New Race

A Journal of Integral Studies

From the editor's desk…

We convey our warm greetings and best wishes for the November Darshan. It is our pleasure to bring to you this November 2008 issue of New Race in its new format.

In August 1965, on the occasion of the visit by Government of India’s Education Commission, the Mother was asked a two-part question: “What illusions and delusions is our education today beset with? How could we possibly keep clear of them?” Her two-part reply was simple yet profound. She said: “a) The almost exclusive importance given to success, career and money. b) Insist on the paramount importance of the contact with the Spirit and the growth and manifestation of the Truth of the being.”

The new chapter that has opened for SACAR through its partnership with IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) finds inspiration in this message of the Mother and is guided by an aspiration to bring the integral vision and thought of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in the intellectual mainstream. It is our hope that this humble effort will sow some much-needed seeds in the Indian higher education field for a true and living integral education that will recognize the true role of education as the “growth and manifestation of the Truth of the being” rather than as a means for success, career and money.

We started our first semester under this SACAR-IGNOU collaboration on October 20, 2008 with a group of 25 students. In order to acknowledge and appreciate the wide range of programmes and courses being offered through this collaboration, for this issue of New Race also we decided to bring together a variety of themes exploring different aspects of Sri Aurobindo Studies. We start off with Mother’s words on Mental Education (an important aspect of online educational philosophy and pedagogy that guides our work at SACAR). This is followed by a philosophical exposition on Upanishads as the basis for Divine Life. We have also incorporated two articles related to two different aspects of Integral Yoga Psychology - the growth of psychic being, and experiencing oneness. A current SACAR-IGNOU PhD student presents a philosophical analysis of evil as presented by Sri Aurobindo. And a former student of SACAR reminds us about the role of symbols in Indian culture and traditions. This rich variety of contributions by our facilitators and students is a testimony to the richness they bring to the various programmes and activities of SACAR. We thank all the contributors.

In this issue we include brief descriptions of the presently available SACAR-IGNOU programmes. To learn more about any of these, we invite readers to explore SACAR’s website: http://www.sacar.in/ignou/mainpage.html

As always, we express our sincere thanks to all our readers and well-wishers. Your support for New Race and SACAR is invaluable.

Till next time....

Beloo

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