Gurukul: History and Planning - Ánanda Márga Gurukula is a family of numerous educational institutions around the world dedicated to its Mission of bringing all-round liberation to all beings: spiritual, political, moral, psychological, agricultural, cultural and social. The hallmark of these institutions is that of their Gurudeva – simplicity, humility, sublimity and selfless sacrifice. Beginning in 1964 the Ánanda Márga Board of Education was created a numerous schools opened in poor areas across East India and beyond (Darbhanga, Purulia, Banka, Hyderabad, Raipur, Salem, etc). Even overseas schools blossomed in Mahárlika (Philippines), Haiti, Iceland, Ghana, Thailand, Congo and more and more places.

On September 7th, 1990 Ánanda Márga Gurudeva, Lord Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti officially inaugurated Ánanda Márga Gurukula. In prehistoric times, human beings had begun teaching their children not just survival skills but knowledge. The thrill of knowledge is still felt by new students to this day. However, there has always been a yearning to go beyond religious education, to go beyond technical education and become all-knowing and to have the wisdom to create a school and a society where all would have the opportunity attain this blissful divine state rooted in universal, divine love.

For fulfilling these expectations of humanity down through the ages Ánanda Márga Gurukula was born. Lord Shiva spread scientific culture, yoga and spiritual power through His Tantric dialogues with His wife Párvatii. However, He never had time to create a Gurukula. Lord Krśńa travelled across Greater India talking to the people and arousing social consciousness and unity, arousing mystical yearning within them and then guiding them to express all this in the form of a war against Adharma – injustice, inequality and exploitation.. But He also did not create a Gurukula. At long last, humanity attained Ánanda Márga Gurukula.

So let us briefly explore Ánanda Márga in the words of our Gurudeva.

Ánanda Márga

“Ánanda Márga is not a change merely due to the cycle of time, but a revolution – a radical change – in the true sense. Never before in the entire history of this world, or the universe, if that could be known to mortals, has a system of life embracing the economic, social, mental and spiritual spheres been correlated in a closely-knit society, as it has in Ánanda Márga.”

“Advancing thus, establishing oneself in [the moral fundaments of] Yama and Niyama, and becoming a true sadvipra (spiritual revolutionary), one will attain oneness with the Supreme Entity. Developed human beings will have to move along this Macrocosmic flow of Brahma. One who tries to remain aloof from this divine flow does not deserve to be called a human being. One should bear in mind that the highest fulfilment in life lies in movement in the Cosmic flow. The path along which this movement takes place is called the path of bliss, the path of Ánanda Márga.”

GURUKULA -“You know in the word ‘guru,’ there are two syllables, gu and ru. Gu means “darkness”; darkness in spiritual life, darkness in psycho-spiritual strata. And ru means “dispelling entity”. Guru means the Entity that dispels all sorts of darkness from your spiritual and psychic bodies. “Táraka Brahma [Consciousness as the Supreme Liberator]is the only Guru, and nobody else can be the Guru. “Nirguńa [Pure, unqualified Consciouness] has no objectivity. Hence, Nirguńa does not keep any link with this world. So the Nirguńa entity, as it is, cannot be the Guru. And Saguńa [Macrocosm] is under certain bondages. So Saguńa cannot be the Guru. The Guru should be just like Nirguńa, but keeping a sweet link with that expressed world. And no other entity can be the guru, can be the dispeller of darkness from your spirit and mind:”

The practical interpretation of Tantra is to awaken this spiritual force and expand it, with the one objective of unifying it with the Supreme Divinity. The lowermost portion of the spinal cord is known as kula, [the abode of] Svayambhú [rudimental spiritual power]. It is called kula because it bears the weight of the main physical trunk: ku means “creation” and la means “holder” (lá + da = la)… The lowermost plexus, the múládhára, is the site of crudeness, and the uppermost plexus, the sahasrára, is just the opposite, it is the site of Consciousness. So people of animal instinct have no other way, if they want to free themselves from worldly illusions, than to take the kula-kuńd́alinii from the múládhára to the sahasrára.

How can you acquire self-knowledge? Go deep within to the centre point of your existence. First, go to your centre plexus and then to your muládhára cakra. Your muládhára cakra is an ideational entity orbiting like a satellite around the supreme muládhára. If you make the effort to know your inner self, if your desire for self-knowledge is strong, all the secrets will be revealed to you.

