{"id":4548,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4548"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","slug":"24-13-june-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/08-questions-and-answers-volume-08\/24-13-june-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-24_13 June 1956.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section1\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><br \/>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">13 June 1956 <\/font><br \/>\n<font size=\"3\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cAlready in the process of spiritualisation it<br \/>\n[the spiritualised mind] will have begun to pass out of the brilliant poverty<br \/>\nof the human intellect; it will mount successively into the pure broad reaches<br \/>\nof a higher mind and next into the gleaming belts of a still greater free<br \/>\nintelligence illumined with a Light from above. At this point it will begin to<br \/>\nfeel more freely, admit with a less mixed response the radiant beginnings of an<br \/>\nIntuition, not illumined, but luminous in itself, true in itself, no longer<br \/>\nentirely mental and therefore subjected to the abundant intrusion of error.<br \/>\nHere too is not an end, for it must rise beyond into the very domain of that<br \/>\nuntruncated Intuition, the first direct light from the self-awareness of<br \/>\nessential Being and, beyond it, attain that from which this light comes. For<br \/>\nthere is an Overmind behind Mind, a Power more original and dynamic which<br \/>\nsupports Mind, sees it as a diminished radiation from itself, uses it as a<br \/>\ntransmitting belt of sage downward or an instrument for the creations of the<br \/>\nIgnorance. The last step of the ascension would be the surpassing of Overmind<br \/>\nitself or its return into its own still greater origin, its conversion into the<br \/>\nsupramental light of the Divine Gnosis.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style='margin:0;text-align:right;line-height:150%'>\n<span><i><span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">The<br \/>\nSynthesis of Yoga <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">,<i>pp.<br \/>\n138-39 <\/i><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>There are two stages, you see. One may rise beyond the mind into<br \/>\na certain domain, then beyond that domain pass into yet another which is the<br \/>\norigin of all things. This implies two successive stages. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sweet Mother, now that the<br \/>\nSupermind has descended, why can\u2019t one pass from the rational mind directly to<br \/>\nthe Supermind?<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:0pt;line-height:150%'>\n<font size=\"3\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">Page &#8211;<br \/>\n177<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Who said that one can\u2019t? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sri Aurobindo is describing<br \/>\nhere what was to be done to enter into contact with the Supermind and prepare<br \/>\nthe ground for its manifestation; but now that it has entered the<br \/>\nearth-atmosphere, I don\u2019t see why a single, precise procedure should be<br \/>\ninflicted upon it in its manifestation. If it chooses to directly illuminate an<br \/>\ninstrument which it finds suitable or ready or adaptable, I don\u2019t see why it<br \/>\nshould not do so. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;And I repeat this: who<br \/>\nhas said that it cannot be otherwise? Nobody. What Sri Aurobindo has described<br \/>\nhere is quite another thing and, indeed, this is what did happen. It was the<br \/>\npreparation necessary for the manifestation to take place. But now I don\u2019t see<br \/>\nwhy or on what basis a particular process should be imposed upon the<br \/>\nsupramental action and why it should not have the freedom to choose its own<br \/>\nmeans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I think that all possibilities<br \/>\nare predictable and that all sincere aspiration and complete consecration will<br \/>\nhave a response, and that the processes, means, transitions, transformations<br \/>\nwill be innumerable in nature not at all that things will happen only in a<br \/>\nparticular way and not otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;In fact, anything,<br \/>\neverything that is ready to receive even a particle or a particular aspect of<br \/>\nthe supramental consciousness and light must automatically receive it. And the<br \/>\neffects of this consciousness and light will be innumerable, for they will<br \/>\ncertainly be adapted to the possibilities, the capacity of each one according<br \/>\nto the sincerity of his aspiration. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;The more total the<br \/>\nconsecration and the intenser the aspiration, the more integral and intense can<br \/>\nbe the result. But the effect of the supramental action will be countless in<br \/>\nits manifestations<\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>multiple, innumerable, infinitely varied, not necessarily<br \/>\nfollowing a precise line which is the same for all. That is impossible. For it<br \/>\nis contrary to the very nature of the supramental consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;The very quality of the<br \/>\natmosphere has changed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;The consequences are<br \/>\nbound to be infinitely varied, but per-&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 178<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>ceptible. That is to say, it will be possible to distinguish the<br \/>\nconsequences of ordinary movements from the consequences of the supramental<br \/>\naction, for these will have a particular nature, a special character. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;But that does not mean<br \/>\nthat anybody at all, at any moment and in any way, is suddenly going to become<br \/>\na supramental genius. That is not to be expected. