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There is one thing that I must emphasise. Don’t try to follow what is done in the universities outside. Don’t try to pump into the students mere data and information. Don’t give them so much work that they may not get time for anything else. You are not in a great hurry to ca h a train. Let the students understand what they learn. Let them assimilate it. Finishing the course should not be your goal. You should make the programme in such a way that the students may get time to attend the subjects they want to learn. They should have sufficient time for their physical exercises. I don’t want them to be very good students, yet pale, thin, anaemic. Perhaps you will say that in this way they will not have sufficient time for their studies, but that can be made up by expanding the course over a longer period. Instead of finishing a course in four years, you can take six years. Rather it would be better for them; they will be able to assimilate more of the atmosphere here and their progress will not be just in one direction at the cost of everything else. It will be an all-round progress in all directions. 10 September 1953
To avoid giving too much work to the students of the Higher Course, but without lowering the general standard, the ones who feel that they have too much to do could be invited to give up a few courses. They would then be able to concentrate their time and energy on those they wish to keep. This would be better than lightening the courses, which would as a result lose their value for the other students. It is only natural that besides gifted students who have no difficulty in following, we should have less gifted students who cannot follow at the same pace. The latter could set aside certain subjects and take them up later by doing an extra year. Is this a good solution? Page – 170 That depends. It cannot be made the general rule; for many of them it would not be much use. They have not reached a stage where they would be able to concentrate more on certain subjects if they had fewer subjects to study. The only result would be to encourage them to slacken – the very opposite of concentration! – and it would lead to a waste of time. The solution does not lie there. What you should do is to teach the children to take interest in what they are doing – that is not the same thing as interesting the students! You must arouse in them the desire for knowledge, for progress. One can take an interest in anything – In sweeping a room, for example – If one does it with concentration, in order to gain an experience, to make a progress, to become more conscious. I often say this to the students who complain of having a bad teacher. Even if they don’t like the teacher, even if he tells them useless things or if he is not up to the mark, they can always derive some benefit from their period of class, learn something of great interest and progress in consciousness. Most teachers want to have good students: students who are studious and attentive, who understand and know many things, who can answer – well good students. This spoils everything. The students begin to consult books, to study, to learn. Then they rely only on books, on what others say or write, and they lose contact with the superconscient part which receives knowledge by intuition. This contact often exists in a small child but it is lost in the course of his education. For the students to be able to progress in the right direction, it is obvious that the teachers should have understood this and changed their old way of seeing and teaching. Without that, my work is at a standstill. 16 December 1959
(There was disagreement among the teachers about whether the study of English literature should be made Page – 171 compulsory or optional for literature students of the Higher Course. When the matter was referred to the Mother for decision, she replied:)
To the teachers: It is not so much the details of organisation as the attitude that must change. It seems that unless the teachers themselves get above the usual intellectual level, it will be difficult for them to fulfil their duty and accomplish their task.
10 August 1960 It is not through uniformity that you obtain unity. It is not through uniformity of programmes and methods that you will obtain the unity of education. Unity is obtained through a constant reference, silent or expressed, as the case demands, to the central ideal, the central force or light, the purpose and the goal of our education. The true, the supreme Unity expresses itself in diversity. It is mental logic that demands sameness. In practice, each one must find and apply his own method, that which he understands and feels. It is only in this way that education can be effective. 13 October 1960 Mother, would you please define in a few words what you mean essentially by “free progress”?
A progress guided by the soul and not subjected to habits, conventions or preconceived ideas. Page – 172 (Several teachers submitted a report which expressed concern about the irregular study and class attendance of the students. In the opinion of the teachers, only a few students were doing satisfactory work. As a solution, they suggested a more strict organisation of classes. The Mother commented:)
First for the teachers: I am satisfied with the figures indicated in the report. In spite of what one might think, the proportion of very good students is satisfactory. If out of 150 students, there are 7 individuals of genuine value, it is very good.
