Page 17 - All India Magazine Jan-2025
P. 17

Respect good health
            I have said that from a young age children should be taught
        to respect good health, physical strength and balance. The great
        importance of beauty must also be emphasised. A  young child
        should aspire for beauty, not for the sake of pleasing others or
        winning  their  admiration,  but  for  the  love  of  beauty  itself;  for
        beauty is the ideal which all physical life must realise. Every human
        being has the possibility of establishing harmony among the dif-
        ferent parts of his body and in the various movements of the body
        in action. Every human body that undergoes a rational method of
        culture from the very beginning of its existence can realise its own
        harmony and thus become fit to manifest beauty. When we speak
        of the other aspects of an integral education, we shall see what
        inner conditions are to be fulfilled so that this beauty can one day
        be manifested.
            So far I have referred only to the education to be given to
        children; for a good many bodily defects can be rectified and many
        malformations avoided by an enlightened physical education giv-
        en at the proper time. But if for any reason this physical educa-
        tion has not been given during childhood or even in youth, it can
        begin at any age and be pursued throughout life. But the later
        one begins, the more one must be prepared to meet bad habits
        that have to be corrected, rigidities to be made supple, malforma-
        tions to be rectified. And this preparatory work will require much
        patience and perseverance before one can start on a constructive
        programme for the harmonisation of the form and its movements.
        But if you keep alive within you the ideal of beauty that is to be
        realised, sooner or later you are sure to reach the goal you have
        set yourself.
        CWM 12: 14-17                                     The Mother







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