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;I was going to say, if one<br \/>\nonly noticed that one was a little less stupid than before, that would already<br \/>\nbe something! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Will this influence manifest in<br \/>\nthe field of education also? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Why do you want to deny it one field or another? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Because the system of education<br \/>\nwe follow still remains, as Sri Aurobindo says, \u201ca brilliant poverty of the<br \/>\nhuman intellect\u201d. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You are speaking of the education which you give to your<br \/>\nstudents, is that it? But it is high time it changed! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;People have a lamentable<br \/>\nhabit of copying what has been done before and what is done by others. Long ago<br \/>\nI told you this. That argument: \u201cThis must be done, because this is what is<br \/>\ndone everywhere!\u201d I reply, \u201cThat is why perhaps it should not be done! For if<br \/>\nall others do it, what is the use of doing it here also?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<span><i>But without your intervention,<br \/>\nhow can we do anything<\/i><\/span>?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But why do you ask me that? You should first change your system<br \/>\nof education in accordance with the principles of the Supermind. At least you<br \/>\nshould try. You must not ask, you must do it. If you always move in the same<br \/>\nrut, you can continue indefi-&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 179<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>nitely in that rut. You must try to get out of it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Indeed, I am constantly<br \/>\ndiscussing this subject. I think it was just today or perhaps yesterday, I was<br \/>\npleading for the right of everyone to remain in ignorance if it pleases him <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I am not speaking of ignorance<br \/>\nfrom the spiritual point of view, the world of Ignorance in which we live, I am<br \/>\nnot speaking of that. I am speaking of ignorance according to the classical<br \/>\nideas of education. Well, I say that if there are people who don\u2019t want to<br \/>\nlearn and don\u2019t like to learn, they have the right not to learn. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;The only thing it is our<br \/>\nduty to tell them is this, \u201cNow, you are of an age when your brain is in course<br \/>\nof preparation. It is being formed. Each new thing you study makes one more<br \/>\nlittle convolution in your brain. The more you study, the more you think, the<br \/>\nmore you reflect, the more you work, the more complex and complete does your<br \/>\nbrain become in its tiny convolutions. And as you are young, it is best done at<br \/>\nthis time. That is why it is common human practice to choose youth as the<br \/>\nperiod of learning, for it is infinitely easier.\u201d And it is obvious that until<br \/>\nthe child becomes at least a little conscious of itself, it must be subjected<br \/>\nto a certain rule, for it has not yet the capacity of choosing for itself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;That age is very<br \/>\nvariable; it depends on people, depends on each individual. But still, it is<br \/>\nunderstood that in the seven-year period between the age of seven and fourteen,<br \/>\none begins to reach the age of reason. If one is helped, one can become a<br \/>\nreasoning being between seven and fourteen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Before seven there are<br \/>\ngeniuses <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> there are always geniuses, everywhere <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> but as a general rule the<br \/>\nchild is not conscious of itself and doesn\u2019t know why or how to do things. That<br \/>\nis the time to cultivate its attention, teach it to concentrate on what it<br \/>\ndoes, give it a small basis sufficient for it not to be entirely like a little<br \/>\nanimal, but to belong to the human race through an elementary intellectual<br \/>\ndevelopment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;After that, there is a<br \/>\nperiod of seven years during which it must be taught to choose <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> to choose what it wants to be.<br \/>\nIf&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 180<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>it chooses to have a rich, complex,<br \/>\nwell-developed brain, powerful in its functioning, well, it must be taught to<br \/>\nwork; for it is by work, by reflection, study, analysis and so on that the<br \/>\nbrain is formed. At fourteen you are ready <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> or ought to be ready <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> to know what you want to be. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;And so I say: if at about<br \/>\nthat age some children declare categorically, \u201cIntellectual growth does not<br \/>\ninterest me at all, I don\u2019t want to learn, I want to remain ignorant in the<br \/>\nordinary way of ignorance\u201d, I don\u2019t see by what right one could impose studies<br \/>\non them nor why it should be necessary to standardise them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;There are those who are<br \/>\nat the bottom and others who are at another level. There are people who may<br \/>\nhave very remarkable capacities and yet have no taste for intellectual growth.