Living in The Presence

In 1952, on 16^th December, the new session of the school began. Following the Mother's wishes, I joined the regular school but did not do all the subjects like the other students. My subjects of study were French, English, philosophy and a few of Sri Aurobindo's works. Nirod-da and Ravindra Khanna were my teachers for English prose. For English poetry, it was Amal Kiran. Bharati-di and Krishnakumari-di taught me French. For Indian philosophy, I was with Prapatti-da, for Western philosophy, with Kireet-bhai. Tehmi-ben took my Savitri classes, Kishore-bhai The Human Cycle, Sanat-da The Ideal of Human Unity and history was taught by Sisir-da. I started with these subjects. Apart from Kireet-bhai, all my other teachers were old sadhaks who had lived in the Ashram for a long time. My classmates were Batti, Kittu, Manoj, Mona, Lilou, Bhavatarini, Dhanavanti, Ranjan and Sunanda. All of them had come to the Ashram much before me at a very young age. I had interrupted my Intermediate schooling in order to come here. The system of education here was totally different from the system I was used to in Calcutta. I loved the teaching methods of some of my teachers. The Mother would ask me about my studies from time to time, especially about the French classes. One such occasion comes to mind. Finding the Mother alone one day, I plucked up enough courage to tell her, "Mother, you've asked me to read a few lines from Savitri before going to bed. But I just cannot understand the lines from Savitri. The English is too hard for me." I was then 19. The Mother replied, "It doesn't matter. Keep reading. If possible read them aloud. The more you will grow within, the clearer Savitri will become. For the time being just keep reading."

    After this conversation with the Mother, I began reading a few lines from Savitri every night. Tehmi-ben used to explain very beautifully the meaning of these lines after I joined her class. I started enjoying Savitri. And this is how my life at the Ashram school began.

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