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Correspondence (b)
The teacher should not be a book that is read aloud, the same for everyone, no matter what his nature and character. The first duty of the teacher is to help the student to know himself and to discover what he is capable of doing. For that one must observe his games, the activities to which he is drawn naturally and spontaneously and also what he likes to learn, whether his intelligence is awake, the stories he enjoys, the activities which interest him, the human achievements which attract him. The teacher must find out the category to which each of the children in his care belongs. And if after careful observation he discovers two or three exceptional children who are eager to learn and who love progress, he should help them to make use of their energies for this purpose by giving them the freedom of choice that encourages individual growth. The old method of the seated class to which the teacher gives the same lesson for all, is certainly economical and easy, but also very ineffective, and so time is wasted for everybody. 15 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You have written: “If after careful observation, he (the teacher) discovers two or three exceptional children who are eager to learn and who love progress, he should help them to make use of their energies for this purpose by giving them the freedom of choice that encourages individual growth.” Do you mean that freedom of choice should be given only to exceptional children? What about the others?
I said we should give freedom of choice to exceptional children because for them it is absolutely indispensable if we truly want to help them to develop fully. Of course this freedom of choice can be given to all the Page – 369 children, and after all it is a good way to find their true nature; but most of them will prove to be lazy and not very interested in studies. But, on the other hand, they may be skilful with their hands and be willing to learn to make things. This too should be encouraged. In this way the children will find their true place in society, and will be prepared to fulfil it when they grow up. Everyone should be taught the joy of doing well whatever he does, whether it is intellectual, artistic or manual work, and above all, the dignity of all work, whatever it may be, when it is done with care and skill. 16 January 1972 Sweet Mother, For the exceptional children, do you think that we should turn their energies towards their special talent or is it better to direct them towards a total development?
It depends entirely on the child and his capacities. 18 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Once I asked You whether, in our programme of education, we should teach the children to do some disinterested work for the Ashram, at least once a week. And You answered: “It is always good to do disinterested work. But this becomes much better if the work becomes an enjoyment and not a boring task.” Could You suggest how we could introduce this into our programme?
If the children could see the different kinds of work they can do, the inclination to do one thing or another would awaken Page – 370 and it would become as interesting as a game for them – if they are really intelligent. 18 January 1972 Sweet Mother, When You said that we should observe the games of the children,1 what age did You have in mind?
It depends entirely on the child. Some are already awake at the age of seven, some take longer. What is important is to give the children the chance to see and judge for themselves.
Mother, from seven to what age2
One could say about eighteen. It depends on the case. Some children are fully developed at the age of fourteen or fifteen. It is different for each one. It depends on the case… .18 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You have written: “The teacher must find out the category to which each of the children in his care belongs.” How can we distinguish the categories of children?
By watching them live. To be able to classify the children one must find out about their nature by observing their habits and reactions. The teacher must not be a machine for reciting lessons, he must be a psychologist and an observer. 19 January 1972 1Letter of 15 January 1972. 2Oral question and reply1 Page– 371 Sweet Mother, Should we put the children of each category together?
That has both advantages and disadvantages. The grouping of students should be made according to the resources at our disposal and the facilities we have. The arrangement should be flexible so that it can be improved upon if necessary. To be a good teacher one must have the insight and knowledge of a Guru with an unfailing patience. 19 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You have said: “The first duty of the teacher is to help the student to know himself.” How can we help a student to know himself? For that, isn't it necessary for us to have attained a higher level of consciousness ourselves ?
Oh, yes indeed!1 The attitude of the teacher must be one of a constant will to progress, not only in order to know always better what he wants to teach the students, but above all in order to be a living example to show them what they can become. (After five minutes' meditation) The teacher should be the living example of what he asks the students to become. 19 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Is that the only way of teaching the students to know themselves?²
It is the only right way. You see, a teacher who tells them, “You
1Oral reply (this sentence only). ²Oral question and reply. Page – 372 must not lie” and yet lies himself; “You must not lose your temper” and loses it himself – what would the result be? The children will not only lose confidence in the teacher but also in what he teaches…
Mother, every day I type out what You write, and P takes it to the School to show it to the other teachers, and they like it very much. And now some teachers are giving me questions to ask You.2
(Laughing) Good! It is very good! 19 January 1972 Sweet Mother, When we attempt to organise the children into categories based on their capacity for initiative, we see that there is a mixture of levels of achievement in various subjects. That makes the work very difficult for certain teachers who are in the habit of taking ordinary classes in the old classical way.
