You should be very
polite with those who depend upon you for their living. If you ill-treat them,
they feel very much but cannot reply to you as man to man for fear of losing
their job.
There may be some
dignity in being rough with your superiors, but with those who depend on you,
the true dignity is to be very courteous.
23 June 1932
The shoe-maker would like a raise. He requests me to ask you for 10
rupees instead of 8, as he has to support a family of three.
Family considerations do not interest me
at all. The salary should depend on the work of the worker, on his ability, his
regularity, not on the number of people he has to feed. For if we took these
circumstances into consideration, it would no longer be paid work but charity,
and as I have said very often, we are not a relief committee. As a general rule
I have not increased the salary of the workers and servants this year, but if
this boy works very well and if you are satisfied with his behaviour, I can
give him 9 rupees instead of 8, to begin with.
30 August 1932
When the workmen come to fetch their
billas¹ do not detain them unduly.
After a day's work they need to go home
for rest.
4 February 1933
¹Work-tokens.
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A servant is not a convict and must be
allowed some amount of liberty and free movement.
I am sure that servants behave according
to the way they are treated.
10 March 1935
It is very bad to
constantly rebuke servants ― the less you scold them, the better it is. When X asks you to scold
them you must refuse to do so and tell him that I have forbidden you to do it.
As for your co-workers, each one must be
left free to do according to his own feelings.
My love and blessings.
16 May 1940
If you are sure that the servants are
robbing, it proves that they are not properly supervised and you will have to
look to it more carefully.
19 July 1940
I told you already my point of view about
the number of workmen. The more they are, the less they do. I do not approve of
14 men for the vegetables. The work can be done and well done with much less.
1 November 1943
My dear child,
X will have told you my decision about Y.
I had to take it, in spite of your “objection”, because this man only asked to
be given another work in the Ashram; he neither threatened nor
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asked for more wages. He is a good worker
and it would be a pity to lose him. This you can easily understand if you get over
the first egoistic reactions to this affair; and surely you cannot accept the
feeling of being “insulted” which is quite unyogic.
I hope that after reading this you will
recover and come to a truer view of this very small and unimportant event.
With my love and blessings.
13 October 1944
You can take him as daily labourer at annas 10 per day, but I refuse to pay overtime; you will
have to see that he finishes his work in time. Our experience is constant that
when the workmen are paid overtime they do practically nothing during the
working hours and so manage to have regularly overtime pay at a very high rate.
1 February 1945
Today after a break of several years owing
to the tragic events which have disrupted the world, we resume our established
custom of distributing cloth at New Year.
Unfortunately circumstances are still very
difficult, almost worse than during the war, and do not allow me to do what I
would have liked. The clothes I shall distribute today are all I could obtain,
and even that was extremely difficult. I will only add that I hope that next
year it will be better.
1 January 1946
DECLARATION TO THE WORKERS
OF SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM
It is my desire to explain to the workers the
special relationship that exists between them and me as compared with the
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ordinary relationship between employer and
employees. It is also my desire that having understood this special relationship
the workers should always keep this understanding before them in all their
deliberations and in all the joint demands which they make to me.
This special relationship is as follows:
(a) The work in the Ashram is not done for
profit, as is well known. Therefore during the war when things became expensive
and difficult for everyone, it became so for me too, without my income
increasing in any way by the fact of the same circumstances. Industrial and
commercial concerns made more profits and so could easily increase the wages,
but here in the Ashram only the expenses went on increasing. In spite of this,
in view of the difficulties of the workers I gave them regular increments and
dearness allowances.
(b) There have been times when there was
no work for some workers, but unlike business firms I have never dismissed
workers but have always endeavoured to find some other work for them to do. It
has always been my policy not to send away, for want of work, workers who have
served faithfully. I could have easily done so and could have even closed down
all the works without any serious hardship to the Ashram. But by doing so I
would have only increased the general misery which is already so great, and
that I did not want to do.
