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<h1 align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<font size="4">My Athletics</font></h1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>THERE is in the Upanishad
a description of the stage in man's life when he becomes so old and decrepit
that he cannot walk except on a stick, <i>tvam jίrņo daņdena
va&ntilde;casi. </i>At precisely that stage in our life, we in the Ashram received a
call to plunge into the activities of our Playground. I was then perhaps the
oldest among the inmates, and had long passed the fifty year limit once set by
the ancients for repairing to the forest, <i>
<span style='font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'>pa&ntilde;cÄśordhe </span>
<font face="Times New Roman">vanam vrajet</font>;
</i>I was in fact in my early sixties.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>For
at least twenty years previous to that, we had been taking it rather easy and
were doing very little physical work or exercise. That had been what might be
described as a period of inner preparation, a time devoted almost entirely to
meditation and study. Lest however I should lose all elasticity of body, I had
been making use of two opportunities for some kind of exercise. One was to
ride on a bicycle once a week to the local French Post Office and back. The
Mother used to receive her foreign mail in those days through that Post Office,
and on me &quot;had devolved the task of bringing in the mail. That
incidentally was how I got my famous headgear: it came in connection with this
particular item of work. During summer, the hot summer months of <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>,
I had to go to the Post Office in the blazing sun. It was quite a distance in
those days and I felt I needed some kind of protection for my skull. I struck
upon a device. The mail had to be carried in bags, one or two white canvas
bags. I folded them up in two and put them on my head, the two corners of the
bags sticking out on either side like a</p>

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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page - 459<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>pair of horns. This gave
the children of the local school an occasion for a hearty laugh one day:
&quot;Quel bonnet! quel bonnet!&quot; – &quot;What a cap! what a cap!&quot;
they cried. When I mentioned this to the Mother, she said, &quot;All right, we
shall see.&quot; We had a French lady, called in the Ashram by the name of
Sarala, staying with us here at &quot;Belle Vue&quot;, with her husband who was
known as Shuchi. Shuchi died later and was buried in the public cemetery in <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>.
This Sarala was asked to devise something for my head. It was she who designed
my skull-cap which has since been the inspiration for many a subsequent
imitation.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Let
me in this connection tell you another amusing story. One day there came to the
Post Office a packet addressed to the Mother from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
It was war time and the rules were very strict, leg. any kind of undesirable
matter should find entry. One of the Post Office employees, a Frenchman, opened
the packet in my presence. He found in it- nothing else except a single sheet
of paper with something on it that looked like a sketch – just the branch of a
tree. The official handed me the paper with obvious disappointment, adding his
comment, &quot;Une branche quelconque&quot; – &quot;some sort of a
branch!&quot; The &quot;branche&quot; happened to be a fine piece of Japanese
painting. But who would appreciate that? Not in any case a detective of the
Post Office. I mentioned the incident to Sri Aurobindo. He could never forget
the story; at the slightest opportunity he would come out with that &quot;une
branche quelconque&quot;.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Now
to come back to the point. I was speaking of the kind of exercise I had in
those days, that medieval period of our existence, perhaps you would call it.
The second item in my physical education programme was still more impressive.
It consisted in giving a very careful wash to my clothes when I took my bath.
This allowed some exercise to the limbs and body and I considered this as the
minimum needed for keeping up the physical tone; it did duty for push-ups and
dumb-bells and everything else. I should add another</p>


<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page - 460<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>item: that was walking, a
kind of morning walk. Early in the morning every day I used to go out and
deliver to the sadhaks the letters written to them by Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother. In those days, of course, the Ashram houses were not so many and not so
far apart, so it was not exactly a 1500 or 5000 metre walking race.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
have told you, we received the call to join the Playground activities. I was
enlisted in the Blue Group. In those days it was the Mother who decided who
would go to which group; in any case it was done with her knowledge and
approval. Udar was our captain. We started learning the steps, &quot;Un, deux,
un, deux&quot;. Ages ago, I had done some military marching with the Volunteer
Corps, but that was only for a few days. I remember how in that enthusiasm for
everything Swadeshi, they had started giving the marching orders in Bengali.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
had to start on this new athletic career without any preliminary practice or
training. Many of you may recall how we joined in our first competitive
tournament, on the site along the sea-face where the Tennis grounds stand –
they had not yet been built. I had no knowledge of the special technique, there
was no warming up or anything. We just walked in and took our positions along
the starting line, and off we went as soon as the whistle blew. We simply ran
for our lives, with the result that I sprained a thigh muscle in my first run.
