of the forest not of the city. Greek Civilization
evolved in her cities and reached its highest point in
the City-State But as Rabindranath Tagore has said :

A most wonderful thing that we notice in India is
that here the forest, not the town, is the fountain-
head of all its civilization ... It is the forest that
has nurtured the two great Ancient Ages of India,
the Vaidic and the Buddhistic. As did the Vaidic
Rishis, Lord Buddha also showered His teaching in
many woods of India. The royal palace had no
room for Him, it is the forest that took Him into its
lap. The current of civilization that flowed from its
forests inundated the whole of India. 1

Here is an Indian Ideal that it would be well to
revive, for this planting of Universities in the midst of
great cities is European, not Indian. Oxford and
Cambridge alone in England have kept the tradition
of their Aryan forefathers. The modern " Civic Uni-
versities," as they are called, are planted in the midst
of the most tumultuous, hurrying, noisy cities in

1 Visva-Bharati Quarterly, April 1924, p. 64.

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 49

England. Not from them will come sublime philo-
sophies or artistic masterpieces , but they will doubt-
less produce men of inventive genius, miracles of
machinery, new ways of annihilating space. But for
a country in which a man is valued for what he is,
not for what he has, in which a man's life consisteth
not in the abundance of the things which he possess-
eth, the Indian ideal is the more suitable The
essence of that ideal is not the forest as such, but
the being in close touch with Nature ; to let her
harmonies permeate the consciousness, and her
calm soothe the restlessness of the mind. Hence,
it was the forest, which best suited the type and the
object of the instruction in the days which evolved
Rishis ; instruction which aimed at profound rather
than at swift and alert thought ; which cared not for
lucid exposition by the teacher, but presented to the
pupil a kernel of truth in a hard shell, which he must
crack unassisted with his own strong teeth if he would
enjoy the kernel ; if he could not break the shell, he
could go without the fruit : instruction which thought
Jess of an accumulation of facts poured out into the
pupil's memory than of the drawing out in him the
faculty which could discover a truth, hidden beneath a
mass of irrelevancies. Of such fruitful study the
Hindu Ashrama in the forest is the symbol. It must
have a few representatives, at least, in India, if she is
to rise to her former level in supreme intellectual and
4

50 THE BESANT SPIRIT

spiritual achievement ; some places in which the three
Margas may be taught and Yoga may be practised,,
until the Yogi is fit, as of old, to go out into the world
of human activity, as the Wise Man who lives that
which the Bhagavad-Gita teaches. This was learnt by
some of the adults in the Ashrama and the Vihara,
where also under the then conditions the youth of the
Nation could be trained in any of the Vijjas (branches
of learning) and the Shilpas (Arts and Crafts) without
sharing in the studies of the elders and the ascetics, yet
sharing in the atmosphere they created, which radiated
from them. A few "forests" should exist in India
for those who seek the Paravidya, that She may again
become the spiritual Teacher of the World.

The Buddhist Vihara obtained similar results by
founding the University in a spot of natural beauty,
and enclosing a huge space with a high wall, pierced as
in Nalanda with but one gate, in Vikramasila by six,
in all cases carefully guarded by a Dvara Pandita.
Within were not only splendid buildings ''Towers,
domes and pavilions stood amidst a paradise of trees,
gardens and fountains." There were flower-strewn
lakes and blossom-laden shrubs. Well was understood
the influence of natural beauty. The sacred books
of Hindus and Buddhists were studied ; the curriculum
included anatomy and medicine, and it will be remem-
bered that Ashoka in the third century B. C, estab-
lished hospitals both for men and animals, and Mr. Dutt

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 5t

speaks of these being " established all over the coun-
try." One list of the subjects studied gives the five
Siddhantas, Logic, Grammar, Philosophy and Meta-
physics, History, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy,
Samsknt, Pali, Music and Tantric medicine. Dr. Mac-
donnell states that in Science, Phonetics, Grammar,
Mathematics, Anatomy, Medicine and Law, the attain-
ment of Indians was far in advance of what was
achieved by the Greeks.

In the Chhandogyopanishat we read how Narada
returned to the Lord Sanat Kumara, and prayed to be
instructed by Him, and He asked what he knew
already. And Narada gives a list which reminds one
of the curricula of the Universities which we know,
and which evidently existed in the Ancient Hindu
Age. For Narada replied :

O Lord, I have read the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda,
the Sama Veda, fourth the Atharva Veda, fifth
the Ithihasa-Purana, Grammar, Rituals, the Science
of Numbers, Physics, Chronology, Logic, Polity,
Technology, the Sciences cognate to the Vedas, the
Science of Bhutas, Archery, Astronomy, the Science
of Antidotes, and the fine arts. Shankara anno-
tates the last as the Science of making essences, of
dancing, singing, music, architecture, painting, etc.
(Shilpa) . . . Unto him said Sanat Kumara :
"All these that you have learned are merely
nominal."

And then He leads him on step by step.

52 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Thus " did the Lord Sanat Kumara explain what is
beyond darkness". 1

The lists given may avail to shew why men remained
in the forest, or in a monastery which was also a
University for Youth, into quite late maturity

The Ideal of Brahmachajrya

During the whole course in School as in College,
strict Brahmacharya was enjoined Here, again, is an
Ideal which must be restored. The rule of Manu for
the student was strictly observed : simple dress, plain
food, hard bed, the vow of the Brahmachari. There
were no exceptions, Prince, noble, commoner, all
were treated alike. Not in Ancient, as in Modern,
Jndia were young Princes allowed to live softly,
luxuriously, and they lived to a healthy old age. Now,
we have boys at school who are fathers, and the
seeds are sown of premature old age.

Nor must we forget how the lack of Brahmacharya
in the student reacts on the child-wife. Happily now
young men are demanding educated brides, and hence
the period of Education is being prolonged. I am not
going to argue as to the orthodox view of pre-puberty
marriage, Pandits find texts for and against ; but this
I say : if you will look at the registered death rates at
different ages, you will find that the curve of the
death rate of married girls shoots up suddenly at the
I Loc. crt., VII, i, 13 ; xxvi, 2.

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 53

age of 15; silent but terrible witness to the supersti-
tion which cuts short the thread of girl-life, and
sacrifices the fairest and sweetest women in the world
on the altar of child-marriage.

I have not found in connection with the Buddhist
Universities the same attention to physical exercises as
one reads of in the Jatakas in relation to Takshasila.
There students practised archery, the use of the sword
and the javelin, and there were military, medical and
law schools. We read also that young nobles, trained
in Arts and Crafts, used to visit on their travels, after
leaving the University, artists and craftsmen, to see
that a high level was maintained. Thus the University
re-acted on the villages, and preserved the artistic
capacities and traditions of the people.

In the Muslim Period, there was a remarkable
development of Architecture, an art in which the
Musalmans excelled, as Arabia, Spain and India testify.
The Courts of the Musalman Rulers were sanctuaries
of learned men, of painters, poets and musicians.
Their use of jewels in architecture was extraordinarily
skilful, giving richness without being meretricious. As
with the Hindus and their Temples, schools were
attached to the Musjids, giving primary education,
while Madrasahs afforded the higher Education.
Whether in Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam we find a
similar care for Vocational Education among the higher
social classes, supplying the Nation with the professions.

54 THE BESANT SPIRIT

necessary for the healthy functioning of the National
Life, maintaining the high level of Literature and the
Arts, as well as the training of the Statesman, the
Minister, the military and civil organization and
administration. The manual labour classes were equally
well provided for by general instruction in reading,
writing, arithmetic, accountancy, and careful training
in the simple and more artistic Crafts, the first
for home use, the second for sale to local and
export merchants. The teaching of religion and
morality was universal, and much was done for the
-adult culture of villagers by the wandering Sannyasis
who travelled on foot from village to village, and in
the evenings related stories from the sacred books
and chanted stotras and legends.

Taking a bird's-eye view, we may perhaps say that
the Ashramas were dominated by Philosophy and
Metaphysic, while not neglecting the Sciences and the
Arts ; the Viharas, were dominated by Science, while
again not neglecting Philosophy and Arts ; the Madra-
sahs were dominated by Art, with a divided allegiance
to Science. Such classifications are, however, some-
what arbitrary, and all poured rich knowledge into the
National Life. To the people all were closely related,
for they spread that love and reverence for Learning
which shed abroad, by the stimulating force of ex-
ample, the superiority of learning to Wealth, the
value of Voluntary Poverty and of Sacrifice consecrated

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 55

to Social Service, a Social Order which conduced to
mutual usefulness, and a Beauty which, as in Japan
to-day, is said by Mr. E B. Havell to be " not a luxury
for the rich, but the basis of National Education/'
He goes on :

Poetry has done as much for National Culture in
Japan as it did formerly in Greece, and, until the
nineteenth century, in India also. Poetical tourna-
ments are still a favourite form of popular entertain-
ment in Japan, and even among the poorest classes
any occasion of domestic importance, either joyful
or sad, is marked by poems composed by the
people themselves. In the spring mornings in
Japan the working classes, the poorest of the poor,
and not only the well-to-do, will rise by hundreds to
watch the opening of the lotus flowers , the
flowering of the plum and cherry trees in the early
summer are days of National rejoicing. India need
not cease to take delight in Beauty, and to have
faith in the inspiration of Nature which her ancient
Rishis taught, because she has become poor, it is
far worse to be poor in spirit than to be poor in
worldly goods. Modern science and English educa-
tion are not sufficient substitutes for Art. It will
not profit India to gain the whole world and lose
her own soul. 1

The disappearance of Indian Ideals was as sudden
as it was disastrous ; invasions and even the establish-
ment of a foreign Empire and foreign Kingdoms
previous to the invasion and triumph of the East India

'Artistic and Industrial Revival m India, by E. B. Havell,
pp. 65, 66.

56 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Company in 1 757, had not touched the Soul or the
Spirit of India. She had been invaded, but she had
assimilated the invaders, and had enriched her own
Culture by theirs. Portions of her land had been con-
quered and occupied, but she turned the conquerors
into Indians But the East India Company not only
drained her of her accumulated wealth and reduced
her to poverty, but despised her Learning and her Art,
crushed her with ignorance, and filled the palaces of
her Princes with Brummagen imitations and glass-legged
sofas and chairs. It destroyed her self-respect and
jeered at her religion and her traditions. It consum-
mated her degradation by imposing on her an Edu-
cation in a foreign language, till her educated people
talked it better than their Mother-tongue. Having
destroyed the Schools which had given it clerks and
accountants, it wanted English-knowing men to fill the
lower ranks of its administration, so introduced its new
system. It got them, but the corollaries thereof were
unexpected and disconcerting. It taught them English
history and they became interested in English struggles
for Liberty. It gave them the , masterpieces of
English Literature, and they studied Milton's Areopa-
gitica, and declaimed Shelley's Masque of Anarchy.
They admired the ideals held up, and desired to find
liberty among the " blessings of British Rule." They
found it not, and thirty years after the introduction of
Sir Charles Wood's educational measure, they met in

INDIAN IDEALS IN EDUCATION 57

Madras and decided to create an Indian National
Congress.

Forty years later, having revived Indian religions
and started Musalman and Hindu Colleges and Schools,
and having meanwhile studied Indian history and
assimilated its lessons, we have resolved to revive the
Ancient Ideals of Indian Education and Indian Culture,
to teach our children in their Mother-tongue, to make
Indian Ideals the basis of Indian Civilization, renoun-
cing the hybrid and sterile ideals of anglicized-lndianism,
and adapting them to a new form, instinct with the
Ancient Life, and moulding it into a glorious new body
for the Ancient Spirit. India will then lead the world
into a new Era of Literature and Beauty, Brotherhood
and Peace.