<br \/>\nOne may warn them that if they don\u2019t work, don\u2019t study, when they are grown up,<br \/>\nthey will perhaps feel embarrassed in front of others. But if that does not<br \/>\nmatter to them and they want to live a non-intellectual life, I believe one has<br \/>\nno right to compel them. That is my constant quarrel with the teachers of the<br \/>\nschool! They come and tell me: \u201cIf they don\u2019t work, when they are grown up they<br \/>\nwill be stupid and ignorant.\u201d I say: \u201cBut if it pleases them to be stupid and<br \/>\nignorant, what right have you to interfere?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;One can\u2019t make knowledge<br \/>\nand intelligence compulsory. That\u2019s all. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Now, if you believe that<br \/>\nby abstaining from all effort and all study, you will become geniuses, and<br \/>\nsupramental geniuses at that, don\u2019t have any illusions, it won\u2019t happen to you.<br \/>\nFor even if you touch a higher light, through an inner aspiration or by a<br \/>\ndivine grace, you will have nothing in there, in your brain, to be able to<br \/>\nexpress it. So it will remain quite nebulous and won\u2019t in any way change your<br \/>\nouter life. But if it pleases you to be like this, nobody has the right to<br \/>\ncompel you to be otherwise. You must wait till you are sufficiently conscious<br \/>\nto be able to choose.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 181<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Of course, there are people who at fourteen are yet like<br \/>\nchildren of five. But these <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>there\u2019s little hope for them. Especially those who have lived<br \/>\nhere. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Here\u2019s something then<br \/>\nwhich already changes your outlook on education completely. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Essentially, the <i>only<br \/>\nthing<\/i><\/b> you should do assiduously is to teach them to know themselves and<br \/>\nchoose their own destiny, the path they will follow; to teach them to look at<br \/>\nthemselves, understand themselves and to will what they want to be. That is<br \/>\ninfinitely more important than teaching them what happened on earth in former<br \/>\ntimes, or even how the earth is built, or even indeed, all sorts of things<br \/>\nwhich are quite a necessary grounding if you want to live the ordinary life in<br \/>\nthe world, for if you don\u2019t know them, anyone will immediately put you down<br \/>\nintellectually: \u201cOh, he is an idiot, he knows nothing.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;But still, at any age, if<br \/>\nyou are studious and have the will to do it, you can also take up books and<br \/>\nwork; you don\u2019t need to go to school for that. There are enough books in the<br \/>\nworld to teach you things. There are even many more books than necessary. You<br \/>\ncan exhaust all subjects simply by going there to Medhananda\u2019s, to the Library.<br \/>\nYou will have enough to fill you up to here!<br \/>\n<span><i>(Gesture)<\/i><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;But what is very<br \/>\nimportant is to know what you want. And for this a minimum of freedom is<br \/>\nnecessary. You must not be under a compulsion or an obligation. You must be<br \/>\nable to do things whole-heartedly. If you are lazy, well, you will know what it<br \/>\nmeans to be lazy\u2026 You know, in life idlers are obliged to work ten times more<br \/>\nthan others, for what they do they do badly, so they are obliged to do it<br \/>\nagain. But these are things one must learn by experience. They can\u2019t be<br \/>\ninstilled into you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;The mind, if not<br \/>\ncontrolled, is something wavering and imprecise. If one doesn\u2019t have the habit<br \/>\nof concentrating it upon something, it goes on wandering all the time. It goes<br \/>\non without a stop anywhere and wanders into a world of vagueness. And then,<br \/>\nwhen one wants to fix one\u2019s attention, it hurts! There is&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 182<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>a little effort there, like this: \u201cOh! how<br \/>\ntiring it is, it hurts!\u201d So one does not do it. And one lives in a kind of<br \/>\ncloud. And your head is like a cloud; it\u2019s like that, most brains are like<br \/>\nclouds: there is no precision, no exactitude, no clarity, it is hazy <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> vague and hazy. You have<br \/>\nimpressions rather than a knowledge of things. You live in an approximation,<br \/>\nand you can keep within you all sorts of contradictory ideas made up mostly of<br \/>\nimpressions, sensations, feelings, emotions <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> all sorts of things like that<br \/>\nwhich have very little to do with thought and\u2026 which are just vague ramblings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;But if you want to<br \/>\nsucceed in having a precise, concrete, clear, definite thought on a certain<br \/>\nsubject, you must make an effort, gather yourself together, hold yourself firm,<br \/>\nconcentrate. And the first time you do it, it literally hurts, it is tiring!