Luckily, this happened near the finishing line, so I could somehow finish the
race. The results were not bad: I shared the second place with Pavitra and
Yogananda – the first position went to someone, a sadhu who is no longer with
us. I took part in the long jump in the &quot;same manner, without any previous
practice or warming up. Some people advised me to do a little preliminary
training but my reply was, &quot;My sole events in the course of a whole year
are a single race and three jumps. They do not deserve more.&quot; This is the
opening chapter in my new career of athletics.</p>

</div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; text-indent:12pt; line-height:150%; padding:0in; border-style:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page
- 461<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<div class=Section2>

<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">At that time I had not the faintest notion that one
day I would develop into a regular athlete, that is to say, undergo all kinds
of training and exercise. I told you once about the difference between the
physical training activities here and the way we used to set about them in our.
time. This is an age of science and those were the days of untrained skill. Let
me illustrate from an experience I had in football. We never observed the rule
that a proper warming up is needed before one joins the game. We entered the field
straightway, and it has happened' several times that after the first long run
at the beginning of the game I felt absolutely worn out and wondered how on
earth I was going to last through the game. Of course, everything was all right
after a while and the body received a new influx of energy as it got warmed up
– we used to call it &quot;heating up the blood&quot;. Today, the first and
most important principle of any kind of game or other exercise is
&quot;training&quot;, a detailed and minute training. Formerly, one could pass
off as a master by simply mastering the rules of the game. This applied not
only to games like cricket or football; even in our own native wrestling and lathi-play, &quot;training&quot; meant nothing more than getting acquainted
with all the tricks and applying them correctly in practice. But that is not
what is now meant by &quot;training&quot;. &quot;Training&quot; implies a
special preparation of the body, making it apt for a special kind of activity.
First of all, One has to acquire a general all-round physical fitness. Next,
one has to find out which particular parts of the body and which of the muscles
are specially called -into action in any particular movements and these have to
be specially trained with a view to give them the necessary strength, endurance
and skill, exactly like a material instrument, as if they were bits of dead
matter. In whatever activity you wish to <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>specialise</span>, – for <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>specialisation</span>
seems to be the aim of physical culture today, – you have to prepare yourself
for it; the preparation itself becomes the main objective, the end in view is
relegated to the second position. You take part in a 100 metres race,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;'><font face="Times New Roman">Page - 462<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>actually a matter of a few
seconds only. But in order to prepare for the race, you have to train for
several hours every day, for days on end over a period of months and perhaps
years.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Formerly,
the entire emphasis was on the game itself, not so much on the person who
played the game; it used to be said that it was the game that made the player.
But now the scales have turned the other way: the player has become the main
interest. The concentration is on the player himself and his training is the
main thing. He has first of all to build up the body, next his vital forces,
and finally even his mind and will power have to be geared to the end in view;
the inner psychological factors are taken particularly into account today. In<b>
</b>science too the same 'thing is noticeable, even in the study of physical
sciences. Formerly, the whole effort of science lay in discovering and
establishing the existence of the separate, self-existing and independent
elements in Nature and in finding out the mechanism of their action through the
methods of observation and experiment. Now it is being said, observation and
experiment are all right so far as they go, but at the same time one cannot
ignore the person who makes the observation and experiment; he too has an
importance, perhaps a prime importance.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>To
a certain extent, I too have gone through this phase of modern
&quot;training&quot;, as you all know. I have given up the old methods of
learning by rule-of-thumb and have tried to acquire some kind of proficiency
through a process of regular training, following in the footsteps of many among
yourselves, although I may not have been able to tread the lines of our Madanlal.
