Filling gaps in education @Swadharma
The Swadharma program is a response to the call for an education for our times. The global challenges we face today call for people who are creative and holistic, people who are self-aware and self-driven, people whose identity is grounded in their deepest truth and its relationship with the whole. Swadharma literally means, work governed by one’s own nature following one’s true calling.
Swadharma offers young seekers — age 18 to 28 — an opportunity to embark on a transformative learning adventure with the goal of self-awareness and self-mastery in the context of our present challenging world. The program is based on the idea that helping young people discover who they are and what brings them alive is not only meaningful at an individual level but also essential for building a socially just, environmentally sustainable and consciously awakened future.
The programme has been designed as a 5-week long multidisciplinary foundation programme. It provides the learners the basic knowledge and skills to develop themselves further in any field of work.
Pedagogy
The Swadharma programme follows a pedagogy deeply rooted in exploring and discovering one’s true potential. Its objective is to help the learner come in touch with the inherent evolutionary force of being through a series of simultaneous inner and outer explorations. The awakening and growth of the being are the fundamental conditions for the unfolding of Swadharma, the work governed by one’s own nature. Only when this unfolding happens, an individual can act in the world with harmony and delight, expressing the highest possibility of one’s life’s creative purpose.
To facilitate the emergence of Swadharma, the learning process is:
- Self-referential — finding the inner guide
- Self-directed — choices based on inner guidance
- Experiential — learning by doing
- Immersive — residential, full-time
- Integral — touching all parts, wholesome
The pedagogy recognises that awakening and growth of the being is a lifelong process and the purpose of the programme is to initiate and establish the learner on the path of unending self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-creation. A growing passion for the joy of learning and creative self-transformation will be the sign that the inherent force dormant within the individual is awake and beginning to chart its course of growth. Such an individual will be self-driven and in harmony with the individual purpose and the purpose of the larger whole of which the individual is a part. Thus, the pedagogy simultaneously enables the learner to be:
- In harmony with one’s inner nature
- In harmony with one’s outer work
- In harmony with the larger whole of which the individual is a part.
Learning Objective
The learning objective of the Swadharma is intended to be two-fold:
- Inner development
- Outer manifestation
1. Inner development
The inner development is envisioned to help the student identifying one’s inner nature and true calling by developing self-awareness and self-mastery. This would provide the necessary inner foundation for engaging with the outer world to manifest one’s dreams. It is to be understood that development of self-awareness and self-mastery are lifelong processes and the Swadharma programme is only laying the foundations for the student to make this lifelong journey.
Self-awareness
Learning to distinguish the various part of being and the presence of the inner guide revealing one’s potential and purpose. This opens the doors of intuition and inspiration setting in motion self-directed work in harmony with one’s own nature.
Self-mastery
Developing mastery over the movements of various parts of the being brings gradual unification of otherwise scattered movements of Will and aligns it with the inner guide and its inspired action.
As the inner guide emerges, influence and act through various parts of being with it comes increasing integrity, harmony and perfection in one’s inner nature as well as the outer work.
To facilitate the inner development and support the learning journey various practices like journal writing, gratitude practice, appreciation practice, mindfulness, meditation and concentration, awareness through the body, hatha yoga and sharing circles are used.
2. Outer manifestation
While the inner development enables the student to come in touch with one’s own calling, the outer expression and manifestation require many generic knowledge and skills to actively and creatively engage with the world around to manifest one’s dreams. To facilitate this process the programme has been envisioned to provide skills in design thinking, communication, collaboration, leadership, global citizenship and sustainable living.
Learning Process
Swadharma has no textbooks; the primary reference is one’s own inner movements in the context of outer stimulations through inspiring encounters with people who are already on the path and well established in their work in Auroville. More than information, the focus is to breathe in inspiration and to kindle the flame of aspiration in the heart of each student according to their inner nature. So during the course students meet a large number of inspiring people and their works and a dedicated team of mentors tracks the progress of each student.
The early stages of the learning process happen together in groups but as the journey deepens, the individual paths are identified and exploration takes unique trails custom made for each student. The huge diversity available within Auroville thus becomes an extraordinary resource for students to tap into. Weekly presentations and feedback ensures not only developing communication skills but also peer to peer learning. After the programme, the students are encouraged to take up internships in Auroville in their area of interest so that the learning deepens and gets internalised.
Experience so far
The programme started in August 2016 after nearly two years of preparation and now runs twice a year. So far 4 batches have completed the programme, and the 5th will begin in July 2018. Participants come from various states of India from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds, from the 4th program onwards the course has been opened to international students.
One of our main learning is that more than 50% of the learning happens from the peers and the main challenge is in bridging the gap between knowledge and will. It is easy to have knowledge and ideas but when it comes to execution, a well developed will and perseverance becomes critical. So learning to exercise and build the will-to-do has emerged as a curial area to work on to strengthen the integral development of each student. Obviously, this is not being addressed by the existing education systems, and the need is acutely visible.
Overall the results are highly inspiring and the Swadharma team is happy to have embarked on this journey. Our family is now growing.
For more information please visit www.swadharma.auroville.org