We are here to do difficult things. If we repeat what others do, it is not worth the trouble; there are already many schools in the world. Men have tried to cure the ignorance of the masses by adopting the easiest methods. But now we have passed that stage and humanity is ready to learn better and more fully. It is up to those who are in the lead to show the way so that others can follow. 21 January 1972 Sweet Mother, How do you conceive the organisation of our education, to enable the children to discover their
2Oral comment and reply. Page – 373 capacities and then follow the path of their individual development?
That is what we are trying to do here. It depends on the teacher. I do not have a theory one could put down on paper…1 This is what we are trying to do here. But doing it well depends on the teacher, on the trouble he takes, and on his power of psychological understanding. He must be capable of recognising the character and possibilities of the student, so that he can adapt his teaching to the needs of each individual. 22 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Should the teachers be classified by subject? Is that the best way?
Classification by subject is important when one wants to study one or several subjects in depth, once an overall grounding that is useful for everyone has already been provided equally to all: for example, reading and writing, speaking at least one language correctly, a little general geography, a general outline of modern science and a few indispensable rules of conduct for group or communal living. For a detailed and thorough study of one subject the appropriate age depends on the child and his capacity to learn. The precocious ones can start at the age of twelve. For most it will be more like fifteen and even seventeen or eighteen. And when one wants to master a particular subject, especially a scientific or philosophical subject, one must be prepared to spend one's whole life learning; one must never stop studying. 22 January 1972 Sweet Mother, I come back to the same question. What do you
1Oral reply (this paragraph only. Page – 374 mean exactly by “categories of children”? Do these categories correspond only to their character or also to their interests?
The categories of character. In assessing the possibilities of a child, ordinary moral notions are not of much use. Natures that are rebellious, undisciplined, obstinate, often conceal qualities that no one has known how to use. Indolent natures may also have a great potential for calm and patience. It is a whole world to discover and easy solutions are not much use. The teacher must be even more hard-working than the student in order to learn how to discern and make the best possible use of different characters. 23 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Yesterday You mentioned rules of conduct. What are the rules of conduct You consider indispensable in our community?
Patience, perseverance, generosity, broad-mindedness, insight, calm and understanding firmness, and control over the ego until it is completely mastered or even abolished.
Mother, this is not exactly what I wanted to ask. What I understand by “rules of conduct” was “manners”.
Manners belong to the moral rules of ordinary life and have no value from our point of view. 23 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You have spoken of arranging students according Page – 375 to categories of character. In our present state of ignorance, if we try to impose a classification, would it not be something very arbitrary and even a dangerous game for the growing child?
Naturally, it is better not to take arbitrary and ignorant decisions. It would be disastrous for the children. What I have said is for those who are capable of recognising characters and assessing them rightly, otherwise the result would be awful and more harmful than the usual mechanical teaching. 24 January 1972 Sweet Mother, To be able to do what You have asked of us, isn't it the teacher's first duty to do an intense and sincere yoga instead of acting in a hasty and arbitrary manner?
Certainly!1 What I have written is an ideal to be realised; you must prepare yourselves to be able to do it. To be able to adopt this method, the teacher must be a discerning psychologist and that requires time and experience. 24 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You have said that the teacher must be a discerning psychologist, a Guru. You know very well that we are far from being all that. The teachers being what they are, how should the system of education be organised in order to improve our way of teaching?
By doing what they can, knowing that they have everything to learn. In this way they will gain experience and do things better and better.
1Oral reply (this sentence only). Page – 376 That is the best way to learn, and if they do it in all sincerity, in two or three years they will become experts and will be truly useful. Naturally, work done in this way becomes really interesting and makes the teachers as well as the students progress. 25 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Should we also have categories for the teachers as we do for the children – according to their way of teaching, of seeing things, and their affinity for certain subjects?
For that, the teacher who organises the studies must be a discerning psychologist, observant and full of goodwill, knowing that he too has to learn and progress. The true attitude is to take life as a field of perpetual study, where one must never stop learning and think that one knows everything there is to know. One can always know more and understand better. 25 January 1972 Sweet Mother, If the children want to do practical work from the age of nine in the field of electronics or technology, should they be encouraged?
