Sri Aurobindo

Bande Mataram

Political Writings and Speeches. 1890–1908

Part Five. Speeches (22 December 1907 – 1 February 1908)

National Education¹

National Education is a vast subject. When I was told about the topic I did not quite realise its implications at first, but when I started thinking about it I understood its importance. The difficulties about the concept of National Education that are encountered here do not exist in Bengal. Here in the Bombay Province, the meaning of the term “National Education” is not clear to many. National Education, with its specific connotation, is suspect and men of wisdom dismiss it. In Bengal, on the other hand, the need to explain the concept does not even arise. There may be people in favour of it or against it, but National Education is something taken by them as a given fact, as something they have experienced. There is no need in Bengal to explain or discuss it in order to convince people about the sense it carries. But in the Bombay Province, it has only a verbal implication at the moment; it has not yet gone beyond mere talk, and that may be the reason why people are suspicious of it.

Someone here told me that he does not understand what National Education means exactly. Someone else wondered whether there can be anything like National Education at all, particularly in the context of teaching, say, mathematics; he was at a loss to see how this could be called “national”. The Honourable Mr. Gokhale does not say that he has failed to understand the meaning of the term “National Education”, but it is obvious that he has not really grasped its significance. At the National Congress held in Calcutta, a resolution on National Education was passed unanimously. Unfortunately, since the Congress at Surat did not take place, it could not be introduced there. Mr. Gokhale made certain modifications to the resolution on National Education passed in Calcutta. In his opinion, these modifications are not of much importance. But my opinion is exactly the opposite. Perhaps Mr. Gokhale is not fully aware of the true situation in Bengal with regard to National Education. The word “national” appears in this resolution three times and there is no doubt that it has been done with a certain intention. The alteration suggested by Mr. Gokhale does not speak of National Education; instead it introduces terms such as “independent system of education”. That term has a different connotation and it does not really convey what we mean by the phrase “National Education”. The Subjects Committee at Calcutta introduced the word “national” three times. It is not for nothing that this was done. National Education must be imparted in a national spirit: this was the resolution passed at Calcutta, and not a single word of it should be altered or dropped.

National Education must be on national lines and under national control. Why do we have to qualify the term “education” by calling it “national”? This question is asked by many. These people maintain that we are not a nation to begin with. According to their thinking, what we call a nation is an imaginary thing, not a reality. In India, they say, there are thousands of castes and subcastes, countless sects and subsects, and any number of religious creeds with differences of opinion and practice; in that case the use of the word “national” in the Indian situation becomes meaningless. But these people do not really understand what is meant by a nation. They suggest that a nation can only come into existence when these castes and creeds are abolished. But this line of argument – that we will have a nation only when everyone in the country has the same religion and there is only one caste – is a fallacious one, for religion and caste are not permanent aspects of a nation. Other people argue that although India is a vast country geographically, still it cannot be termed a nation. But we view it differently. To us, by its very geography the country appears to be quite distinct from other countries, and that itself gives it a certain national character. Italy stands out in the same way, separate from her surroundings, and in thirty years it became an independent nation. The inner and outer body of India, the customs, culture and religion of its people, have an independent character different from those of the rest of the world. It has its foundations in the ancient past.

Those who oppose our view contend that India was never a nation. Let us see then what we mean by the word “nation”. When we say that National Education should be imparted, it implies that we need not throw away our traditional background and introduce completely new ideas and ideals. When we look at the history of the country, we find that at one time we had a system of National Education. Look at our philosophy: what is in the individual is also in the universal. A nation is a living entity, full of consciousness; it is not something made up or fabricated. A living nation is always growing; it must grow, it must attain ever loftier heights. This may happen after a thousand years or in the next twenty years, but happen it must.