Kama/a Lectures

THE IDEAL SCHOOL
BY ANNIE BESANT

A LIFE which is well-ordered from beginning to
end that is what is implied in the phrase, " the
Four Ashramas " Two of them namely that of the
student and that of the householder may be said to
represent in the life of an individual that outward-
going energy which carries the Jiva into what we call
the Pravntti Marga that great path of action along
which the world rolls, and which each individual man
treads within the limit of a life in his own little way.
The life of the student and the life of the householder,
these form the Pravritti Marga of the individual.
The two later stages the life of the Vanaprastha
and that of the Sannyasi these are the stages of
withdrawal from the world, and may be said to
represent the Nivritti Marga in the life of the indi-
vidual. It is well to recognize this, so as to have an
orderly view of life. So wisely did the ancient ones
mark out the road along which a man should tread,
that any man who takes this plan of life, divided into
four stages, will find his outgoing and indrawing energies
rightly balanced. First, the student stage, properly
lived and worthily carried out ; then the householder

THE IDEAL SCHOOL 59

stage, with all its busy activity in every direction
of worldly business ; then the gradual withdrawal
from activity, the turning inward, the life of compara-
tive seclusion, of prayer and of meditation, of the
giving of wise counsel to the younger generation
engaged in worldly activities , and then, for some
at least, the life of complete renunciation. Any man
who takes this plan of life and lives it out will find that
he cannot have a life which should be more wisely
ordered, which should be made better than that,
in which to spend his days from birth to death. This
is not an ideal for one nation only, but for all nations,
not for one time but for all times ; one half of the
life active and stirring, the other half, quiet, self-
contained. In the East and in the West alike this
ancient ideal of a well-ordered life might well be
revived, might well be again practised , and then
we should not see on the one hand the pitiable
spectacle of boys thrown into the life of the house-
holder before their time has come , and on the
other, the equally pitiable spectacle of the old man,
whose heart should be turned to the higher life,
still grasping money and power, until death wrenches
away what he will not voluntarily loose.

Education in Ancient India

Let us take the four stages in order, and consider
each. First the student life. What was the ideal

60 THE BESANT SPIRIT

of the past ? That you may read in detail in your
books ; here I shall outline it only. The boy was
placed in the hands of his teacher to be trained
and educated on every side of his nature. The edu-
cation given to him was one which drew out his
powers in the four great factors which form the
human constitution. First, we always read of boys
that they were versed in the Vedas. The boys were
taught religion , they were trained in the sacred
literature of their faith, and in the actual daily practice
of their religious ceremonies. Thus we find that
Ramachandra was not only thoroughly trained in
the knowledge of the Scriptures, but also that He
performed his Sandhya morning and evening ; and
was thus trained in the outer religious duties, as well as
in sacred learning, both being necessary for the
evolution of spirituality. You know how under the
wise hands of His teacher, He learned the great
Science of the Self, the Secret of Peace; how His
religious nature was trained and developed He who
needed no education, save for the instruction that
His example might give as to how the young should
be trained. That is the first note of ancient education.
The next point is, that the boys were trained in
morality. The moral nature was trained as well as
the spiritual. They were taught to be obedient,
reverent, truthful, brave, courteous, to love and
respect their parents and teachers, to be unselfish.

THE IDEAL SCHOOL 61

to concern themselves with the welfare of those
around them. " He was intent on the welfare of
others." That is given as the crown of the moral
education of the boy.

In the third place, the intellect was trained. The
boys were taught the different branches of science and
instructed in various kinds of theoretical and practical
knowledge. Intelligence, the third part of human
nature, received its proper training along with the
spiritual and the moral.

Lastly, the body was trained. The physical part
received due attention. They were taught games
and manly exercises, to ride, to drive, to manage
their own bodies, and the bodies of the animals who
serve the needs of man.

Thus the education given was an all-round education.
Every part of man's nature received its proper train-
ing. The result was, that when the boys went out
into the world, they went out ready to play their parts
as members of a great state, as citizens of a great
nation highly pious, moral, learned and strong. These
four great characteristics marked the result of edu-
cation in ancient India.

Modern Indian Education

What do we find in modern India ? An education
directed to one part of the boy's nature only,
developing the intelligence, training the intellect, but

62 THE BESANT SPIRIT

leaving entirely on one side the spiritual nature, and
the moral or emotional nature disregarded. The
education as now given disregards for the most
part the physical nature also, centering itself on the
growth of intelligence, on the development of in-
tellect alone. Even that, I may say in passing, is not
done in the best possible way

Such a education as that can never build up a true
man of the world, able to discharge his duties in the
world. Only one part of him has been developed,
only one quarter of his whole nature has been trained ,
moral character has been neglected, spirituality has
been ignored, body has been left weak, overstrained,
overworked. What sort of a nation can you have
where the education given to its young is but one
quarter of what it should be one-fourth only given,
and that too imperfectly and inadequately ? What is
the result ? You get plenty of clever men, but for the
most part they are selfish, thinking only of their own
aims, each man fighting for his own hand, careless of
the welfare of the nation as a whole, gaining for
himself or for his family, caring not how others suffer
provided that he succeeds, looking on with cold and
indifferent eyes at all wrongs perpetrated around him,
his heart not moved with sympathy for the trouble
and the misery of the people. He is a man devel-
oped in intelligence but lacking in character, in self-
respect, in public spirit, in straightforward speaking of

THE IDEAL SCHOOL 65

truth, in uprightness of words and life. That is the
result we see around us, the result of the neglect of
religion and of mprality. How many men to-day are
" intent upon the welfare of others," forgetful of their
own success ? How many realise that no man carv
truly succeed, unless he raises others with him at the
same time ? how many remember that there is only
One Life, that the man who tries to wrench himself
away from it, in selfishness and indifference, only
succeeds in shutting out much of the Life from him-
self, and that the wall that he builds to exclude his
neighbour from himself excludes himself from the Life
that flows around him ?

All-round Education in the West

What are we then to do to do practically and not irr
theory only, not leaving the work for the future, that
work which must be done now ? As you know, the
attempt to bring back the ancient ideal is already being
made in your midst. This very College, (the Central
Hindu College), in the hall of which I am speaking, is the
work of those who are vowed to the restoration of the
ancient type of education, of that fourfold training of
the nature which alone can build up the India of the
future, though not seeking to reproduce entirely the
old models. It is the ideal that we must see, and that
we must reproduce in modern garb, adapting it to the
times* Would it surprise you to know that in the

64 THE BESANT SPIRIT

English nation this fourfold education is even now being
given, in the Public Schools and Universities ? If you
go to any English public school, you will find that it
begins its work every day with the worship of God
and the reading of the Christian Scriptures. Every
boy is taught to worship, and is trained in definite
moral ideals. You will find that not only is religion
thus taught along with morality, but that a good
physical teaching is also given, and insisted upon in
the great public schools. Every boy is made to play,
to exercise his body, to work his limbs, and strengthen
his muscles. And if you go to Harrow, Eton, Rugby
or Winchester, you will find the fourfold education
there, though of course on Christian lines. The old
ideal is being worked out there in principle, and the
fundamental ground-plan of education is right and
sound, and it makes patriots as well as all-round devel-
oped men. While they nourish love of religion, they
nourish patriotism at the same time. If you go to
Harrow School Chapel, you will find its walls decorated
with brass plates, bearing the names of old Harrow
boys who have served their country well. So that
when the boys worship God, they see before their
eyes the names of the old Harrow boys who once
sat where they sit, who as men have given up their
Jives in times of need for Crown and Country, who
have died for Fatherland, and who have held the
name of England high among the nations. No boy

THE IDEAL SCHOOL 65

can worship in that Chapel without receiving some
inspiration to heroic living, without welding his love of
country into his religion The boys' ideals are
moulded in this way, and they grow up country-loving,
.patriotic, proud of their land, and so worthy to be
citizens of their country. We must revive this
^education here.

Brahmacharya

With regard to this education I have somewhat
.nnore to say ; and here comes a point for which I ask
^our careful, your thoughtful, attention. I find, when
I read the old Scriptures, that during the period of
student life, the student was always under the vow of
Brahmacharya. I find every student was under that
vow of virginity, of absolute celibacy ; and until the
student period was over, he was not permitted to
enter the household life. Thirty-six, eighteen, or
nine years these are the periods given for the
student life. During that period absolute celibacy was
imposed upon the student. Until that period was
over, he was not allowed to take a wife, and we often
read of a man as a warrior, before he become a hus-
band. What has become of that old ideal in modern
India? Boys in school are found to be fathers of
children ; boys who have not yet even passed into
college are found with a baby at home, a child the
.son of a child. It is utterly against the old Ideals. It is
5

66 THE BESANT SPIRIT

destructive of India's life. What is the result ?
That a boy, at the end of his college life, is
often weak in body, his nervous system is weaken*
ed, his brain-power is exhausted, and he is a
wreck physically when he ought to be in the full
flush and vigour of manhood. The pressure of
modern education puts a heavy strain upon him, and
then, added to that, are the duties of the husband,
the responsibility of the father. My brothers, it is not
right. It means the ruin of India. You find yourselves
old, when you ought to be but of middle age. Do you
not see that you are not what you should be ? Do you
not see that the brain does not and cannot bear the
tremendous strain put upon it ? Do you not see that
the stature of Indians is growing less ? Where the
marriages are the earliest, there the stature is the
lowest, and it is getting worse and worse. Is that a
part of India's life, as it was meant to be moulded
by the great Gods who gave Their laws through
ancient legislators ?

This is a question the answer to which is in your
own hands. The difficulty we know well enough. For
a man who dares to act according to the ancient
ideals will find himself surrounded by hundreds of
unkind critics, men who have not the courage to act,
although in their hearts often longing for and desiring
change. How many fathers have told me : "Yes,,
we know that it is necessary;" but how few have the

THE IDEAL SCHOOL 67

courage to act upon their opinion, and face the social
difficulties that action would bring. Yet only by such
courage are great changes made, and nations redeem-
ed. We have come down through cowardice, we
must mount through courage. We have become
degraded through ignorance, we must rise again by
education and restoring the old ideals. If some of
you have the courage to say . " We will not act
against the ancient rules ; we will not do that which
we know to be wrong morally and to be evil physi-
cally," and if you will therefore make the marriage
period later, no matter who may oppose, then you
will begin to take the first practical step towards the
training of a stronger, manlier and more vigorous race.
I am not asking you to throw off the old customs and
to adopt new ones, as some others have advised.
I am asking you to restore the old. . . . We
cannot make the full change back to the old ideal at
once, but I do trust that we may be able gradually to
work towards the ancient ideal, and thus may set an
example which all lovers of India will venture to follow,,
that we may strike the key-note of a better physical
future of India, and build up a stronger manhood.

Ancient Ideals in Modern Lite

THE IDEAL TEACHER 1

BY GEORGE S. ARUNDALE

OUR educational lives must be full of our own life, of
first-hand life, and not of second-hand life or of third
or fourth-hand life. Emphatically has the teacher to
be himself to the utmost of his power, even though
he must needs live within the confinement of a system.
The best he can give to his pupils is himself, not some-
one else, is what he himself says, not what someone
lse says. The teacher must be positive, definite,
eager, full of ideals, full of endeavour to bring them
down into the actual. This is why the vocation of the
teacher is so onerous. He must be worth sharing
with his pupils. There must be in him the power to
inspire his pupils to become all that they will desire to
be. There must be nothing small about him, nothing
dead, nothing indifferent, nothing automatic or
machine-like, nothing of hopelessness or despair,
everything of joy, of assurance. He must be a fire so
that his pupils may catch fire.

1 From the President^ Mdress to the Fourth Swsvon o\ t\\
M\-\nd\a Federation ot "le&chers,

THE IDEAL TEACHER 69

The Object of Education

Education is to the end that the individual may
shine more and more abundantly. Our subjects of
' the curriculum, all our elaborate paraphernalia and
methods and plans and systems, all our technique,
whatever it may be, our examinations, our orthodoxies
and conventions all are fundamentally to this end.
To this exalted end I would venture to demand much
from the teacher, even though I know full well that
all too little is given to him. I demand in the first
place Truth. I demand that he shall be true to him-
self above all else I demand that he shall not be a
slave but a master. I demand that he shall stand
upon his own feet fair and square, and not lean upon
others, whoever those others may be. If he do so
stand, if thus he be true, then my next demand will of
a surety be satisfied. I demand that, knowing his
own truth, he realises in immeasurable intensity that
a teacher's supreme gift, if one can call it a gift, to
his pupils is abundant facility to discover their own
truths for themselves and to rejoice in them. The
teacher's truth by no means necessarily fits his pupils,
is the truth for them, their truth : and the true teacher
is well aware of this fact.

