Learning with the Mother

Preface

This book, Learning with The Mother should have come out before my other book, Growing up with The Mother. In the year 1971, I had made a compilation in French of most of these texts, which also included a short introduction of the Green Group classes. When I offered that French compilation for publication as a book, the Mother herself gave the title for it, as La Mere travaille avec les enfants (The Mother works with the Children). The compilation was corrected by Andre Da^{1 1}: Incidentally, Andre Da needs no introduction to Mother’s devotees—he was the Mother’s son and only child and himself, in his own right, a man of great refinement, culture & accomplishments. and given to the Ashram press for printing by the Mother Herself. Unfortunately, it was published only after the Mother had left Her body.

When I joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram—Delhi Branch, many of the young sadhaks and teachers wanted me to get both my French books translated into English so that they could follow the Mother’s method of teaching.

It was easier to put together my correspondence with the Mother which had been partly printed in French for which the Mother had given the title, Reponses de la Mere a une monitrice. For the English version, the book^1
1: Incidentally, Andre Da needs no introduction to Mother’s devotees—he was the Mother’s son and only child and himself, in his own right, a man of great refinement, culture & accomplishments. was largely expanded and I gave it the title Growing up with The Mother. This book was published in the new millennium 2000 which heralded a new light and force.

Learning with The Mother is the title which I have given to this book. This was long overdue and something on which I had started working more than 25 years ago. Taking decisions on certain issues was most difficult for me. “Should we put only Mother’s handwritten dictations or should I research from the other children’s notebooks and make a complete compilation?” was one big question. However, this is what I finally managed to do.

The same question arose with the collection of recitations that the Mother had assigned. Several years passed and I could not make a complete collection of them inspite of my best efforts and research. Although the chapter on recitations probably has all the items, I am not sure which ones the Mother used for the class and which She did not.

The next difficulty came with the compilation of stories that the Mother took up for the Friday classes. I got quite a list of the stories from Mrityunjaya Da’s notes, but his taking of notes also started almost two years after the Mother’s class. I then started hunting for the original books from which the Mother had read the stories. My brother Promesse (Kake) also helped me and we found some books but the collection was so incomplete that I could not make up my mind whether to forget about it or to continue with my efforts. Hence more delay. Finally we have the titles of most of the stories which have been preserved for archival work, but we are not placing them in the book.

Due to all these reasons, it has taken me a long time, with short and long intervals of no work on the project owing to other work pressures. I am still not very happy with the final outcome and I feel that I could have done better if I had recorded everything myself during the Mother’s classes. It could have been a wonderful compilation. She was an ideal teacher and even while teaching simple subjects, She would touch every level of the child’s inner growth.

The first part of this book contains the guidance of the Mother to a young child on leadership, character building and helping to arouse an aspiration for constant progress with simultaneous development of the inner life. The ideal and the goal She always put before us was progress, progress, progress and perfection in all that we did. Although I did not understand it then but I now realise that through her detailed day to day guidance and continuous showering of her blessings, holding my hand and guiding every step of mine, She was preparing me for my future work and the heavy responsibilities I was to shoulder later in life at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram—Delhi Branch.

Over the years at every difficult moment I have felt Her boundless love and affection carrying me in Her arms and leading me towards the eternal light, urging me to aspire towards a clear perception of my mission and protecting me from all adverse forces, difficulties and internal and external ups and downs of life so that I may move unhindered towards the goals She set before me.

I offer this incomplete and imperfect work at Her Lotus Feet, praying that She will forgive me for my lapses and shortcomings.

I would also like to thank all those who helped at every stage, patiently & enthusiastically, with the successful realisation of this project.

In gratitude,

Tara Jauhar

New Delhi, 5th July, 2016