Hindu mind training
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| Hindu mind training - PDF by Marie Tudor Garland |
From introduction:
About twenty years ago the problem of my eldest son's education first led me to take a practical interest in the training of the young. Since then I have looked carefully into various Western systems of mind training, including those of Rousseau, Herbart, Pestalozzi, Basedow, Froebel, and Madame Montessori, without finding any one of them really satisfactory. Some are good as far as they go, but none of them goes far enough.
During my study of these systems, I often thought of Hindustan, that land of stupendous philosophy where mind problems were discussed centuries before the days of Aristotle, as a probable source of a more comprehensive method of mental training; but it was not possible for me to spend years in that country seeking what I desired, and I could not believe that a cold-weather tour on the banks of the Ganges would enable me to achieve my object.
A few years ago, however, when watching the education of two of my younger boys at Eton and that of my daughter under the care of a resident governess, I met Mr S. M. Mitra in London. He gradually initiated me into the ancient Hindu system of mind training, which I at once perceived to be far deeper and more suitable for mental development than the various methods now in vogue on either side of the Atlantic.
A special feature of the Hindu method is that it is not only a sound system of mind education for boys and girls, but is also eminently useful for the reeducation of adults of both sexes, a moulding character on broader lines is infinitely more difficult than moulding it aright in the first instance, but the Hindu system accomplishes this delicate task without strain and with very little effort.
The Hindu system of mind training does not aim simply at imparting facts; it prepares the pupil's mind to receive facts, interpret them aright, distinguish facts from opinions to reason correctly from them, to recognise that logic of words is not necessarily the logic of facts, and to make practical use of the information thus gained.
Thereby it develops character. The Hindu system helps mental development from within in a way that no Western system seems capable of doing.
The Hindu method of drawing out what is in the pupil, standing aside that the flower of intelligence may unfold, appears as the wiser and more practical plan. One who is trained under this system vidll soon learn his powers and his limitations, which speedily be able to locate his weakness and therefore will know how to work for his own fuller development.
The first essential to a student is knowledge of himself; this he cannot acquire second-hand. He must find himself but under proper guidance.