His theory seems to be that the more effort you put in, &quot;the greater
becomes your skill or ability and that there is no game on earth that you
cannot master by sheer dint of hard work. Madanlal himself is a living proof of
his doctrine, for he is without a rival in this method of hard painstaking practice.
There are, as you know, two main types among those who do well in studies or –
shall we say?<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.1in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page
– 463<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.1in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>– there are
two ways of becoming a good student. There are those who, gifted with natural
intelligence and ability, waste the whole year in all sorts of extra-curricular
activities and in pleasures and pastimes and then read up for days and nights
for a month or two just before the examination and get through the test and
even secure high places. There is the second type who read and work hard throughout
the whole year, devote some time every day to their studies, and never run the
risk of falling ill or having a nervous breakdown about the time of the
examination on account of excessive work. Our Madanlal belongs to this second
category. He is really out to prove by his own example that definition of
genius which makes it nothing but the capacity for taking infinite pains.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
have to mention another name in this connection. For much of what I have now
achieved in the field of athletics I owe a deep debt to our Chinmoy. He has
been my coach. What have I learnt from him? It<b> </b>is enthusiasm. What do I mean
by enthusiasm? I shall explain. One of the secrets of physical training is that
you must always try to perform a little more than your capacity, or what you
may think is the limit of your powers. Perhaps it was with this end in view
that in our time when one had to exercise a particular part of the body, the
instructions were to go on repeating the movement until one began to sweat and
felt exhausted. For how long am I to manipulate the dumb-bells or the Indian
clubs? Until you are tired, the chart said, that is, until you felt you could
do no more. Now of course nothing is done by such haphazard guesswork. You have
to repeat the movements for a certain definite number of times, by actual
count, say, five or six repetitions for the first day, to be increased by one
or two every day or week, a final limit being set in respect of each individual
according to his capacity. This is the method of scientific training today.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Whatever
the method you adopt, your strength and capacity have to be increased in this
manner. If you go beyond<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>


<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 464<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>your limits, there is
always a chance of accidents, but some accept the risk. The carefree enthusiast
asks you to hitch your wagon to a star whereas the more cautious would point to
the tragedy of Icarus. The legendary hero of Greek mythology had invented
wings for man to fly, but he built them of wax. His aim had been to reach the
sun, but as he came near that burning orb the wax got melted by the heat and
his wings vanished and he was hurled back headlong down to earth.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Well,
it was from Chinmoy that I got the courage or the foolhardiness for an attempt
of this kind. This has been of great help to me. But there was a considerable
resistance born of old age, even though we are here precisely to get rid of
that. The resistance comes from two sources. It is there first of all in your
own individual consciousness; you have heard of the adage about getting old
before twenty. It is true that here in the Ashram we are often apt to forget,
or we try to forget, to take count of our age. For example, even at the age of
sixty, I did not quite realise or, rather, my body did not feel – it is quite
natural for the mind not to feel, but the body itself must realise – that it
carried any load of more than twenty-five or thirty years. This kind of feeling
must have come at one time or another to many among the older people here. This
is indeed the root idea behind our desire to conceal the true age and reckon
our age at less than the true figure. This recourse to a slight falsehood
comes. of an attempt to express and maintain the fact of our youth that is
still effective in our life and inner consciousness in spite of our years. But
the inexorable law of the external<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;
</span>physical nature is still in operation; It invades our mind and' afflicts
it at times. Moreover, in addition to this resistance in our own individual
consciousness 01.' frame of mind, there is pressing upon us from all around the
collective resistance, a resistance that comes from the consciousness arid
mental attitude of everybody else, the <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>neighbours</span> with whom we live. Even if we manage to forget, they 
will remind us of the pressure </p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:center;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<font size="2">Page - 465</font> </p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>of advancing age. It
is difficult ordinarily to escape from the influence of this double pressure.