I demand that the teacher shall fully realize that
every part of the material of education is a means to
Truth, is a step in the direction of Truth and nothing
more. History . . ., Geography, Mathematics,.

70 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Science, Literature, Philosophy, and all other aspects of
the great evolutionary process, are not, as we have
them, the last word, are in many cases little more than
a lisp, are all inadequate and partial, are more or less
untrue, or at best are but aspects, shadows, of the
truth. We must not declare them to be ultimate
Truth. No science dogmatises. Hence the dogmatic
must be left out of education, for it interferes with the
truth.

Freedom From Systems

I know well the part systems have to play in edu-
cational life. We cannot altogether do without them.
But let us ever be on the alert to subordinate the
system to the end, to subordinate the form to the
iife, ever to honour independence, originality, free-
dom, above all that is slavish, unfree, subservient.
1 infinitely prefer intractability, provided it be construc-
tive and original, to weak-kneed fawning docility.
We may be committed to mass-production, but let us
be more than thankful when something tears itself
away from the mass and develops to its own exclu-
sive, and, I would hope, revolutionary, pattern. Nay
more. Let us be watchful for any material which
shows signs of departing from the beaten track,
however it departs and, I will venture to add, what-
ever the havoc it creates by the abandonment of the
broad road that leads so very slowly to salvation.

THE IDEAL TEACHER 71

Education is not a standard to which pupils have to
conform but an inspiration to which it is hoped they
will react. And please note the word " inspiration."
I demand that pupils shall inspire, and to this end they
must surely be inspired.

We must never lose sight of the fact, the supreme
fact above all other facts, that our educative process
is to help our pupils to find their own truths whatever
these may be, however different these may be from
conventional truths, from the truths which are ordi-
narily current in the world of men and women.

For this, I demand that the teacher shall take in-
finite pains to relate every subject of education to
the pupil himself. There is no subject which is not
related to the pupil, which does not form a part of
his own individual growth which sooner or later he
will not need. History, Geography, Science, Religion,
Philosophy, Mathematics, all are intimately connected
with him, help him as part of his very bemg to
discover himself. And this is their splendid and won-
derful value.

No Failure

There is no failure where a pupil walks steadily
forward, no matter how, to his supreme Self. He
may walk through what the world may call failure,
defeat, disaster. Yet if he is walking to Himself there
is triumph at every step. The object of education is

72 THE BESANT SPIRIT

not to shield from difficulty and trouble, from defeat
and failure, but to vitalize in all possible ways the will
to walk forward at whatever cost.

Coercion is the absolute negation of education, as
is punishment, as are orders. Rules, yes. And I leave
to the thoughtful the task, which need not be so very
difficult, of reconciling the absence of coercion et
hoc genus omne with the need for rules and certain*
limitations. In other words, I leave to the thoughtful
the duty of recognizing the truth that order and free-
dom are complementary terms

Regard for Both Body and Soul

I demand that he shall recognise with the fullest
possible implications that his pupil is an immortal soul,
with a past of perhaps infinite magnitude stretching
behind him, with a present leading to a future the
glorious nature of which we can but dimly apprehend.
The child is not a child save in body. Let the teacher
be above all else the friend of the soul and the
adjustor of the body to the requirements of the
soul, if he has the intuition to be able to find these
out. Let us by all means have regard for the age
of the body, but let us have equal regard for the
age of the soul. And let us realize that the body
is but a vehicle for the soul, a means to the soul's
great ends. The teacher thus becomes the link,,
the most important link, between the age-old soul

THE IDEAL TEACHER 75

and the vehicles which take the soul once more
into this outer world. He is the soul's ambassador,
the soul's friend and comrade ; and because he is
this he may have sometimes to annoy the body
for the sake of the soul, provided he knows the
soul, and takes care that he is not annoying the
body for the sake of his own soul, to force it into
line with his own standards of rectitude. We talk
of freedom in education. There is only one true
freedom the freedom of the soul, which is the
purpose, as I understand it, of evolution. The freedom
of the body it would, of course, be a false freedom
may well be the imprisonment of the soul.

I demand that the teacher shall not hesitate to
encourage his pupils to set out on a voyage of
discovery both as to their Whence and as to their
Whither. Let imagination, intuition, reason, all help.
If education and the teacher cannot offer a sugges-
tion or two, through the medium of the material at
their disposal, as to the way in which the nature of
the Whence and the Whither may be sought, just as
they lead us to a knowledge of the Now, they fall
lamentably short of their duty.

Examinations

Examinations, professions, careers, difficulties, ob-
stacles, defeats, disasters, the cramping effect of the
inevitable planning of the educational system to fit an.

74 THE BESANT SPIRIT

average size of pupil, with the result that there must
be more misfits than fits all these we must, I fear
take in our stride. They must not be ends. When
they are ends, they are mischievous When they are
means they may perchance be helpful.

Mind And Emotion

If education were for living and not merely for
livelihood, if education were for joy and happiness
and not merely for temporal success, if education
were for self-expression and not so exclusively for
imitation, if education were as much for eternity as it
is for time, if education were as much for service as it
is for self-seeking, if education were as much for
wisdom and truth as it is for so-called facts, if educa-
tion were as much for the soul as it is supposed to be
for the mind, then indeed would the younger genera-
tion be well-equipped for Life. By reason of the fact
that this is an age of Mind, education, concentrating
on the mind, has practically forgotten, if it ever knew,
the emotions, and is only now remembering the
physical body. The right education of the emotions
is the direct route to brotherliness, to the spirit of
unity, to all that makes for generosity and compassion,
to happiness and peace. Without the co-operation
of the emotions the mind becomes hard and narrow,
just as without the co-operation of the mind the
emotions tend to become aimless and uncontrolled.

THE IDEAL TEACHER 75

Education in India

No more splendid background is there in the world
for education than India, where is the true home of
education, where the deepest principles of education
lie imbedded in her eternity for those to find who
seek for the Real in religions eternal rather than in
regions of time. I see everywhere problems, every-
where plans and methods, schemes and projects I see
education extending sway over the pre-natal, delving
into psychological temperament, penetrating almost
up to the very soul itself, specifically in the works of
Mr. Edmond Holmes. But is it not all largely tinker-
ing ? Is it not all largely taking the child as he is, as a
child, as an emptiness, more as a vase to be filled
than, as Madame Montesson so truly wishes him to be,
a spark to be fanned into a flame ? How little do we
realize that education is everywhere, is the universal
process of Life, is the very expression of Life itself,
and that there is no isolation in education, that edu-
cation at one point affects education at all points,
that education here or there is affecting education
everywhere.

What an opportunity you have here in India, an
opportunity that I am afraid the existence of an alien
spirit in education causes us most terribly to miss. In
very truth you have but to lift up your eyes unto the
hills whence cometh all help to know of what nature
Indian education should be. I am guilty of no flight

76 THE BESANT SPIRIT

of fancy when I say that in the glorious Himalayas, the
root base of eternal India, we have the keynote to
the whole of Indian life, and therefore to the soul of
Indian education. Does not India draw from these
mighty mountain Beings much of the faith in which a
large majority of her peoples live ? Does she not draw
from them almost her whole science of art and
of beauty ? Does she not draw from them her pro-
tection ? Does she not draw down from them much,
very much of her material wellbemg ? True, we have
among us our Musalman brethren whose life immediately
came from Arabia, where their great Prophet stood
out in such unique magnificence. True we have our
Parsi brethren whose life is more immediately traceable
to Persia, and our Christian brethren who come as it
were from Palestine. We have our Buddhist brethren,
but they are of our own land. We need not look, let
us not look, to the West for power in our education,
for unity in our education, for lofty purpose in our
education, for truth irvour education. Let us cease
to believe that education of the West is the ideal for
the East. Far from it. For some parts of the
body of our education we may well go to the West.
But for the Sou/ never.

Indian Ideals

But if great things are to be done in the educational
field in India there must be, I am sure you will all agree.

THE IDEAL TEACHER 77

unrestricted freedom. Under a foreign system of
education no youth of any land can truly grow. Only
with an education full of Indian Ideals, full of Indian
spirit, full of Indian power, full of Indian unity, full of
Indian simplicity, full of Indian purpose, full, that is, of
Indian life, can Indian youth grow into Indian man-
hood, can India be herself. You ask " Where are
these Indian ideals, where is this Indian spirit, where is
this Indian unity, where is this Indian purpose, where
is this Indian life?" I say it is everywhere , overlaid
by foreigndom, but there. And I say that you have
but to look up to the Himalayas, the Guardians of
Jndia, to know that all these things still live, are at the
worst asleep, are to awake once more to the glory
of the Mother of all lands and to the peace and
happiness of the world.

For the moment we may only be able to aspire, to
hope, to dream. Perchance a shadow from our dream-
ing shall bring somewhat of the future Hown intn th^
very present.

-(New India,

THE IDEAL STUDENT

THE first thing that strikes a man who looks at Hinduism
as a whole is the order that marks the Hindu system.
Everything in it follows in due succession, each season
has its own fruits, each stage its own work. It is
orderly with the orderliness of nature. As seed is
sown, as it grows and ripens, as it is harvested,
as it is ground into flour for the making of bread,
so is a like succession seen in human life as ordered
by the Rishis, who gave to India her social and
religious polity. The successive stages follow each
other in due and natural order. The sowing is in
the student life wherein the seed of knowledge is
planted ; the growing to maturity and the ripening
is in the life of the householder ; the harvesting is
in the Vanaprasta stage, wherein active life is over ;
the grinding to make bread for human feeding is
in the life of the Sannyasi, whose work is wholly
for others, not for himself. All should follow in
due order, and no confusion of this order should
be seen. The arrangement of the ashramas, as made
by the Rishis, was intended to secure this due order.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 79

so that each stage of life should have its due
results, and steady evolution might be made, the
four ashramas representing the natural order of
growth in human life.

Infancy

To-day we are to study the first ashrama, that
of Brahmacharya, which covers the life of the student.

This first ashrama is, of course, preceded by in-
fancy. For that no rules are laid down, for all that
is needed during the first seven years of life is free-
dom, and full opportunity for growth. Nourishment,
tenderness, liberty in all that is not harmful, en-
couragement to make its own experiments with the
strange new world around it these are the needs of
the little child. He is only getting ready his future
instrument, and that work is quite enough for the time.
Modern medical science endorses this view of the
little child ; and the latest biological discoveries justify
the wisdom of the ancient rule which left the young
child unfettered and free from study to the tender
caressing care of the mother and the soft nurturing
of the home. During the first seven years of life
the brain is not ready for study; it is composed
of cells that are not linked together into groups,
as they are in later life, and these do not offer
the material basis needed for study and reasoning.
During these early years the cells are hard at work,.

80 THE BESANT SPIRIT

under the stimulus of the impressions pouring in
from the outer world, and they send out tiny
rootlike growths, which link them together into groups.
These groups form the physical instruments for mental
faculties, and until they are formed and well established,
the brain ought not to be used for study. It cannot
be used effectually, and it ought not to be used at all.
Therefore the Rishis, knowing all this, laid down no
rules for study till early childhood was over. There
is pressure enough on the baby brain in any case
the new things of family life, of the home, of the
strange outer world, provide sufficient stimulus for
it. See how busy a little child is with its ceaseless
questionings, its open-eyed wonder, its restless move-
ments. And the less interference there is with the
tiny creature the better. As far as possible there
should be no coercion, and interference should
be avoided as much as possible. Some little guidance
to aid physical development may be given, and
sufficient supervision to turn aside serious bodily harm.
Any necessary check should be given very gently,
so that no sense of being thwarted and hindered
should arise in the child. Where there is too much
restraint in childhood, where there is undue repression
of the abounding exuberant life, timidity and shyness
appear, even fear and distrust. Hence mischief in
later life, when the child may need to turn to the
parent for advice, for protection.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 81

Brahxnacharya

This merry, irresponsible gaiety of childish life comes
to an end with the important samskara of the Upa-
nayana, the giving of the sacred thread. This
samskara marks the close of infancy, and marks the
beginning of the Brahmacharya ashrama. Control and
restraint begin with this, in the place of the joyous
thoughtlessness of the earlier years, and these are
fitly symbolized by the thread the thread or cord
which binds. Henceforth the restraint of outer con-
trol and of self-control must discipline the life ; these
are necessary for the training of the instrument which
has been prepared in the careless liberty of childhood.
And the thread says more than general restraint ; it is a
triple thread, and we see in it a reference to the triple
control enjoined by Manu : control of the mind,
control of speech, control of action. To invest with
the thread is to say : " Henceforth you must learn
to govern your mind, to govern your speech, to
govern your actions." The careless freedom of child-
hood belongs to the body, it is the freedom of the
animal ; now the child enters on the truly human
life, the life of self-mastery and of self-control. If
he is for a time to be in subjection to others, this
is but to help him to become master of himself ;
the tender plant is guarded and supported until it
is strong enough to battle alone with the storms
of life.