Our personality, our constitution is made up of three parts. We have three types of body, gross, subtle and causal. In the same way the nation has three bodies. According to our philosophy it is not only the outward appearance, the gross body, that makes a complete man. All three bodies have to be taken into account; only then can we get some understanding of him. As with a man, so with a nation. To think about our nation is first to think about our physical motherland. Stretching from the Himalayas in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, its boundaries are formed by the seas on the east and west. Ganga, Jamuna, Narmada, Krishna, Godavari flow here unceasingly; here are ancient cities, tall and imposing temples, artistically designed palatial homes. Such is the part of this earth we call India. It is this picture, this figure that comes to us when we speak of our nation. This is the gross body of our nation. Bankim Chandra’s song Bande Mataram describes this aspect very beautifully. Thirty-three crores of people live on this land with their joys and sorrows, their good and bad desires: they are all part of its subtle body. Then there are aspects of the country which may undergo changes in the course of time, yet always remain in the body, in seed-state, as permanent as the atom; they are always present there and, being the origin, it is out of them that the future takes shape. This is the causal body of the nation.

But this is not enough. According to our scriptures, when we think of a man we think not only of his present condition but also of his past and future. The same is true of a country. When we speak of the rivers, mountains and cities of our country, we have in mind not only the present, not at all. What we speak of is a history of five thousand years. When we speak of Delhi and Agra, does not the image of Delhi as it was during Emperor Akbar’s time stand before your mind’s eye? That is why, in speaking of the nation, we should recall the great achievements of our ancestors; then Shivaji, Asoka and Akbar at once become an integral part of our nationhood. So too the ancient Rishis. This is taken for granted. If we look at Japan, we see that the Japanese people never forget their ancestors who offered their lives as a sacrifice for the sake of their country. This sense of sacrifice is always present in the Japanese blood. When a warrior fights for his country, he recalls those sacrifices. This is something we must learn from Japan. We must learn from the Japanese how to honour our ancestors and evoke the spirit of Nationalism by remembering them. Whatever you do today, you are doing not for your own sake but to pay the debt you owe to them. This you must never forget. Not only your ancestors – the generations to come are also an organic component of your nation. When we envision an Indian nation, it should be along these lines. We should not be carried away by Western advances or cowed by their achievements. What we need is a wide, engaging vision of our nation and of nationalism; our action must match that vision and as a result our nation will produce great philosophers, statesmen, warriors and commanders. I don’t say this will happen today, but surely it will happen in the future.

The term “nation” is meaningful and significant; it has not been coined for political convenience. In Bengal, while formulating the concept of National Education, we have kept before us this grand idea of the nation. Let us see how the details have been worked out in consonance with this lofty and noble concept. We shall take the simple subject of geography as an illustration. Imagine how this subject is presently taught in Government and private schools! The students are told about such-and-such a country with so many districts, with their District Officers and so forth; this is the kind of information imparted in geography classes. But how is it useful? When we teach geography in Bengal according to the ideas of National Education, we teach it in a different way. First we tell the children that India is our Motherland; in this way we make them aware of the gross body of the nation. We tell them about our rivers, Ganga, Jamuna, Narmada, etc., and what these rivers mean, not merely where they flow. In our national schools, when we teach the children about Maharashtra we describe the land in which Shivaji lived. Speaking about Punjab, we tell the children about the Punjab of Ranjit Singh. Speaking about the geography of the Himalayas, we teach them how the land of the Himalayas has become holy because of its Rishis. We also teach the geography of other nations, but what we impart to them is its importance in the context of our country.

As with geography, so the history of the country is taught to the students of Bengal in a national context. We do not attach much importance to how many kings have ruled the country, which king came to power in which year and how long his reign lasted or the date when the Battle of Plassey was fought. What we teach, rather, is how in ancient times the Aryans formed the nation, how today’s Marathas became Marathas, how the Bengalis became Bengalis, how the Punjabis became Punjabis. Once the students have understood these things clearly, it does not matter if they fail to know the year of the Battle of Plassey. In short, we believe that true history is not really taught through the present-day Government’s method of teaching.

In our national schools in Bengal, as with geography and history, so we teach philosophy based on the national system of education. We explain to the students in our national colleges in what regard our philosophy is greater and more comprehensive than other philosophies in the world. In Government schools the degree-holders know what Schopenhauer has to say, but they have hardly any knowledge of the spiritual foundations of our own thought. It should also be seen that whatever philosophy the students learn in colleges, they should try to put into practice.

