January 18, 1964
… I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, “to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way,” beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off….[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. ]]
But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. [[Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later, on October 15. ]] It seems (I don’t know if it’s quite true, because it’s Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) … but Z sent him my article “A Dream,”[[See Addendum. ]] on the possibility of creating a small “international center” (I don’t like the word “international,” but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, “This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality.” Well, I don’t know whether it’s correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi…. In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal – the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for
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a conference. [[Nehru will die four months later, on May 27. ]] At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving…. Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won’t upset the apple cart…. We’ll see.
If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence.
***
A little later, regarding a new American disciple
… Oh, are they conceited! … And puffed up with their superior realization – they were born to HELP the earth. They have such goodwill! They want to help the whole earth, (in an ironic tone) help the earth. They come here, but instead of asking themselves what they can learn, they come TO HELP; they come to bring some order (there’s “no order”!), to set right the things that are wrong, to bring some practical sense into these nebulous minds!
The other conceit seems to me more serious than the American one – the European conceit. Because they really think they are very intelligent. The Americans want “to help” – they’re children. But the Westerners are “sages” of the intellect; so it takes some doing to penetrate their minds!… There’s nothing they need to learn.
I have very little contact with those people.
Well, exactly! They are the ones: a fortress. It’s the entire European “elite.”
Especially the French, no?
The French very much so, but almost everywhere in Europe: the Germans, the…
The Italians don’t think they have a superior intelligence.
But the Germans, the British …
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Oh, the British, that’s a different phenomenon, mon petit! Anything that isn’t British is worthless! (Mother laughs) The British alone are practical, the British alone are intelligent, the British alone know how to live, the British alone are powerful, the British alone … In short, there are only the British, the entire earth ought to be British – but the British, I took a thorough dislike to them when I was five years old! [[It may be recalled that Mother had an English governess. ]] (Mother laughs) I remember, I always used to say, “But our real enemies” (as a child, just like that, between us), “our real enemies aren’t the Germans: it’s always been the British.” And then I had, like Sri Aurobindo, a great admiration for Napoleon, so I had quite a grudge against them for the way they treated him.
Oh, no! The British … (laughing) the only thing that rehabilitated them in the world’s history is that Sri Aurobindo went to study in their country! But he clearly said that during his studies there, his whole feeling of intimacy was with France, not England.
Oh, the British … No, the British haughtiness certainly isn’t just a legend. What gave them that? Where does it come from? Because, basically, they are Normans, aren’t they.
But they became islanders, it’s an island.
Yes, that’s the main reason.
***
ADDENDUM
A Dream
There should be somewhere upon earth a place that no nation could claim as its own, a place where every human being of goodwill, sincere in his aspiration, could live freely as a citizen of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the search
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for pleasures and material enjoyment. In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not with a view to passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts, but to enrich one’s existing faculties and bring forth new ones. In this place, titles and positions would be replaced by opportunities to serve and organize; everyone’s bodily needs would be provided for equally, and in the general organization, intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed not by increased pleasures and powers in life, but by greater duties and responsibilities. Beauty in all its art forms – painting, sculpture, music, literature – would be accessible to all equally, the ability to share in the joys it brings being limited solely by one’s capacities and not by social or financial position. For in this ideal place, money would no longer be the sovereign lord; individual worth would have a far greater importance than that of material wealth and social position. There, work would not be for earning one’s living, but the means to express oneself and develop one’s capacities and possibilities, while at the same time being of service to the group as a whole, which would in turn provide for everyone’s subsistence and field of action. In short, it would be a place where human relationships, ordinarily based almost exclusively on competition and strife, would be replaced by relationships of emulation in trying to do one’s best, of collaboration and real brotherhood.
The earth is not ready to realize such an ideal, for humanity does not yet possess either the knowledge necessary to understand and adopt it or the conscious force indispensable for its execution. This is why I call it a dream.
Yet this dream is on the way to becoming a reality, and it is what we are endeavoring to do at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, on a very small scale and in proportion to our limited means. The achievement is indeed far from being perfect but it is progressive; little by little we are moving towards our goal, which, we hope, we shall one day be able to show to the world as a practical and effective means of emerging from the present chaos to be born to a new life, more harmonious and truer.
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