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<title>The Ashram, the World and The Individual*</title>

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<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b>The Ashram, the World and <span class=GramE>The</span> Individual*<o:p></o:p></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">M<span style='font-size:10.0pt'>OTHER</span> told us long ago that our
Ashram is an epitome of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
It represents all that is good in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and also all that is bad – all the bad qualities, her <span class=GramE>weaknesses,
all that</span> is crooked and false, dark and obscure. And the Ashram, being a
concentrated <span class=GramE>centre</span> of all that, represents them in a
specially intense form.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Now the pressure from above has come to change and
for that purpose all the dark points, all that is to be changed and rejected,
have been exposed. They have been exposed everywhere – <span class=GramE>in <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>the Ashram and also outside the Ashram,
in the country in general the same defects and weaknesses, the same wrong
movements.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12.45pt; mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">In <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
in the bigger field, the government is trying to check and control these
movements by external means: to some extent it is necessary and so the Central
Authority has been given that strength and capacity.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:11.25pt; mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">But the Ashram was made to be a conscious
collective centre where these things should and must change from within, not
under external compulsion, and that is why the Ashram was not given an
authority strong enough to dominate or control them. Here, the change should
be conscious and, as I said, from within.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">And each one of us who are here in the Ashram is in turn</p>

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

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:7.9pt;mso-line-height-alt:
9.35pt;mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<font size="2">* Report of a private talk with Sri Nolini Kanta
Gupta on <st1:date Year="1976" Day="9" Month="9">9 September, 1976</st1:date>.</font><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 26</span><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; mso-pagination:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><span class=GramE>an</span> epitome of the Ashram and all the good and
bad elements and movements are in one way or other represented in him – even <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>in the best ones the wrong movements can cast
a shadow. So it is a task for everyone especially the so-called ‘best’ ones,
that is, those who are more conscious, to detect and reject and change all that
is wrong and false and develop all that is true and good, and thereby to change
or help to change the very elements in Ashram-atmosphere as well as outside:
that is the only solution and the only remedy – to cure the ills
individually, personally in one's own consciousness. Then only a conscious
collective consciousness can grow and develop in the Ashram with all these living
and conscious units or cells and thereby change its own condition as well as
the condition of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and also the condition of the world.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12.45pt; mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">I say all this in view of the hard core, the
strong seed that has to be formed out of which will sprout the future new
creation. A centre should become such a seed, at least at its own centre, its
own inmost centre; it must develop this inmost centre, its kernel, its living
soul.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:12.95pt; mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Mother also said that as India is a representative
or an epitome of the world, – just<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>in the
same <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>way as the Ashram is the epitome of
India and each individual in his turn an epitome of the Ashram, – the
world-problems will have to be solved in India. For <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has the capacity and is destined to do so. When <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
solves her problems the world also will find its problems practically solved.
And the Ashram is expected to show the way to the solution of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
problems. Can the Ashram rise up to play its role? At least that was the
Mother's intention. It all depends upon its individual members.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style="text-align:justify; text-indent:.15in;mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">Of course, we must remember, Mother's help is
always there.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 27<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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