6

82 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Then the mantra is given, the sign of the beginning
of the religious life ; it reminds the boy that he is no
longer an irresponsible member of the physical world,
but that he has to come into touch with the subtler
superphysical worlds to which his true life belongs,
with Devas, with Ishvara, the Supreme. It is the mark
of the link between the Jiva and the Paramatma, the
link which, by the aid of religion, will be found to be
identity of nature.

Moreover, the boy now passes under the control of
his teacher, and learns that he must leave the play of
the household for the study of the Guru. He is given
the stick or wand, symbol of danda which controls, and
also symbol of self-protection against external dangers
In the old days, the student had to beg daily for the
food which supported himself and his teacher, and the
memory of this is still kept alive in the ceremony of
giving the sacred thread. The stick and the begging
both remind the young boy of the nature of the life
on which he is now entering a life of simplicity, of
frugality, of endurance, of the hardships which train
and strengthen the body. Thus the ceremony outlines
the ashrama now to be entered.

There are four things which may be said to embody
the main ideas of the life of the Brahmachari : Service,
Study, Simplicity, Self-control. This sentence should
be the motto of the Hindu student, and should guide
his daily life.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 85

Sometimes in England the phrase is used " the
three R's," and by this is meant the elements of
education, Reading, wRitmg, and aRithmetic. To teach
" the three R's" is to give a child elementary edu-
cation. So we might call the elements of the Brahma-
chari's life "the four S's " Service, Study, Simplicity,
Self-control. This is a convenient way of helping the
memory, and to make the four S's sink deeply into
the mind, never to be forgotten.

Let us see just what these four S's mean :
Each refers to a particular branch of education, and
each of these branches of education belongs to a
particular division of the constitution of man.

SERVICE is the duty owed to God, to the Guru,
to the Parents : and it leads to the unfolding of the
spiritual nature which grows only by service, by self-
surrender, by self-sacrifice, by outpouring, which
lives by giving and not by taking This spiritual
development is aided by religion.

STUDY is the application of the mind to the
external world for the gaining of knowledge ;' it
develops the intellectual nature, trains the mind,
and evolves its faculties.

SIMPLICITY characterises the virtues which are
most needed in the student life ; it indicates what
should be the student's habits and ways of living,
and covers the development of the moral nature.

SELF-CONTROL is here the mastery of the body,
the guidance, training and management of the
body, so that it may evolve into a useful and
capable instrument, a good servant for life's work.

84 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Our Fourfold Nature

Thus Service, Study, Simplicity, Self-control, refer to
the four divisions of the nature of the human being.

Look at yourselves, and you will see these four
divisions of your nature quite clearly.

You have a physical body which you can see, and
you know it is a part of your nature. You have to
learn to master this body while it is young and plastic,
and while the task is comparatively easy. Later on
in life, this task of mastering the body becomes very
hard ; when the world's business presses on a man,
he needs his body ready to his service, for then he
has little time to devote to its discipline and its train-
ing ; moreover, in manhood the body is far less plastic,
less malleable, than in youth, for habits have become
fixed, and they are difficult to change. While the
body is still growing it can be more easily trained, for
it is flexible and amenable ; just as you might train a
young horse to serve you, so should you train your
body.

If you observe yourselves, you will see that the
body is only a part of you ; you have what are called
feelings emotions, passions, appetites. Sometimes
you lose your temper ; or you feel a wave of love or
of hate sweep through you ; or you feel contented or
discontented, proud or humble, full of energy or sloth-
ful. These emotions form a most important part of
everyone's nature, and they make up the second

THE IDEAL STUDENT 85

great division of the human constitution the emo-
tional nature.

Thirdly, comes the mind, that in you which thinks,
which reasons, which remembers ; this is called the
intellectual nature, and each one of you knows it as a
part of yourself. You cannot live without observing,
without reasoning, without remembering ; every day
and all day long the mind is busy.

But even when you have noted the body, the emo-
tions, and the mind, there remains yet something
which is none of these ; it is yourself, the deepest you,
that owns the body, the emotions, the mind ; this is
the Jiva, the Spirit within you, and this may be called
the fourth division of the human constitution the
spiritual nature.

These four parts of the boy's nature, then, must
each be dealt with in a complete education, and it is
this complete education that the Brahmachan needs,
if he is to be in reality as well as in name a youth
fashioned on the Ideal of a Hindu student.

Let us take them each in turn.

Service

The unfolding of the spiritual nature is to come by
SERVICE, the service of God, of the Guru, of the
Parents. The service to be rendered to God by the
student is worship, the worship of Him from whom he
draws his life. It is He who is manifested in the nature

86 THE BESANT SPIRIT

amidst which he lives, who shines out in the sun, who
pours down in the rain, whose will gives the seasons in
their order, whose life is the fertility in the soil. It is
He from whom flows all that makes life possible love,
affection, the joy of thought and of intellectual vigour,
the bounding pulse of youth, the glowing exuberance
of vitality, these are all the good gifts of God to man.
How ungrateful then is he who takes all but renders
back nothing in return. Truly does the Bhagavad-Gita
say that he is a thief who receives all Divine gifts and
yields nothing in return. In worship we pay our debt
by gratitude and by love ; we can give nothing worth
the giving, for all is of His gift " of Thine own have
we given Thee " and it is but a poor and paltry
return for all the riches we receive. Yet so it is
that the Spirit Universal values the love of the sepa-
rated Spirits that are but the sparks of His flame, and
loves to be loved of men .

As though the sun should thank us
For letting light come in.

/Another part of our service is religious study, called
sometimes the debt we owe to the Rishis ; and this is
incumbent on all the twice-born. The study of the
Vedas is as much the duty of Kshattriyas and of Vaish-
yas as of Brahmanas. It is compulsory on all ; only
the Brahmanas may teach the Vedas, but the three
twice-born castes are all equally bound to study them.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 87

This is clearly seen in both the ordinances and the
practice of the olden time ; for we read of Ramachan-
dra, of the Kurus and the Pandavas, and of many
other Kshattriyas being all versed in the Vedas. This
universality of study is indeed necessary, because only
by a sure knowledge of spiritual teachings can men
find at once the foundation and the sanction of moral-
ity Unity Religion alone teaches us that we are all
one, that we are parts of a single whole, and without
this fact of Unity there is no sure foundation for
morality. Likewise is the fact of Unity the sanction of
morality, for it gives the reason why we should be
moral, it shews the necessity of morality. Suppose
that a lawyer, eager to win a case in which success
will bring him fame and money, sees that a dishonest
practice will ensure success The moralist says to
him* "You should refrain from that action." He
answers : " Why ? I shall gam thereby fame and
money, and these mean happiness to me ; why should
I not do it ?" Simple morality can give no adequate
answer. But religion steps in and says . " You should
not do it, because you and he whom you seek to
injure are really one and the same. You cannot
injure him without injuring yourself. The loss will
inevitably come back to yourself ; you injure your
own life."

In history we see that wherever religion decays, the
sense of unity gradually disappears, and men disregard

88 THE BESANT SPIRIT

the good of the Country and the State in the hunt
after their own separate interests : whenever that
occurs the State suffers, and then the individuals also
begin to suffer. No matter how clever a man may be,
however brilliant his intelligence, however strong his will
he cannot succeed if his nation be degraded and down-
trodden. There is no scope for his genius, there
is little reward for his efforts. Misery to all means
misery to each, and while God is God this must re-
main so. Men are bound together by virtue of His
nature, shared in by all, and from this there is no
escape. Only as the law of Unity is obeyed can even
individual happiness be secured. Thus the teaching
of religion is necessary for the welfare of the nation.

Hence the Brahmachari must worship, and must
study the sacred books.

Service to the Guru has lost its old meaning in
these modern days, yet the Hindu student should
remember that he owes to his teachers not only obedi-
ence, but also affectionate respect and trust. He
should avoid harsh criticism of them and all unmanner-
ly behaviour ; it should be his pride to be orderly in
class, courteous in his bearing ; he should not entertain
suspicions of the teacher's good-will, nor resent the
discipline he may impose. Service to the Parents
should also form part of the Brahmachari's life ; in the
house he should be the help, the joy, of Father and
Mother, and serve them with the body which they gave.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 89

Study

We now come to STUDY, what in modern times is

*

called the secular part of education, though in reality
nothing is secular, for all is God-pervaded, and all
right thought, all right desire, all right action, is in
truth part of the Divine service. All these are worship
in the wider sense, when done with the motive to
serve God and man.

If I asked you : " Why do you study ?" some of you
would answer . " In order to pass our examinations."
True, but only a small part of the truth, for the passing
of examinations is 'neither the reason for, nor the
object of, study The degree gained by an examina-
tion is merely a mark that a man has reached a certain
standard of knowledge. In England, there is a way of
stamping all gold and silver articles, when they come
up to a certain standard of purity, and this stamp is
called a hall-mark ; it is an authoritative statement
that the article bearing it is good gold or good silver,
and not base metal made to resemble the precious
ones. No English-made gold or silver article is
genuine which does not bear this hall-mark. Now an
examination which ensures a degree, or a certificate of
some kind, is merely a hall-mark ; it shows that the
youth has come up to a certain standard ; it has no
value in itself ; its only value is in what it guarantees.
The gold does not gain its value from the hall-mark ;
the hall-mark is placed on it because it is already

90 THE BESANT SPIRIT

valuable. And so the knowledge does not gam its value
from the examination ; but the examination marks it as
having a certain value. The passing of the examina-
tion should be a proof that the student possesses
a certain amount of knowledge ; but only too often
today the hall-mark is stamped on base metal, for the
knowledge has been gained by cramming, by the
teacher giving notes and the student writing them down
and then committing them to memory , for education
has been identified with the passing of examinations,
and thus has been deprived of its real value.

I ask another : " Why do you study ?" His answer
is : " Because I want to gam knowledge." A better
answer than the former one, and yet only a part of
the truth. For knowledge which is imparted by one
person to another, received by the pupil from the
teacher, mere memory-knowledge, is not the mam
object of study. Too many boys' heads are like
empty vessels into which statements about facts are
poured by teachers, and the boys empty out the
statements again in the examination-room, and the
heads are left with very little in them.

The real object of education, that at which every
true teacher is aiming, and for which every true student
is working, is to draw out, train and discipline the
faculties of the mind, those faculties that the boy will
want to use when he comes to be a man. And right
education is not the cramming of the boy's memory,

THE IDEAL STUDENT 91

but the evolution and training of his powers of
observing, reasoning, and judging In arguing about
the best subjects to teach in school, men often speak
as though the one important matter were the use in
after life of the knowledge given. Truly, that is to be
thought of ; but we should also consider the value
of a subject as yielding mental discipline and as
stimulating mental evolution, for the well-trained mind
is like a keen instrument, fit for the execution of work.

You are not here only to pass examinations or to
absorb your teachers' knowledge ; you are here to
develop all your faculties, spiritual, intellectual, moral,
physical, so that hereafter you may use them in the
service of God and men, to the credit and honour of
your country, your families, and yourselves.

