Sri Aurobindo's Integral Education:
Physical and Vital Education
(A Talk on All India Radio (Pondicherry) on 23.7.71)
"The truth we seek is made of four major aspects: Love, Knowledge, Power and Beauty. These four attributes of the Truth will spontaneously express themselves in our being. The psychic will be the vehicle of true and pure love, the mind that of infallible power and strength and the body will be the expression of a perfect beauty and a perfect harmony.”
Man has various parts of being and a system of education, to be truly effective, must cover all the aspects of his existence.
Thus, the four basic elements of his being: the physical, the vital, the mental and the psychic must be developed and perfected by their appropriate education so that he achieves the utmost possible perfection of himself and contributes his maximum for the total progress of humanity.
These four parts of man are interrelated, even interwoven, and it is not possible to separate them distinctly in their functioning's. Each part influences the others and the education of each has its effect on the whole. Each part, however, calls for a special approach of education.
Now, material form is intended to express the Divine Beauty. Wherever we turn we see Nature presenting a panorama of beauty. The glorious sunrise on the eastern horizon, the floating of white fleecy clouds in a clear blue sky, the rolling mass of waters in a turbulent river, the mighty mountains lifting their heads up in the sky, the lush green foliage in a thick forest are so many faces of Beauty. In the animal world, the majestic approach of a lion, the dancing peacock,
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the swift running of a cheetah or a deer, the swinging body of a king cobra with its hood upraised, are equally beautiful.
The human body too must express beauty - beauty in form and beauty in movement.
A well-developed and proportionate body, with a bright face and eyes, healthy skin, an upright carriage, a cheerful disposition, radiating health, vigour and vitality, is beauty personified. So also grace, rhythm, power and energy harmoniously expressing themselves in its movements are beauty in action.
All these may be considered as inherent qualities. But education and culture in an ideal environmental condition can do much for the maximum utilisation of the potentialities.
The body is the pedestal of our terrestrial existence. The body is the means for the expression of life, mind and soul. Its importance extends far beyond its own well-being. Apart from the expression of the truth of the body itself, its condition, good or bad, has great relevance to the expression of the truths of the other parts. The body has to be taught to live as long as possible by maintaining its health, strength and energies.
To preserve the body strong and active it is essential that apart from observing the normal rules of health a sound programme of physical education should be adopted.
"The basic programme will be to build a body beautiful in form, harmonious in posture, supple and agile in its movements, powerful in its activities and resistant in its health and organic functions.”
A systematic physical education with suitable food, adequate rest and sleep, personal and environmental hygienic conditions, appropriate activities of self-expression, and inner quietude and calm, goes to produce physical fitness
with all its components of health, strength, endurance and skill.
Physical skill means speed, agility, suppleness, a good neuromuscular co-ordination, spontaneous reflex, grace,
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harmony and those special capacities which can be acquired only by special exercising and activities. "An extended and many-sided physical education and discipline" is needed.
For discipline and morale, a sound and strong character are important and they are naturally acquired by a meaningful physical education. It helps "to form even necessitate the qualities of courage, hardihood, energetic action and initiative or call for skill, steadiness of will, rapid decision and action, the perception of what is to be done in an emergency and dexterity in doing it." Activities of such an organised system of physical education promote sportsmanship, leadership, obedience to leadership and spirit of fair play so necessary for a healthy and progressive life, individual and collective.
The vital, the life-energy part of man, is more difficult.
"The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depression, of passion and revolt. It can set in motion everything, build up and realise, it can also destroy and mar everything.”
Education of the vital proceeds in various stages. Firstly, a good amount of life energy must be generated by the vital. When the body functions in its optimum health and fitness, and there is harmony between the body, the vital and the mind, plenty of vital energy is generated in the system. This balanced state of the various parts of the being also creates a very congenial condition for contact with the universal energy from which, if one is trained sufficiently, one can draw almost inexhaustibly.
