CONVERSATIONS
26 February 1973
A reads out to Mother a series of questions to be answered by the teachers.
A: And now the last question that we have is: “Mother wrote that there should be no difference in the mind of the child between play and work, especially for young children, for whom the joy of learning should come from interest. How do you think things should be so that there is no difference between play and work? Do you have any suggestions to make?”
The most important thing is the parents and their school... school... going to school. We could very well not tell them, “You are going to school... You are coming... Today we shall play such and such a game... today we shall play such and such a game. ” And so on, like that. But the parents? Those who are
here without their parents are...
A: Privileged.
Oh, highly privileged!
A little later, A asked Mother whether she had any questions to ask the teachers. After a long silence, Mother replied, laughing:
My head is blank.
In these articles I am trying to put into ordinary terms the whole yogic terminology, for these Bulletins are meant more for people who lead an ordinary life, though also for students of yoga—I mean people who are primarily interested in a purely physical material life but who try to attain more perfection in their physical life than is usual in ordinary conditions. It is a very difficult task but it is a kind of yoga. These people call themselves “materialists” and they are apt to get agitated or irritated if yogic terms are used, so one must speak their language avoiding terms likely to shock them. But I have known in my life persons who called themselves “materialists” and yet followed a much severer discipline than those who claim to do yoga.
What we want is that humanity should progress; whether it professes to lead a yogic life or not matters little, provided it makes the necessary effort for progress.
The Mother
25 December 1950