I don't want to start a war against what you feel and do, but I should like you at least to understand why things are done here as they are, instead of letting yourselves go in a retrograde impulsiveness and copying all that is done elsewhere under the pretext that it is "like that" that things are done, under the pretext that your parents and great-grandparents, your relatives and friends, and the grandparents of your friends, all those who stay outside continue to do things in this way and consider it the normal, natural way of doing them.

I don't dispute the fact, in the sense that humanity was created by Nature for a special purpose and special ends, and in order to realise her ends she has produced beings and also given them special habits and special functions.  Therefore, if you speak of  "natural" things, I cannot tell you that this is not "natural", for that is the way of Nature.  But still, I believe I have told you - not only once but many times, and Sri Aurobindo also has written this, not once but many a time - that we are not here to recommence, perpetuate, continue at is done elsewhere.  And we have given a concrete form this fact specially in our education; for I must say, without offending anyone, that those who come here after having ready seen much of life, those who have quite a heavy past behind them, may find it difficult to change their attitude and point of view immediately, but if you take very young ,children who have not yet been too spoiled - they are always spoiled - but those who have not yet been too spoiled by, Ordinary education, the ideas of their family, the atavism of their parents, etc., you have a chance of orientating the consciousness on the right path and getting a tangible and concrete result.

To tell the truth, we have nothing to complain about, for we have had striking proofs that if one knows how to do it, what we claim is possible.

What we claim is this, that in similar conditions, with the same education and the same possibilities, there is no reason; to make a categorical distinction, final and imperative, between what we call men and women.  For us, human beings are the expression of a single soul.  It is true, as I said at the beginning, that Nature had differentiated her expressions for the satisfactions of her needs and the realisation of her purpose, but if our needs and purposes are of another kind and we don't recognise the physical ends conceived by Nature as final, and absolute, then we can try to develop consciousness on another line.

Unfortunately, we have noticed one thing.  As the years pass and the little girls grow up into big girls, suddenly we find that they begin to remember that they are girls, that they must be pretty, they must please, must dress up in a special way, put on little affectations to attract attention - and the whole result of our work collapses.

There are some - there are always exceptions to the rule who have understood and who try to realise.  But even among these there is still in the background that kind of little satisfaction of not being quite "like the others", of being able to do what the others cannot, and for this to be clearly seen, well, they must compare themselves with the others!

So that is exactly the occasion of what I have just told you.  It is a question from one of you which has given rise to another question, and I hope that if I explain to you once more in detail, insisting on the fact, we shall perhaps be able to start anew and realise something more complete and more clear.

We come down altogether to earthly things: somebody has been very successful in athletics and has come first in one event.  This somebody is a "she", for convenience in speaking.  And so, ah! besides the satisfaction of having done well, there was a little satisfaction in having done better than the others, and she came to ask:" Why are women's records not announced?"

We have, I believe, repeated and reiterated that there are no "women's" and no "men's" records, there are only group records.  There is the green group - the various green groups - there is the red group, the grey group, the blue group, the khaki group, the white group.  You may tell me that some of these groups are exclusively men's or women's.  I shall answer what I have just said, that unless one comes here very young, it is difficult to change one's habits, and that is what has made this separation necessary - but it is not the ideal. And if we made it a habit to announce gloriously: ' 'This very remarkable girl has done what no other girl could do before", oh, la, la, what a fall it would be!  Not to mention that s encourages vanity - which is not good - it is also an Insertion that this fact is remarkable because it is a girl; now it is not at all a remarkable fact that it is a girl: it is remarkable because she has done very well, and there are many boys who have not done so well.  But if one wants to magnify this fine fact by comparing her with other girls who have not done as well, it becomes deplorable.

So this question was brought to me.  I believe that person has been given the answer which I have just told you, that there are only group records and no records of sexes.

But that is not all.  I am told that some have heard - not, once but hundreds of times, especially from those who come from outside with all the ideas of the world outside - this question: "Why do you have the same programme of physical education for boys and girls?"

There are some who consider it a scandal; some consider it a glaring error from the physical, material point of view.  Why aren't girls treated in a special way and quite differently from boys?" - then the great argument - "as it is done everywhere."

Ah! thank you.  Then why do we have an Ashram? Why do we have a Centre of Education?  If everywhere the same; things are done, we don't need to repeat them, we don't do them any better than others.

And when they put this argument in my way, they couldn't tell me anything that appears more utterly stupid to me.  It is done everywhere?  That is just the reason for not doing it; for if we do what others do, it is not worth the trouble doing anything at all.  We want precisely to introduce into the world something which is not there; but if we keep all the habits of the world, all the preferences of the world, all the constructions of the world, I don't see how we can get out of the rut and do something new.

My children, I have told you, repeated it in every tone, in every way: if you really want to profit by your stay here, try to look at things and understand them with a new vision and a new understanding based on something higher, something deeper, vaster, something more true, something which is not yet but will be one day.  And it is because we want to build this future that we have taken this special stand.