Yes, of course. 25 January 1972 Sweet Mother, In this method of work, the teacher must devote sufficient time to each one individually. But the teachers are few in number. How can we respect the needs of each one as fully as possible and at the same time Page – 377 satisfy all those who ask for help?
One cannot make a theory. It depends on each case, the possibilities and circumstances. It is an attitude which the teacher must have and apply as well as he can, and better and better if possible. 26 January 1972 Sweet Mother, You said the other day that there were teachers who were not capable, and that they should stop teaching. What is the criterion for assessing the capacity of a teacher?
First, he must understand, he must know what we want to do and understand well how to do it. Secondly, he must have a power of psychological discernment in dealing with the students, he must understand his students and what they are capable of doing. Naturally, he must know the subject he is teaching. If he is teaching French, he must know French. If he is teaching English, Geography, Science, he must know what he is teaching. But the most important thing is that he must have psychological discernment.1 . 31 January 1972 Sweet Mother, Nowadays in schools elsewhere, especially in the West, much importance is given to “sex-education”.
What is “sex-education”? What do they teach? For myself, I don't like people to be preoccupied with these things. In my time we were never preoccupied with these things. Now children talk about them – all the time it is in their minds,
1Oral reply Page – 378 in their feelings. It is disgusting. It is difficult, very difficult. But if they talk about it elsewhere, we have to talk about it here too. They should be told the consequences of these things. Especially the girls ought to be told that the consequences can be disastrous. When I was young, in those days, people never spoke about all that, they never paid attention to these things. In those days, people did not talk about all that. Here, I did not want this subject to be discussed. That is why we do physical culture. In that way the energies are used to develop strength, beauty, skill and all that; and one is more capable of control. You will see, the ones who do a lot of physical culture, they are much more capable of mastering their impulses.1 (After meditation) The energies that are used in human beings for reproduction and which take such a predominant place in their existence should on the contrary be sublimated and used for progress and higher development, to prepare the advent of the new race. But first the vital and the physical must be freed from all desire, otherwise there is a great risk of disaster. 1 February 1972 Sweet Mother, What is the essential difference between the behaviour and responsibility of a teacher with regard to young children and with regard to older students (over fourteen or fifteen, for instance)?
Naturally, as the consciousness and intelligence develop in the children, it is more and more through them that we can deal with the children. 3 February 1972 Sweet Mother, Should one punish a child?
1Oral reply (the above paragraphs only. Page – 379 Punish? What do you mean by punish? If a child is noisy in class and prevents the others from working, you must tell him to behave himself; and if he continues, you can send him out of the class. That is not a punishment, it is a natural consequence of his actions. But to punish! To punish! You have no right to punish. Are you the Divine? Who has given you the right to punish? The children too can punish you for your actions. Are you perfect yourselves? Do you know what is good or what is bad? Only the Divine knows. Only the Divine has the right to punish.1 The vibrations that you emit bring you into contact with corresponding vibrations. If you emit harmful and destructive vibrations, quite naturally you draw corresponding vibrations towards yourselves and that is the real punishment, if you want to use that word; but it does not correspond at all to the divine organisation of the world. Every action has its consequences, good or bad, but the idea of reward and punishment is a purely human idea and does not at all correspond to the way in which the Truth-Consciousness acts. If the Consciousness that rules the world had acted according to human principles of punishment and reward, there would have been no men left on earth for a long time. When men become pure enough to transmit the divine vibrations without distorting them, then suffering will be abolished from the world. That is the only way.
3 February 1972
Some teachers have written to me that they have read what I wrote for you and that it had done them a lot of good. So you can continue showing them.2
This prayer, Mother
1Oral reply (the above paragraphs only). 2All the material for this date (14 February) is oral. Page – 380 Yes, if you type this out on a piece of paper: “We want to be true servitors of the Divine.” And then the prayer: “Supreme Lord, Perfect Consciousness, You alone truly know what we are, what we can do, the progress we must make in order to become capable and worthy of serving You as we want to do. Make us conscious of our capacities, but also of our difficulties, so that we may be able to surmount them and serve You faithfully.” And then this – the conclusion: “The supreme happiness is to be true servitors of the Divine.” There are people whom it helps. Did you show them your notebook?
I don't show this [meditation] notebook to everyone. I type out the questions on education from the other notebook and give them to the school. But I don't show this notebook to everybody.