But to get rid of this influence and pressure is after all the very aim of our <span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>endeavour</span> here.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Physical
culture has its side of expenditure or <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB'>utilisation</span> of energy when you execute a particular movement and
follow it to the end. But there is, in addition and precisely because of this,
another side to it; that is the gathering or accumulation of energy. The body <span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>utilises</span> energy, so it needs
to recuperate it; that is the way it conserves its energy. A man works during
the day and sleeps at night; the energy he spends in the waking hours he
recuperates at night-time. You may want to know, &quot;But then what about the
food he takes?&quot; Food, that is, adequate nutrition, is a vital source of
energy, but I am not discussing the need for food in this particular context.
I am not speaking here of the need for the material basis of physical
substance. My point just now is about the life-force or physical energy in the
body. The method of acquiring and storing that energy is what may be called
relaxation, which implies a release of tension, a loosening of the limbs and
muscles. We are all familiar with the process; all I wish to do here is to give
a somewhat elaborate account of this relaxation, for in my experience I have
noticed some special features about it.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
first thing to note is this. All those who take part in physical exercise are,
no doubt, already familiar, or they have to get familiar, with the truth that
relaxation is not merely an end-product of exercise, it has a place in. exercise
itself. Let me explain.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
all physical-culture activities and in every exercise, one has to pay
particular attention to one thing, for success depends on it to a large
extent. Normally, we are inclined to work up all our muscles and nerves at the
same time, even when only a certain limited number actually come into play.
This means tension. And if the tension is excessive, it leads to what we call
stiffness or rigidity. Instead of that, what we</p>

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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page
– 466<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>should do is to give as
much relaxation as possible to the other parts of the body and work up only
such of the muscles as are actually called into play and for the time are
needed for the work. These too should remain passive, that is to say, relaxed,
till the very moment they are called into play. You have heard that story about
the watch. One day it suddenly became conscious about itself and discovered
that it had been working constantly without a break or pause for rest for
twenty-four hours a day. So it complained to the owner, &quot;My dear sir, all
of you work no doubt but you take rest as well: if you work the whole day, you
get the whole night for sleep. But I have to go on working throughout the day
and night without a wink of sleep.&quot; And the owner replied, &quot;But don't
you see, you go on ticking and between the two ticks you take a good
rest.&quot; This is a very fine analogy. When, for instance, we take part in a
race, that is exactly what takes place. It is not at all necessary to tense
both the legs at the same time. All that is needed is to use with all their
strength the muscles of the leg that is to strike the ground, but only for the
duration of contact; they could be held relaxed until the next stroke. The
other leg should in the meantime remain relaxed, and alert – I say alert, not
active – till its turn arrives. This applies to all the other parts of the
body. We might recall in this connection the two types of heart-beat, the
systole and the diastole, the movement of contraction and that of expansion,
with an interval or pause in between.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This,
in fact, is the way to a right working of the body: right, first because it is
efficient and secondly because it is harmonious. It is efficient in the sense
that it gives better results and acts with more power and <span lang=EN-GB
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>vigour</span>. For, under this method, only
those muscles are brought into play that are needed and exactly when they are
needed. If other muscles get worked up by a sort of reflex action, that leads
to the wastage of a good part of the energy through useless channels, it is
not <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>utilised</span> in full
when and where it is needed.</p>


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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 467<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And secondly, as I say it makes
for harmonious action which acquires the natural ease <i>of </i>a rhythmic
graceful movement. Relaxation is just another name for what is known as the
pause in the rhythmic movement of poetry; for after all, it is pause and
movement that make up rhythm.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
this is not all. I have used the term relaxation in the sense <i>of </i>pause
or rest, but I do not thereby imply that it is a going off to sleep. Sleep is
normally a lapse into inconscience and that brings inertia and rigidity. One
must remain equally conscious and awake during rest as during work. Unconsciousness
in action renders the act mechanical, brings with it a lifeless rigidity. The
movements <i>of </i>the body have to be permeated by an awakened consciousness,
so that the consciousness in rest is helped thereby to get infused with new
force. If the consciousness is of the right sort, the new force can descend
even from supraphysical worlds and give to the movements <i>of </i>the body a
supreme beauty and strength.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
fact, relaxation is in truth what in our language, in the technical phraseology
of Hathayoga, is known as ś<i>avÄsan<span style='font-family:
"Arial Narrow";mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'>a, </span></i>the
corps-like stance. But h could be made into a stance of life instead <i>of </i>death.