The second step is to learn how to preserve this energy within oneself and not to throw it out and waste. If the vital is left to itself it brings in strong desires, impulses and their variable reactions draining the energies. The process of coercion and suppression will not do. That can only bring violent
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disturbances in the being. Or if one sits tightly upon it in order not to give it an expression, the vital is likely to get weakened.
But this energy is not meant to be bottled up. It is to be used. And the next part of vital education is to learn how to use this energy rightly.
To be able to use it properly one must take up the education of the senses, the eyes, ears, nose, palate and touch, which gather and feed the mind with their experience. These senses must be trained to perceive and receive correctly and report exactly to the mind. The mind too must be taught to interpret them justly without bias or preconceived notions or ideas.
Sufficient use of the senses, exercise or full attention and power of observation, a strong memory, along with the discipline of the emotions with the purification of moral habits, can help in this regard. An aesthetic sense and feeling for harmony and beauty must be cultivated.
A good amount of the vital energy is needed for the normal life-process. But still a good part remains unutilised. That must be tapped for individual and collective progress, and there is so much to build and create in this beautiful world of ours. To conclude in Sri Aurobindo's own words:
"Our life, still full of obscurity and confusion and occupied with so many dull and lower aims, must feel all its urges and instincts exalted and irradiated and become a glorious counterpart of the Supramental super-life above. The physical consciousness and physical being, the body itself must reach a perfection in all that it is and does which now we can hardly conceive. It may even in the end be suffused with a light and beauty and bliss from the Beyond and the life divine assume a body divine.”
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(The following three pieces were also written originally in English)
The following qualities are essential for good performance in all the different branches of physical activities.
1. Good technique
2. Physical strength
3. Endurance
4. Improvement of those parts of the body that are lagging
behind the others in strength, shape and development
5. Physical fitness and health
6. Strong and determined will
7. Constant aspiration for endless progress
8. Balanced and systematic hard work
9. A highest possible ideal
10. Courage to face and vanquish any situation that tries to
spoil the ideal.
11. Plasticity to adapt to any circumstance when needed and must recognise and change one's mistake when- ever it comes up to the surface of one's nature.
12. Divine Grace
If any of these misses from your programme it will spoil your possibility of good performance.
Good technique is achieved by constant practice of any item along the most scientific and improved methods prescribed by the authorities in this special subject.
Physical strength is achieved by practising exercises that demand great strength.
Endurance is achieved by long distance running or skipping for a long time.
The parts that are lagging behind others in strength, shape and development may be improved by practising special exercises intended for those parts.
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Physical fitness and health may be achieved by the correct application of the health laws as regards food, sleep and rest, exercises and cleanliness (both physical and inner), keeping a cheerful and poised state with a motto of moderation in everything.
Strong and determined will and a constant aspiration for endless progress will be developed by living an inner life and applying in life the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
At the age of 17 you ought not to be satisfied with the work you were doing when you were 12 or 14, you should progressively try to do more and more hard work. That is the only way to surpass your limit and if you practise conscientiously you will see that things that were once hard and difficult are now turned easy.
20.7.53
Immortality
Release of physical energy destroys matter.
Conservation of energy consolidates matter.
For a healthy, strong and beautiful body, -for a body that is capable of executing perfect harmony and strength in all possible movements, - the physical energy must be totally preserved without the slightest wastage. But energy is produced constantly in our body much more than we need for our physical existence in a perfect state and if we do not use this surplus energy for some definite purpose it may bring perversion in the being and destroy the physical balance.
Physical energy should be used for one's integral progress and for some constructive work which is the true expression of one's true self.
"When this process will work automatically with joy and peace and without any struggle and effort, it will lead us to physical' immortality.
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Until then our sole object should be to keep this constantly front of us and to work for it incessantly.
25.8.53
Do not expect anything from anybody. If one does by himself what he ought to have done it is good. If he does not it is good also. Do not be pleased with one and displeased with the other.
5.10.53
*
Someone asked one day:
'What did you use to do, Dada, during the time you spent with the Mother in Her room?'
