Mirambika in our midst

The seed of this visit that materialized recently was planted some 2 years back, at approximately the same time of the year. There was already thought in Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi branch, about sending one or two diyas to Singapore to learn about the education system here and when this thought was voiced, I was more than confident that that could be arranged. This beginning blossomed into a group of five diyas (not two), all with varied backgrounds and experiences to set foot on Singapore soil for the first time and bring back with them, what they professed to be a life-time’s experience.

I have been in mirambika for 2 years and those two years were enough to let me know where I stood as a so called ‘educationist’. I was trained to teach. Teaching stopped making any sense in mirambika. That was where and when I lost my bearings and set off on what seems like a new journey (and the journey is still in its infancy, I know) to discover the true aim of education and the means of actualizing that education. mirambika offered some solid experience for me as to how that education could be facilitated. Nothing here was cast in stone. Everything was fluid, everything changed. The classroom was a dynamo, all the time waiting to explode (and strangely, it never did). Nevertheless, it was teeming with a certain kind of energy, a creative energy that was seeking out something for itself, an energy that was charting out a path for itself, that was constantly searching, feeling its way around, but an energy that was certain of reaching its goal, and also knew, with the end of one search, another fresh one started, right after. Everything was in a state of flux. All plans fell through, like dust in the stir of the children’s energy (I am referring to the energy in a class of 9 to 11 year olds). Only one thing seemed to be constant and seemed to hold all of us together. It was the aspiration of the diyas and all who supported mirambika on her external (and also, inevitably, internal as well) façade, from the principle to the senior diyas, to the trainee diyas, to the volunteer diyas, to the didis and bays who cleaned the place and maintained it physically, to the parents who were ever so present in mirambika’s midst … a single thread of aspiration and goodwill bound us and a trust in Divinity that the guidance will be there. And the children, they were little godsends from heaven, as all children are and they thrived beautifully in the atmosphere. At dismissal time, one could see many young children going home reluctantly, with tears steaming down their cheeks. This is no picture of a fairytale haven I am painting. mirambika lives through her fair share of trials and travail, her moments of anxieties and frustrations but very quickly I have seen all these evaporate as suddenly as they would have descended. Something special was in mirambika. A walk on the Sunlit Path that leads to mirambika from the main ashram grounds would speak sweet secrets of silence and quiet and calm and twinkling joy, just to be there. The entire building, the physical body of mirambika reverberated with a special love (at least for me) that did not seek anything for itself, just knew how to give.

mirambika means all these to me and more. What more can the arrival of five diyas from mirambika mean? I was elated as the dream of having all five visit Singapore and have them staying at one’s own home, seeing to each of their needs, keeping them comfortable, ferrying them to places where mirambika education method was to be shared, to our centre for that special interaction amongst members of one family, to special, precious spots in Singapore, like the tropical rainforest enclaves in McRitchie Reservoir, Pulau Ubin and to the well acclaimed tourists spots such as Sentosa and the Zoo, flowered before me, in a beautiful manner, as if everything just fell into place. If there was one thing that there was there when we were all living together, it was harmony, a soft, beautiful presence that constantly smiled to each beat of our hearts, each step we took and each tick of time for those 12 odd days of the trip.

A couple of Singapore schools were visited, one primary and one secondary. These schools shared with the diyas about the system here and how the schools ran. School tours added much colour to the sharing as diyas saw the manifestation of the plans that were described verbally during the sharing sessions. The question and answer sessions at the end of the tours were another welcomed opportunity for the diyas. There was brief mention of the mirambika way in these schools at the end of the presentation and I observed how intense the interest was in the free progress method during those brief moments of exchange and as the mirambika souvenirs were glimpsed before the diyas bade the school teams farewell.

The next school in line was Global India School. Here, teachers were treated to half an hour’s film show on mirambika. It was evident that that show stole the hearts of the teachers. Many questions streamed in during the question and answer session, pointed and direct. One question echoed the question that many ask. In a system where exams were inevitable, how can integral education be practiced? The answer to this question would take one into the philosophy of Integral Education and the various debates around it. For now, it would suffice to mention that the teachers were assured that each teacher had the potential of shaping the integral development of the child. The teachers themselves will need to have a taste of what integral development was all about.


The sharings at our centre, be it with the normal Sunday crowd or with parents and facilitators of IEP children, was special too. The discussion again was intense as young parents brought up their trials and tribulations. The diyas took each question consciously and answered them in a markedly centred way. They facilitated the children’s Sunday programme amicably. They were candid with the children and in no time, children took to all of them naturally and watching them all at play settled a sense of wonder and satisfaction within.

The diyas expressed sheer delight in discovering aspects of Singapore. Their keen eyes never missed a detail along the streets of Singapore. The green spaces blocked out in some areas on the island filled the diyas with awe. A bustling township is passed in one instance and the next finds us in a remote and secluded green belt of peace and rejuvenating spirit. Every now and then comparisons were made with India and we would delve into the greatness of both countries and how each could benefit from the other in significant ways. We also discussed the different outlooks of the countries, politically, sociologically and spiritually.

It was a 12-day period fraught with activity, but we kept one another reminded in keeping centred, without having to use any words. It naturally flowed from the being, from person to person into everything that was done. Their mission here was seen as significant. No one actually knows to this day, why Providence had them all here at the same time, but each held their experiences as sacred and offered.

Here is a toast to our friends from mirambika, builders of the golden bridge - from Bharatam.

- Jayanthy