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Auroville is the result of the spiritual vision of Sri Aurobindo and his spiritual
collaborator the Mother. Their vision of Earth, the evolution of the human
species and other similar issues all have to be understood in light of the
spiritual experiences they underwent. Auroville is considered to be the outer
manifestation of the spiritual progress achieved in the Aurobindo Ashram.
Auroville can be said to be the result of the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as
interpreted by his spiritual collaborator the Mother.
"Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution
continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each individual to know
whether he wants to participate in the advent of this new species.For
those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has
no reason to exist" (The Mother, 1966) .
Both Sri Aurobindo and The Mother worked all their lives for the
manifestation of a mode of consciousness beyond mind, which Sri
Aurobindo named "Supermind" or "The Supramental". The full
expression of this consciousness on earth would result not only in a new
species, as far beyond Man as huma,1Jty is beyond the animals, but also
in a modification of the whole terrestr\al creation, even more complete
than the change brought about by the entrance on the world scene of the
human race. Between humanity and the fully Supramental species there
would have to be one or several transitional steps, represented by
transitional beings, born in the human way, but able to contact and
express the higher consciousness. These transitional beings would
prepare the way for the advent of the Supramental Race by establishing
suitable conditions.After Sri Aurobindo's passing, the Mother continued
his work of psychological and physical transformation.
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INDIA
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THE VISION AND THE SOUL
"Earth needs
a place where men can live away from all national rivalries, social conventions,
self-contradictory moralities and contending religions;
a place where human beings, freed from all slavery to the past, can
devote themselves wholly to the discovery and practice of the Divine
Consciousness that is seeking to manifest
Auroville wants to be this place and offers itself to all who aspire to live the
Truth of tomorrow."(THE MOTHER ,20.9.1969).
SRI AUROBINDO
Aravind Ghose (Calcutta 15.8.1872 - Pondicherry 5.12.1950), along
with his two brothers, was given an entirely Western education by their
Anglophile father. After infant schooling at a convent in Darjeeling,
they were taken to England to live with a clergyman's family in
Manchester. From there they joined St. Paul's public school in West
London, and later went on to Cambridge University. There, Sri
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Aurobindo was a brilliant scholar, winning record marks in the Classical
Tripos examination. But he had already been touched by a will for the
Independence of India, and did not wish to become an official of the
colonial administration - the position his father and his education had
marked him out for. He managed to disqualify himself by failing to take
the mandatory riding test, and instead returned to India in 1893 in the
service of the Indian princely State of Baroda, where he remained up to
1906.
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to the request for a message to his countrymen by speaking of five
dreams that he had worked for, and which he now saw on the way to
fulfilment.
(1 )" ... a revolutionary movement, which would create a free and united
India. 11 (2) 11 ... the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and
her return to her great role in the progress of human civilization. 11 (3) 11 ... a
world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life
for all mankind. 11 ( 4) 11
... the spiritual gift of India to the world. 11 (5)
11
... a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger
consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have
perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and to dream of
individual perfectiol'l and a perfect society. 11 (Sri Aurobindo: 1936)
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consciously in this process of self-discovery and self-exploration. This
knowledge founds an optimistic and dynamic world-view, which gives
each individual a meaningful place in a progressive cosmic unfolding,
and casts our understanding of human endeavour, whether individual or
collective, in a new and purposeful perspective.
Sri Aurobindo's teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness
is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it liberates
itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once
having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the
same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater
perfection. Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is
the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a
release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and
supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards the
development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the
conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things
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release itself entirely and it becomes possible for life to manifest
perfection.
But while the former steps in evolution were taken by Nature without a
conscious will in the plant and animal life, in man Nature becomes able
to evolve by a conscious will in the instrument. It is not, however, by
the mental will in man that this can be wholly done, for the mind goes
only to a certain point and after that can only move in a circle. A
conversion has to be made, a turning of the consciousness by which
mind has to change into the higher principle. This method is to be found
through the ancient psychological discipline and practice of Yoga. In
the past, it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world and a
disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit. Sri Aurobindo
teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which will not
merely release the spiritual Self out of the world, but release it in the
world, replace the mind's ignorance or its very limited knowledge by a
supramental Truth-Consciousness which will be a sufficient instrument
of the inner Self and make it possible for the human being to find
himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of his still animal
humanity into a diviner race. The psychological discipline of Yoga can
be used to that end by opening all the parts of the being to a conversion
or transformation through the descent and working of the higher still
concealed supramental principle.
