"Try
to realise the strength within you, try to bring it forward, so that everything
you do may be not your doing, but the doing of the Truth within you"
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| The Mother on women | council-need & purpose | council work | council activities | |
woman - an individual | woman
- a mother | woman-power |
The Mother is the President of Sri Aurobindo Society and of the Women's Council. Her writings on the subject form a crutial and enlightening study of women and their true role. Here are some excerpts.
THE COUNCIL : The Need and Purpose Time and again, we have been asked, what is the necessity of having a separate Women's Council in Sri Aurobindo Society which is a spiritual organisation?
When physical education activities were started in the Ashram in early fifties, The Mother gave special attention and force to women. She would often enquire about the names of some participants when they were running from a distance. And they would be invariably girls. When a young girl complained, `Mother, how is it you do not recognise us from far as you recognise boys?' We are equally your children!' The Mother's answer was very enlightening: `You see, my child, Indian women do not have a developed personality. So when I see them from far, they appear like jelly-fish. But now I have come and things will change.' Events have shown how Indian women have progressed in sports and many different fields of activity. Much, however, remains to be done for an Indian woman to play her true role in life. Woman in general has a special task to do which she alone is required to perform and about which The Mother has explained beautifully and in detail. That is why Sri Aurobindo Society has a Women's Wing, to awaken them to the beauty of their future through the valuable words of The Mother. The woman should first know and understand the raison d'etre of her life. The work of the Women's Council A woman's role is usually considered to be that of a housewife - to look after the house, her husband and children. Due to advance in technology, communication and women's education, the modern woman does not wish to remain `just a house wife'. She wants to express herself in different fields of life's activity as she feels that she has the talent and capacity to offer her contribution for the welfare of the society. This has given rise to the question `What is the true role of women?' And it is the women who have to find the answer. So the first and main objective of Sri Aurobindo's Society's Women's Council is to help woman to find herself, to understand herself and to make her aware of the inherent spiritual strength within her. Woman is basically a `shakti', the dynamic creative and executive energy of the divine Reality or Being. And this is the Women Council's work : to bring forth a woman's `shakti' aspect, which alone will give her a true perspective and direction in life. The sooner she becomes aware of it the better it will be for her and the world as she comprises of its 50% population.
The first important factor is the woman herself. The Women's organisations all over the world focus their attention mainly on the rights and facilities for women. The Women's Council of Sri Aurobindo Society lays emphasis on `Woman' herself than on her rights, condition and circumstances. The Woman first needs to know herself, her purpose in life, the role she aspires to play. She must seek and become aware of the inner truth of her being. If she is not prepared as a conscious being, no amount of external aids or privileges can help her. Generally, all her life, Woman is moulded by others - as a child by her parents, as a wife by her husband and as a mother by her children. As a child, the parents have a set of dos and don'ts for the girl child. She is given dolls to play with or the tiny toys of kitchenware, or fancy things intended to prepare her for the future role of a wife and mother. Games of intelligence like mechano, puzzles, mathematical games which sharpen the mental faculties are for the boy child. The girl is treated as delicate and protected as much. She cannot be allowed to play outdoor games as she may fall and damage any part of her body. It will be a problem, later, to get her married! This is a great injustice done to the girl child, and the sooner the parents rectify their attitude the better it will be for her and her future. Right from her childhood she is made conscious that she is a girl and so her set of values in life has to be different, as if values and fields of activity have a feminine and masculine gender! Let each parent remember to bring up a child as a human being, a soul with its own individual needs and aspirations. Each soul comes for a particular expression, a distinct manifestation on earth and the parents should try to understand the soul behind the body and take care of each child accordingly, be it a girl or a boy. That is the base. This principle applies equally at each stage of her life as a girl child grows into a fully grown woman. The effort of the Women's Council is to awaken to the fact that all human beings are an expression of the same supreme source. Given the same treatment and facilities, the women can do equally well in different fields, and even better in certain respects. This is because, as The Mother has said, their psychic being is more open, and they are better organisers. There is another reason. Nature has chosen woman as a medium for creation and has therefore bestowed her with a motherly instinct in which love, care, humility, harmony, beauty and grace predominate. These enable her to adjust easily in the various phases and situations in life, and