No, that one is for you. But you can copy things like this which are for everybody. You can show it to all those who have goodwill. I have received several letters telling me that it had done them a lot of good. So you can continue.
Yes, Mother, I don't show this notebook to everyone because l thought that You wanted to use It immediately for the it Bulletin.
Not all of it. For example, I wouldn't put this in the Bulletin. 14 February 1972 Sweet Mother, Concerning the categories You have mentioned for the school, should there also be similar categories for physical education? Page – 381 For physical exercises, it all depends on the body and its capacities. Easy exercises that are not tiring can be given to everyone. Afterwards, it all depends on the body, on its strength, its health, its resistance to fatigue, etc., etc. Exercises should be given according to capacity and the children should be grouped according to these capacities. It is a matter of experience and observation. To be a good teacher of physical culture one must know anatomy, the various functions of the body, their development and their functioning.
16 February 1972 Sweet Mother, Could you write something on discipline for us?
Discipline is indispensable to physical life. The proper functioning of the organs is based on a discipline. It is precisely when an organ or a part of the body does not obey the general discipline of the body that one falls ill. Discipline is indispensable to progress. It is only when one imposes a rigorous and enlightened discipline on oneself that one can be free from the discipline of others. The supreme discipline is integral surrender to the Divine and to allow nothing else either in one's feelings or in one's activities. Nothing should ever be omitted from this surrender – that is the supreme and most rigorous discipline. 17 February 1972 Sweet Mother, Yesterday You wrote on discipline. But what attitude should we take towards the imposed discipline to which we must conform in communal life?
Communal life must necessarily have a discipline so that the weaker are not bullied by the stronger; and this discipline must Page – 382 be respected by all those who want to live in that community. But for the community to be happy, this discipline should be set by the most broad-minded person or persons, if possible the person or persons who are conscious of the Divine Presence and are surrendered to it. For the world to be happy, power should only be in the hands of those who are conscious of the Divine Will. But for the time being that is impossible because the number of those who are truly conscious of the Divine Will is very small, and because they necessarily have no ambition. In fact, when the time comes for this realisation, it will take place quite naturally. The duty of each one is to prepare himself for it as completely as he can. 18 February 1972 Mother, Some people criticise the fact that we have too many rules in our physical education and that we impose too much discipline on the children.
There can be no physical education without discipline. The body itself could not function without a strict discipline. Actually, the failure to recognise this fact is the principal cause of illness. Digestion, growth, blood-circulation, everything, everything is a discipline. Thought, movement, gestures, everything is a discipline, and if there is no discipline people immediately fall ill.1 18 February 1972 Sweet Mother, The students, especially the adolescents, often complain that they have to do even the physical exercises that they do not like and do not find interesting. Would you reply to this, Mother?
1Oral reply (this paragraph only. Page – 383 We are not on earth to follow our own sweet will but to progress. Physical exercises are not done for fun or to satisfy one's whims, but as a methodical discipline to develop and strengthen the body. True wisdom is to take pleasure in everything one does and that is possible if one takes everything one does as a way to progress. Perfection is difficult to attain and there is always a great deal of progress to be made in order to achieve it. to seek pleasure is certainly the best way to make yourself miserable. If you truly want peace and happiness, your constant preoccupation should be: “What progress must I make to be able to know and serve the Divine?”1
The comment following is oral.
Show this to C. She ought not to have listened to what the children say. She has been here a long time. She ought to know that. That [“To seek pleasure is certainly the best way to make yourself miserable”] is an absolute truth. It affirms that if you want to satisfy your little ego, you are sure to be unhappy. For sure! It is the best way to make yourself miserable. To say: “Oh, it is boring; oh, I must do what I like; oh, that person is unkind to me; oh, life does not bring me what I want.” Ouah!!! “Am I what I ought to be? “Am I doing what I ought to be doing? “Am I progressing as much as I should?” Then it becomes interesting. “What should I learn in order to make my next progress? What infirmity must I cure? What shortcoming must I overcome? What weakness must I get rid of?” And then, naturally, the next moment: “How can I become capable of understanding and serving the Divine?”
1Written question and reply. The comment following is oral. Page – 384 I have written it down specially so that you can show it to C.
Yes, Mother, she knows, but she wanted to know how to explain to the children.
Yes, that is all there is to say. 19 February 1972 Page – 385 |