Not that the system of National Education we have started is altogether new; it was started long ago by our forefathers. Through this system Shivaji’s greatness will remain eternal, Asoka’s fame and Akbar’s glory will spread across the earth and the grandeur and majesty of our ancient Rishis will be made known throughout the world. From our National Education programmes, nothing useful or worthwhile is discarded.

This kind of national teaching is not provided in Government schools. In those schools the tender minds of our students are overburdened with the European way of thinking. But European thought and the European way of life are quite different from our thought and our way of life. It is true, of course, that when we speak of the development of our own country, we cannot ignore the progress of modern Europe. In our reforms we must certainly include it; whatever is acceptable must be adapted suitably by us. But we have to guard against damaging our foundation in the process. We must make use of Western science as Japan did, but in implementing its ideas we must not be blind to the achievements of our forefathers. For example, in Government medical colleges the students remain unaware of our Ayurvedic science, though there are many occult and valuable truths behind it, to which the Western system has no access. This is not to assert that whatever is ours, is always the best.

In the field of politics we have a lot to learn from the West. The democratic system of government is one thing we must learn from the Europeans. In providing National Education, we do not isolate the students from the political field; in fact we give them first-hand experience of the democratic system of government by making them work alongside us. Simply concerning ourselves with industry or commerce is not enough, and that is exactly what we tell them. No country can rise to its height merely on the basis of trade and commerce. We learn from history that those nations which grew on the strength of trade alone, have perished. Europe pays special attention to formulating policies for the development and growth of its industry and commerce. Yet in our programme of National Education we do impart practical knowledge to our students. In our schools the students learn about science in depth and not just superficially. And they are taught many vocational subjects, such as carpentry and smithy, along with science. The result is that when a student comes out of our schools, he does not find it difficult to earn a monthly wage of twenty-five or thirty rupees.

While imparting such a National Education in a national way, we place special emphasis on creating a future Indian nation. In planning our system of National Education we have to take into account various other systems of education. Principal Paranjape may speak of mathematics alone, but surely that is not enough. The one thought that impels us to provide National Education is this: When will this Indian nation occupy a place in the company of other nations? When will it be great among other nations in the world? Our learned and accomplished people must be great as people in other countries are great. This is always in our mind.

In our schools we give education up to the fifth standard in the mother-tongue of the students; teaching the children through English is harmful. Some people object to the use of Indian languages, saying that our languages do not have an adequate vocabulary for teaching certain subjects. But our answer is simple: first experience it. The seventh standard in our national schools is equivalent to the intermediate courses conducted by the universities. In our colleges we conduct a four-year course. A college student usually studies a single subject and for that purpose special emphasis is given to the use of the English language. In spite of that, English is not given primary importance in the syllabus of our system of National Education; it has the status of a second language.

A student must be able to stand on his own. It is not the objective of National Education to make somebody else carry him on his shoulders. The student must support himself and not look helplessly to others. Self-reliance is the basic principle we diligently try to impart to a student. This is how we have been working in Bengal. We have absolutely no expectation of help from the Government in our endeavour. On the contrary, with Government support our nationalist enthusiasm will disappear.

Perhaps Mr. Gokhale will now understand and appreciate just what we mean by National Education. This may also make it clear why we intended to put a specific resolution about National Education before the National Congress Committee at Surat. What has been done in Bengal I have put before you. If you wish to see for yourselves, you are welcome. Those who have doubts in their minds, those who think that National Education is an impossibility, we challenge you to witness its achievements in Bengal. Come and confirm it for yourselves. National Education in a national way and under national control is what we have started in Bengal. In this work three zamindars have helped us greatly. Raja Subodh Chandra Mallik donated a lakh of rupees, the Maharaja of Mymensingh three lakhs and a zamindar from Gauripur five lakhs. When they offered these donations, they put the condition that they would take back the entire sum if we should accept even a single paisa from the Government. The reason is that when the Government spends money on education, it does so with the specific intention of creating a certain attitude in the minds of the students. That attitude is nothing but loyalty to the Government. Besides, the Government has the intention of introducing public reforms primarily to prove its own good governance.

This work was not included in SABCL, vol.1 and it was not compared with other editions.

¹ Delivered in Girgaum, Bombay, on 15 January 1908. Text published in Marathi translation in 1908. Retranslated into English by the editors.

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