also interact better with different types of persons. `The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world' is a very ancient and apt saying and reveals the inherent power of love that a woman possess. If she becomes conscious of this power within, she can be adynamic force to reckon with. She can then not only change her condition and circumstances but alter the whole chaotic mass of earth in which man's ego and arrogance have landed it, into the beauty, bliss, peace and prosperity which are its natural heritage. So it is very important that a woman should be aware of what she is, what she wants to be and how she can be what she aspires to become - whether she is prepared physically, emotionally, mentally and spiitually. And if not, how she can make herself ready. This is an inner domain. She must look within, face herself and change herself with the help of the inner God given strength. The Supermind, a level of consciousness much higher than mind, has descended on earth. The Mother has described it as "a new power and light that have spread upon the earth in order to prepare it for the great transformations that must take place in the near future". It is available to all who are receptive to it. It has given a push to the evolution to go further than human species. The next species will be supermen, beings of light without flesh, blood and bones. They will have no need for food and clothing. The process of procreation will not be the same as it is now. But there has to be a transitory stage and it is here that woman alone has her special task to play as nature's chosen instrument of creation. Unless she has dreams of such a progeny, how can the great souls be born, who are destined to take part at this great event, a turning point in the world's history, in the earth's evolution? This is nothing new for an Indian Woman. Indian history is full of instances of women who practised austerities, prayed fervently for a great soul for the destruction of evil and for bringing peace and love on earth, and succeeded in getting one. The mothers of Swami Vivekanand, Shivaji, Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Sri Chaitanya were Shaktis. So in order to participate in the spiritual evolution, woman has to first spiritualise herself in order to accomplish her special task to give birth to the fore-runners of the new race of supermen. And for that she has to stand on her own strength both inner and outer. She has to reverse her role. Instead of being submissive, led and moulded all her life, she has to lead and mould as an educator and a spiritual reformer. She has to shift the centre of her life from man to God. To lead a spiritual life, she has to rise at all the levels of her consciousness : a) Physical : She has to make her body healthy, agile, supple, strong, capable of endurance, beautiful, graceful, and above all conscious and receptive so that the Supramental light can manifest through it, prepare it to receive the new form of light that is to be born from her. b) Vital : She has to cultivate her emotions, feelings and aspirations to be high, noble, pure, transparent, peaceful, powerful, balanced, harmonious, selfless, full of flaming joy and fervour to be the divine's true servitor, a hero warrior to be able to receive and use spiritual force for the transformation of life on earth. c) Mental : She has to mould her thoughts to be calm, concentrated, clear, complex, wide, organised, positive, sharp and sensitive to the new knowledge that is ready to descent on earth. She has to develop new capacities and above all a strong indefatigable will to achieve the role the divine has destined for her - to bring a new race of supermen on mother earth to deliver her from darkness and chaos, and usher instead of new and golden era of peace and prosperity, light and love, beauty and harmony, where each one will be a conscious being, consciously and joyously playing the role alloted to each, for the good and fulfilment of one and all. d) Psychic and Spiritual : She should consent to be spiritualised. She should awaken to the truth of her being, her own real nature and obey its dictates. She should aspire and strive to unfold the ever-perfect spirit within. She has to develop her intuition. The future race will be intuitive, a faculty beyond mind, which will give it a certain knowledge at every moment, in each field and phase of life. Life will no longer be a process of trial and error but a natural, beautiful and harmonious blossoming. The task is challenging. But the Shakti in woman has played its role before and will surely come up to the demand that both Nature and God have placed on her. All she has to do is to surrender herself consciously, joyously and totally to God. He will do the rest as He always does! When Superman is born as Nature's king His presence shall transfigure Matter's world: He shall light up Truth's fire in Nature's night, He shall lay upon the earth Truth's greater law; Man
