Decolonising the Indian Mind
My Learning from an online session conducted by Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry
Decolonizing the Indian Mind
I recently attended an online session conducted by Gitanjali ji, (founder of HIAL, Himalayan Institute of Alternate Living, Ladakh) on a topic: Decolonising the Indian Mind, facilitated by Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry.
It was indeed an interesting and awe-inspiring workshop conducted by inspiring leader Gitanjali Ji. Each part of the session was full of enchanting stories about our great country, Bharat (that is India), and how Indians have lost contact with their own motherland. I was shocked to hear many stories of post-independent India, how the colonial rule of British and Mughal rule spoiled India’s age-old beliefs, creativity, art, politics, governance, and in fact, every sphere of public life. The 6-day workshop was divided beautifully to unveil our great civilization bit by bit.
Purpose of the Workshop:
· To use Indian Spirituality as a two-way process, not only reaching a higher state of consciousness but also bringing those higher states of consciousness into every sphere of our day-to-day life.
· To be the change-maker, using the age-old Indian knowledge, science, and spirituality to transform our lives with a decolonised mind?
Day 1 — Decolonising the Indian Mind — An Imperative Need
On the first day, we got a bird’s eye view of the impact of colonization on the Indian mind and how other countries performed better with a decolonised mind. Gitanjali gave a beautiful insight into the impact of colonial rule on India and the Indian mindset. She provided many examples of how Bharat lost its real essence and unique command over Knowledge and became a blind follower of Western Education and civilization. Some of the examples are as follows:
What happens when we get colonised:
· We stop thinking about real reasons for any ongoing system:
o For about 52 years, the Indian budget was presented at 5 p.m., to suit the British time. It was changed in 1999 to 11 a.m. You become so numb that you don’t even think why this custom has existed for so many decades.
o Summer vacation was useful for Britishers to visit hill stations like Kulu and Manali. We are a tropical country; our body is already adjusted and adaptable to that summer climate and we should have a vacation in the Rainy season because we face acute problems in rain. Govt could have thought about a rainy season vacation. Children would have learnt cultivation during rainy season by going to villages.
· We forget our roots and our ancient knowledge
o We don’t have a single school of architecture teaching us mud architecture, although 70% of India live in mud homes. That was more robust and stronger. We have been blindly following West’s cement and concrete architecture, spoiling the environment. We create glass architecture buildings, using AC and spoiling the environment.
· We believe that IAS are experts on every subject
o No developed country has an IAS system to manage the bureaucracy. They appoint Nobel laureates or some experts as advisors to the Govt. In India, too much-unwanted respect is given to the IAS lobby, as given to kings. They still like to use the huge convoy of vehicles although they are just Govt Servants. They never become enablers of public ideas, instead become blockers. There is disconnect between common man and bureaucracy.
· We disrespect our mother tongue in favor of English
o These days parents and teachers feel it is an insult to speak in our mother tongue. We prefer only to speak in English as if it is a great intellectual prowess. There is a craze for English speaking professionals in IT companies.
o The Judiciary still wants to use British-era language, disadvantaging 90% of Indians who do not know English, and only speak in their mother tongue. How will a tribal person understand an incomprehensible judgment and file another appeal?
· We lead a passive, inactive, and helplessness mindset
As we blindly follow the West, the major impact happens on our mindset, we tend to have that slavish mentality within us, born to serve mentality instead of born to lead mentality. As innovation is out of bounds, we have that typical attribute of a decolonised mind: I can do nothing. Instead, if we decolonise our minds, our attribute will be: I can change the world in a little bit way I can.
Day 2 — True Spirituality and Politics
On Day 2, the session was all about India’s spirituality and her larger mission to work for the world.
As per Mother and Sri Aurobindo: “India is where the fate of the earth will be decided.”
“India is the only place in the world which is still aware that something else than Matter exists.”
The session also discussed how India, once one of the world’s richest countries, lost its rigour, its unique power of spiritual prowess, after it was first invaded by Mughals and then colonised by British.