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surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him with
greater possibilities to which he has to awake - for it is only a very
restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to
a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge.
The first process of Yoga is, therefore, to open the ranges of this inner
being and to live from there outward, governing his outward life by an
inner light and force. In doing so he discovers in himself his true soul,
which is not this outer mixture of mental, vital and physical elements
but something of the Reality behind them, a spark from the one Divine
Fire. He has to learn to live in his soul and purify and orientate by its
drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow
afterwards an opening upward and descent of a higher principle of the
Being. But even then it is not at once the full supramental Light and
Force. For there are several ranges of consciousness between the
ordinary human mind and the supramental Truth-Consciousness. These
intervening ranges have to be opened up and their power brought down
into the mind, life and body. Only afterwards can the full power of the
Truth-Consciousness work in the nature. The process of this self-
discipline or Sadhana is therefore long and difficult, but even a little of
it is so much gained because it makes the ultimate release and perfection
more possible.
There are many things belonging to older systems that are necessary on
the way - an opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the sense
of the Self and the Infinite, an emergence into what has been called the
cosmic consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions. An
outward asceticism is not essential, but the conquest of desire and
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attachment, a control over the body and its needs and greed, and
instincts are indispensable. There is a combination of the principles of
the old systems, the way of knowledge through the mind's discernment
between Reality and the appearance, the heart's way of devotion, love
and surrender and the way of works turning the will away from motives
of self-interest to the Truth and the service of a greater Reality than the
ego. For the whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and be
transformed when it is possible for that greater Light and Force to work
in the nature.
Ill
Integral Yoga
Many Aurovilleans, certainly those who have specifically come for
Auroville's spiritual vision and call, are practicing the 'Integral Yoga' as
described by Sri Aurobindo, and naturally refer to it in their
communications in daily life. We give here a brief introduction to this
method of yoga. This yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and
holds it to be a reality. Its object is to enter into a higher Truth-
Consciousness or Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action
and creation are the expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but
of the Truth, the Light, the Divine Ananda (Bliss). But for that, the
surrender of the mortal mind, life and body to the Higher Consciousness
is indispensable, since it is too difficult for the mortal human being to
pass by its own effort beyond mind to a Supramental Consciousness in
which the dynamism is no longer mental but of quite another power.
Only those who can accept the call to such a change should enter into
this yoga. The Sadhana [practice] of the Integral Yoga does not proceed
through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation,
mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or
upwards, by a self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above
us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart and by the
rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith,
aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
The method is to put our whole conscious being into relation and
contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform our entire being
into His, so that in a sense God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes
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the sadhaka of the sadhana as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom
the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and
the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the Tapas,
the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine
Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces its own
realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon
the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole
lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the
inferior human light and mortal activity.
This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total earnest
about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its demands in
order to find themselves in the Divine. It cannot be done in a spirit of
levity or laxity.The work is too high and difficult, the adverse powers in
the lower Nature too ready to take advantage of the least sanction or the
smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasya (concentration of the will)
needed too constant and intense.
To concentrate, preferably in the heart and call the presence and power
of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force
transform the consciousness. One can concentrate also in the head or
between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening.
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When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the
aspiration intense, then there is the beginning of experience. The more
the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest, one must
not depend on one's own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a
contact with the Divine and receptivity to the Mother's Power and
Presence.
It is the psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion
and the removal of the ego that makes it possible to surrender.
Meditation in the head by which there comes the opening above, the
quietude or silence of the mind and the descent of peace etc. of the
higher consciousness generally till it envelops the being and fills the
body and begins to take up all the movements. Separation of the
Purusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being from the outer active
one, so that one has two consciousness or a double consciousness, one
behind watching and observing and finally controlling and changing the
other which is active in front. The other way of beginning the yoga of
works is by doing them for the Divine, for the Mother, and not for
oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one concretely feels the
Divine Force taking up the activities and doing them for one. The object
of the Integral Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine
Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine's sake
alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our
will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. The whole
principle of Integral Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone
and to nobody else, and to bring down into ourselves by union with the
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I - -
The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive
of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union
with the Mother and in her Presence. The descent of the Peace, Power,
Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into
the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. The perception of
the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and
living in that infinite consciousness are the end result of this yoga (Sri
Aurobindo, Vol. 20.).
