Beautiful Tree....

It's very interesting to know as to what made Sri Dharmpal ji to write 'Beautiful Tree'

...That does not finish the picture. We have the education of this future state. I say without fear of my figures being challenged successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the Brit­ish administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and the beautiful tree perished. The village schools were not good enough for the British administrator, so he came out with his programme. Every school must have so much paraphernalia, building, and so forth. Well, there were no such schools at all. There are statistics left by a British adminis­trator which show that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition for these schools, and the schools established after the European pattern were too expensive for the people, and therefore they could not possibly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfill a programme of compulsory primary education of these masses inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to sustain such an expensive method of education. Our state would revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a school both for boys and girls.

(MAHATMA GANDHI AT CHATHAM HOUSE, LONDON,
OCTOBER 20, 1931)

...I have not left off the pursuit of the subject of education in the villages during the pre-British period. I am in correspon­dence with several educationists. Those who have replied do sup­port my view but do not produce authority that would be accepted as proof. My prejudice or presentiment still makes me cling to the statement I made at Chatham House. I don't want to write haltingly in Harijan. You don't want me merely to say that the proof I had in mind has been challenged by you!

(GANDHIJI TO SIR PHILIP HARTOG, SEGAON,
AUGUST, 1939)

How to Practice watching Thought Flow

                                                                                                How to Practice Watching Thought Flow

1. The primary requirement for successful 'Watching Thought flow' exercise is correct body posture.
2. One has to sit straight with shoulders upright; spinal cord, back of the neck and head all in one straight line; without any backrest or handrest.  The body should be relaxed and hands placed softly in the lap.
3. For the first few minutes, one should focus one's thoughts on the body to make sure that everything is relaxed and perfectly still.
4. There should not be any movement of any part of the body apart from breathing gently through the nose.
5. Once we have made the body absolutely still and completely relaxed we can start 'Watching our Thoughts'.
6. Now, we must simply watch the thoughts as they appear in the mind – just as we watch clouds float by in the sky or waves come and go at seashore.
7. It is important that we don't react to any thought otherwise we will get lost in it and will start brooding on our thoughts, instead of watching them.
8. A simple analogy can be drawn with a watchman standing at a gate.  He sees so many people come and go without reacting or talking to them.  He is all the time perfectly calm and quiet.  But the moment he sees his wife, he starts talking to her and so is no longer calm and quiet.  The watchman's talking to his wife is like our brooding on a particular thought.  The moment we get engrossed in a particular thought, we stop watching and instead brooding starts – this has to be avoided.
9. Initially, one may find that the thoughts appearing in the mind are very foul and dirty.  But we mustn't loose heart and should go on with the practice.  It is something like what happens when we wash an inkpot.  As water is poured into it, at first it comes out very deep blue.  But as we persist in the washing process, gradually the water becomes clearer and clearer until it is absolutely pure.  Similarly, we must keep on at this process and we will find that gradually our thoughts will become purer and purer until one day we find ourselves perfectly pure.
10. As mentioned before, the essential thing is regularity and sincerity.  The practice must be done for at least 10 minutes every morning and evening.

How to Practice watching Thought Flow

                                                                                                How to Practice Watching Thought Flow

1. The primary requirement for successful 'Watching Thought flow' exercise is correct body posture.
2. One has to sit straight with shoulders upright; spinal cord, back of the neck and head all in one straight line; without any backrest or handrest.  The body should be relaxed and hands placed softly in the lap.
3. For the first few minutes, one should focus one's thoughts on the body to make sure that everything is relaxed and perfectly still.
4. There should not be any movement of any part of the body apart from breathing gently through the nose.
5. Once we have made the body absolutely still and completely relaxed we can start 'Watching our Thoughts'.
6. Now, we must simply watch the thoughts as they appear in the mind – just as we watch clouds float by in the sky or waves come and go at seashore.
7. It is important that we don't react to any thought otherwise we will get lost in it and will start brooding on our thoughts, instead of watching them.
8. A simple analogy can be drawn with a watchman standing at a gate.  He sees so many people come and go without reacting or talking to them.  He is all the time perfectly calm and quiet.  But the moment he sees his wife, he starts talking to her and so is no longer calm and quiet.  The watchman's talking to his wife is like our brooding on a particular thought.  The moment we get engrossed in a particular thought, we stop watching and instead brooding starts – this has to be avoided.
9. Initially, one may find that the thoughts appearing in the mind are very foul and dirty.  But we mustn't loose heart and should go on with the practice.  It is something like what happens when we wash an inkpot.  As water is poured into it, at first it comes out very deep blue.  But as we persist in the washing process, gradually the water becomes clearer and clearer until it is absolutely pure.  Similarly, we must keep on at this process and we will find that gradually our thoughts will become purer and purer until one day we find ourselves perfectly pure.
10. As mentioned before, the essential thing is regularity and sincerity.  The practice must be done for at least 10 minutes every morning and evening.