And that indeed is its true object. In other words, it is not a negative
condition <i>of </i>doing nothing, it can be changed into a positive state. We
are apt to think of it as a state <i>of </i>absolute inaction. That is not
true, it has to be raised to a condition of<i> </i>positive action, at least
when we are awake. Normally, to remain silent and still with all the limbs of<i>
</i>the body in a state of complete relaxation means drifting into sleep. One
is no doubt rested in sleep, but a conscious sleep is preferable to the unconscious
type. Conscious sleep means conscious immobility.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
are two or three steps in this process. First, there comes a general relaxation
and immobility <i>of </i>the whole body. Next, there has' to be a relaxation <i>of
</i>each separate part, one after the other. One may begin with the toes –
there is a relaxation of the muscles and joints of the toes; then the muscles
and joints of the ankles and legs, the knees, the thighs, <span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
8.15pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;
border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page
- 468<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>the abdomen and the waist,
the chest and throat and the face including the lips and chin, and finally the
forehead and the eyelids and the scalp are all relaxed in turn and stilled. In
the same way one may come down step by step from one level to the next down to
the toes. All one has to do is to watch and see how everything gets relaxed and
falls quiet, just as the thought waves subside and grow calm.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This all of you can try
and you can see for yourself how greatly. it invigorates the body, how fresh
and alive it becomes.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
results are still more deep and intense if you can rise a step higher; then it
becoms a part of yoga and spiritual training. To relax a part of the body means
unravelling one of its knots or strands, widening and opening out what was limited
within bounds and self-centred; that means putting it in contact with all that
is around, with the universal. It is as if you had within you a pipeline which
was corked and, clamped and which you open up now to let in the gradual flow of
the universal life-energy. This, in more erudite language, is called <i>cakrabheda,
</i>breaking through the six or, according to another count, twelve or more <span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>centres</span> of consciousness or
energy that are there in the body; these are liberated and brought into play.
Through ś<i>avÄsana </i>one becomes unified with the universal
life-energy; from head to foot there streams in the vitality inherent in all
Nature.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>. One may proceed still
farther, take a higher step. I have. just been speaking of ascending and
descending up and down the different parts and levels of the body, as it were
polishing them smooth in the process, making them quiet and still. But when the
being or consciousness reaches the level of the head and takes its firm station
there, it can not only widen itself out by opening horizontally on all sides,
it can also rise to a higher plane, even without any definite knowledge, simply
with the feeling that it has reached somewhere. You may remember that somewhere
in the Beyond is the Force and the Presence of the Mother. If you can get into
touch</p>


<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page - 469<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>with Her nearness and
presence there in this manner, then you have already broken through the six
centres, accomplished the end of Hathayoga and Tantra. There comes pouring
into each limb not only a wide peace but also a strength and an illumination.