Now for the organisation: The classes as a whole may be reorganised so as to fulfil the needs of the majority, that is to say, of those who, in the absence of any outside pressure or imposed discipline, work badly and make no progress. But it is essential that the present system of education in the new classes should be maintained, in order to allow outstanding individuals to show themselves and develop freely. That is our true aim. It should be known – we should not hesitate to proclaim it – that the whole purpose of our school is to discover and encourage those in whom the need for progress has become conscious enough to direct their lives. It ought to be a privilege to be admitted to these Free Progress classes. At regular intervals (every month, for example) a selection should be made and those who cannot take advantage of this special education should be sent back into the normal stream. The criticisms made in the report apply to the teachers as much as to the students. For students of high capacity, one teacher well versed in his subject is enough even a good text- book, together with encyclopedias and dictionaries would be enough. But as one goes down the scale and the capacity of the student becomes lower, the teacher must have higher and higher Page – 173 capacities: discipline, self-control, consecration, psychological understanding, infectious enthusiasm, to awaken in the student the part which is asleep the will to know, the need for progress, self-control. Just as we organise the school in such a way as to be able to discover and help outstanding students, in the same way, the responsibility for classes should be given to outstanding teachers. So I ask each teacher to consider his work in the school as the best and quickest way of doing his Yoga. Moreover, every difficulty and every difficult student should be an opportunity for him to find a divine solution to the problem. 5 August 1963
Mother, my students tell me that Z has told them that latent faculties could be developed by methodical exercises and that You had indicated these exercises to him. He added that we should experiment with this here in our Centre of Education.
On Z’s insistence, I had indicated a first exercise – but the results were rather unfortunate, and I had to stop. When the time has come, these things come naturally, spontaneously, so to say, and it is better not to make any arbitrary resolutions.
The education we are given here at present differs little from the education that is given elsewhere. This is precisely why we should try here to educate the latent and spiritual faculties of the student. But how can we do this in school?
This cannot be done by any external method. It depends almost entirely on the teacher’s attitude and consciousness. If he does not have the vision and the inner knowledge himself, how can he transmit them to his students? Page – 174 To tell the truth, we rely mainly on the all-surrounding atmosphere charged with spiritual force, which has an effect even if it is not perceived or felt.
20 April 1966 To the teachers and students: The “Vers la Perfection” classes1 are in accord with the teaching of Sri Aurobindo. They lead towards the realisation of the Truth. Those who do not understand that are turning their backs on the future. September 1966
(A teacher complained that trivial and useless things were being taught that, for example, in the language classes students were asked to read foolish stories and given insignificant details about the life and customs of the people.)
Your difficulty comes from the fact that you have still the old belief that in life some things are high and others low. It is not exact. It is not the things or the activities that are high or low, it is the consciousness of the doer which is true or false. If you unite your consciousness with the Supreme Consciousness and manifest it, all you think, feel or do becomes luminous and true. It is not the subject of the teaching which is to be changed, it is the consciousness with which you teach that must be enlightened. 31 July 1967 1The name given by the Mother to a group of classes based on the Free Progress System. Page – 175 I don’t even know whether I have a soul, but as a teacher I am expected to help the students and “insist on the growth of the soul” some light please.
The contradiction comes from the fact that you want to it “mentalise” and this is impossible. It is an attitude, an inside attitude mostly but which governs the outside action as much as it possible. It is something to be lived much more than to be taught.
If we are to have a new system, what exactly will this system be?
It will be put into practice in the best way possible, according to the capacity of each teacher. 25 July 1967
(A teacher suggested reorganising the curriculum of the students of a certain age-group. He advised reducing the number of scheduled classes; teachers would give individual assistance to their students in the mornings and meet them as a class only in the afternoons. His letter ended:) Many teachers feel that the division between X’s classes and what is called the “Old System” is not desirable. With the reorganisation we suggest, the differences between the two will be greatly diminished. Do you think that this division should continue? Must we go on waiting for it to disappear?