If you understand this, you will see why so much
stress is laid here on the kind of intellectual training
that is given , you will understand why you are taught
to observe for yourselves, instead of only writing down
notes about the observations of others , why you are
asked to reason, and draw your own conclusions ; why
there is so much practical as well as theoretical
teaching ; why modelling is taught to the little boys,
making them observe and distinguish differences.
Much of your success in your future life depends on
your being able to observe keenly, and to see differ-
ences between men and men, things and things.
Is this man trustworthy ? Are these circumstances

92 THE BESANT SPIRIT

favourable ? The man, who dreams through life with
his eyes half shut, loses half his opportunities. You
can learn how to decide only when your faculty of
accurate observation has been cultivated.

So also with the faculty of reasoning. In learning
mathematics and logic, you are not learning matters
which in themselves will be useful to you in later life,
except in certain specialized professions j but you
are learning to reason, to detect errors in reasoning,
and to draw correct conclusions from the facts before
you. Unless you gather this fruit from your mathe-
matical and logical studies, this part of your education
will be a failure. As a pleader, a doctor, a govern-
ment servant, a merchant, for instance, you will not
work out mathematical problems or teach logic ; but to
reason correctly and draw correct conclusions, to
detect flaws in your opponent's reasoning, these things
are necessary for the pleader, and the faculties which
do this are evolved and trained by mathematical and
logical studies. And so with the other professions.
The educated man differs from the uneducated not
only in the extent of his knowledge, but in the evolu-
tion of his faculties and his power of applying them
to any case that presents itself.

It is true that the method of practical, instead
of only theoretical teaching is much more difficult
for you, and infinitely more difficult for your teachers
than the cramming system ; but on the other hand

THE IDEAL STUDENT 93

it is far more interesting and far more effective, and
leaves the student, at the end of his college career,
eager for more knowledge instead of disgusted with
study. And it means all the difference between a
useful and a useless man, between a man who drags
through life half-developed and one with his faculties
alert, serviceable to himself and to his country. You
may teach a blind man by reading to him, by talking
to him, but put him in the road by himself and he is
helpless, he cannot gain any knowledge of his surround-
ings ; how much greater the boon if you can cure his
blindness, can give him back his eye-sight ; then he
can use his own eyes, and gain information for himself.
This is what we are trying to do for you ; we would
not have you go into the world as blind men, depen-
dent upon others for your guidance, but as men with
open vision, clear-eyed, far-sighted, able to guide your-
selves and to guide those who are less fortunate than
you are. Your education is to open your .eyes, to train
your faculties, so that they may be at your disposal in
later life, and may grow and be strengthened therein
by the struggles, the successes and the failures of the
life of manhood. Such is the difference between true
and false education in the department of the intellect.

Simplicity

We now come to SIMPLICITY, which we may take
as the symbol of the virtues belonging especially to the

94 THE BESANT SPIRIT

life of the Brahmachan. It is sometimes said, and
rightly said, that virtues are right emotions made
permanent ; I have not time to fully explain to you
this relation between virtues and emotions, but can
only very briefly shew you the main idea, in order
that you may see what is meant by the statement that
virtues and vices grow out of right and wrong emotions,
so that moral training means a training and a develop-
ment of the emotional division of man's nature.

If you love your father or your brother very much,
you do, of your own accord, without being told, any-
thing that you think will make them happy. But you
do not do the same for a stranger, because you do
not feel the same love for him as you do for your
fatheroor brother. Now suppose that you see a stranger
in need of help, and you do for him what you would
do for your father or brother in a similar case, you are
then showing towards him from virtue, the same
actions which you would show to your father or
brother from emotion. The virtue of kindness prompts
the same help to the stranger that the emotion of
love prompts to the relative. Therefore we say that a
virtue is an emotion made general and constant ; "a
virtue is the permanent mood, or mode, of an emotion."
One other thing you should also know, that there are
only two root-emotions in the world Love and Hate,
All the emotions are branches springing from one or
other of these two roots. Virtues grow out of the

THE IDEAL STUDENT 95

love-emotion ; vices grow out of the hate emotion.
Moral education consists in stimulating the love-emo-
tion, and cultivating the virtues that grow out of it ,
and in dwarfing the hate-emotion, and eradicating the
vices that grow out of it

The Virtue of Obedience

Let us now see what virtues are most necessary in
the Brahmachari. Obedience stands first, and you
should understand why so much stress is laid on this
in the Shastras. In the first place, the younger is not
as wise or as experienced as the elder, and his lack of
knowledge of the world, and of people and of things,
would often place him in difficulties and dangers if he
were left unguided , he would rum his health, injure his
mental faculties, and lay up for himself many miseries
in the future, if he were not helped and protected by
the advice of his elders. Obedience enables him to
gather the fruits of his elders' experience, Moreover,
obedience to rightful authority is the foundation of a
noble character. Submission to the law, dutifulness
and loyalty as a citizen, spring from obedience cultivat-
ed in youth. There is no good citizenship possible
unless the virtue of obedience is strongly rooted in the
character, and turbulent disorderly youth does not
lead to a dutiful and noble manhood. Still further,
only those who have learned to obey are fit to rule ;
those who have not learned obedience are sure to be

96 THE BESANT SPIRIT

tyrannical, unjust and unfair. Such men, when they
come to rule, do not realize how their orders may injure
and oppress, how they may seem to those who have
to obey them. One who is unable to look at the matter
from the inferior's point of view is apt to be imperious,
harsh and inconsiderate. The student who has himself
been under obedience knows how the inferior feels
when orders are given by the superior. Hence, when
his turn comes to give orders, he is considerate,
thoughtful and kind. He remembers : "I loved my
superiors who were kind to me, and disliked those
who were harsh ; for the one I did all I could, was
eager to please them, and even in their absence
I acted as I knew they would wish ; for the other
I did as little as I could, only trying to avoid punishment.
I want my subordinates to like me, to do their
work heartily and ungrudgingly, in my absence as
well as in my presence ; so I will be kind and consider-
ate, and will be careful how i rule." Therefore
learn obedience now in your student-days ; otherwise
in your manhood you will be unfit for responsible
offices, you will make bad masters, bad superiors, bad
rulers.

Courage : Physical and Moral

Another virtue that the Brahmachari should cultivate
is physical and moral Courage, and the latter is even
more important than the former. If you do wrong,

THE IDEAL STUDENT 97

or if you make a mistake, do not try to hide it by
a spoken or an acted lie. The acknowledgment
of error in boyhood means strength in manhood.
Frankness, openness, these appear in every manly
character, and without moral courage no true greatness
is possible. For greatness means seeing further than
others, and being able to stand alone aye, and to
stand not only alone but against strong opposition. A
boy who develops moral courage in his school
and college life is one who as a man -will become
a tower of strength in his community, who
will be regarded with honour, confidence and trust,
and who may grow to be a true leader of men.

Endurance

Endurance is one of the virtues of the Brahmachari
and the simplicity which is the note of his character
directly conduces to the evolution of this virtue.
The Brahmachari must not indulge in lazy, slothful
luxurious habits ; he should not long for a soft bed,
for an easy seat, for a variety of dainty dishes.
Now why not ? Look round you and you will see.
Contrast the boys who are fond of these things
and who are lazy in their habits with the boys who
-are indifferent to luxury, who are alert and agile.
The latter grow up strong, healthy, manly, able to
endure, and enjoy in their manhood splendid health
and vigorous vitality; the former grow fat, heavy,
7

98 THE BESANT SPIRIT

slow, and are a prey to all kinds of diseases even
in early manhood. A certain amount of hardship
should characterize the student stage of life ; for while
the body is growing, luxury is absolutely harmful to
it. The vital energies are building up the body,
and they flow to the parts that are exercised, if
the boy is idle and gluttonous, they remain chiefly
in the digestive organs and their neighbourhood,
and build quantities of adipose tissue, commonly called
fat, and this fat clogs the organs and prevents them
from working properly, and gives rise to all kinds
of diseases. Whereas, if the body be kept active,
these forces flow to the muscular system and make it
very strong and hard and flexible, and vigorous health
pervades every organ. The luxurious boy's future
life will be diseased and brief ; so heavy is the penalty
exacted by Nature for sloth in youth.

It is not that your elders wish to force hardship
on you, as grudging you any pleasure, but because
they wish that your bodies should be built up in the
best way, that muscle and nerve should be developed,
that which will last and will stand you in good stead
throughout your future life. A little hardship now
means health and pleasure in the long years before
you, and they well know that, in your glad and
healthy manhood, you will thank them for the restric-
tions which prevented you from sowing in your youth,
the seeds of ill-health.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 99

The Team Spirit

For this reason, also, we lay so much stress on games.
For in games the moral character is trained as well as
the body, and the two act and re-act on each other.
Games teach the players to act together, thus rousing
a feeling of union and of duty to comrades The
member of a team who plays for himself only, who
thinks only of showing off his own skill, his own strength,
is no good ; the boy who plays for the side, for the
common object, who cooperates with the rest of the
team, he is the good player. What would you think
of the goal-keeper who, to shew his fleetness of foot
or strength of kick, should run out among the forwards
and leave his goal unguarded ? He would soon be
thrown out of the team, and a player put in his place who
thinks first of his side and not of himself. In life, this
sense of being part of a whole, of working for the
whole, means the success of the Country, and the lifting
of it up in the scale of nations ; a country becomes great
when its citizens put its honour and welfare first and
their own success second ; the patriot loves his
country better than he loves himself, and rejoices
more when his country is honoured than when his
own name is in the mouths of men.

Games harden and strengthen the body : you may
be rolled over, knocked about, bruised, even seriously
injured, and by these struggles -you gain strength and
endurance and courage. You should look on this as

100 THE BESANT SPIRIT

part of your training for the struggles of life, for
though you may not have physical tussles there, the
qualities that carry you through these will carry you
through the many troubles of worldly life. When blows
of misfortune and grief fall on you, you will bear them
.bravely and will not be afraid. And you will gain that
dogged perseverance which wins against heavy odds,
wearing out by its tenacity the strength of its
opponents. It is said to be one of the characteristics
of the Englishman that " he never knows when he is
beaten." Napoleon is said to have complained of
the battle of Waterloo that he had won the battle
several times, but that the English did not know when
they were beaten And in the end, they won. That
splendid tenacity spells success.

Control of temper is taught on the playing-fields ;
every good player has to learn to play with good
temper, and to curb the passionate uprush of anger
that surges through him when he is, perhaps over-
roughly, pushed or flung aside. To take a defeat
calmly and without resentment, to lose neither heart
,nor temper when overborne, these things strength-
en the moral nature, give a fine polish to the
character, temper it to mingled force and sweet-
ness. In these and in other ways the playing-field
is a true school of manners and of morals and serves
45 an admirable preparation for the future game
of life.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 101

SELF-CONTROL, the control of the mind, the senses
and the body, covers indeed the physical training and
discipline of the body, but is so closely interwoven
with morality that the physical and the moral every-
where overlap. The most important item of this Self-
control in the Brahmachari is that which has ever been
implied in his very name the preservation of absolute
continence. In the old days the student was given
over to his Guru, and lived with him during the whole
period of tutelage, so that he could not enter on the
household life until he left the Brahmacharya ashrama.
When he returned home, then, and then only, was he
allowed to take a wife This rule was based on the
soundest physiological and moral reasons. During
adolescence all the vital powers of the youth are
needed for the upkeep of his developing body.
Especially are they needed for the building up of his
brain and nervous system. If they are prematurely
used in marriage, in fatherhood, it means the weaken-
ing of the whole system, the impoverishment of vital-
ity, the premature decay of vigour. The whole life
suffers by the premature entry into the marriage state.
In order to be a true Brahmachari, more than absti-
nence from marriage is necessary ; the thoughts must
be clean, else the preservation of bodily purity is
impossible. Absolute chastity, absolute continence
are necessary. If these are disregarded, the penalty
is loss of health and strength in early manhood, when.