THE MOTHER
Mirra Alfassa (21.2.1878 (Paris )- 17 .11. 73 (Pondicherry )) was born as
the second child of an Egyptian Mother and a Turkish father, a few
months after her parents had settled in France. An extraordinarily gifted
child, who became an accomplished painter and musician, she had many
inner experiences from early childhood on. In her twenties, she studied
occultism in Algeria with Max Theon and his English wife Alma, who
was a highly developed medium. After her return to Paris, the Mother
worked with several different groups of spiritual seekers.
She first heard of Sri Aurobindo from her friend Alexandra David-Neel,
who had visited him in Pondicherry in 1912 and in 1914, along with her
second husband Paul Richard. She was able to travel to Pondicherry and
meet him in person. There, she immediately recognised him as a mentor
she had encountered in earlier visions, and knew that her future work
115
was at his side. Although she had to leave India after the outbreak of the
First World War, first returning to France, and then accompanying
Richard to an official post in Japan, in April 1920 she returned to join
Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry and never left again. Sri Aurobindo
recognised in her an embodiment of the dynamic expressive aspect of
evolutionary, creative Force. In India, she has been traditionally known
and approached as the 'Supreme Mother'.
C 0 N C E P T I 0 N AN D BIRTH OF AUROVILLE
Auroville was visualized as a place that no nation could claim as its sole
property, a place where all human beings of goodwill, sincere in their
aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single
authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where
all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the
causes of his suffering and misery, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to
triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the
116
spirit and the care for progress would get precedence over the satisfaction of
desires and passions, the seeking for pleasures and material enjoyments.
Auroville is the result of the dream that the Mother the spiritual collaborator of
Aurobindo had. This is a place meant to be the outer manifestation of the
perfection that would be attained at the Ashram. As we shall see later the
relationship between the Ashram and Auroville ended up in a bitter power
struggle, which reached its climax with the passing of a parliamentary act by
the Government on India. However, let us first see how this place came into
existence. Let us see it as described by the Mother herself.
A Dream
"There should be somewhere upon earth a place that no nation could claim as
its sole property, a place where all human beings of good will, sincere in their
aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single
authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where
all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the
causes of his suffering and misery, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to
triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the
spirit and the care for progress would get precedence over the satisfaction of
desires and passions, the seeking for pleasures and material enjoyments. In this
place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing
contact with their soul. Education would be given, not with a view to passing
examinations and getting certificates and posts, but for enriching the existing
faculties and bringing forth new ones. In this place titles and positions would be
supplanted by opportunities to serve and organise. The needs of the body will
be provided for equally in the case of each and everyone. In the general
organisation intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority will find expression not
117
in the enhancement of the pleasures and powers of life but in the increase of
duties and responsibilities. Artistic beauty in all forms, painting, sculpture,
music, literature, will be available ~qually to all, the opportunity to share in the
joys they bring being limited solely by each one's capacities and not by social
or financial position. For in this ideal place money would be no more the
sovereign lord. Individual merit will have a greater importance than the value
due to material wealth and social position. Work would not be there as the
means of gaining one's livelihood, it would be the means whereby to express
oneself, develop one's capacities and possibilities, while doing at the same time
service to the whole group, which on its side would provide for each one's
subsistence and for the field of his work. In brief, it would be a place where the
relations among human beings, usually based almost exclusively upon
competition and strife, would be replaced by relations of emulation for doing
better, for collaboration, relations of real brotherhood. The earth is certainly not
ready to realise such an ideal, for mankind does not yet possess the necessary
knowledge to understand and accept it or the indispensable conscious force to
execute it. That is why I call it a dream. Yet, this dream is on the way to
becoming a reality. That is exactly what we are seeking to do at the Sri
Aurobindo Ashram on a small scale, in proportion to our modest means. The
achievement is indeed far from being perfect but it is progressive: little by little
we advance towards our goal which, we hope, one day we shall be able to hold
up before the world as a practical and effective means of coming out of the
present chaos in order to be born into a more true, more harmonious new life"
(THE MOTHER, Aug. 1954).
As we can see, the project that these individuals set out to achieve is heaven
itself. This can be seen from the work of Sri Aurobindo who did not believe in
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the mere liberation of individuals, but wanted to bring down heaven onto earth.
