On Education

Note on the Text

The texts in this volume were first published together in 1978 under the title On Education, Volume 12 of the Collected Works of the Mother (first edition). The texts in this second edition (2003) are the same as those in the first.

Part One. Articles

These fifteen articles were first published in the Ashram quarterly, Bulletin of Physical Education (later renamed Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) between 1950 and 1955. The Mother wrote them in French and translated a few, entirely or in part, into English; these translations have been retained here. Early translations made by others have been revised, or new translations made for publication here.

Part Two. Messages, Letters and Conversations

I. Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. The material in this section was compiled from correspondences, private papers, public messages and tape-recorded conversations of the Mother. Some entries were first published in various Ashram books and journals; others first came out in this volume. Most of the entries were written or spoken in French and appear here in an English translation. Some of the early translations have been revised.

II. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Department of Physical Education. The nine short pieces introducing this section first appeared in the Bulletin between 1949 and 1950. The middle two subsections comprise written and tape-recorded messages to the participants in the competitions and the annual demonstrations of physical culture organised by the Department of Physical Education. The next subsection contains general

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messages, and letters to individuals. The final subsection, "To Women about Their Body", was first published as a pamphlet in September 1960. Most of the material was written or spoken in French and appears here in an English translation. Some of the early translations have been revised.

III. The New Age Association. This collection of messages and comments is taken from The New Age: Speeches at the Seminars and the Conferences of the New Age Association, published in 1977. All of the texts were written in English.

IV. Glimpses of the Mother’s Work in the School. These letters and notations of the Mother’s spoken comments were given to a teacher of the Centre of Education between 1960 and 1972. The complete collection was first published in the original French, with an English translation, in the Bulletin issues of April and August 1978. The same translation appears here, with a few minor revisions.

V. Answers to a Monitress. Written to a young captain of the Department of Physical Education, the seven "Sutras" introducing this section first came out in the French original, with an English translation, in the Bulletin of November 1959; the correspondence following them was first published in its entirety in 1975 in Réponses de la Mère à une monitrice. Parts of the correspondence appeared earlier in Ashram journals, including a series in the Bulletin of February 1970. The early English translations have been revised for publication here.

VI. Answers to a Monitor. This section contains letters specifically about education from the Mother’s correspondence with a young captain of physical education. The complete correspondence was brought out in the French original, with an English translation, in the Bulletin between April 1973 and November 1975. The same translation is published here, with minor revisions.

VII. Conversations. This section includes two conversations of 1967

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and six of February – March 1973. All were spoken in French and appear here in an English translation. The conversation of 11 November 1967 first came out in the French original, with an English translation, in the Bulletin of April 1978. Some of the 1973 conversations were first published in various Ashram publications; this more comprehensive collection first appeared in the French original, with a new English translation, in the Bulletin of August 1978. For all these conversations the Bulletin translations have been used here, with a few minor revisions.

Part Three. Dramas

The Mother wrote three plays in French for performance on December 1 at the annual cultural programme of the Centre of Education. Towards the Future was produced in 1949, The Great Secret in 1954 and The Ascent to Truth in 1957. Each play was issued as a booklet immediately after its performance, with the text in both the French original and an English translation. (In The Great Secret, however, the parts of the Writer and the Athlete were written in English by the actors who played these roles.) In this volume, the original English translations of the French texts have been revised.

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