102 THE BESANT SPIRIT

vigorous vitality should be at its highest. Contrast the
appearance of two young men, one of whom has
broken his Brahmacharya vow, while the other has
kept it. The victim of premature marriage, or of
secret vice, is pale, listless, languid and heavy-eyed ;
while the youth who is pure is freshly coloured, alert,
active, brilliant-eyed, every look, every movement, tell-
ing of health and strength.

Now this fourfold scheme of education that I have
iput before you, this life of Service, Study, Simplicity,
and Self-control, is the ancient Aryan scheme of edu-
cation, as you may see for yourselves in the Itihasa.
look at the life of Shri Ramachandra in His student-
days ; you will see Him performing His Sandhya daily
and studying the Vedas ; you will see Him becoming
versed in secular knowledge, in all the branches of
learning needed for His princely work in life ; you will
see Him shewing out all moral virtues, obedient to His
parents and teachers, loving to His brothers, careful
of the welfare of all around Him ; He is said to have
been " intent on the welfare of the masses/' ever
studying the good of the people ; and lastly you will
see Him trained in all manly exercises, in the use of
weapons, in the evolutions of soldiers, in the manage-
ment of horses and of elephants. Each division of
education is seen in His training. Similarly with the
Kurus and Pandavas in later days ; each branch of the
fourfold education is sedulously cultivated.

THE IDEAL STUDENT 103

The most successful modern nations are following
the same lines today, as we may see if we look at
England and at Germany. At Eton, Harrow, Rugby,
Winchester, every boy is summoned to prayer at the
beginning of the day and is made to know his Bible
the Christian Scriptures. He is given moral lessons ;
the virtues are inculcated which will make him a good
citizen, a useful member of the community. When he
kneels in the chapel at public worship for it is the
Christian custom to gather in church or chapel for
general prayer, not for individual worship as in the
Temples here he has before his eyes, on strips of brass
that run along the walls, the blazoned names of boys
who once knelt where he is kneeling, and who later,
in many a hard-fought field, strove and died under
their country's flag, died that England might be safe
and mighty, giving their lives in glad surrender for
England's name and England's cause. Thus the boys,
at the time when their emotions are most keen, are
inspired and stimulated by the example of their
predecessors, and mingle in their memories of sacred
moments the thoughts of patriots and explorers and
statesmen who wrought mightily for their native land.
Thus arises a noble emulation, a patriotic ambition,
and thus the schools become nurseries of the heroes
of the future. This is how the Englishman is trained
to become proud of his country, proud of his na-
tionality.

104 THE BESANT SPIRIT

I want to see Indian youths inspired with a similar
sentiment. Is there less to be proud of in India than
in England? Have you not a history that stretches
back scores of thousands of years ere England was
heard of ? Have you not in your past heroes as gal-
lant, soldiers as brave, statesmen as able, patriots as
noble, as stud the storied past of England's isle ? What
can she point to with pride in the tale that lies behind
her, that you cannot match, overmatch, in India's
glorious roll ? I want you to write your names high
in the history of tomorrow, as your ancestors wrote
theirs in the history of yesterday. Do not indulge
in mere vanity over the past, and plume yourselves
on an ancestry starry with mighty names. A great
ancestry shames a base posterity, and is to it a reproach
and not a glory. I want the past to be to you an
inspiration not a boast, I want you to feel : " Our
ancestors were great, then we must be great also ;
they did noble deeds, and such deeds we also shall
strive to do. They held the name of Aryavarta high ;
we shall endeavour to raise it and hold it higher."
Empty pride of ancestry is vanity. You will only
prove yourself true-born if you live again as your
sires lived. They are but baseborn who wear their
fathers' names, but do not manifest their fathers'
virtues. Act, then, so that future generations may
see that you remember the heroes of the past. Be
you heroes in your turn, living heroism is those days,

THE IDEAL STUDENT 105

and not dreaming over the heroism of the past. Live
so that your names may shine in the eyes of your
posterity as do the starry names of old. Let the Rishis,
looking down on India, see that you are the descen-
dants of their minds as well as of their bodies ; let
them be able to say : " These youths are worthy
of the inheritance we bequeathed to them, and they
will hand on enriched the legacy they received
from us."

Ancient Ideals in Modern Life

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION

THE principles of Education, its natural bases in the
human constitution, are permanent, while their appli-
cations must be local, adapted to the conditions of
time and place. Hence while the Natural Law of
Education must be recognized, there should be freedom
in experiment and flexibility in application, so that we
may discover the best methods 'available to us for the
moment, and use them until we find better ones.
By following the Natural Law, we shall facilitate the
evolution of the child into the adult, working with
Nature, not against her ; that is, Education will be
recognised as a science, and not a haphazard dragging
up of youth, consisting chiefly in forcing into them
knowledge from outside, instead of helping them to
unfold and utilize the capacities they have brought
with them into the world. As Happiness increases the
-life-forces and Pain diminishes them, as Love energizes
and inspires to Right Action, while Fear paralyzes
faculty and inspires Hate, Happiness and Love should
be the atmosphere inbreathed by the young, whether
in the Home, the School, or the College.

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 107

The Fourfold Scheme

As man is a spiritual being, manifesting in the
external world as Intelligence, Emotion and Activity,
the Education of the young must help the inspiring
Life to unfold itself, and must train the organs of
Intelligence, Emotion and Activity ; that is, must be
religious, mental, moral, and physical Any so-called
education which omits any one of these four depart-
ments of human nature is imperfect and unscientific,
and its outcome will be a human being deficient in one
or more of the groups of capacities on the balanced
evolution of which the extent of his usefulness to
society depends.

But the introduction of the word " society," reminds
us that Education is not the training of an isolated
individual, but of an individual living within a social order,
the happiness of which depends on the recognition by
each that he is not an isolated but an interdependent
being. Society is a congeries of interdependent indi-
viduals, every one of whom has his place and his func-
tions, and on his due discharge of the latter the right
working of the whole depends. Hence Education
must consider the youth as the embryonic citizen, with
social duties and social responsibilities, must see him in
relation to his environment the Home, the School,
the College and from his earliest years must train
him, as boy or girl, to feel himself as a part of his
country, with his duties and responsibilities to the

108 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Motherland ; that is, he learns to serve the Motherland
in the Home, the School, the College, as a foundation
of, and as a preparation for not as apart from the
wider and fuller service, as man or woman, in the
larger world We must evoke the sense of duty, by
showing the pupil that duty is a debt he owes, first to
the parents, the brothers and sisters, the servants, who
have protected him in his helplessness, have surrounded
him with affection, and on whom his nurture and
happiness still depend We must evoke the sense of
responsibility by showing him how his thoughts,
feelings and actions affect his environment, and then
react on himself. Needless to say we do not teach
these principles to the child, but they must be under-
stood and practised by parents and teachers, so that
they may base their education of the child on know-
ledge, and vitalize it by example.

This duality, the evolving life and its environment,
must be borne in mind throughout education, as its
subject matter will be distributed under these two
heads.

The first includes the evolution of the individual qua
individual, the drawing out of all he has in him, thus
raising him in the scale of evolution. The second is
that which the old Greeks called Politics, a word which
has been narrowed down in a most illegitimate fashion
in our modern days to the strifes of political parties, a
degradation of a noble word which used to include alt

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 109

the relations of a man to his environment ; in that
older sense we shall use it here, in order that the
unity of the relation of man to his environment may be
realized the unfolding consciousness recognizing, and
therefore becoming related to, a larger and larger
environment, the Home, the School, the College, the
City, the Province, the State, the Race, Humanity, the
World. There is no break in principle , the first three
are a preparatory stage for the second three, and this
whole six for the remaining three ; the infant, the
youth, the young man is the embryonic citizen, to be
born into the outer world truly, but shaped and nouri-
shed in the womb of the mother, himself all through.
Let us first consider the objects of each department
of education.

OBJECT

Religious Education . The object is to clear away the
obstacles which hinder the natural instincts of the un-
folding Life Love to God (Life-Side) and Service of
Man (Politics-Side). These obstacles are summed up
in the idea of separateness, the essence of spirituality
being Unity.

Mental Education : The object is to develop and train
the powers of Intelligence as an aspect of the evolv-
ing Life. On its Life-Side it develops and trains those
powers, such as observation, memory, co-ordination,

110 THE BESANT SPIRIT

reasoning, judgment, the clarity of thought and
its lucid expression. Its Politics-Side is a knowledge of
the evolution of society to its present condition, and a
clear vision of the next stage of its progress.

Moral Education : The object is to develop and
train the powers of Emotion as an aspect of the evolv-
ing Life. Morality is " the science of harmonious
relations," and on its Life-Side it is Truth, harmony
between the smaller and the larger Self in Will,
Emotion and Action, showing itself in the virtues of ac-
curacy and honesty in intellectual matters, and in the
effort to realize the ideal intellectually chosen. On its
Politics-Side, it is Love, and includes all the social
virtues, the sense of duty and responsibility.

Physical Education : The object is to develop, train
and co-ordinate the nervous, muscular and glandular
elements into digestive, respiratory, circulatory, repro-
ductive and nervous systems, with their special organs
of action as an aspect of the evolving Life. The
Life-Side is to provide a sound and well-balanced
and well-controlled body, as the physical basis for re-
ligious, mental and moral activities. All of these are
conditioned by the physical body, are distorted, or ren-
dered excessive or deficient, by physical disturbances,
mal-co-ordination, excess or deficiency of physical
vitality. The Politics-Side is the use of this for service in
such of the nine stages above-mentioned as are
embraced in the individual consciousness.

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 1 1 T

NATURAL FACTS

The early evolution of the human being falls into'
three natural periods of seven years each, ending at
the ages of 7, 14 and 21. Pupilage and Studentship
ought to cover these, and at 21 the young man and
woman should be fit to face and profit by the Educa-
tion of the outer world.

First Period, Birth 1 to 7 : Chiefly Physical. The
Senses predominate, and the passions are stimulated
chiefly by the contact of the sense-organs with ex-
ternal objects ; hence the Education should tram the
senses by accurate observation of natural objects and
of the happening of definite sequences, leading later
to the evolution of the reasoning faculties, for the
training of which the brain has not yet developed
but is preparing the necessary physical basis. The
greatest possible freedom should be given to the
child, consistent with protection from serious injury to
himself or others, so that he may show his natural
capacities, and they may be drawn out by oppor-
tunities provided for them. The passions, hardly yet to
be called emotions, must be gently trained. The
nutrition of the body is all-important, as serious errors
in this vitiate and shorten the whole future life.

Second Period, 7 to 14 : Chiefly Emotional. The
Emotions predominate, and the mental faculties are ex-
cessively coloured by them ; hence the Education should

112 THE BESANT SPIRIT

be directed chiefly to their training and control, so
that when the period of puberty arrives the boy and
girl may understand the broad facts of human physio-
logy, and may have gained a mental control of the
emotions. The reasoning faculties are germinal and
should be developed but not overstrained, the mental
education being mainly the accumulation of facts,
gained by observation and experiment, and the train-
ing of the memory by their co-ordination, the acquir-
ing of languages, formulae, and the like studies which
depend largely on memory.

Third Period, 14 to 21 : Chiefly Mental. The mind,
accustomed to observe and well-stored with facts,
has the materials of knowledge. It is now to work
upon them. This is the period for the developing
and training of the reasoning faculties of coordination,
of judgment, passing to the serious study of Logic,
Philosophy, Science and Art.

A SCHEME OF
NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA

GENERAL SCHEME

IN all schools the medium of instruction will be the
mother-tongue of the district. English will be taught
as a second language throughout the Secondary and
High Schools. The hours at school should be from
7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuition 7 to 10 and 2 to 4. Food,
Rest and Games 1 to 2 and 4 to 6. (The hours will
vary in different parts of India. The principle is to
have rest, not brain-work, after the chief morning
meal.)

The day's work should begin and end with a short
religious service with singing.