This you may say is an easy simplified method of breaking through the centres.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
is an enormous difference between consciousness and unconsciousness; they
belong to two different worlds as it were. The same work or. action, if done in
an unconscious-manner, will give one result; the result will be very different
if it is done consciously. The Mother once told you about this. How many times
in the day we have to go up and down the stairs, but most of the time we do it
in an unconscious manner, mechanically like inanimate things. Such unconscious
or mechanical movements and exercise do not help the body much. But if you do
the same movements consciously, if the steps are taken and the legs moved with
full consciousness or concentration, two good results follow: first, you avoid
the possibility of an accident, for then there is little chance of stumbling or
slipping down the stairs, and secondly, your muscles develop more strength and
capacity. Indeed, the entire body may gain in vitality by this little exercise
if performed consciously.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
lower animals know of no such conscious exercise, in fact they have no
possibility of any kind of voluntary training. Their bodies grow and the
muscles develop, naturally and inevitably, as they grow in years. And they
decline as naturally and inevitably with the coming of old'</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>age. You know the story of
the animal in the fable who had lost its power to bite and scratch, <i>galita-nakha-dantah.
</i>Man alone of all terrestrial creatures has the capacity of over-passing
the limits set by Nature, and he does that by virtue of his conscious power of
will and thought.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>That
is why the Mother has often said that the real foundation of all work, of all
true action is peace. The vast multitudinous movement of the universe has for
its base an<span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:11.25pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page
- 470<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>unfathomable Peace; out of the Silence springs the
rhythmic Word of the Truth.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Now to
conclude. .</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:19.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It is not true that an elderly person
taking part in exercises undergoes an unnecessary strain or should be made an
object of ridicule. It is not a mere waste of energy, there is a definite
feature of gain. An old man doting on his pretty young wife? Perhaps so, if you
like: you know the famous line of Valmiki on Dasharatha, how he held his young
wife dearer even than life, <i>vrddhasya tarunī bhÄryÄ prÄnebhyo'pi
garīyasi. </i>An old man may very well fall in love with exercise much in
the same way. To young people in the abundance of their youthful vitality, the
need for physical exercise is not always so apparent. How the children of our
Green Group shun like poison the rules and regulations of the Playground and
try to shirk work is known to their captains. But for an elderly person
accustomed to regular training, to miss a single exercise-period seems like
wasting a whole day: he feels so out of sorts.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
apart from the question of likes and dislikes, there is a real difference, a
difference in kind, between the old and the young. To young people physical
exercise is something that is easy, spontaneous and natural; in their case the
bodies. execute the movements out of a natural capacity for imitation, by
virtue of an instinctive reaction or habit. When a child learns to take his
first steps, it does so because it sees others doing the same; one acts as one
sees – <i>yad-drstam tat krtam. </i>The movements are passed on to the limbs
directly from the vision. It is not quite the same thing with an elderly
person. He has first to see the movements executed, he has to remember them and
his own movements follow upon a kind of reflection; it is the mind that has to
act as intermediary. The mind has to commit them to memory and it is only then
that the body can be made to obey, like a servant taking orders from the
master. This process has its points both good and bad.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 471<o:p></o:p></span></p>


<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
first defect is that the body takes time to learn and, what is worse, the
movements it executes remain somewhat rigid, lifeless and inharmonious. But
good results may come and do come if one pays attention. <span
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>In<b> </b></span>other words, the movements
of the body can be performed consciously. Generally speaking, so long as we
are young, our physical movements and exercises are carried out more or less
unconsciously, just as the animals act naturally and automatically under the
impulse of habit. We are not always conscious of what we are doing. But as we
grow in age this spontaneity of the body disappears and one has to cajole it
into action. That is to say, the movements have to be done consciously. As I
have already remarked before, it is this conscious action that is one of the
gifts of age. I should, however, add that this consciousness is not the same
thing as the deliberate power of the intellect. Deliberation is only the beginning
of conscious growth. But mere deliberation rather adds to the rigidity of the
body. Still, it is a necessary stage in the growth of consciousness, a first
step in that direction.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
very aim of life is to grow in consciousness. We pass through life mostly in a
state of ignorance and inconscience, under subjection to Nature. <span
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>In<b> </b></span>place of that we have to
become conscious, not only in a general way, but by infusing consciousness into
every limb in its activity. The result will . be that there will manifest in
them a light, a beauty, and finally a light and force that are not of this
world, but come from the higher ranges.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 472<o:p></o:p></span></p>


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