By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
The moment we stepped inside UP Los Banos, we were bombarded with offers to be assisted by representatives of various campus student organizations. Then we later found out a lot student orgs were operating there to dominate a student’s life until he or she leaves the place for good. They played, very important roles in our development as teenagers, well into our adulthood, and in how our careers turned out to be.
From academic, fraternities/sororities, traditionally religious (like UPSCA), new age or oriental oriented (e.g. Ananda Marga Yoga) , regional ones (e.g. Lumabay Labay, GMC, etc.), political groups. Etcetera, etcetera– you name it, we had it then. They are still there. Well and good.
Some stuck to just one student organization, others were like butterflies with so many affiliations, and still others just remained barbarians concentrating full time on their studies. Each to his or her inclination or even craziness. So we enjoyed, drunk our way, partied at Flat Rocks, did other crazy things, yet somehow we navigated our stay there. Then we spread our wings to find our rightful places here and there.
As everybody’s path was unique in its own right, so mine was different in a way. After a number of years in campus, we evolved our unique jargon. “Anong classification mo? Very old sophomore.” “Kelan ka gagraduate? Next semesters.”
Then my Epiphany. I was enrolled then in Soc. Sci. IV. I think. It was about the great political theories or Western Thought. The first part was on Plato’s The Republic. Immediately I felt an affinity to the subject matter. I got enamored with the idea of a Philosopher King. A leader should not be a bumbling idiot but must be well educated. As he must also be physically fit or must pay particular concern over his physical health. In short, his development must be well-rounded.
During that time I also joined the Ananda Marga Yoga group. It was a welcome juxtaposition with the learning about Plato’s thinking. The gaping difference though was Plato’s lack the ultimate goal of life which Ananda Marga supplies— it is spirituality or enlightenment, if you will. An attribute of that is happiness that transcends worldly issues which we are all searching for.
Then there was the group’s socio-economic and political ideology embodied in the Progressive Utilization Theory (ROUT). For happiness cannot be achieved in society without social justice. It sounded great but I had to find out if it was indeed the best. So I decided to become educated on the matter. Such a serious thing requires real education not just emotional persuasion. So I decided to shift my course which required my coming up to UP Baguio to major in Economics and Political Science, And so I found out, competently, by cold study. that it was worth devoting one’s life to.
Where is our organization now? It has already established roots in its last frontiers, Russia and Vietnam.**