(c) There are a good number of workers who
have worked for me for many long years and have served me with devotion and
faithfulness and who besides considering me as their employer have also looked
to me as their protector, of them and their families.
(d) On the whole the workers of the Ashram
have so far worked more or less as members of a family with me as their head,
and this special relationship has no doubt brought benefit to many of them. I
would like to preserve this relationship and make it the foundation for all my
dealings with the workers.
With these points in view, it is suggested
that the workers
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of the Ashram should form a separate
syndicate of their own, since they stand with regard to their employer in a
different position from other workers, as has already been explained. This
syndicate might be affiliated to the general body of workers, but would
maintain its own line of action and conduct.
It is further suggested that this
syndicate of Ashram workers should elect a committee which represents the
various shades of opinion among the workers. This committee would receive and
consider the demands put forward by the workers and, having deliberated and
arrived at a decision that it considers just and reasonable, would present it
to me for action through their president. I will receive with goodwill and
sympathy all requests of this kind and will act for the best according to the
reasonableness of the demand.
In these times of struggle and conflict
and misery and suffering I offer to all who wish to work under me, with me, the
possibility of a reciprocal understanding and a fruitful and beneficial
collaboration.
5 March 1946
What I said to the workers on April 21st, 1952:
It was unnecessary for you to assemble
here and take all this trouble for nothing. But since you are here I have some
things to tell you.
First, you are demanding your cloths. I
have never said that you would not receive them. But it is difficult to get
hold of them and it takes time. They are on the way now and when they arrive you
will be informed.
As for an increase in your wages, I have
already answered you, and I repeat, I have overstepped the limits of my present
resources and I cannot add to my expenditure in any way. So if I increase the
wages of some of you, I shall be obliged to dismiss some others in order to
compensate. It remains to be seen which is stronger: your individual egoism or
your collective
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egoism. Do you want to increase your own earnings
at the expense of the livelihood of some of your fellow-workers?
You complain that you live in misery; and
I tell you that you live in misery because you waste your money on drinking and
smoking and because you waste your energy in sexual excess. All these -
alcohol, tobacco and sexual excess – ruin your health.
Money does not bring happiness. The
Sannyasi who possesses nothing and usually eats only one meal a day is
perfectly happy if he is sincere. Whereas a rich man may be thoroughly unhappy
if he has ruined his health by all sorts of excess and over-indulgence.
I repeat, it is not money that makes a man
happy, but rather an inner balance of energy, good health and good feelings.
Stop drinking, smoking and over-indulging, stop hating and envying, and then
you will no longer lament your lot, you will no longer feel that the world is
full of misery.
April 1952
TO THE EMPLOYEES OF SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM
What I wish to do for you.
I shall tell you how I view the solution
of your problems, both individual and collective, and what is the truth of the
relation between us.
But for the working out of the programme I
am going to place before you, two essential conditions are necessary. First, I
must have the financial means to execute my plan; secondly, you must show a
minimum of sincerity, honesty and goodwill in your attitude towards me and
towards your work. You have most unfortunately the habit of trying to deceive
me. Bad advisers have taught you that that is the best thing to do in your
relation with your employer. It may be that when the employer himself seeks to
deceive you and exploit you, this attitude on
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your part is legitimate. But in regard to
me it is a foolishness and a blunder; first of all, because you cannot deceive
me and your deceit becomes immediately obvious and takes away from me all
desire to come to your aid, and secondly because I am not a “boss” and I do not
seek to exploit you.
All my effort is towards realising in the
world as much truth as actual circumstances will allow; and with the increase
of truth, the welfare and happiness of all will necessarily increase.
Differences of caste and class have no
truth for me; all that counts is individual value. My aim is to create a big
family in which it will be possible for each one to fully develop his
capacities and express them. Each one will have his place and occupation in
accordance with his capacities and in a relation of goodwill and brotherhood.