<br \/>\nBut if you don\u2019t make a habit of it, all your life you will be living in a<br \/>\nstate of irresolution. And when it comes to practical things, when you are<br \/>\nfaced with <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>for, in spite of<br \/>\neverything, one is always faced with <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> a number of problems to solve,<br \/>\nof a very practical kind, well, instead of being able to take up the elements<br \/>\nof the problem, to put them all face to face, look at the question from every<br \/>\nside, and rising above and seeing the solution, instead of that you will be<br \/>\ntossed about in the swirls of something grey and uncertain, and it will be like<br \/>\nso many spiders running around in your head <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> but you won\u2019t succeed in<br \/>\ncatching the thing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;I am speaking of the<br \/>\nsimplest of problems, you know; I am not speaking of deciding the fate of the world<br \/>\nor humanity, or even of a country <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> nothing of the kind. I am speaking of the problems of your<br \/>\ndaily life, of every day. They become something quite woolly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Well, it is to avoid this<br \/>\nthat you are told, when your brain is in course of being formed, \u201cInstead of<br \/>\nletting it be shaped by such habits and qualities, try to give it a little<br \/>\nexactitude, precision, capacity of concentration, of choosing, deciding,<br \/>\nputting things in order, try to use your reason.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 183<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Of course, it is well understood<br \/>\nthat reason is not the supreme capacity of man and must be surpassed, but it is<br \/>\nquite obvious that if you don\u2019t have it, you will live an altogether incoherent<br \/>\nlife, you won\u2019t even know how to behave rationally. The least thing will upset<br \/>\nyou completely and you won\u2019t even know why, and still less how to remedy it.<br \/>\nWhile someone who has established within himself a state of active, clear<br \/>\nreasoning, can face attacks of all kinds, emotional attacks or any trials<br \/>\nwhatever; for life is entirely made up of these things <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> unpleasantness, vexations <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>which are small but<br \/>\nproportionate to the one who feels them, and so naturally felt by him as very<br \/>\nbig because they are proportionate to him. Well, reason can stand back a<br \/>\nlittle, look at all that, smile and say, \u201cOh! no, one must not make a fuss over<br \/>\nsuch a small thing.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;If you do not have<br \/>\nreason, you will be like a cork on a stormy sea. I don\u2019t know if the cork<br \/>\nsuffers from its condition, but it does not seem to me a very happy one. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;There, then. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Now, after having said<br \/>\nall this <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> and it\u2019s not just once I have told you this but several times I<br \/>\nthink, and I am ready to tell it to you again as many times as you like <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> after having said this, I<br \/>\nbelieve in leaving you entirely free to choose whether you want to be the cork<br \/>\non the stormy sea or whether you want to have a clear, precise perception and a<br \/>\nsufficient knowledge of things to be able to walk to <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> well, simply to where you want<br \/>\nto go. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;For there is a clarity<br \/>\nthat\u2019s indispensable in order to be able even to follow the path one has<br \/>\nchosen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;I am not at all keen on<br \/>\nyour being scholars, far from it! For then one falls into the other extreme:<br \/>\none fills one\u2019s head with so many things that there is no longer any room for<br \/>\nthe higher light; but there is a minimum that is indispensable for not\u2026 well,<br \/>\nfor not being the cork. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Mother, some say that our<br \/>\ngeneral inadequacy in studies <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 184<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>comes from the fact that too<br \/>\nmuch stress is laid on games, physical education. Is this true?<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Who said that? People who don\u2019t like physical education? Stiff<br \/>\nold teachers who can\u2019t do exercises any longer? These? <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> I am not asking for names! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Well, I don\u2019t think so. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;You remember the first<br \/>\narticle Sri Aurobindo wrote in the <span><i>Bulletin?<\/i><\/span> He answers these people<br \/>\nquite categorically. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;I don\u2019t think it is that.<br \/>\nI am quite sure it is not that, I believe, rather <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>and I put all the blame on<br \/>\nmyself <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> that you have been given a fantastic freedom, my children; oh!<br \/>\nI don\u2019t think there is any other place in the world where children are so free.<br \/>\nAnd, indeed, it is very difficult to know how to make use of a freedom like<br \/>\nthat. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;However, it was<br \/>\nworthwhile trying the experiment. You don\u2019t appreciate it because you don\u2019t know<br \/>\nhow it is when it is not like that; it seems quite natural to you. But it is<br \/>\nvery difficult to know how to organise one\u2019s own freedom oneself. Still, if you<br \/>\nwere to succeed in doing that, in giving yourself your own discipline <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>and for higher reasons, not in<br \/>\norder to pass exams, to make a career, please your teachers, win many prizes,<br \/>\nor all the ordinary reasons children have: in order not to be scolded, not to<br \/>\nbe punished, for all that; we leave out all those reasons <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> if you manage to impose a<br \/>\ndiscipline upon yourself <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213; <\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>each one his own, there