And tit is with this goal in mind that this town was planned. The present
conditions on earth were found to be insufficient to bring down the supramental
onto the earth plane hence the need for an ideal town. "Is it possible to find a
spot where the embryo or seed of the future supramental world could be
created? The plan had come in all its details; but it is a plan which, in its spirit
and consciousness, does not conform at all to what is possible on earth at the
moment; and yet, in its most material manifestation, it was based on earthly
conditions. This is the concept of an ideal town which would be the nucleus of
an ideal country, and whose only contacts with the outside world would be
purely superficial and extremely limited in their effects. Therefore already-but
this, however, is possible-one would have to conceive of a power grea(
enough to be a protection against both aggression or bad will-that would not
be the most difficult protection to obtain-and against infiltration, mixture. But
if need be, one can conceive of that. From the social point of view, from the
point of view of organisation, from the point of view of inner life, these are not
problems; the problem is the relation with what is not supramentalised, to
prevent infiltration, mixture, that is, to prevent this nucleus from falling back
into an inferior creation-it is a period of transition.All those who have thought
about this problem have always imagined something unknown to the rest of
humanity, like a gorge in the Himalayas, for example, a place unknown to the
rest of the world. But that is not a solution; it is not a solution at all. No, the
only solution is an occult power, but this implies that a certain number of
individuals must have already achieved a great perfection of realisation before
anything at all can be done. But one can conceive that if that can be done, one
could have, isolated in the midst of the outside world-without any contacts,
you see-an area where everything would be exactly in its place, as an
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example. Each thing, each person, each movement, is exactly in its place-and
in its place in an ascending, progressive movement, with no relapse-that is~
the very opposite of what happens in ordinary life. Of course, this supposes a -
kind of perfection, a kind of unity, this supposes that the various aspects of the
Supreme can be manifested; and necessarily, an exceptional beauty, a total
harmony, and a power great enough to command obedience from the forces of
Nature; for example, even if this place were surrounded b forces of destruction,
they would have no power to act; the protection would be sufficient. All this
demands the utmost perfection in the individuals organising such a thing"(THE
MOTHER, 1961).
The above passage from the Mother poses quite a few problems for any social
scientist trained in the scientific methods for understanding social reality. But
we have to understand the essence of their thinking to understand the way of
life, even if this thinking goes against the commonly held opinion of scientific
community. Further, we have to appreciate the fact that the notions of science
are rapidly changing and views once held to be sacrosanct are now being
constantly challenged. These challenges are coming from not merely the
spiritualists like the Transcendental meditation but primarily from the
physicists. As new frontiers of knowledge are being explored, views once
dismissed are beginning to question the legitimacy of such opinions. A detailed
discussion into such matters has already been provided in the first chapter
where several studies have also been provided.
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Synthesis of Cultures
Various cultures exist not only in different societies, but even in a single
society. How these cultures could be synthesized in a single comprehensive
culture is a basic question. The mother provides a strategy to this end.
According to her in Auroville, " ... the unity of the human race can be achieved
neither through uniformity nor through domination and subjection. A synthetic
organisation of all nations, each one occupying its own place in accordance
with its own genius and the role it has to play in the whole, can alone effect a
comprehensive and progressive unification, which may have some chance of
enduring. And if the synthesis is to be a living thing, the grouping should be
done around a central idea as high and wide as possible, and in which all
tendencies, even the most contradictory, would find their respective places.
That idea is to give man the conditions of life necessary for preparing him to
manifest the new force that will create the race of tomorrow." ... "the cultures
of the different regions of the earth will be represented here in such a way as to
be accessible to all, not merely intellectually, in ideas, theories, principles and
languages, but also vitally, in habits and customs, in art under all forms-
painting, sculpture, music, architecture, decoration-and physically too through
natural scenery, dress, games, sports, industries and food. A kind of world-
exhibition has to be organised in which all the countries will be represented in a
concrete and living manner; the ideal would be that every nation with a very
definite culture would have a pavilion representing that culture, built on a
model that most displays the habits of the country; it will exhibit the nation's
most representative products, natural as well as manufactured, products also
that best express its intellectual and artistic genius and its spiritual tendencies.
Each nation would thus find a practical and concrete interest in the cultural
121
synthesis and collaborate in the work by taking over the charge of the pavilion
that represents it. A lodging house also could be attached, large or small
according to the need, where students of the same nationality would be
accommodated"(THE MOTHER, 1952).
She further says that,"For in this ideal place money would be no more the
sovereign lord. Individual merit will have a greater importance than the value
due to material wealth and social position. Work would not be there as the
means of gaining one's livelihood, it would be the means whereby to express
oneself, develop one's capacities and possibilities, while doing at the same time
service to the whole group, which on its side would provide for each one's
subsistence and for the field of his work".
In brief, it would be a place where the relations among human beings, usually
based almost exclusively upon competition and strife, would be replaced by
relations of emulation for doing better, for collaboration, relations of real
brotherhood.