Dada remained silent for a while and then spoke:
'What else? I would do whatever little thing the Mother asked me to do. She wanted some water, for example. I would serve Her water. She needed a piece of paper to write on. I would hand Her that. Or She would be lying and I would raise the pillow a little bit to make Her more comfortable.'
'Is that all? Nothing else? I've been told that after Sri Aurobindo's physical departure you would constantly stay with the Mother like Her shadow. The Mother had told you not to leave Her even for a moment. Was it only for these little jobs?'
'No, that is not correct,' Dada explained. 'The Mother would write to me occasionally about the real reason why I stayed with the Mother, what I did, what its spiritual import and relevance was. But She did not want anybody else then to know about this. Everyone does not have the necessary right or capacity to know everything. They would not have understood or perhaps misunderstood. They might have felt jealous or envious. It would have been to their disadvantage. It
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would have harmed the Mother's work. That is why She did not want anybody to know about it. At least that is how it was then.
But I am sure the Mother did not want that this should never be known out of courtesy's sake. Otherwise She would not have written these things down for me. She could have just told them to me orally and not put them down in writing.
And then if nobody gets to know the real truth, that too is not good. That too can cause misunderstandings to arise. False and wrong notions keep piling up in the mind. That gives birth to negative statements and negative attitudes. That too is not good.
That is why there are many people who are close to me who have told me: "Dada, let people know the real importance of your place beside the Mother, then and now. Let people know the truth. If they still harbour wrong thoughts, or say incorrect things, then let them do that with the full knowledge of the truth. That will then no more be your responsibility.
"But those who want the truth, let them benefit from this knowledge. There would remain no cloud of uncertainty in their belief and trust. You cannot ignore your responsibility vis-à-vis the future."
I thought about it and felt that what they said was not wrong. And so I feel the need today for letting you know a part of that. The Mother has written a lot of things to me, enough to fill up a big box. I have decided to publish a few select things from that.
I have heard it from the Mother that Sri Aurobindo remarked on seeing me the first time: "Pranab has a strong vital." Then he added: "He has a grand psychic." In answer the Mother told him: "That's why he can do." But what the Mother meant when She told Sri Aurobindo "he can do" I did not understand it then.
After Sri Aurobindo left His body the Mother wrote to me on a piece of paper in French
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( I want to tell you to what point you are what Sri Aurobindo asked you to be when He left His body - the material support of my body, the energy that enables it to face all the ordeals after this sudden and irreparable collapse of that feeling of total and absolute security that gave me thirty years of unmixed happiness.)'
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In the November of 1953 the Mother wrote in a book She gave to Dada:
(To Pranab, the foundation-stone of the edifice of the Future)
Dada recounted to us in one of the conversations:
'One day, at half past five in the morning, the Mother told me:
"In your whole family, your mother, father, brothers, in all I see a special sign of Sri Aurobindo's divine stamp. That is why I have made all of you an integral part of me. If the need arises I could integrate your whole town. You have taken a new birth in me."
And saying this the Mother wrote this:
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(There is no limit to your miracles, now you have reincarnated in me the perfected spirit of your family.)'
The Mother wrote to Dada:
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(There are two complementary aspects of the liberating action of the divine Grace on earth among men; both aspects are equally indispensable but not equally appreciated:
The sovereign, immutable peace which frees from all anxiety, tension and suffering.
The dynamic and all-powerful progress which frees from all bondage, attachment and inertia.
The peace is universally appreciated and recognised as being divine; but progress is well-received only by those who have an intense and courageous aspiration.)
(The Mother wrote to Dada about how to control human beings:)
(In their ordinary consciousness human beings cannot tolerate any authority imposed upon them by any other human being who seems to be on the same level as themselves.
And on the other hand, to have the right to impose itself on others, a human authority must be enlightened, impartial and unselfish to the extent that nobody can question its value.)
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(Become master of your body - this will lead you to Freedom.)
Dada said:
The Mother used to always write to me two cards for my birthday. One generally for other people to see and another which was not to be shown to anyone. This was meant exclusively for me, the words of greeting and blessing for my birthday. I had not shown any of them so far. I have selected only a few from among these. There are many others but let those confidential words of the Mother remain confidential for the time being.'
