But if teachers looking for employment opportunities alone are being hired to teach ashram students, it might be a bit alarming, as secular teachers will hardly care to mould the students according to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and Mother’s ideals.
There is no truth in the Ashram hiring any teacher, secular or otherwise. No student is charged and no teacher is paid. Most of the teachers, however, are ex-students who are living around. Some have returned after staying for a while in the world outside and naturally carry the influence of the environment and the life they have lived. Very few have however made a deep study of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother beyond their schooling days. Perhaps it is these things that give an impression of the ‘secular teachers’ from outside. Besides even if one applied from outside it will be difficult to fit into the ethos unless one is fairly well acquainted with the Ashram life. Nor can the payment made ever match even closely the outside salaries.
Besides, we cannot limit the action of the Divine. Many of us have studied outside and are no less devotees and disciples than those who have lived here. One may even go further and say that a combination of teachers with different approaches, secular or otherwise, might give the students the miniature image of life which may equip them better for the future. After all, that is how the Ashram itself has been designed by the Mother. There are very few who are here for the Yoga. Yet they give the experience of the world that is needed for the Yoga itself! With children it may well be very much the same principle. It is better that they learn about, counter and integrate the different standpoints about life rather than have a linear thinking as in a typical religious schools of the traditional type. The average child who has gone through this process does develop a wider outlook that is yet integrated around Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Of course, this is only a side observation. But as to hired teachers, there certainly are none.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