Vision - “The system of education prevailing today was formulated or evolved long ago, mainly with a view to suit the needs of the capitalist class. For the last three to four thousand years, the same type of education is being imparted. The main purpose behind this sort of educational system is to create persons with slavish mentality: this sort of education is fundamentally defective. “A new educational system must evolve to produce sadvipras (spiritual revolutionaries: we have to thoroughly revamp the entire educational system.”

“No ‘ism’ except universalism can be allowed in the educational system. The thirst for knowledge will have to be awakened among students, and reverence, devotion, orderliness and discipline will have to be taught as well. Along with this, a scientific outlook will have to be inculcated. If veneration for science is awakened, superstition will not find any room in the minds of students, nor will high-sounding isms bewilder them. Students will easily acquire the qualities to become sadvipras later in life”

Mission - “You will have to elevate the standard of both the downtrodden mass and the down moving mass. You should chalk out a plan and materialize it as soon as possible. “One of the most important reasons for psychic ailments, defects and deformities is the lack of proper education. Education means proper psychic training and exercise. This training is initially imparted by teaching literacy. That is, it is done through teaching the letters of the alphabet: A-B-C, ka-kha-ga, etc. You can see that in most of the countries in the world – in almost the entire world – the vast percentage of the downtrodden people are illiterate. They are lagging behind in the realm of education. Everywhere, especially in Muslim countries, you will observe that the major portion of the population is downtrodden. Even where there is no shortage in wealth, in Muslim countries and certain other countries, the people are still in a downtrodden condition.

“So, education is a must – education is mandatory – and you should do something to spread education in each and every village throughout the world. You should do something clear and concrete in the realm of education. Proper education means elevating the standard of downtrodden humanity.”

Baba’s Blessings

“If human beings think seriously, they can perform small and big tasks unitedly in a beautiful manner. Work can be accomplished in a short time and with very little effort, the welfare of a maximum number of persons can be effected. To work in such a united way, we have prepared a plan for the establishent of a Gurukula for educational and research purposes. In this scheme, several responsible persons have been inducted. “In olden times, an educational institution enrolling about a hundred students was called a “Pathshála”, that with 100-1000 students was called a “Catuspáthii”, and an institution of 1000-5000 students was called a “Mahá-catuspáthii”, Vidyapiit́ha or “Seat of learning”. Pupils of ancient Semitic and Middle Asia whose branches are the Ottoman Turks, Arabs and Jews used to call it “Academy”. Institutions with 5000-500,000 students were called Gurukul. The learned scholar of Vikramadityaʼs court, Shri Amar Singh opined that a Gurukul should not enroll more than 500,000 students because it adversely affects the administrative efficiency.

“In later times, when in ancient Greece, the system of Academies progressed, they were upgraded and during the Roman Empire, they were reconstituted as “Universities”. The Universities represented a grand educational scheme. During the tenure of the British Empire, the institution of universities were also initiated in India – particularly in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Lahore, Allahabad and Nagpur. We have lost the tradition of over a thousand years. Is it proper to use the term “University”? It has been loosely translated in the vernacular as “Vishvavidalaya”. This is a misnomer. We already have a proper term for a university and it is “Gurukul”

“Everyoneʼs work is to establish it with collective support. You people know that when clothes are woven white ants and mice try to eat them. So the cloth has to be saved from the destructive activities of white ants and mice. So whenever you make something, establish a protective fence to protect it from the evil forces. In days of old, when womenfolk used to prepare dried mango cakes, the young boys used to sit by the side to keep the crows away with a stick in the hand. Similarly you should be careful and alert always. From this very auspicious moment, you should take a vow to progress individually and collectively and build a new society on the planet Earth. We have come to build a new society, to construct and to remain engaged in constructive works throughout our life. This would be the greatest mission of our life.”

Ámrá gaŕe noba gurukul; Jiṋáner áloke ráuṋiye doba pratit́i kuṋŕi phul.
Keha ná thákibe dúre, vájába pratit́i táre; Báṋdhiba priitiri d́ore e mańiháre atul.
Keha ná thákibe piche, t́heli ná káreo niice; Sabe átmiiya viráje manomájhe dodul dul.

[ We will establish the Gurukul. We will dye each and every bud with the light of knowledge. No one will stay away. We will bind everybody with the thread of love and create a garland of incomparable beauty.

No one will stay behind, none will be thrown at the bottom. All will exist with kith and kin with their minds full of sweetness and tenderness for all. ]

Under Ánanda Marga Gurukul we have started Primary Schools, High Schools, Veterinary Institute, Paramedical Institute, Naturopathy centre, Music school, Computer literacy, Skill Development programs, etc. All these Institutes are working for development of students in different sphere of life.