I tell you that we have had quite material proofs of the correctness and truth of our position, but... they are not lasting.  Why?  Because it is extremely easy to fall back into the ordinary consciousness, and there is nothing more difficult than to always stand on the top of the ladder and try to look at the world from up there.

We don't want to obey the orders of Nature, even if these orders have millions of years of habits behind them.  And one thing is certain, the argument of Nature when she is opposed to things changing, is: "It has always been thus." I claim this is not true.  Whether she likes it or not, things change, and a day will come when it will be said: "Ah! yes, there was a time when it was like that, but now it is different."

Well, grant only for some time, in a way which is still that of faith and trust, that we are in fact bringing about this change, that we have come to a point where things are going take a turn and a new orientation.  You are simply asked to have just a little faith and trust and allow yourselves to be guided.  Otherwise, well, you will lose the advantage of beg here, that's all.  And you will go back with the same weaknesses and same habits one sees in life as it is outside. here you are.

-Questions and Answers Vol 8

For we are living in an exceptional time at an exceptional turning point of the world's history.  Never before, perhaps, id mankind pass through such a dark period of hatred, bloodshed and confusion.  And, at the same time, never had such a strong, such an ardent hope awakened in the hearts of the people.  Indeed, if we listen to our heart's voice, we immediately perceive that we are, more or less consciously, waiting for a new reign of justice, of beauty, of harmonious goodwill and fraternity.  And this seems in complete contradiction with the actual state of the world.  But we all know that never , the night so dark as before the dawn.  May not this darkness, then, be the sign of an approaching dawn?  And as never as night so complete, so terrifying, maybe never will dawn have been so bright, so pure, so illuminating as the coming one .... After the bad dreams of the night the world will awaken a new consciousness.

The civilisation which is ending now in such a dramatic lay was based on the power of mind, mind dealing with matter and life.  What it has been to the world, we have not to discuss here.  But a new reign is coming, that of the Spirit: after the human, the divine.

Yet, if we have been fortunate enough to live on earth at such a stupendous, a unique time as this one, is it sufficient to stand and watch the unfolding events?  All those who feel that their heart extends further than the limits of their own person and family, that their thought embraces more than small personal interests and local conventions, all those, in short, who realise that they belong not to themselves, or to their family, or even to their country, but to God who manifests Himself in all countries, through mankind, these, indeed, know that they must rise and set to work for the sake of humanity, for the advent of the Dawn.

And in this momentous, endless, many-sided work, what can be the part of womanhood?  It is true that, as soon as great events and works are in question, the custom is to relegate women to a comer with a smile of patronising contempt which means: this is not your business, poor, feeble, futile creatures.... And women, submissive, childlike, lazy perhaps, have accepted, at least in many countries, this deplorable state of things.  I dare to say that they are wrong.  In the life of the future, there shall be no more room for such division, such disequilibrium between the masculine and the feminine.  The true relation of the two sexes is an equal footing of mutual help and close collaboration.

And from now, we must reassume our veritable position, take again our due place and assert our real importance - that of spiritual former and educator.  Indeed, some men, perhaps a little vainglorious of their so-called advantages, may despise the apparent weakness of women (although even this exterior weakness is not quite certain) but: "Do what he may, the superman will have to be born of woman all the same", someone said very rightly.

 The superman shall be born of woman, this is a big unquestionable truth; but it is not enough to be proud of this truth, we must clearly understand what it means, become ware of the responsibility it creates, and learn to face earnestly the task which is put before us.  This task is precisely our most important share in the present world-wide work.

For that, we must first understand - at least in their broad lines - what are the means by which the present chaos and obscurity can be transformed into light and harmony.

Many means have been suggested: political, social, ethical, even religious.... Indeed, none of these seem sufficient to face with any reliable success the magnitude of the task to be done.  Only a new spiritual influx, creating in man a new consciousness, can overcome the enormous mass of difficulties barring the way of the workers.  A new spiritual light, a manifestation upon earth of some divine force unknown until now, a Thought of God, new for us, descending into this world and taking a new form here.

And here we come back to our starting point, to our duty of true maternity.  For this form meant to manifest the spiritual force capable of transforming the earth's present conditions, this new form, who is to construct it if not the women?

Thus we see that at this critical period of the world's life it is no longer sufficient to give birth to a being in whom our highest personal ideal is manifested; we must strive to find Out what is the future type, whose advent Nature is planning.  It is no longer sufficient to form a man similar to the greatest men we have heard of or known, or even greater, more accomplished and gifted than they; we must strive to come in touch mentally, by the constant aspiration of our thought and will, with the supreme possibility which, exceeding all human measures and features, will give birth to the superman.

Once again Nature feels one of her great impulses towards the creation of something utterly new, something unexpected.  And it is to this impulse that we must answer and obey.

Let us try first to discover where this impulse of Nature will lead us.  And the best way for that is to look back on the lessons given to us by the Past.