We have forgotten to take pride in our rich ancient heritage and culture. We just look westwards and external sources for solving all our needs and challenges instead of finding the solution within. Post independence, the age old Gurukool systems was deliberately removed from our Education System to prevent message of spirituality percolate down to the masses.
What action items are suggested to get back to our roots:
1. India has to not only reflect upon its inner and outer life but also its collective life.
2. We not only have to reclaim spiritual knowledge, but also apply the knowledge in every sphere of our life, be it physical, social, or universal level by reaching the highest state of consciousness.
3. India has to rise not just for itself, but to show the way for the world by making a paradigm shift, by spreading the message of Sanatan Dharma (the eternal religion).
4. We need to revisit the Gurukul system of education, which was primarily focused on discovering our own Swadharma, the true purpose of life.
5. We need to follow Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga and Integral Education model, which was a perfect platform to know the evolutionary journey of human beings. Sri Aurobindo declared that “Man is not final, he is just an intermediate being”. Mind is at an intermediate stage.
6. We have to discover and live from our Psychic being, which is the true Centre of divine Consciousness within us and gradually it will lead us towards the immortal being, i.e. Supramental being, the Body of Light, which will be luminosity, plasticity, lightness, etc. To reach there, we have to remove the false sense of ego and desire, which are controlling our lives. We need not negate or leave our life, but make our life a base of all realisations, psychic and spiritual realisations by discovering our highest self. This is a life-affirming and life-fulfilling spirituality, instead of life-negating spirituality.
7. We not only have to lead a life of Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Karma Yoga but also lead a life of Yoga of Perfection after combining Bhakti, Gyana and Karma Yoga. As per Sri Aurobindo, we have to synthesise all these aspects in our everyday life and aim towards perfection making our life truly divine.
Politics
Gitanjali described about the types of governance in human civilisation such as aristocracy, theocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. In ancient Bharat, we had seen many instances of self-government even at the village level, this was equivalent to today’s village panchayat system where actual governance was done at the very grassroots level with consensus. Research says in the Gupta period, the country had a functioning village panchayat system. Unfortunately, the current imported constitution is from the British, the village self-government is not represented adequately.
As per Sri Aurobindo, the democratic form of Governance started by the West is not the right way of governance. It has excluded the progress at the village level.
As per The Mother: We are not here to do politics but to serve the Divine.
Day 3 — Technology — Rethinking Food, Clothing, Shelter, and Energy Sufficiency
This session threw some light on how ancient rich Bharat was more prosperous and self-sufficient in all aspects of human life, be it food, clothing, homes, or energy sufficiency. In those days people used to have very advanced technology to solve any local problems.
Some instances of advancements:
Artha: We were spiritually awake and using various tools such as money, technology, food, and clothing as tools of realisation. For us Goddess Lakshmi represents Artha, and Mahalakshmi represents the abundance of resources. Spirituality played a significant role in fulfilling the physical needs of men of ancient India.
Industry:
Ancient Age: India was technologically so advanced in every field in the 18th and 19th Centuries, contributing almost 27% of global trade. During independence, India’s global trade fell to a negligible 2–3% after British looting for 200 years. For example, silk weaving, or muslin cloth weaving in Bengal was the softest and much in demand in the world. It was deliberately destroyed during the British rule. To destroy their industry, they inflicted torture on the weavers.
Indian shipbuilding, as early as the 13th century, was using cutting-edge technology and was able to manufacture advanced high-quality ships, as mentioned by Marco Polo.
Present Age: We do not have any world-class manufacturing companies that produce mobiles, laptops, high-quality cars, or any Apps, that are used on a global scale with global demand. Indian companies lack the confidence and skill to compete on the global stage. Due to 400 years of colonisation, the mindset of a typical Indian has become only to serve the West and follow the West blindly.
Currently, people do not want to work hard, for example, housewives have lost the skill of cooking and outsourced the job to online food-delivery platforms. Because of a lack of confidence, they are unable to come up with solutions using local means.
