 The Millenial Children  |
Guru Singh Khalsa
There’s a school in the rural North of India’s Punjab State. Miri Piri Academy is based on the world vision, spiritual teachings and enlightenment of Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan. Built on the concept that we must develop character and courage as an active and direct part of a school’s curriculum, there’s a unique approach in this school toward educating the children of the
New Millenium.
It excels in the standard scholastic requirements of math, science, computers, language and the liberal arts, but there’s an ancient sense of purpose in its modern sense of time. Miri Piri means the ‘saint - warrior’, mastering a spiritual life while meeting the temporal challenges of daily life. I’ve taught at this academy for a month or two in each of the last few school years and I can say without question, this is the future model for education. It’s a study in children overcoming limits by using the God-given tools of spirit. It’s a true study in human prosperity.
In today’s world, children are bearing a grave burden from the unconsciousness of adults. Decisions that place testing before teaching, economies before ecology, politics before people and greed before consciousness are challenging the very nature of youth. When spirit is neglected in this way, children become casualties; they lose perspective of their individual strengths, develop insecurities and prejudices through over-emphasis on competition, and they forfeit any interest in a school system that no longer meets their needs. This lack of interest is over-diagnosed as attention deficiency (ADHD) or depression (lack of motivation), with even less conscious responses to dyslexia and suppressed violence.
For most students there is no ‘actual’ lack of attention at all, and no ‘real’ depression either - there’s simply nothing in the system that compels their fascination. Dyslexia, showing a dominance of creativity and innovation over the adherence to convention or rational thought, goes condemned and un-rewarded. Without a realization that the adolescent brain is forming its unique and inspired pathways, the world of education develops an attitude that we no longer need these highly creative thinkers and dreamers born of a rich and classical education. Instead, modern-world educators emphasize the view of the left brain’s logic, fill the needs for factory and office workers, produce conforming thinkers in people that will consume the products of our industrial economy. A great classical education, rich with imagination and food for the spirit, has been turned into the 3-R’s. The curriculums formulated over these past decades have removed the right brain food and the young minds go without music, art
, spiritual studies and philosophy; also gone missing are the classics and any hint of teaching successful relationships, conflict resolution, expanding intuition, connection to spirit or human ethics.
Not so at Miri Piri Academy, where subjects such as Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, Sikh Dharma Ministerial Training, Humanology (©Yogi Bhajan), music and art, delight the spirit and feed the young intellects. Yogi Bhajan says, “We educate the entire human spirit with commitment, courage and confidence.” “A spirit that requires a curriculum to identify our human purpose, build the infinity into our character, fulfill the imaginings and visions of our developing minds and unleash the natural prosperity encoded within the psyche.”
Our students are the keepers of tomorrow and our planet’s future depends on the peace they will bring as the population grows beyond six billion. Their asset of innocence (innocence is being ‘in one’s essence’) produces an inherent acceptance that leads to their spirited and beautiful camaraderie and a peace of mind. It’s a natural tendency for innocent youth to accept others without bias. In the Miri Piri environment this natural accepting innocence of youth is nourished and guided. Our founder, Yogi Bhajan, says it in this way, “If you don’t see God in all, you don’t see God at all.”
With the power of this innocence, Miri Piri students voice opinions, care about ‘real’ life’s social and civil issues and favor what they call ‘real’ business (ones that enrich people without exploiting the Earth). These children are learning to be the innovators, the activists and the foot soldiers of the Aquarian Age; they are the people who, given time, will actually turn the promises they make into realities. They are ready, willing, and able to live by their words and they comprehend the power of the word (another subject they’re taught: “Mantra”).
Prosperity requires this combination of commitment, courage and confidence to create the future. It’s the power of evolution at work. And as this evolution expands the envelope with every year, the effectiveness of the education at Miri Piri Academy becomes even more apparent through the further success of its graduates. As they go on to college and pursue future life activities, they simply excel. Thank God for the Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan’s vision. mss © 2002