It would be infinitely preferable that the division should disappear immediately. The effectiveness of what you suggest will become apparent only in practice. Therefore it seems to me that Page – 176 the best thing is to try, either for a full year if the results are slow to show themselves, or for three months if the results are clearly apparent by then. With sincerity and flexibility you should be able to solve the problem. 6 November 1967
A meeting of the teachers of the Higher Course was held on the 9th of November 1967 in order to discuss suggestions for possible changes in the Higher Course. A proposal was made that the Higher Course may be reorganised as follows: ¹ 1. The choice of a subject for study should be freely made by each student, and it should reflect a real and serious quest of the student; 2. Each topic thus selected would constitute a short or a long project, according to the nature of the topic; 3. In exploring each project, students would take the help of the teacher or teachers that they might choose from among the teachers competent to deal with it; 4. There will be no fixed oral classes; but teachers may by agreement with their students arrange for oral classes as and when necessary, preferably in the afternoons; 5. The exact quantum of work to be covered by each student for his selected course cannot be determined, but in order to have completed his Course, he should have shown regularity of sustained effort, development of capacities, understanding of his subjects and the power of answering relevant questions orally
1Here are listed only five of the fourteen proposals upon which the Mother’s reply is based Page – 177
Page – 178 and in writing with sufficient clarity and precision. The quality of the work will be more important than the quantity of the work, although the latter too should not be meagre, but commensurate with our high standards. The above proposal was met with a general approval with some exceptions and it was decided to refer it to the Mother to seek Her guidance with regard to it.
It is all right. Now the important point is to apply it with sincerity and thoroughness. Blessings. November 1967
X said that we should ask Mother if the project method, under which each student will be asked to select one or a few topics for intensive study and exploration, should not be accompanied by a more comprehensive study intended to impart to the students a wider understanding of the important branches of knowledge.
School is just a preparation to make the students capable of thinking, studying, progressing and becoming intelligent if they can – all that must be done during the entire life and not only in school. November 1967
Up to the secondary level, it is understood that the children are too young to know about Yoga and to decide whether they want to take up Yoga or not. So Page – 179 the education to them is education and nothing else. But for the Higher Course, I think, it must be made clear that only those who are here for Yoga can be admitted as members of this Course then the education becomes Yoga. If Mother gives Her directive on this point, it will make things very clear to many of us.
It is not quite like that. In all the sections, Primary, Secondary and Higher Course, the children will follow yogic methods in their education and prepare and try to bring down new knowledge. So all the students can be said to be doing Yoga. A distinction must be made, however, between those doing Yoga and the disciples. To be a disciple one has to surrender and the decision to do so must be full and spontaneous. Such decisions have to be taken individually – when the call comes – and it cannot be imposed or even suggested. Blessings.1 16 November 1967 (Concerning a choice of textbooks for a mathematics class)
The French book is the only one that seems possible to me – the others are forbidding and make you disinclined to work. But I would not advise giving this French book to the students. They do not really need books. The teacher or teachers should use the book to prepare lessons that are adapted to the knowledge, the capacity and the needs of the students. That is to say that the teachers should learn what is in the book and transcribe it and explain it to the students, bit by bit, a little at a time, with plenty of explanations, comments and practical
¹After reading this report of her comment, the Mother wrote ”Blessings” and her signature. examples so as to make the subject accessible and attractive, that is, a living application instead of dead, dry theory. 3 December 1967 Sweet Mother, It is about a week that we started our new experiment in the Higher Course. And already a few questions have arisen with regard to which I seek Thy Light and Guidance. The organisation and the programme of the teachers and students have been so framed as to give pre-eminent importance to the free growth and progress of the individual. 1. Some teachers have said that this is all right for the elite, but not for the common or average students. But, Mother, should we not so endeavour as to gradually turn the average students into the elite? And, if so, would it not be good to so organise that the stress is laid on the training of the \’elite, and to allow now and then, for shorter or slightly longer periods, some concessions for the average students – but aiming always to eliminate ultimately such concessions?
We want here only children that can be considered as an èlite. The organisation must be made for them. Those who cannot fit in, they have only to go after a one year trial.
2. Some teachers have said that there is a conflict between the needs of the individual’s progress and those of the progress of the group of which the individual in question is a member. How to reconcile and resolve this conflict? Page – 181 It has been contended that if the individual remains more or less with his group, he gets the advantage of sharing the group’s experience, of group discussions and of a collective study.
All that is useless – if the individual can progress at his maximum the group will necessarily benefit by it. If the individual is submitted to the possibility and capacity of the group, he loses his chance of total progress. 22 December 1967
X asked me some time ago whether I would like to work in the Free Progress classes. At present I am teaching in classes where what is called the “old way” is used. Mother, tell me whether I should remain where I am now or whether I should work in the Free Progress classes?