too shall turn towards the Spirit's call. WOMAN - A CONSCIENTIOUS WORKER From her childhood, woman is taught to love work. As a small girl, she helps her mother in the household chores and in looking after the children. Besides, she does small jobs for all the members of the family viz. replace a torn button on her brother's shirt, give a helping hand to her sister in any work required, press her father's tired legs or grandma's weak body, give lively company to grandpa, run for small errands at odd times, etc. She thus acquires an organising capacity, skill in works (and human relations) which she normally does very conscientiously, methodically and with grace and love. This skill is a great asset to her as she grows up and becomes a housewife and a mother when she is concerned for the well-being of the whole family. This skill and the accompanying qualities are equally effective when she works outside her home, in an office, school, factory or field. She can be easily trained to perform various duties. As generally, in comparison to man, she has less mental arrogance, she can get along better with others and achieve her task successfully. That is why in the present society, in many jobs, women are preferred to men. Women should therefore have self confidence and not feel diffident. They should take work outside as an extension of their family, to project their care, goodwill and orgnising ability to a larger family. Does not our age old Indian saying describe `Vasudaiva Kutumbakkam' - the whole world as our family? It is easier for woman to feel this as she is the creatrix. No social transformation is possible as long as women forming half of human population on earth remain in a suppressed or ignorant condition. The emergence of woman power in all walks of life even in those fields which are considered as exclusive male domains is one of the heartening features of the modern age. In the Eastern tradition, in general, woman symbolises the faculties of emotion and intuition. So the awakening of woman means conscious actualisation of her unique inherent, natural and spiritual potentialities and powers and release of these energies in society. Any Government or Society which refuses to give an equal opportunity to a particular section of the society on the grounds of racial or sex discrimination is a retrograde society belonging to the primitive past and cannot be a part of the humanity of the Future. And also it is a great loss to a nation or society if a person, whether he is a man or a woman, who has a special aptitude for a profession or out-door work or for any job is prevented from pursuing his/her inclination by racial, social, cultural prejudices of whatever kind. But the question is whether all this outer and inner freedom has to be pursued at the expense of her crucial role of motherhood and contrary to her natural qualities. As The Mother points out, attachment to maternity is one of the psychological bandages which has to be broken. But whether swinging to the other extreme and pursuing professional and career success in the manner of the traditional male stereo-type is conducive to the healthy evolution of women? How many women have the true aptitude for professional careers? Are those women who don't have the aptitude for professional careers and prefer family and home inferior to career women or the management of home and the family and bringing up of children inferior to the management of professional careers? We must remember here that the true and higher role of woman as the mistress of the home and the family is not merely the management of the mundane affairs of the family - its economics, politics and kitchen or even bringing up of children in the traditional way - but to take complete charge of the material, psychological and spiritual well-being of the family. Is this not as much a challenging and demanding task for a woman as managerial responsibilities in government, industry or commerce? Is not this very notion that the domestic life of home and family is inferior to the outer social and professional life, as false dogma propagated by male chauvinism? These are some of the major questions facing the modern feminist movement. But the central question for which the modern feminists have to find a satisfactory answer is whether it is necessary to sacrifice her inherent qualities of feminity to succeed in social life or to compete with men. In a competitive male dominated society woman needs an extra-aggressive dynamism in the initial stages of her emancipation to force her way to success, breaking some of the well-entrenched male prejudices. But this need not or must not be made into a permanent feature of her social life. In the occult-spiritual view no human being is exclusively made of feminine or masculine qualities. There is a male aspect in every woman and a female aspect in every man. But it is also true that each sex has some inherent unique and predominant qualities. Women are traditionally admired for their grace and charm and sweetness and beauty, kindliness, compassion and a melting heart and an innate and a plastic intuition into the unity, wholeness, beauty and harmony of life. We believe that the way to fulfilment for woman lies in developing her inherent qualities to the utmost and arriving at a unique harmony and integration of her personality in which these feminine qualities form the dominant note. So we need a balanced approach to the development of woman-power in the society. For a career woman who has to manage her home and work, it will be a difficult task to do justice to both. But in the very process of surmounting this difficulty and harmonising her dual role she grows not only individually in terms of inner progress and capacities but also in terms of greater accommodation and mutual understanding among family members. We also welcome with joy increasing participation of women in the socio-economic life of the race. Many of the problems faced by modern society in the developed and developing world like ecology and environmental preservation, infant mortality, population explosion, public health and environmental hygiene and human and industrial relation will find their spontaneous solution if the initiative and leadership in these areas passes on to enlightened women who are inherently and naturally better equipped than men to give the right lead in these areas. Let