Dear Readers,

Darshan greetings to all!

The Mother once said this about the teacher's role when working with learners studying any work of Sri Aurobindo: "The important thing is that Sri Aurobindo's writings should not be chewed and presented to the students as a semi-digested food. The teacher may give all the elements of appreciation but the students should have the direct contact, the joy of illumination. The teacher should be careful not to interpose himself as a screen between the mind of the student and the great consciousness of Sri Aurobindo..." (CWM, 12, p. 209)
At SACAR, this has been one of our fundamental guiding principles in our work of facilitating courses in Sri Aurobindo's thought and vision. Our learners discover the joy of direct contact with Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's writings, and with a few pointers provided by their facilitators as and when required come to their own understanding and appreciation of the truths hidden in these works. Through the pages of New Race, we feel happy in sharing with our friends and well-wishers a small selection of the written works prepared by some of our learners, which demonstrate these learners' processes of comprehension, refl ection and creative imagination as they experience the joy of illumination through their direct contact with the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
In the pages of this issue we have brought together an essay inspired by a learner's reading of The Life Divine and another one inspired by The Ideal of Human Unity. We also present a creative rendering of a learner's evolving understanding of some of the key principles of Integral Education which he presented in the form of a stage play. And last but certainly not the least, we include a summary article which presents a learner's review of some of the central themes discussed by Sri Aurobindo in his major works. We hope that readers will be inspired by the perceptions and perspectives shared by some of our students.

Till next time….
Beloo