is no need to follow someone else\u2019s <\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> a discipline simply because<br \/>\nyou want to progress and draw the best out of yourself, then\u2026 Oh! you will be<br \/>\nfar superior to those who follow the ordinary school disciplines. That is what<br \/>\nI wanted to try. Mind you, I don\u2019t say I have failed; I still have great hope<br \/>\nthat you will know how to profit by this unique opportunity. But all the same,<br \/>\nthere is something you must find out; it is the necessity of an inner<br \/>\ndiscipline. Without discipline you won\u2019t be able to get anywhere, without<br \/>\ndiscipline you can\u2019t even live the normal life of a normal man. But instead of<br \/>\nhaving<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 185<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>the conventional discipline of ordinary societies or ordinary<br \/>\ninstitutions, I would have liked and I still want you to have the discipline<br \/>\nyou set yourselves, for the love of perfection, your own perfection, the<br \/>\nperfection of your being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;But without that\u2026 Note<br \/>\nthat if one didn\u2019t discipline the body, one would not even be able to stand on<br \/>\ntwo legs, one would continue like a child on all fours. You could do nothing.<br \/>\nYou are obliged to discipline yourself; you could not live in society, you<br \/>\ncould not live at all, except all alone in the forest; and even then, I don\u2019t<br \/>\nquite know. It is absolutely indispensable, I have told you this I don\u2019t know<br \/>\nhow often. And because I have a very marked aversion for conventional<br \/>\ndisciplines, social and others, it does not mean that you must abstain from all<br \/>\ndiscipline. I would like everyone to find his own, in the sincerity of his<br \/>\ninner aspiration and the will to realise himself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;And so, the aim of all<br \/>\nthose who know, whether they are teachers, instructors or any others, the very<br \/>\npurpose of those who know, is to inform you, to help you. When you are in a<br \/>\nsituation which seems difficult to you, you put your problem and, from their<br \/>\npersonal experience, they can tell you, \u201cNo, it is like this or it is like<br \/>\nthat, and you must do this, you must try that.\u201d So, instead of forcing you to<br \/>\nabsorb theories, principles and so-called laws, and a more or less abstract<br \/>\nknowledge, they would be there to give you information about things, from the<br \/>\nmost material to the most spiritual, each one within his own province and<br \/>\naccording to his capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;It is quite obvious that<br \/>\nif you are thrown into the world without the least technical knowledge, you may<br \/>\ndo the most dangerous things. Take a child who knows nothing, the first thing<br \/>\nhe will do if he has any matches, for instance, is to burn himself. So, in that<br \/>\nfield, from the purely material point of view, it is good that there are people<br \/>\nwho know and who can inform you; for otherwise, if each one had to learn from<br \/>\nhis own experience, he would spend several lives learning the most<br \/>\nindispensable things. That is the usefulness, the true usefulness of teachers&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 186<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>and instructors. They have learnt more or less by practice or<br \/>\nthrough a special study, and they can teach you those things it is<br \/>\nindispensable to know. That makes you save time, a lot of time. But that is<br \/>\ntheir only usefulness: to be able to answer questions. And, in fact, you should<br \/>\nhave a brain which is lively enough to ask questions. I don\u2019t know, but you<br \/>\nnever have anything to ask me or it is so seldom. But that shows a terrible<br \/>\nmental laziness!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;At times I tell you,<br \/>\n\u201cDon\u2019t question, try to find out by yourselves certain inner things\u201d, that is<br \/>\nunderstood; but when I am here and tell you, \u201cHaven\u2019t you any questions to<br \/>\nask?\u201d<\/span><span lang=\"EL\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&#8213;<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> Silence\u2026. So, that proves that you have no mental curiosity.<br \/>\nAnd I don\u2019t ask you necessarily to put questions on what I have just read; I am<br \/>\nalways ready to answer any question whatsoever, asked by anyone. Well, I must<br \/>\nsay we are not very rich in questions! It is not often that I have an<br \/>\nopportunity of telling you something. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;I hasten to tell you that<br \/>\nif you ask me technical questions on the sciences, physics or whatever, I could<br \/>\nvery well answer, \u201cI know nothing about it, study your books or ask your<br \/>\nteacher\u201d; but if you ask me questions in my field, I shall always answer you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;So, one last attempt: Has<br \/>\nanyone here a question to ask me? &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>(Silence)<\/span><\/i><\/b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Wonderful! (<i>Mother<br \/>\nlaughs)<\/i><\/b> Well, that\u2019s all then. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211;<br \/>\n187<\/font><\/span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent: .25in;border: medium none;padding: 0in;line-height:150%\">\n  <b><font size=\"2\"><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>13 June 1956 &nbsp; &nbsp; \u00a0\u201cAlready in the process of spiritualisation it [the spiritualised mind] will have begun to pass out of the brilliant poverty&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","wpcat-127-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}