School Education is divided into Primary, Class f
A and B, ages 5-7. Lower Secondary, classes II, III
and IV, ages 7-10. Higher Secondary, classes V, VI,
VII and VIII, ages 10-14. High, classes IX and X, ages
14-16. The Higher Secondary will be closed by an
examination, and from this point boys entering on
crafts and industries should pass into Technical Schools.
The High will also be closed by a School- Leaving exa-
mination. Those who enter professions such as
8

114 THE BESANT SPIRIT

engineering, the higher grades of agriculture and of
business and commerce, teaching, arts, science, medi-
cine, etc., will pass an additional year in a University
Preparation Class, whence they enter a College by
'passing an Entrance Examination, taking their degree
in three years, i.e., at 20 years of age, and entering
on postgraduate studies thereafter.

Girls' Education will be the same as that of boys
in the Primary and Secondary stages, except that
needlework, music and cookery will form a part of the
Manual Training in the Secondary stages, and in the
Higher Secondary, household economy, hygiene, home
science and first aid will take part of the time devoted
to literature, history and geography by those who
intend to pass into High Schools. So many girls leave
school at 12 and 14 years of age that it is necessary
at present to make these modifications. Thus we have :

PERIODS

1 . Birth to end of 7th year (English, 7th birthday).
Primary Education :

(a) Birth to end of 5th year Home.

(b) Sixth and seventh years Primary School.

2. 7th to end of 14th year (14th birthday)

Secondary Education :

A sound general education, without specialisation,
closed by a certificate examination. The education

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 115

should be a judicious balance between theoretical
and practical instruction.

3. 14th to end of 21st year (21st birthday) or
beyond. Higher Education :

(This branches out into three sub-periods ac-
cording to the future chosen by or for the student.)

(/) 15th to end of 16th year (16th birthday)
High Schools, either completing the School Course,
or leading to the University, of various types :

(a) Ordinary High Schools, including a practical
department, and offering various alternative sub-
jects according to the career chosen by the student.

(fa) Technical High Schools, including Schools of
agriculture, trade, business, etc.

Both closed by a school-leaving certificate exa-
mination.

Students passing on to the University do not go
up for this examination but take a further year, with
the examination at its close.

(//) 1 7th year in a preparatory class for admis-
sion to the University, at the end of which there *
is an entrance examination.

(///) 18th to end of 20th year the University,
including business, agricultural, teaching, science,
arts, engineering and other departments in appro-
priate Colleges.

Closed by degree examinations, and leading to
post-graduate studies.

116 THE BESANT SPIRIT

GENERAL OUTLINE OF STUDIES

Parents and Teachers should acquaint themselves
with the systems of Froebel, Pestalozzi and Montessori,
and the investigations of Binet

FIRST PERIOD : CHIEFLY PHYSICAL

Home. Life-Side : The care of the body must

dominate al other considerations,

Years 1-5 , r . ,

and for the poor and neglected,

pre- and post-natal clinics are essential. From birth,
regularity of habits should be formed, and the infant
should be carefully watched, but not be constantly in
the arms or lap. He should be left to crawl about and
surrounded at a little distance with brightly coloured or
shining objects, awakening curiosity and exertion to
reach them. He should not be put on his feet nor
helped to walk ; his own efforts are best and safest
At about 3, increased opportunities of choice should
.be put in his way, to draw out his faculties and aid
originality. He should be encouraged to observe and
to make his own little experiments. He should learn
to know the parts of his own body, arms, legs, hands,
feet, eyes, ears, nose, mouth ; should count his fingers
and toes, to his own great amusement.

At 4, his play may be a little organized, but the
organization must never be forced on him, but rather

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 117

offered when he feels a want, and begins to grope for
its satisfaction. Above all, a little child must never
be harshly spoken to, nor frightened. Fear breeds
deceit, because of the helplessness of the child
surrounded by people bigger and stronger than himself.
The great virtue of Truth will be naturally evolved in
the absence of fear. Little outbreaks of temper should
be met by catching the attention with some pleasant
object.

Politics-side : Home Politics is the evocation of the
Jove instinct, and the gentle direction of it to find
pleasure in sharing, and pain in holding for itself alone.
Every movement of the child to give should be met
with smiles and caresses, while grasping as against
another should result in sadness of look. The play of
children together should be used to help them to feel
their interdependence, the happiness of harmonious
relations and the pain of discord. The opportunity
for doing little services should be given, and the child
encouraged to help all around it, to be kind to animals,
plants, etc., to be clean, neat and orderly, because
these habits make the home pleasant for every body.

Primary School. Class I, A and B. L/fe-5/c/e : Play
is the method of teaching, largely
based on the observation of ob-
jects, and on their inter-relations, their number, their
shape, their colour, their use. Dexterity of fingers
should be developed by the making of objects. The

118 THE BESANT SPIRIT

school-room should be scattered over with attractive
objects, which stimulate curiosity and desire to imitate,,
and thus evoke the creative power of dawning intelli-
gence and shaping touch. The child should wander
about freely, and choose for himself the objects which
attract him. The teacher should watch him, should
help him, only when eager effort begins to be dis-
couraged by failure. The child will learn largely by
imitation. He will learn exactitude by discovering that
badly made things won't work He will learn that
success waits on obedience to conditions, and that
impatience, anger, petulance, do not change the
nature of things but only ensure failure. Reading and
writing will be learned by play, if the opportunity be
given as soon as the child wants to do either. It has
been found by experience that if a child is given cut-
out written letters to play with, and is guided to trace
them with his finger many times, the desire to imitate
awakens, and he asks for paper and pencil and repeats
the motions so often made, thus producing the letters ;
he teaches himself to write. Reading may begin with
short nouns accompanied by pictures, the word being
pronounced by the teacher and thus associated with
the picture. If a word and its picture are on a block,
the blocks may, after a time, be jumbled together and
the child picks out any word named.

Stories should be used as means of teaching reli-
gious and moral lessons, and class singing of stotras.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 119

and bhajans. It is very desirable that each school
should have one or more shrines according to the
faiths of the pupils, where the children could go as a
part of their religious education, and be trained in their
own forms of devotion. Drawing and modelling should
be encouraged. The four rules of simple arithmetic
should be taught by objects.

Politics-Side . Primary School Politics are only an
extension of Home Politics, of usefulness and helpful-
ness, now showing these to people who are at first
strangers. The circle of service is enlarged. The
child should put away neatly in their own places all the
objects he has used, that others and himself may find
them easily next day He shoul d clear away any rubbish
he has made, and help to leave the room neat and clean.

The school should have a compound for games,
exercises, dancing and class movements with descrip-
tive songs. All these help the child to see and feel
that co-operation and harmony make the exercises
pleasant to all, while the absence of these in any
spoils them for all. Little gardens should be given to
the children, and they should be led to observe birds,
insects and flowers.

The child will, unconsciously, practise in the home
the ways learned in the school, school and home thus,
reacting on each other.

Great care must be taken not to tire the child, to
see that he is properly nourished, that he develops no

120 THE BESANT SPIRIT

bad habits, and, remembering his imitativeness, his
teachers should be chosen with scrupulous attention to
their manners, accent, and general refinement and
gentleness. During these years and during the second
period, the child is chiefly receptive, and his whole life
is strongly influenced by his surroundings. Character
appears and tendencies are developed. No later
efforts can wholly eradicate impressions made during
these plastic periods.

SECOND PERIOD: CHIEFLY EMOTIONAL

Lower Secondary School. Classes II, III, IV.
Years 7 to 10

Religious Education

Life-Side : The idea of God as a loving Father who
, <has shared His Life with us and with all things. Stories,
-Stotras and bhajans.

Politics-Side : This sharing of life as a reason
for helping all around us, shown by stones taken
from the lives of great religious Teachers and philan-
thropists.

Intellectual Education

Life-Side : A good foundation for knowledge of the
Mother-Tongue, by reading, composition (story-telling

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 121

by teacher and reproduction by pupil, observations
of simple objects, etc.). Sanskrit, Pali, or Arabic, very
elementary. The classical languages of India, Sanskrit,
Pali, Arabic, should be taught (as English now) from
the standpoint of such modem teaching methods as
Berlitz, Gouin and similar methods. No declensions
and rules should be taught at first. The child should
first learn the names of the objects which surround
him, then simple phrases concerning the life which he
actually lives among these objects, leading on to
simple conversation. Only after real interest is
aroused in the language as a spoken language should
rules of grammar be begun. English, by conversation
and telling easy stories Nature-study, such as life-
history of plant and animal, observations and experi-
ments. History and geography, by pictures and
stories about them, the making of models and maps,
beginning with school compound, immediate sur-
roundings of houses, roads, fields, etc. Arithmetic,
easy problems, Indian money, weights and measures,
simple bills, simple geometry and measuring. Pictures
and models to be plentifully used, and to be carefully
chosen to develop the sense of form and colour, and
the appreciation of beauty.

Politics-Side : Constant reference during teaching
to the interdependence shown in common languages,
history and geography. Duty to those nearest to us
AS service of Motherland.

122 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Moral Education

Life-Side - Stories, illustrating truth, devotion, cour-
age, honour, fortitude, etc.

Politics-Side - Laying stress on all around us as our
larger family, with stories of self-sacrifice, of duties to
elders, equals, and youngers, of kindness to animals
and plants Inculcation of duty of service by ex-
amples of it, and of love and pride in country by
stories illustrating these from Indians great in literature,
art, science, war, and social service.

Physical Education

Life-Side : Care of bodily cleanliness , value of
healthy body ; self-control ; orderliness ; reaction of
anger, jealousy and other passions on health. Drawing
and modelling. Gymnastic exercises. Breathing, ele-
mentary manual training

Politics-Side : Concerted exercises with music ;
drills ; games wherein co-operation is necessary to
success. Duty and pleasure of using knowledge and
skill to help the more ignorant and clumsy.

Higher Secondary School. Classes V, VI, VII, VIII.
Years 10-14

Religious Education

Life-Side : Outline, illustrated by stories, of the chief
doctrines of the pupil's religion.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 125

Politics-Side : The fundamental unity of religions.
Sufferings caused by intolerance and bigotry.

Intellectual Education

Life-Side : More advanced teaching of Mother-
Tongue, literary and colloquial. Sanskrit, Pali, or Ara-
bic English by reading of simple modern stories
with plenty of dialogue, letter-writing, copying extracts
of good modern authors. Nature study, including
anatomy and physiology of human body, dissection
of plants, and their growth. Physical geography,
including elementary physics and chemistry. Indian
history and historical geography, including preliminary
outline of Indian political, economic and industrial
geography. Indian life in different periods of history
such as Chandragupta I and II, Mughal, etc. Outlines
of the geography of the world. Higher Arithmetic.
Elementary Algebra and Geometry.

Politics-Side : Here, again, the unity of the Nation
under superficial differences must be the spirit of the
intellectual instruction. Stress should be laid on the
political, economic and industrial conditions. Pupils in
these classes should learn to help and teach those
in the lower classes.

Moral Education

Life-Side : Fuller teaching on the virtues needed
to make the good man, and

124 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Politics-Side : The good citizen. Civics and Aes-
thetics will be introduced.

Physical Education

Life-Side : Instruction in the physiology of sex
plant, - animal, human. The individual and national
need of Brahmacharya in student life. Danger of
errors in the great transition from boyhood to man-
hood. The body to be trained in muscular strength,
hardness, and athletics, before the danger-zone is
entered. Indian exercises to be practised daily. Car-
pentry, basket-work and the use of tools to be prac-
tised. First Aid to be taught.

Politics-Side : Continuation of Lower Secondary.
Duty to the Motherland of making and keeping vigo-
rous health. The self-control of true manliness. The
training of the playground in co-operation, discipline,
obedience and the leadership of merit all-important.

THIRD PERIOD : CHIEFLY MENTAL

High School. Classes IX, X,
Years 14-16

Religious Education

Life-Side : Fuller teaching on chief doctrines of
the pupil's religion.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 125

Po//t/cs-5/de ; Mutual respect among religions. The
special value of each of the great religions. Their
relation to each other in India.

Mental Education

The type of education during these two years of
school life will to some extent depend upon the after
career the pupil is expected to adopt. There will be
a certain specialization, in the sense that boys studying
in different High Schools will study different subjects
according to the careers for which the High School is
a preparation. On the other hand, certain subjects
will be common to all High Schools.