Gitanjali explained the salient example of the Himalayan Institute of Alternative Living, which was created with the noble intention of eco-responsive architecture and living in harmony with nature. They created some unique Schools: The School of Ecology, the School of Tourism, the School of Agriculture and Forestry, School of Eco-Responsive Buildings which were designed without using any Western model of architecture. It showcased the local innovative method to create high-quality buildings and reverse-engineered the method of construction used in the construction of palaces (the palace of Saspul) 1000 years ago. The University is conducting many innovative experiments, like growing potatoes in the hilly region, high-density apple orchards, composting toilets, waterless toilets, solar photovoltaic Greenhouse, and so on. The Co-founder of the University Sonam Wangchuk , the inspiring genius of all time, also joined the session and urged the attendees to stop blindly copying Western practices. One such example is that the West provides many methods to increase the supply, but the East approaches the problem from a reducing the demand perspective. The rich nations should follow the principles of reducing their need instead of increasing the richness of matter.
Future: The world is keeping its industrial economy, driven mostly by fossil fuel demand and supply, this will lead to an unprecedented energy crisis in the future. Gradually, more and more countries are becoming aware and rising towards the path of Spirituality. Our only goal is to arrange material resources in such a way that will fulfill our spiritual life. As per Bhagwad Gita, based on our resources, we will need resources. As Sonam Wangchuk said, instead of blindly copying the West in creating more AI-based Apps, we should provide some solutions that will be helpful for humanity at large, from cities to the remotest corners of the world. Instead of focusing more on preventing disease, we should keep ourselves fit and healthy using the age-old methods of Ayurveda and a more natural and balanced way of living.
Day 4 — Education, Humanities and Pure Science, Liberal Arts
In this session, Gitanjali presented a vivid picture of India’s current Education system and the ancient education system. She briefly described the ways that will remove the drawbacks of the present education system.
Current Education System:
The aim of an Education system is to provide:
· Skills to earn one’s livelihood
· Social awareness towards better citizenship
· Path of self-discovery
However, unfortunately, our current Education system post-independence, mostly focuses on the first aspect: skills to earn one’s livelihood, and not on self-discovery. Our Education system focuses mostly on cramming our brains with information overload, memorizing the info and venting out the info in an exam, and getting a certificate for participating in this exercise. That’s why, 95% of Engineering graduates are unemployable, and have to get on-the-job training to develop requisite skills after getting into a job.
Education system in ancient India
British Govt under Macaulay systematically destroyed our Gurukul system of education. India’s Education in the 18th century was more advanced than West. Unfortunately, 50% of jobs will be lost in the next 10 years due to the advancement of technology such as AI and Cloud Computing.
She suggested five ways in which we can address the Education crisis:
1. Must provide Contextual Educational curriculum
For example, our education focuses on one single way of agriculture practices. There should be comprehensive learning of agriculture methods based on different places, different climates, and soil quality. Students should learn which methods are applicable for rain-infested Meghalaya, the hottest Jaisalmer, snowy Ladakh, the plateau of MP with dry weather, and the coastal belt of Odisha with humid weather.
Many places in India see ghost villages as people do not know what to grow after a certain time, and leave the village entirely. Due to a lack of contextual education, people could not find any other thing to cultivate and had to quit the place.
Education should start from near to far, as mentioned by The Mother. This should be the Education of the Future so that we can reclaim the power of the Gurukul system again. For example, HIAL Ladakh has made passive solar-heated buildings without any artificial heating or AC and set an example for the rest of the world.
2. Must provide Experiential learning — Learning by Doing
Someone rightly says: “Unless something passes through our body, we can’t retain it in our intellect.”
India always stood for experiential learning. It was not just to know but to be.
For example, earlier Rishis used to send their students to the riverbed and ask them to meditate on one Mahavakya: arvamkhalvidam brahma — All here is brahman — Everything is Divine.
HIAL Ladakh scaled 23 villages in storing 23 mn litres of water in the adverse climate of Ladakh. They learnt by doing by themselves how to preserve water and create waterbodies.
