ON EDUCATION

The Mother

 

Contents

 

PRE CONTENT

 

Part One:

 

Articles

 

Articles

The Science of Living

Education

Physical Education

Vital Education

Mental Education

Psychic Education and Spiritual Education

An International University Centre

The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations

To the Students, Young and Old

Foresight

Transformation

The Fear of Death and the Four Methods of  Conquering It

A Dream

Helping Humanity

The Problem of Woman

 

 

Part Two:

 

Messages, Letters and Conversations

 

I

 

SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF EDUCATION

 

Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education

Messages

Aims

Students

Study

Reading

Conduct

Holidays

Studies Elsewhere

Teachers

Teaching

Discipline

Homework

Tests

Curriculum

Languages

Facsimilies of the Mother's Handwriting in Various Language

Arts

Other Subject

National Education

 

II

 

SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

 

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Department of Physical Education

Youth

Concentration and Dispersion

Our Flag and Our Cover

Energy Inexhaustible

Correct Judgment

The Olympic Rings

The Championship Badge

Tournaments

Replies to Prayers of the Physical Education Groups

Messages for Competitions

Messages for the Annual Demonstration of Physical Culture

General Messages and Letters

To Women about Their Body

 

III

 

THE NEW AGE ASSOCIATION

 

The New Age Association

 

IV

 

A GLIMPSE OF THE MOTHER'S WORK IN THE SCHOOL

 

French in the Ashram and the School

The Organisation of Work in French Class

Teaching French to Indian Teachers Who Teach in French

Teaching French to Students

The "Bibliotheque Choisie"

Mother's Action in a Class of Children Aged ten to Eleven

Mother's Action in a Class  of Children Aged Seven to Nine

Mother's Action in a Class of Children Aged Sixteen to Eighteen

 

V

 

ANSWERS TO A MONITRESS

 

Sutras

Correspondence-(a)

Correspondence-(b)

 

VI

 

ANSWERS TO A MONITOR

 

Answers to a Monitor

 

VII

 

CONVERSATIONS

 

5 April 1967

11 November 1967

8 February 1973

14 February 1973

18 February 1973

24 February 1973

26 February 1973

14 March 1973

 

Part Three:

 

Dramas

 

TOWARDS THE FUTURE

 

Towards the futures

 

THE GREAT SECRET

 

The great Secret (a)

The Great Secret (b)

 

THE ASCENT TO TRUTH

 

The Ascent to truth

14 March 1973

 

 

B- reads a letter to Mother from a teacher who expressed the desire

 “to get away from this agitation and to leave the school for this year.”

Then the circumstances that determined this decision were explained to Mother.

 

As for me, I don't understand anything about all these matters. For me they are...What does A have to say about this?

 

            A: I don't know what to tell you, Mother.

 

Just tell me: what impression do you have? I have the feeling that a spirit of confusion has entered into the school and is making a...They mean the same thing and they use different terms, and so the terms clash. I know that they have a very similar aspiration, but each one speaks his own language and so the languages are not in harmony and they argue about nothing. There, I think that the best thing to do would be for each one to remain quiet for a while. Tell me your solution.

I too, with the people who are...who are with me, I never used to have any difficulty, and now it is as if we were speaking in a different language.

 

            A: And instead of stressing the things that bring us closer, we lay stress on the points of divergence, so...

 

Yes, they lay stress on that. But for me, it has a strange effect: it makes me feel as if I am ill. There is nothing wrong with me. I am well and that gives me the feeling of being ill, all the time.

 

             A: It is a vibration of disharmony.

 

Yes, in truth it is the transition from the ordinary mental consciousness to the supramental consciousness. The mental  

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consciousness is panic-stricken in the presence of the supramental consciousness. I have the feeling – I shall tell you, this is how it comes to me – that at every moment one could die, the vibration is so different. And so it is only when I am very still...the being, the consciousness...the old consciousness – which is not the mental consciousness at all, but still – the old consciousness goes on repeating its mantra. There is a mantra...it goes on repeating its mantra. And so that is like a background, like a point of contact....It is strange....And then beyond that, there is something which is full of light and force, but which is so new that it causes almost a panic. So, you understand, if the same thing...I who am...I have a long experience, eh? So if it causes that in me, if something like that occurs in the others, I have the feeling that we shall all go mad! There, that will do.

Does this correspond to something?

 

            A: Yes, Mother.

 

So I think that we should keep very quiet so as not to lose the...

             A (after a short digression on a new approach to biology): But then, to come back to our situation, couldn't we, for example, by laying stress on the things that bring us closer and by trying to realise as rapidly as possible what you were saying the other day, that is, this fusion of the various elements.... I suppose that if each one were bent on finding out how the various aspects of the work could be integrated, well, they would forget the points of divergence and think only about the things that bring them closer.

 

Yes, yes, but our language...I was about to tell you, “It's a good idea,” but I caught hold of myself by the ear just as I was saying it to myself. It is not an idea, you understand, it is our 

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 language which has the...it is like a bell-jar covering it up, a mental bell-jar which it does not want to get rid of. Really, it is a difficult time. I think that we ought to be very quiet, very quiet, very quiet. I am going to tell you my old mantra; it keeps the outer being very quiet:

 

OM NAMO BHAGAVATE.

These three words. For me they meant:

 OM – I implore the Supreme Lord.

 NAMO – Obeisance to Him.

 BHAGAVATE – Make me divine.

 This is a translation of it, I mean...Did you hear?

 

             A: Yes, Mother.

 

For me that has the power to calm everything.

 

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