The old method of teaching is obviously outdated and will be gradually abandoned throughout the whole world. But to tell the truth, each teacher, drawing his inspiration from modern ideas, should discover the method which he finds best and most suited to his nature. Only if he does not know what to do may he join his class to those of X.
Ordinary classes belong to the past and will gradually disappear. As for the choice between working alone or joining the “Vers la Perfection” classes, that depends on you. Because to teach and to conduct a class one must move away from theory and intellectual speculations to a very concrete application which has to be worked out in all its details. Page – 182 Learning to teach while taking a class is certainly very good for the would-be teacher, but certainly less useful for the students. To join “Vers la Perfection” is a kind of training which may be very useful for a beginner, who can easily learn the practical side of teaching there. The choice is yours.
I have observed two contradictory kinds of ideas in myself: one kind in favour of individual work, another in favour of group work.
Isn’t it possible to divide the class time into two parts (equal or unequal according to the need) and to try out both systems? This would give diversity to the teaching and provide a wider field for observation of the students and their capacities.
(Below is a summary of questions concerning two groups of classes for children of fourteen to eighteen. Though both groups were based on the Free Progress System, the programme of “En Avant” was more structured than that of “Vers la Perfection”. 1. There are some differences of opinion among the teachers about the direction that should be taken by our school. How to do away with these differences? 2. Should there be fixed classes and a fixed programme for children below fourteen or can they also be given the freedom to choose their line of work and to work at their own pace? 3. Is it or is it not our essential task to realise the conditions in which the inner soul of the child will Page – 183 find it possible to come forward and guide his development? 4. Should we envisage a fusion of the two groups “Vers la Perfection” and “En Avant”?
All of them are both right and wrong at the same time. First of all it seems that after the age of seven, those who have a living soul are so awake that they are ready to find it, if they are helped. Below seven this is exceptional. There are great differences among our children. First there are those who have a living soul. For them there is no question. We must help them to find it. But there are others, the ones who are like little animals. If they are children from the outside, whose parents expect them to be taught - for them the “En Avant” classes are suitable. It is of no importance. The problem is not whether to have classes and programmes or not. The problem is to choose the children. Up to the age of seven, children should enjoy themselves. School should all be a game, and they learn as they play. As they play they develop a taste for learning, knowing and understanding life. The system is not very important. It is the attitude of the teacher that matters. The teacher should not be something that one endures under constraint. He should always be the friend whom you love because he helps and amuses you. Above the age of seven, the new system can be applied to those who are ready, provided that there is a class where the others can work in the ordinary way. And for that class the teacher should be convinced that what he is doing is the right method. He should not feel that he is relegated to an inferior task. When people do not agree, it is their pettiness, their narrowness which prevents them from doing so. They may be right in their idea… but they may not be doing the right thing, if they don’t have the necessary opening. Page – 184 These things should be above considerations of personality. It is a weakness to mix the two. There should be no considerations of personality. There are some things that we cannot do. For example, if we wanted to bring up all the children by the new method, we would have to take them all on trial for one or two months, find out those who can follow, and send the others back to their families. It is impossible. We must therefore produce the solution within. There are children who don’t like the new method – responsibility worries them. I have received intimations of this in letters from children. We can only leave them as they are. Everyone, without exception, without exception, should know that he is not someone who knows and applies what he knows. Everyone is learning to be what he should be and to do what he should do. 16 November 1968 I have read with satisfaction what you say about your work and I approve of it for your own work. But you must understand that other teachers can conceive their own work differently and be equally right. I am surprised at your criticism of Y, for it does not correspond to what I know of him and his attitude. I take this opportunity to assure you that spiritual progress and the service of Truth are based on harmony and not on division and criticism.
25 November 1968 Progress lies in widening, not in restriction. There must be a bringing together of all points of view by putting each one in its true place, not an insistence on some to the exclusion of others. Page – 185 True progress lies in the widening of the spirit and the abolition of all limits. 22 October 1971 The teachers have to grow into the needed consciousness, emphasis should be on the actual experiences of work and there should be no difference in the child’s mind between work and play – all should be a joy of interest. It is the teacher’s job to create that interest. If the interest is there, the right work will follow. 1 November 1971 R was absent today and I found, after the class, that he has Your permission to stop coming to my class and take woodwork instead.