3. Implement Trans-disciplinary Approach
We must combine multiple disciplines or approaches and take the best out of each specialised learning. For example, the Industrial Revolution of Europe emphasized more on increasing the productivity of soil. While doing so, it disregarded the side effects of chemical fertilizers on the soil, thereby becoming a health hazard for billions of people. The same policy continues even today and is driven by Governments across the world and public health becomes a casualty.
Research in modern medicine always focuses on curing the disease, as the most important criterion instead of understanding the side-effects of a medicine on the mental health and emotional well-being of a person.
The ideal approach should have been to combine all aspects of Education and widen our minds to the highest state.
4. Have a purpose in life
We need to have a truer purpose in life.
The Mother says:
“An Aimless life is a miserable life.” Everyone should have an aim. But do not forget that the quality of your aim will depend on the quality of your life.
Your aim should be high and wide, generous, and disinterested; this will make your life precious to yourself and to others. But whatever your ideal, it cannot be perfectly realised unless you have realised perfection in yourself.
To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions, and conflicting wills that drive you to action.
5. Implement Spiritual Education as a way to Self-discovery
We have currently 3 Rs methods of learning: Reading Writing, Arithmetic
Drawback: All these aspects are mostly related to our head, and not connected with other parts of the body.
Another method: 3Hs learning, a somewhat holistic approach than 3Rs:
· Wise Head
· Compassionate Heart
· Skilled Hand
Most of our current University Education information revolves around the head.
Only Vocational Education revolves around the hand or is more physical or practical-oriented.
Research says when we do something by our own hand physically, we can remember and learn a thing forever. That knowledge is retained.
We should implement the 3As Method of Education
1. Adhidaiva: Under the gods (meaning in English)
We need to develop the faculties of consciousness:
This is mostly related to the non-material aspects, mostly thoughts and feelings, head and heart together.
2. Adhbhoota
As the Kena Upanishad mentions, we also need to develop the material aspect of ourselves and the world, particularly the physical aspects, or the inert matter.
3. Adhyatma
Spiritual education is the key to self-discovery.
If we truly implement this approach as our fundamental education, it will truly put India on the world map.
Ikigai
Ikigai's framework shows the convergence of four elements: passion, mission, vocation, and profession. This includes four components: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. If we extrapolate this Japanese concept to the Indian context, Swadharma can include what you love, what you are good at, and what you can be paid for.
Yuga dharma can be to do what the world needs urgently.
The true purpose of life is to discover Swadharma, meaning love what you do as per the Gita and make an impact on the world.
In Sanatan Dharma, Swadharma and Yuga Dharma have to be aligned with the eternal purpose of life which is to help in the evolution of consciousness.
For example, if today Yuga Dharma is a Digital world, if our Swadharma is computer coding, and if we do not have the eternal purpose of life as our guiding principle, then we can come up with designing digital game apps like Blue Whale, which forces kids to commit suicide. Only when we take the eternal purpose of Sanatan Dharma as the evolution of consciousness, then we will refrain from making such a dangerous app for humanity called Blue Whale. We have to live not for selfish motives but for the sake of the growth of consciousness of the world.
Yugadharma should be for the good of the world and that will guide us from within, whether I should go for it or not. We have to train our students with spiritual, occult, and non-material life-studies.
6. Develop Higher Order Thinking or Intuition based thinking
We must train our children to practice higher-order thinking and deeper-order feeling.
The mind has two orders of thinking:
1. Lower-order thinking: Work with existing knowledge
This will aim for one right answer, convergent thinking, and summarize in an objective way.
We are in an age of reason after the industrial and scientific age:
· Remember to recall facts and basic concepts.
· Understanding facts explain ideas and concepts.
· Applying facts.
2. Higher Order Thinking
No one right answer, we can get multiple answers based on our creativity and design. Subjective thinking, divergent thinking.
· Analyse — draw connections among ideas
· Evaluate — justify a stand or decision
· Create — produce new or original work
Ancient India was advanced in this higher-order thinking, if we look at the majestic temple architecture, we can get an idea.