Lite-Side : Common Subjects : Further instruction
in the Mother-Tongue. English, by composition, read-
ing of suitable classical prose writers, e.g. Ruskin, and
poets, and including readiness of expression in reading
and writing. General science, including further phy-
sics and chemistry, applied physical geography, further
anatomy and physiology of human body, with more
detailed instruction in First Aid. Further Indian history
and historical geography. Further algebra and geo-
metry. A short course m elementary psychology.

Special subjects to be included in the curricula of

(1) AN ORDINARY HIGH SCHOOL

(a) Arts Division : Sanskrit, Arabic or Pali. A more
specialised course in (i) Mother-Tongue, (ii) English,

126 THE BESANT SPIRIT

(iii) Indian history and historical geography. History
of the British Empire.

(fa) Science Division : Sanskrit, Arabic or Pali. A
more specialized course in (i) Mother-Tongue, (ii)
English, (iii) Physics, Chemistry, etc., (iv) Algebra and
Geometry, including Trigonometry and Mensuration,
with the elements of Surveying. Further Nature
Study,

(c) Teachers' Division : Pedagogy, further psy-
chology, School Management. A course in the
principles of Physical Training. Domestic Science.
Where possible, practice in Teaching. Further Nature
Study.

(2) A COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL

Commercially useful foreign languages, businessforms,
book-keeping, commercial arithmetic, office methods,
commercial law, type-writing and shorthand, com-
jnercial history and geography.

For girls, food supplies and cooking.

(3) A TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL

Same as in Science Division of an Ordinary High
School, omitting Sanskrit, 'Arabic or Pali, and adding :
{a) Industrial History, (fa) Elementary Engineering, (c)
Mechanics, (d) Electricity.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 127
(4) AN AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL

Ail subjects to be taught with special reference
to their bearing upon rural daily life. Mathematics,
including book-keeping, land surveying and mensura
tion. Experimental Science (Physics and Chemistry)
with special reference to Agriculture (boys), Domes-
tic Science (girls). Elements of mechanics, with
special reference to agricultural machines. Nature
Study and gardening. Elements of sanitation and
engineering.

The above courses indicate in outline the kind of
education suggested. But other types of High Schools-
might also be useful, e.g., Art High School, for music,
drawing, painting, etc.

Politics-Side : The various subjects should not only
be taught from the point of view of their value to the
individual, but equally with reference to their construc-
tive value as regards the growth of the Nation.
The elements of Social Science should be understood
in outline.

Moral Education

Life-Side : Further training in aesthetic development
including artistic appreciation.

Pol/t/cs-S/cfe : The encouragement of the chivalrous
spirit^ Elder boys who show signs of the true political
spirit should be appointed monitors and prefects.

128 THE BESANT SPIRIT

Physical Education

Life-Side : Manual training, shop practice and labo-
ratory work constitute the physical side in the case
of scientific and related subjects Continuation
of the instruction under this head as given in earlier
years.

Politics-Side : A fuller understanding and practice
of the work in the Secondary stage. Parliaments.
Debating Societies, Social Service Leagues, Night
Schools, etc., are invaluable media for the expres-
sion of student-citizenship. Emphasis should be laid
on the value to the community and Nation of the
special profession for which the student is preparing.
The teacher will continually lay stress on the essential
dignity of all true labour, of whatever kind.

The Seventeenth Year. Special preparatory class
for College careers.

Attached to each High School there will be a pre-
paratory class for students proceeding to the University.
The University will comprise all types of colleges
business, agricultural, arts, science, teachers' training,
etc. and in the various preparatory classes the
students will be grounded in such special knowledge as
may be required to be known before they begin the
three years' College course. These special classes
lead to an Entrance Examination to be conducted
jointly by the University authorities and selected mem-
bers of the various school staffs.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 129
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE POLITICS

It will be seen that School Politics should form a
natural daily part of the school life, consisting in co-ope-
ration and in all forms of service. The students in the
High Schools should learn to take interest in the life of
the poor of the town, and should be trained to give
help in festivals, in town and village accidents, and in
the teaching in the primary and night-schools. They
should be encouraged to seek and utilize opportunities
of service, and learn to see in all service of the poor,
the suffering, and the younger, the Service of the
Motherland, and to use these also as the training for
higher Service by practice and by the gaining of
knowledge.

Boys at School should be encouraged to join the
Indian Boy Scout Movement; at College, Cadet
Corps should be formed for regular drill.

In the College, they should continue in the path of
Service, and should also attend public lectures on
sanitation, and kindred topics touching the health of
the people, or social reforms, legislative problems, on
the condition of the masses and how to help them, on
the questions with which they will have to deal when
they leave the College for the wider life of men.
Equipment for public life must be largely gained in
pre-graduate and post-graduate studies, for to rush
into action unprepared and unequipped is folly.
9

130 THE BESANT SPIRIT

VILLAGE DEPARTMENT

Schools in small villages need to be arranged in a
fashion somewhat different from those which are
intended to send their pupils on into Secondary and
High Schools. The Village School is usually all the
School the boys and girls enjoy, save in the exceptional
cases of brilliant pupils.

The day's work should begin with the singing of a
bhajan by the children, and a short prayer. Reading
as before explained, and writing, the lessons very short,
'with drill, dances or games between them. Simple
arithmetic, as before, by objects. A lesson on flowers,
leaves, grains, seeds, animals, brought by the children,
to be chatted over. Geography by a map of the
village in damp sand, fields, houses, well, tank,
temple, and the paths and roads leading away
to other places. Gardens, how to prepare the
soil, to sow, to weed, to water, to train plants.
On wet days the making of baskets, learning to sew,
to knot, to drive in a nail, a screw, to mend uten-
sils, etc.

At 8 or 9 years of age, half the school-time should
be spent in the working sheds attached to the school,
where the village trades should be taught. The gardens
lead up to agriculture, to be taught in land set apart ;
in the school, the growth of the plant, why it drains
the soil and how to make the loss good ; in the field.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 13T

examples of plants in manured and exhausted soil.
How to dig deeply, to graft, to prune. The care of
animals, and kindness to them, will be part of the
training. The carpenter's shed takes some of the
boys, and they learn to make tools and simple articles
used in the village. Others go to the weaving shed,
learning the use of simple improvements that increase
output.

Both boys and girls from about 1 should learn how
to bind up a cut, where and how to put on a ligature
to check dangerous bleeding, how to bandage a sprain-
ed wrist and ankle, how to make and apply a poultice,
what to do in cases of the bite of a dog, horse or
snake, the sting of a scorpion, hornet or wasp, a bad
scratch, a burn. The need of scrupulous cleanliness in
all dressing of wounds.

Sanitation, domestic hygiene, cookery, washing,
house-cleaning, should be learned and practised by the
girls, while the boys are in the work-sheds.

The teachers should mark any pupil with special
gifts, that he or she may go on to a secondary school,
but the large bulk will have all their schooling in the
village, and the instruction should aim at making the
village life interesting. The school-house should fornx
in the evening, the village club, and lectures might be
given to help the adults, often eager to learn.

It is suggested that these village schools should form
a separate department of the Board's work. Boys ia

132 THE BESANT SPIRIT

the High School of a neighbouring town should be
induced to help the villagers and their children as a
way of serving the Motherland.

NOTES ON SECONDARY EDUCATION

BY GEORGE S. ARUNDALE

The following subjects are to be studied during this
period, some being taken up later and others from the
beginning.

Religion : From the standpoint of the individual, re-
ligious instruction should acquaint the pupil with the
lives of great spiritual teachers and with his duty to
reverence them according to their advice and example.
By means of stories the virtues of devotion, kindness,
etc., should be strengthened. The details of ceremon-
ial and other aspects of religion do not come within
the province of the secondary school. Religion must
also be taught as a unifying force and therefore as a
motive for social service, through the example of the
great spiritual teachers, all of whom lived and worked
for others.

Physical Instruction : The purpose of physical in-
struction is to enable the pupil to build a healthy body,
by means of exercises and games, so that the body
may be a servant and not a master. The purpose
.and value of a healthy and well-controlled body should

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 133

be clearly explained, and theoretical study should
lead up to the elements of physiology and hygiene.
Singing might usefully be included under this head.
Pupils should be trained to realize the value of a
healthy body as an essential factor in success and
happiness in life, and the teacher should study the
value of rhythmic exercises as aids to self-control.

Politics The pupil should begin to learn that he
is a member of the social order, depending upon it
for his well-being, and sharing with others the com-
mon heritage of the past The beginnings of the
conscious realization of his membership in the com-
munity will be gained when the child first goes to
school, and this later period is a connecting link be-
tween the home and the wider surroundings, with
which he will later on come into contact.

Individually, the study of politics removes selfishness
and narrow interests from dominating motive ; while,
socially, the study of politics shows him how to be-
come an intelligent and responsible member of the
community in its varying aspects i.e., home, school,
college, village, town, province, Nation, etc.

Nature Study and Science : The basic value of
Nature Study and later on of more formal sciences is
(1) to enable the pupil to understand the life around
him,- and his relations to it, through observation and
experiment ; (2) to co-operate with Nature intelligent-
ly, so that the various kingdoms of Nature may live

134 THE BESANT SPIRIT

and grow harmoniously together. By the study of
Nature the pupil learns also to appreciate growth qua
growth, and gains a sense of the majesty and grandeur
of life. He learns to realize the essential unity of
life and of his part in the mighty whole.

One of the special values of Nature Study is that the
pupil becomes encouraged to emulate the observed in-
ventiveness, resourcefulness and adaptability of Nature.

From about eleven years of age the pupil may take
up physiography, including the necessary experimental
physics and chemistry, These studies should also
arouse in the pupil a sense of the value of industry in
human life and in the dignity of productive work.

Indian History and Geography : First in the form of
stories, and gradually leading to local history, with
excursions. Preliminary outline of Indian political,
economic and industrial geography. A study of Indian
life at different periods of history, and under the
varying geographical and other conditions of modern
life. Outlines of the elementary geography of the
world. Indian history should be taught so that it gives
the student a full sense of the value and dignity of the
National characteristics, and awakens a pride in the
history of the country's past.

Each Province might be allowed to lay stress on its
own provincial history.

Mother- Tongue : Apart from the need of all subjects
being taught in the pupil's own Mother-Tongue, efforts

NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR INDIA 135

should be made to lay the foundations of a good
knowledge of the Mother-Tongue, both from the
literary standpoint and from the point of view of the
language as a medium for the expression and com-
munication of thought. Careful study of the Mother-
Tongue influences refinement of speech and accuracy
of expression.

English : Conversationally from eight years of age,
and more definite study during the last three years of
secondary education. The object of the study of
English is not merely to facilitate intercourse, trade,
etc., but to introduce the Indian pupil to the spirit of
the English race, so that the useful elements in the
growth of the English-speaking peoples may be
assimilated in the life of India.

Mathematics : Practical geometry from the age of
seven years, as also arithmetic. The object of the
study of mathematics is partly to discipline the mind
and partly to train the reasoning and classifying facul-
ties, training the student also to enter and under-
stand the world of abstract thought. The study of
mathematics leads to the understanding of the laws of
Nature both as they affect the individual and as they
affect society.

Manual Training : Including drawing, modelling and
possibly painting.

Carpentry, basket-work, and the use of tools,
gardening, etc., might all come under this head and a

136 THE BESANT SPIRIT

graded course should be established. For the pupils
who leave school at the age of fourteen years, and
especially in rural schools, great importance should be
attached to this subject.

It should be added that all study is but a prepara-
tion for service, whether in the narrower surroundings
of the home, in the wider surroundings of the
school and college, of village or town, or the
even wider service of the Nation or the Empire.
Teachers should encourage their pupils to give of that
which they have learned. The elder children should
help the younger, the less ignorant should teach those
who have few if any opportunities for acquiring knowl-
edge. The school thus becomes a centre for giving
as well as for receiving, and vitally benefits its sur-
roundings. From early years the child should therefore
understand that every subject of instruction is not
only a means toward self-development, but an avenue
through which service may be rendered to others, just
as he himself is helped by parents and teachers.