He told me he liked much better to do manual work instead of studies. I thought he was right in his instinct and his choice was the best for his nature. So I gave him the permission required. 26 March 1946 You must be very careful to see that there is no overlapping in the lessons that you teach. Your subjects are related to each other. If two teachers begin to speak on the same point, naturally there will be some difference in their points of view. The same thing seen from different angles looks different. This will bring confusion in the young minds of the students and they will start comparison amongst the teachers, which is not very desirable. So each one should try to take up his own subject without wandering about in other subjects. 10 September 1953 Page – 186 Regarding the questions that will be put to the students, I would ask the teachers to think with it ideas} instead of with words. And, a little later, when it becomes normal for them to think with ideas, I shall ask of them a greater progress, which will be the decisive progress, that is, instead of thinking with ideas, to think with experiences. When one can do that, one really begins to understand.
You have asked the teachers “to think with ideas instead of with words”. You have also said that later on you will ask them to think with experiences. Will you throw some light on these three ways of thinking?
Our house has a very high tower; at the very top of that tower there is a bright and bare room, the last one before we emerge into the open air, into the full light. Sometimes, when we are at leisure to do so, we climb up to this bright room, and there, if we remain very quiet, one or more visitors call on us; some are tall, others small, some single, others in groups; all are bright and graceful. Usually, in our joy at their arrival and in our haste to receive them well, we lose our tranquillity and come galloping down to rush into the large hall which forms the base of the tower and which is the store-room of words. Here, more or less excited, we select, reject, assemble, combine, disarrange, rearrange all the words within our reach in an attempt to transcribe this or that visitor who has come to us. But most often the picture we succeed in making of her is more like a caricature than a portrait. And yet if we were wiser, we would remain up there at the summit of the tower, quite still, in joyful contemplation. Then, after a certain length of time, we would see the visitors themselves descending slowly, gracefully, calmly, without losing any Page – 187 thing of their elegance or their beauty and, as they cross the store-room of words, clothing themselves effortlessly, automatically, with the words needed to make them perceptible even in the material house. This is what I call thinking with ideas. When this process is no longer mysterious to you, I shall explain what is meant by thinking with experiences. 31 May 1960
When you think with words, you can express what you think with those words only. To think with ideas is to be able to put the same idea in many kinds of words. The words can also be of different languages, if you happen to know more than one language. This is the first, the most elementary thing about thinking with ideas. When you think with experience, you go much deeper and you can express the same experience with many kinds of ideas. Then thought can take this form or that form in any language and through all of them the essential realisation will remain unchanged.
To be convincing when you speak, think not in ideas but in experiences.
Did you attend the teachers’ meeting with X? They were meeting because in addition to their studies they wanted to give everyone a special project. They wanted to help them to discover what the scientists are discovering at the moment – “What is water?”, “Why does sugar dissolve in water?” and all these things that are leading scientists to the conclusion that they know nothing. Page – 188 So I asked them the question: “What is death?” It is very important. For hundreds of years men have been asking this question. They don’t know. The students will say that they don’t know what death is, but they will find out by investigation. To understand this, you must know that (Mother makes a gesture indicating several directions), and in the end the knowledge is much wider than if one follows a straight line. In silence, one comes into contact with the Truth. Later, the idea descends, passes through the “library” of words and picks out the most suitable ones. At first it comes hazily. You must continue until it becomes precise. You can note it down, but you should remain quiet and continue. Then you get the exact word. The word that comes then is used in its essential sense, but not in its conventional sense. It is not quite the reality; they are the words which come closest to the reality. The teachers should do that. It would be very useful instead of (gesture of going round and round in the head). (Silence)
I don’t know whether you have tried to get mental silence. You can spend your whole life on that and achieve almost nothing, whereas this is extremely interesting. At first nothing happens. You must stay like that: – not actively be in an aspiration towards the Divine. There must be no movement in the mind; it is not even surrender, it is a movement of perfect… something between self-giving and self-abdication. And if the mind makes an offering of its way of being, one day the answer comes spontaneously. It falls like a light. The calmer you are, the more confidence you have, the more attentive you are, the more clearly it comes. A time comes when one has only to do that (gesture of opening)… The student asks a question. You remain same gesture)… Page – 189 And above all, do not think actively: ”I want to know… What should I say to him?” No! Then you will always get the answer for the student. Perhaps not the answer to the question he has asked, but the answer he needs. And it will always be interesting… Up there, one knows. When you come to believe that the mind is powerless, that it knows nothing, you fall silent. You are more and more convinced that up there, there is a consciousness that not only knows but has the power, perceives the smallest detail and consequently the student’s need, and replies to that. When you are convinced of that, you give up your personal intervention and say: “Take my place.” 31 July 1967
I let these three boys “drug” themselves with their games, hoping that they would grow out of it more quickly. And in fact that is what happened at the beginning of the third week: the three children are putting their names down for individual games and forgetting their noisy games. May I continue to do this: to let this “out of school” abscess form and then burst, not caring about the time that goes by and that seems to be wasted from the academic point of view?