us take for example the important area of community development especially rural development. Here woman as the mistress of home and the family is the creator of the micro-environment within and surrounding the home. An educated and enlightened woman well-informed in child-education, health-care, sanitation, nutrition and population control can bring down infant-mortality, control birth-rate in the family, keep the environment clean, bring up a health child, supplement or support or even enhance the education given to the child at the school by her own educational inputs and if she is trained in a productive skill, can bring additional income to the family. Thus it is the educated and enlightened woman-power which has the greatest potentiality to enhance the quality of life of a community. This is not a mere feminist sentiment but conclusively proved in the development experience of the State of Kerala in India, which is famous among development experts as the "Kerala model". The Kerala State in India when it is viewed from the conventional development parameters measured in terms of per capita input is one of the poorest communities in the world. But when its quality of life is measured in terms of a new and more comprehensive PQL index (Physical Quality of Life Index) it compares favourably with that of some of the richest and the most technologically advanced countries in the West. The experts who have intensively studied the development experience of Kerala, attribute woman's education as the most important factor responsible for the success of the "Kerala model". Again, women, owing to their greater capacity for intuitive and emotional empathy and identification with nature, can give a better leadership to the environmental movement than men, whose environmental sympathies, especially in the West do not go beyond the dry light of scientific intellectuality or enlightened self-interest. In the field of management, there is an increasing recognition among modern management professionals of the importance of intuition in decision making and the need for emotional empathy, care and love in human and industrial relation - the natural qualities of women. So, an increasing participation of women in leadership positions in business and industry, especially in the field of human and industrial relations, can go a long way in enhancing the quality of life of the modern organisational environment. Necessity of Pre-natal Education
Education Centres Opening of Education Centres where free education is imparted for the integral growth and development of human personality and not for just passing examinations and getting certificates for job employment. This experiment is already being successfully carried out in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in Pondicherryand is being tried by some of the Society's centres and branches outside Pondicherry. Rural Education is also imparted with success at Udavi, an Ashram school located in the outskirts of Pondicherry. Guidelines for Parents In order to have ideal children, parents should first practise what they preach. Their attitude should not be of possession or domination. Their effort should be to know and recognise the individual aspiration of the soul of their child, and help it to fulfil the purpose of its manifestation, its mission on earth. The Society has published several books on this subject viz `Ideal Child', `Ideal Parent', `Ideal Teacher', and `How to bring up a child'. They are based on the valuable teachings of The Mother, and are of great help in child-parent relationship. Working Women Women should be given their rightful place in the world according to the Mother's vision. She had once told a disciple that she gives work, duty to do and not a position. In that light, the women's rightful place will mean not position but work which they alone can do, a task worthy of their energy and character. Women who make up one half of the human race have to be given equal opportunities in working fields to be of service to humanity. In Sri Aurobindo Ashram, women enjoy equal facilities in various fields and they are doing their best in the boarding houses, offices, hospitals, farms and fields, schools and sports, handwork, art and culture, management and administration and in many other work places. Economic Independence for Women Most of the ills from which the women suffer are due to their economic dependence on man. That stifles their existence, growth and development. A separate note is attached explaining its great importance. Many private, social and government organisations are working in this field and are giving good service. Their efforts need to be enhanced to enable women to play their due role in the affairs of the nation and for peace and prosperity of the human race. Once the Women's concept is clear and she understands in which direction she has to move and in which field she had to manifest her talent, the external activity starts. One thing of paramount importance to woman is that she should be financially independent in order to be free to develop her personality and realise her aspirations. Financial independence will ensure the following :- a) Education - She can educate herself in the chosen field of her activity and shape her destiny. b) Organisation - She can equip herself with the material needs required for organising her life and activity in harmony with her objectives. c) Welfare and progress - She can raise the standard of her life and also help others around her in this field. On her well-being and progress depends the health and welfare of her family and the nation. d) Freedom - She will be free to choose a partner in her