II. DISCRIMINATION


The next very necessary qualification for the teacher is Discrimination.
My Master said that the most important knowledge was "the knowledge of
God's plan for men, for God has a plan, and that plan is evolution."
Each boy has his own place in evolution, and the teacher must try to see
what that place is, and how he can best help the boy in that place. This
is what the Hindus call Dharma, and it is the teacher's duty to find out
the boy's dharma and to help him to fulfil it. In other words, the
teaching given to the boy should be that which is suitable for him, and
the teacher must use discrimination in choosing the teaching, and in his
way of giving it. Under these conditions, the boy's progress would be
following out the tendencies made in past lives, and would really be
remembering the things he knew before. "The method of evolution," as a
great Master said, "is a constant dipping down into matter under the law
of readjustment," _i.e._ by reincarnation and karma. Unless the teacher
knows these truths, he cannot work with evolution as he should do, and
much of his time and of his pupil's time will be wasted. It is this
ignorance which causes such small results to be seen, after many years
at school, and which leaves the boy himself so ignorant of the great
truths which he needs to guide his conduct in life.

Discrimination is wanted in the choice of subjects and in the way in
which they are taught. First in importance come religion and morals, and
these must not only be taught as subjects but must be made both the
foundation and the atmosphere of school life, for these are equally
wanted by every boy, no matter what he is to do later in life. Religion
teaches us that we are all part of One Self, and that we ought therefore