Certainly, it is the best thing to do.
Within the framework of the school, should we allow “out of school” games of a certain type, such as hide-and-seek, ball-games (cricket), building a house… Seeing the children clamouring for them, it gave us the idea that our children may have been cut off from a certain kind of activity: being able sometimes to play Page – 190 in complete freedom in a big park! Is this a real need in the children?
Undoubtedly. 23 September 1960 It is very difficult to choose games which are useful and profitable for a child. It asks for much consideration and reflection, and all that one does unthinkingly can have unhappy consequences.
If the children, even very small, are taught to put things in order, classify objects by kind, etc. etc., they like it very much and learn very well. There is a wonderful opportunity to give them good lessons of arrangement and tidiness, practical, effective lessons, not theory. Try and I am sure the children will help you to arrange things. Love and blessings. 14 December 1963
It has been noticed that quite a good number of students do not have the correct posture while sitting and writing. When they write they do not keep the notebook in front of them. It is kept at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees.
Perhaps it would be good for the teachers themselves to learn first the proper posture while writing? With my blessings. Page – 191 Sri Aurobindo, in one of his letters, has written about the young people and their readiness for sadhana. I enclose a copy of this letter for you to see. I should like to know from you if the warning given by Sri Aurobindo in this letter against enthusiastically communicating to the young people the ideas and feelings about spiritual life should be kept in mind while speaking to our students in the class? Is there a danger of “lighting an imitative and unreal fire” in them as Sri Aurobindo says here? Sri Aurobindo’s letter: “It may be said generally that to be over-anxious to pull people, especially very young people, into the sadhana is not wise. The sadhak who comes to this yoga must have a real call, and even with the real call the way is often difficult enough. But when one pulls people in a spirit of enthusiastic propagandism, the danger is of lighting an imitative and unreal fire, not the true Agni, or else a short-lived fire which cannot last and is submerged by the uprush of the vital waves. This is especially so with young people who are plastic and easily caught hold of by ideas and communicated feelings not their own afterwards the vital rises with its unsatisfied demands and they are swung between two contrary forces or rapidly yield to the strong pull of the ordinary life and action and satisfaction of desire which is the natural bent of adolescence. Or else the unfit adhar tends to suffer under the stress of a call for which it was not ready, or at least not yet ready. When one has the real thing in oneself, one goes through and finally takes the full way of sadhana, but it is only a minority that does so. It is better to receive only people who come of themselves and of these only those in whom the call is genuinely their own and persistent.”1
1Letters on Yoga, Cent. Vol. 24, pp. 1615-16. Page – 192 This quotation is splendid and very, very useful. Certainly the warning given by Sri Aurobindo must be strictly kept in mind when speaking to the young people who are bound to change their mind easily. In class you must remain very objective. Blessings. 2 June 1967
I should like to know what exactly you mean by “objective” in the above answer. Do you mean that no personal feeling must be allowed to enter in thought and speech while explaining Sri Aurobindo’s and your views concerning sadhana to the students?
Yes, that. Do not speak of yourself or your own experience. 5 June 1967 Teachers must not be absent on the days and at the times of their classes. If a person is obliged to have external activities during school-hours, he cannot be a teacher. 11 March 1970 Discipline
Constraint is not the best or most effective principle of education. The true education should open out and reveal what is already there in these developing beings. Just as flowers open out in the sun, children open out in joy. Obviously joy does not mean weakness, disorder and confusion, – but a luminous Page – 193 |