life if she wishes to marry, and if not, she will be free to live alone comfortably and happily without being a burden on any one. Freedom will awaken her inner faculties and blossom her personality. e) Self-respect - She will refuse to be traded in the traditional system of dowry which has burnt many innocent beautiful lives in the bud. She will no longer play a submissive role and be degraded. She will refuse to be treated as an object for play, pleasure, entertainment and enjoyment. She will command respect and appreciation on her own individual merits and not because of the status of her father, brother or husband. And for becoming economically independent, she can carefully and consciously choose the activity she can excel in, which will give expression to her talent and latent faculties and which will naturally bring optimum results. It maybe a vocation, a service, or her own business at home or outside, something which will be part of her spiritual Sadhana - a harmonious expression of the inner awakening and development. Now a days more and more women have entered many of the so called men's fields such as sports, army, navy, air force, architecture, administration, law, etc., and proved successful. Once she has trained her will, there is no reason why she has to lag behind. She must however remember that her activity is not for competition but for completing her personality and that will bring a tremendous change for the betterment of the society and enable humanity to take a big step forward. THE FAITH IN THE 'DIVINE SHAKTI' It is the woman who is called `Shakti' not the man, because of the seed of the Divine Mother, Shakti in her. To understand its potentiality and power, let us apprise ourselves of the working of the divine Shakti, in Sri Aurobindo's words, and have faith in Her. "The faith in the divine Shakti must be always at the back of our strength and when she becomes manifest, itmust be or grow implicit and complete. There is nothing that is impossible to her who is the conscious Power and universal Goddess all-creative from eternity and armed with the Spirit's omnipotence. All knowledge, all strength, all triumph and victory, all skill and works are in her hands and they are full of the treasures of the Spirit and of all perfection and siddhis. She is Maheshwari, goddess of the supreme knowledge, and brings to us her vision for all kinds and windenesses of truth, her rectitude of the spiritual will, the calm and passion of her supramental largeness, her felicity will, the calm and passion of her supramental largeness, her felicity of illumination; she is Mahakali, goddess of the supreme strength, and with her are all mights and spiritual force and severest austerity of Tapas and swiftness to the battle and the victory and the laughter, the attahasya, that makes light of defeat and death and the powers of the ignorance; she is Mahalakshmi, the goddess of the supreme love and delight, and her gifts are the spirit's grace and the charm and beauty of the Ananda and protection and every divine and human blessing; she is Mahasaraswati, the gooddess of divine skill and of the works of the Spirit, and hers is the Yoga that is skill in works, yogah karmasu kausalam, and the utilities of divine knowledge and the self-application of the spirit to life and the happiness of its harmonies. And in all her powers and forms she carries with her the supreme sense of the masteries of the eternal Ishwari, a rapid and divine capacity for all kinds of action that may be demanded from the instrument, oneness, a participating sympathy, a free identity, with all energies in all beings and therefore a spontaneous and fruitful harmony with all the divine will in the universe. The intimate feeling of her presence and her powers and the satisfied assent of all our being to her workings in and around it is the last perfection of faith in the Shakti."
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For
toning up the whole body and maintaining its health and vigour, one undertakes
physical education activities. But special exercises/asanas are required for the
development of specific organs which may be weak and need special attention. A
compact system of physical education therefore attends to the proper working and
health of each organ which has a distinct role to play in the well being and perfection
of the human body as a conscious instrument for the manifestation of divine Consciousness
on earth. Similarly, Sri Aurobindo Society has special wings for children, youth
and women. But youth wing consists of both men and women, so what is the need
of a separate council for women? It is because women have been lagging behind
for various reasons too well-known to be mentioned. So many labels are attached
to them by men that they themselves tend to forget their true value, their great
source and force of existence. 
The
Women's Council of Sri Aurobindo Society holds seminars every year on 21, 22 and
23 November, on different topics of practical interest viz. 
Woman
has a great responsibility in bearing children. The child must be consciously
prayed for. In ancient India, women used to undertake austerities and prepare
themselves in order to give birth to a worthy soul. President Herbert Hoover had
said, "If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated
and healthy children a thousand other problems of government would vanish. We
would assure ourselves of healthier minds and more vigorous bodies, to direct
the energies of our nation to greater heights of achievement." The Society has
prepared to booklet on Pre natal Education and will be publishing it soon. 
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