Page 22 - All India Magazine Aug-2026

Sweet Mother, we are told that the conditions were much more
strict and the discipline more rigorous before children came to
the Ashram. How and why have these conditions changed now?

Before the children came, only those who wanted to do
sadhana were admitted to the Ashram and the only habits and
activities tolerated were those that were useful for the practice
of sadhana.
But as it would be unreasonable to demand that children
should do sadhana, this rigidity had to disappear the moment
the children were introduced into the Ashram.

CWM 13: 109

The ideal to follow
None of the present achievements of humanity, however
great they are, can be for us an ideal to follow. The wide world
is there as a field of experiment for human ideals.
Our purpose is quite different and if our chances of success
are small just now, we are sure that we are working to prepare
the future.
I know that from the external point of view we are below
many of the present achievements in this world, but our aim
is not a perfection in accordance with the human standards.
We are endeavouring for something else which belongs to the
future.
The Ashram has been founded and is meant to be the cradle
of the new world.
The inspiration is from above, the guiding force is from
above, the creative power is from above, at work for the de-
scent of the new realisation.
It is only by its shortcomings, its deficiencies and its failures
that the Ashram belongs to the present world.

22 All India Magazine, August 2026