As a consequence of such a family
organisation there will be no need of remuneration or wages. Work should not be
a means of earning one's livelihood; its purpose should be twofold: first to
develop one's nature and capacity for action, and, secondly, in proportion to
one's physical means and moral and intellectual aptitude, to give service to
the family to which one belongs and to whose welfare it is but proper to
contribute, as it is proper for the family to provide for the real needs of
each of its members.
To give a concrete form to this ideal
under the present conditions of life, my idea is to build a kind of city
accommodating at the outset about two thousand persons. It will be built
according to the most modern plans, meeting all the most up-to-date
requirements of hygiene and public health. It will have not only residential
houses, but also gardens and sportsgrounds for
physical culture. Each family will be lodged in a separate house; bachelors
will be grouped according to their occupations and affinities.
Nothing necessary for life will be
forgotten. Kitchens equipped in the most modern hygienic way will supply
equally
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to all simple and healthy food, assuring
the energy necessary for the proper maintenance of the body. They will function
on a co-operative basis of work in common and of collaboration.
In the matter of education, what is
necessary is to arrange for the moral and intellectual instruction and
development of all, children and adults: various schools, technical instruction
in different vocations, classes for music and dance, a cinema hall where
educational films will be shown, a lecture hall, a library, a reading room,
varied physical education, a sportsground and so on.
Each one can choose the kind of activity
that is most suitable to his nature and will receive the required training.
Even small gardens will be provided where those who like cultivation can grow
flowers, fruits and vegetables.
In the matter of health, there will be
regular medical visits, a hospital, a dispensary, a nursing home for the
segregation of contagious cases. A department of hygiene will have the
exclusive function of inspecting all public and private buildings to see that
the most rigorous rules of cleanliness are observed everywhere and by all. As
natural adjuncts to this department public baths and common laundries will be
put at the disposal of everyone.
Finally, big stores will be set up where
one can find all the small “extras” which give life variety and pleasantness
and which one will get against “coupons” that will be given in recompense for
especially notable achievement in work or conduct.
I shall not give a long description of the
organisation and the working of the institution, although everything in it to
the smallest details has already been foreseen.
It goes without saying that for admission
to live in this ideal place the essential conditions that need to be fulfilled
are good character, good conduct, honest, regular and efficient work and a
general goodwill.
10 July 1954
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Do you know the story of the hen that laid
golden eggs? There was once a peasant whose entire fortune consisted of one
hen; but this was a wonderful hen. Every other day she gave him a golden egg.
Now this peasant in his stupid and greedy ignorance imagined that the hen's
body must be full of gold, and that if he opened it up he would find a great
treasure. So he slit her open ― and found nothing. Thus he lost both the
hen and the eggs.
This story shows us that ignorant and
stupid greed is sure to lead to ruin. So learn a lesson from it and understand
that if you demand from me what is beyond my means, and if I were so foolish as
to yield to you, I should go straight to my ruin and the result would be that
all the work would be stopped and you would be out of work and would therefore
have no wages at all, and no way to earn your living.
18 March 1955
To increase the salary of some will mean
to deprive others of their livelihood.
Be careful about the various reports of
the workers ― they are always biased. Each one speaks always with his preferences
(likes and dislikes) and twists things.
How to remove the distrust from our workers?
Can you make the blind see?
The whole of humanity ― with very few exceptions ― distrusts the Divine and yet His Grace is
most active.
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The Employer to the Employee
Nothing lasting can be established without
a basis of trust. And this trust must be mutual.
You must be convinced that it is not only
my good that I am aiming at, but also yours. And on my side I must know and
feel that you are here not merely to profit but also to serve.
There is no welfare of the whole without
the welfare of each part. There is no harmonious growth of the whole without
the progress of each one of its parts.
If you feel you are being exploited, I
also will feel that you are trying to exploit me. And if you fear you are being
deceived, I also will feel that you are trying to deceive me.
It is only in straightforwardness,
sincerity and confidence that human society can progress.
(About the
treatment of servants)
Don't be indulgent, don't be severe.
They should know that you see everything,
but you should not scold them.