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( On the way to Victory.)
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(To Pranab, Bonne Fête! Victory to you, the victory for which you aspire the most, with my blessings.)
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(To Pranab. Let it be the assurance of an integral Victory. With my love and blessings.)
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(To Pranab with all my love and confidence. He shall be victorious.)
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(To my beloved child and faithful companion in the building up of the New World.
With my love, my trust and my blessings for ever.)
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(To Pranab Bonne Fête! Forward, ever forward towards the Victory... of the new creation.)
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(To Pranab with perfect Love. After the manifestation of the Truth will come the supreme manifestation of the perfect essential Love.
Then, your being will be fulfilled.)
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(It is only an uncontested rule upon earth of Truth and Love that can satisfy our aspiration. That is why we shall endure and fight, up to the final victory, for the realisation of Truth and Love.)
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(In true love for ever.)
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(O thou who art the strength of my body, to thee all my love and my gratefulness.)
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(Love Divine.
With love we fight.
For love we conquer.
Through love we transform.
In love we realise.)
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(To Pranab. The divine love and affection wishes you Bonne
Fête and Bonne Année.)
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(To Pranab. Let the Divine's Love be with you at every moment and in everything.)
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(Bonne Fête! to Pranab. May Heaven and earth collaborate to make you live in Light, Force and Joy. With love.)
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(Bonne Fête! To Pranab. Love manifested in Truth, is the Supreme Victor and will conquer earth for the Divine Life. With love.)
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(My loved one. The Divine's love is with you always and for ever.)
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(Bonne Fête To Pranab with everlasting love.)
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Pranab, The Divine loves you.)
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(Bonne Fête to Pranab. With all my love I pray for your full Realisation.)
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Sri Aurobindo's book The Mother was brought out in a deluxe edition. Two thousand one hundred copies were printed, each one of which was numbered. The number 2 copy of this book was given to Dada by the Mother with the following words:
(From the Mother to her dearest son, with love and blessings.)
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The deluxe edition of Sri Aurobindo's Collected Poems and Plays brought out only one hundred copies, each one of which was numbered. The copy number 48 was given by the Mother to Dada.
Sri Aurobindo wrote on it Himself with His blessings.
(To Pranab with blessings. Sri Aurobindo)
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The book Words of the Mother was given by the Mother to Dada with the following words:
(Let this help to take one step more towards transformation.)
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Entretiens, Aphorismes et Paradoxes was given by the Mother to Dada with these words:
(To Pranab with love, my birthday present.)
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The Mother gave the French edition of Prières et Méditations to Dada:
(To Pranab so that he realises.)
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For the English edition of Prayers and Meditations the Mother wrote:
(To Pranab, in memory of the French lessons...)
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Words of the Mother (Fourth Series) was given to Dada with these words from the Mother:
(It is given with love and meant as a useful companion.)
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The Mother's book Education came to Dada with these words:
(Given with the power to realise...)
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The Mother wrote the following personal note to Dada:
(My dream may seem absurd and impossible but I must live it, because without my dream the world is meaningless
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(Today to love Mother; Tomorrow to love Mother and everyday
to love Mother who loves me always and for all eternity.)
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In a notebook given by the Mother to Dada, She wrote:
(To my beloved child for him to note his experiences and remembrances. With my love and blessings for ever.)
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(In order to teach French to Dada the Mother had Herself
written these two things on two separate slips of paper for Dada to say:)
(Mother, give me the perseverance so that I learn to speak
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Let this volume close with the following two writings of the Mother. After this words have no meaning. We can only reflect in silence, in deep meditation what Dada is and how much he means to the Mother.
The Mother made this proclamation on his birthday:
To Pranab, For his birthday
Realisation.
That is what we aspire for and for which we shall strive unceasingly however long it may take to achieve.
With love and blessings.
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Bonne Fête to Pranab.
To he who is my physical strength,
One in the aspiration, One in the endeavour,
One in the endurance, One in the Realisation.
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