We see that each progress of Nature, each manifestation of a new capacity and principle upon earth is marked by the appearance of a new species.  In the same way, the progressive forms of the life of races, of peoples, of individuals, follow each other through the human cycles, ceaselessly inspired, fecundated, renewed by the efforts of the guides of humanity.  And all these forms aim at the same goal, the mysterious, the glorious goal of Nature.

It is to this call of Nature that we must answer, to this magnificent, to this grandiose work that we must devote ourselves.  Let us try to make as clear as we can the steps of our advance on this difficult and as yet unexplored path.

First of all we must be careful, in our attempt to conceive the future man or superman, not to adopt an actual type of man, perfecting or aggrandising him.  To avoid as much as possible this mistake we should study the teachings of life's evolution.

We have already seen that the appearance of a new species always announces the manifestation on earth of a new principle, a new plane of consciousness, a new force or power.  But, at the same time, while the new species acquires this formerly unmanifested power or consciousness, it may lose one or many of the perfections which were the characterises of the immediately preceding species.  For instance, to speak only of the last step of Nature's development, what are the greatest differences between man and his immediate predecessor, the ape?  In the monkey we see vitality and physical ability reaching the utmost perfection, a perfection that the new species had to abandon.  For man, there has been no 'more of that marvellous climbing up trees, some abysses, jumps from summit to summit, but in exchange he acquired intelligence, the power of reasoning, combining, constructing.  Indeed with man it is the life of mind, of intellect which appeared on earth.  Man is essentially a mental being; and if his possibilities do not stop there, if he feels in himself other worlds, other faculties, other planes of consciousness beyond his mental life, they are only as promises for the future, in the same way as the mental possibilities are latent in the monkey.

It is true that some men, very few, have lived in that world beyond, which we may call the spiritual; some have been, indeed, the living incarnations of that world on earth, but they are the exceptions, the forerunners showing the way to the race, leading it towards its future realisation, not the average man.  But that which was the privilege of a few beings  scattered through time and space, shall become the central characteristic of the new type which is to appear.

At present, man governs his life through reason; all the activities of the mind are of common use for him; his means of knowledge are observation and deduction; it is by and through reasoning that he takes his decision and chooses his way - or believes he does - in life.

The new race shall be governed by intuition, that is to say, direct perception of the divine law within.  Some human beings actually know and experience intuition - as, undoubtedly, certain big gorillas of the forests have glimpses of reasoning.

In mankind, the very few who have cultivated their inner self, who have concentrated their energies on the discovery of the true law of their being, possess more or less the faculty of intuition.  When the mind is perfectly silent, pure like a well-polished mirror, immobile as a pond on a breezeless day, then, from above, as the light of the stars drops in the motionless waters, so the light of the supermind, of the Truth within, shines in the quieted mind and gives birth to intuition.  Those who are accustomed to listen to this voice out of the Silence, take it more and more as the instigating motive of their actions; and where others, the average men, wander along the intricate paths of reasoning, they go straight their way, guided through the windings of life by intuition, this superior instinct, as by a strong and unfailing hand.

This faculty which is exceptional, almost abnormal now, will certainly be quite common and natural for the new race, the man of tomorrow.  But probably the constant exercise of it will be detrimental to the reasoning faculties.  As man possesses no more the extreme physical ability of the monkey, so also will the superman lose the extreme mental ability of man, this ability to deceive himself and others.

Thus, man's road to supermanhood will be open when he declares boldly that all he has yet developed, including the intellect of which he is so rightly and yet so vainly proud, is now no longer sufficient for him, and that to uncase, discover, set free this greater power within, shall be henceforward his great preoccupation.  Then will his philosophy, art, Science, ethics, social existence, vital pursuits be no longer an exercise Of mind and life for themselves, in a circle, but a means for the discovery of a greater Truth behind mind and life and the bringing of its power into our human existence.  And this discovery is that of our real, because our highest self and nature.

However, that self which we are not yet, but have to become, is not the strong vital Will hymned by Nietzsche, but a spiritual self and  spiritual nature.  For as soon as we speak of supermanhood we must be careful to avoid all confusion with the strong but so superficial and incomplete conception of Nietzsche's superman.

Indeed, since Nietzsche invented the word superman, when someone uses it to speak of the coming race, willingly or not, it evokes at the same time Nietzsche's conception.  Certainly, his idea that to develop the superman out of our present very unsatisfactory manhood is our real business, is in itself an absolutely sound idea; certainly, his formula of our aim, 61 to become Ourselves", implying, as it does, that man has not yet found all his true self, his true nature by which he can Successfully and spontaneously live, could not be bettered; nevertheless, Nietzsche made the mistake we said we ought to avoid: his superman is but a man aggrandised, magnified, in whom Force has become super-dominant, crushing under its weight all the other attributes of man.  Such cannot be our ideal.  We see too well at present whither leads the exclusive worshipping Of  Force - to the crimes of the strong and the ruin of continents.

- Words of Long Ago Vol 2