British policymakers like Macaulay destroyed this higher-order thinking system in our education system and ensured only lower-order thinking, to make us clerks only; no divergent thinking was allowed. All our so-called competitive exams, IIT, UPSC are based on lower order thinking: ‘mug up and vent out’ system.
If we map it to the Indian knowledge system, we can relate the following:
· Chitta — subconscious memory — the lower order thinking — Remember and understand
· Manas — Apply and analyse
· Buddhi — Sense mind — Creates new things.
We need to learn to retain the essence and create a new form using the existing knowledge.
We had an interaction with her son Aryan who is a brilliant, young art and movie director and a producer. His short films have achieved international awards. His mission is to express the great Indian culture through audio-visual mediums and through movies and short stories. It was quite an inspiring session for us to listen to such an awakened soul, carrying so much fire and passion within.
Day 5 — Re-establishing the purpose of Art and Culture, Humanities, and Liberal Art
Gitanjali gave an insight into Indian Humanities and Liberal Arts, a philosophy that provides a framework to decide what is right and what is wrong. There is an abysmal lack of understanding of these subjects, like philosophy and humanities among the Indians. We do not know that literature is a way of searching for the Eternal. Governance should be for the well-being of all.
India’s mission is to point back humanity to the true source of human liberty, human equality, and human brotherhood. — Sri Aurobindo
Einstein says, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”
Mark Twain says, that India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech.
Culture: We need to know the root cause of our rituals or the significance of our religion. We need to equip ourselves with the ultimate truth or inner symbolism behind every outer act of ritual. For example, the significance of the Hindu tradition of using 108 beads as auspicious. We need to take pride in our own culture to be a great country. Our Rig Vedas had discovered the speed of Light thousands of years ago.
Language: We need to respect our language, our mother tongue, Sanskrit. Sanskrit should be the common language of India and the national language. A revised Sanskrit or people’s Sanskrit should be studied and brought as a national common language.
All regional languages also need to be respected. Tamil and Sanskrit are almost from a similar era.
Philosophy: We have not lived an impactful life. Philosophy should be considered as a living subject. We need to introspect about our lives, our purpose of existence, and our impacts on the world in general.
Literature: She urged all of us to read the Indian Gurus’ books instead of those of Western Authors. We should read the books Essays on Gita, Secret of Veda, The Human Cycle, and The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo. The Life Divine is a magnum opus, just like a creator writing about His creation.
We should also read the Indian authors from regional languages: Kalidasa, Bhartruhari, Tukaram, which will also have an elevating and transformative experience.
Psychology & Yoga: As per Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga philosophy, to define “Who Am I?” we can consider the following:
We are sitting on a base of Universal inconscient and universal subconscient.
Followed by our outer being made up of the outer mind, outer body, and outer vital.
And Inner Being — Inner mind, Inner Vital, and Inner physical
Supported by the physical self, mental self, and vital self.
Guided by the Psychic entity = which should be the leader of our path — This is the fire of aspiration.
Inwardly on an evolutionary journey from Mind to Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind, Overmind, and finally Supermind. When we start living in the Psychic being and allow it to become the leader of our lives. Sri Aurobindo has refined and elaborated the whole process of evolution.
Chanting of AUM
MandukyaUpanishad
A — Outer being (waking state)
U — — Subliminal self (dream state )
M — Above higher mind (deep sleep state)
Finally To the Supermind (Turiya state)
If we know how to chant consciously infusing the highest state of mind it will take us to Satchidananda, the Supreme.
“Yoga is nothing but practical psychology.”
The mission of HIAL
An initiative with Sri Aurobindo Society and HIAL to transform India.
India can be strengthened one village at a time as per Sri Aurobindo. As a bottom-up approach, HIAL has taken up one village at a time.
HIAL seeks volunteers to work with them in multiple community projects Spirituality and Consciousness, Art and Culture, Language and Literature, Politics and Governance, Education and Research, Health and Wellbeing, Design and Technology.
