SYG - Time to Move On

We have been witness to the birth of the Sunshine Youth Group (SYG), if not instrumental in its conception, and its growth, which looks poised to be ongoing forever. We have starred in awe at the appearances of little children at the forefront, giving us little messages to savour, to ponder over, or at the least entertaining us with their flavoured performances. We have been flabbergasted in absolute wonderment, at the possibilities Mother throws open before us. The SYG has been a point of conversation that keeps us attentive in the core of our being. That’s probably because, we too are growing, like the SYG, with the SYG.

A next big step awaits the SYG this year. A programme called the Integral Education Programme (IEP) is in the process of being shaped in order to explore and eventually encapsulate within the structure, what The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have envisaged as an integral education programme, all part and parcel of the Integral Yoga.

This programme has as its main aim the exposing of selected children to the different aspects of integral education that spans the physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual aspects of a being. The group, for a start, will be of a size of 12 to 20 children between the ages of 7 and 12. An interest and a believe in integral education and a willingness therefore to commit the time required for the sessions will be the main consideration for anyone wanting to sign up for the programme. And on the part of the course co-ordinators, the capacity of a child to benefit from this course will be one important criteria for selection, if the course is over subscribed. The small number that we are starting with also gives course coordinators and facilitators the chance to develop the programme smoothly, making the needed refinements with least disruption. In subsequent years, with the success of the programme, a larger number of children can be accommodated.

The pioneer programme will run for a year, starting from July 2004 to June 2005. The course is to be broken down into 5 main modules, each module with its units of lessons. There will be another module that would seek to integrate the 5 aspects covered in the 5 modules. The programmes that are to be structured would be based on Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's ideals of integral education. There is a plan to keep in close contact with educational programmes and course conductors in Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and in New Delhi, including the Gnostic Society of New Delhi and Auroville.

At the moment, as it stands, the group involved in IEP is aware of the skeletal structure of the programme. Course facilitators and co-ordinators are, right at this moment probably, working this out either concretely on paper or in their minds, trying their best to keep open all the floodgates around them. One challenge for us is to be able to handle the load that the floodgates will channel our way. Another challenge is to integrate the programme. We are ourselves groping in the dark and also evolving out of our own mush and mire. However, there is a common goodwill in all of us, a common believe that this is the right thing that must happen at this point in time. We know that the challenges will be many and sometimes, these will seem titanic and insurmountable. But we are all committed to this course, (and I feel save in speaking for all in the programme) and we will move on, holding on to that figure of faith within us, holding on to the Mover of our lives.

The SYG has done great work in the past two years. The numerous stories of inner growth may never be told. But the manifestation of a true and real inner growth will show, we need not seek it out nor attempt to erect massive structures out of this growth to be seen by all. It is time that the SYG evolve and one sign of evolution is integration. We have to start somewhere and the somewhere is in the here and the now. Let this seed of IEP germinate, take root and propel the rest on its own momentum. The force needed will be from The Divine Shakti herself.

- Jayanthy

OM NAMO BHAGAVATHE SRI ARAVINDAYA SHARANAM MAMA