The following is the Auroville charter, which forms the basis of this
society, and sets out its guiding principles.
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3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future.
Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within,
Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
TO BE A TRUE AUROVILLEAN
The following ideals have been set out by the mother which form the
basic ideals of the community;
1. The first necessity is the inner discovery by which one learns who
one really is behind the social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary
appearances. At our inmost centre there is a free being, wide and
knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the acting
centre of our being and our life in Auroville.
3. The Aurovilian must lose the proprietary sense of possession. For our
passage in the material world, that which is indispensable to our life and
to our action is put at our disposal according to the place we should
occupy there. The more conscious our contact is with our inner being,
the more exact are the means given.
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4. Work, even manual work, is an indispensable thing for the inner
discovery. If one does not work, if one does not inject his consciousness
into matter, the latter will never develop. To let one's consciousness
organise a bit of matter by way of one's body is very good. To establish
order around oneself helps to bring order within oneself. One should
organise life not according to outer, artificial rules, but according to an
organised, inner consciousness, because if one allows life to drift
without imposing the control of a higher consciousness, life becomes
inexpressive and irresolute. It is to waste one's time in the sense that
matter persists without a conscious utilisation.
5. The whole earth must prepare itself for the advent of the new species,
and Auroville wants to consciously work towards hastening that advent.
Auroville is wonderful mix ofthe east and the west ;it is as if the whole
of humanity has decided to represent itself here. This can be called a
virtual meeting of the nations of world. And unlike the experience of
other cultures, the cultures here do not try to impose on each other but
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try to evolve into something better. There is no effort at cresting
hegemony of any particular culture but the effort is towards evolving a
newer culture. This is a theme that constantly repeats itself in all the
different institutions of Auroville; the theme is of constant
experimentation, an endless effort toward creating something better.
EVOLUTION OF AUROVILLE
The Mother had been "dreaming" of a project like Auroville for quite a
long time, as stated earlier. It was only in 1965 that she began to work
actively on it. A French architect, Roger Anger, was given the
responsibility of preparing the lay-out and he worked on it with his
colleagues in Paris. At that time, those interested in the project were
staying mainly in Pondicherry.
The official inauguration took place on 28th February 1968, with a
formal ceremony around an Urn, into which was placed the Auroville
Charter and earth from all over India and the world as a symbol of
national and human unity. As the pioneers arrived, they established
themselves on the outskirts of the future township of Auroville, in
settlements named Promesse, Hope, Fore comers and Aspiration. The
first plot of land for Auroville was bought on 8th October 1964.
Between the years 1964 and 1973, about 2,000 acres (807 hectares),
spread over an area of 24 sq. km interspersed between privately owned
land and government land, was bought. It was on these lands that the
early pioneers in the seventies developed a number of settlements. They
put in a great deal of work and investment to reclaim those severely
eroded plots and establish numerous projects, which today are having an
125
increasingly beneficial impact, not only on Auroville but on the
neighbouring villages as well.
The second phase - the years between 197 4 and 1993 - can certainly be
described as a period of scarce activity. According to a leaflet published
by the Auroville Land Service in 1992, only 200 acres (81 hectares)
were purchased during those 18 years, .mainly for expansion of already
existing settlements to establish specific projects.
126
near the Tamil village of Kuilapalayam, in order to make a concrete
attempt at learning how to live in Auroville and in the Green Belt, an
area of forest and farms which is to surround the future town.
In 1974 there were already 322 Aurovilleans. With an average yearly
growth of 4 % in the seventies, of 5 % in the eighties and of 8% in the
nineties, the number of Aurovilleans reached 1808 by the end of August
2004. With the present trend of growth, Auroville may reach its full
dimension, of 50.000 inhabitants within 30 years. Out of roughly 90
settlements, only 7 of them include row-houses or appartments (in the
City area: Creativity, Grace, Vikas, Arati, Surrender, Invocation,
Prarthna and one in Auromodele area). The rest comprises individual
houses which range from the hut-type residence to decent villas. 30% of
Aurovilleans live in the area of Aspiration/Auromodele, 40% live within
the town area, and the rest are scattered in the Green Belt, in farms or in
beach communities. Schools for Aurovilleans are found in three places,
Centre Field (near Matrimandir Gardens), Transition and Aspiration
(Last School). Three national pavilions are found in the International
Zone: the Indian pavilion called Bharat Nivas, the Pavilion for Tibetan
Culture and the Unity Pavilion; More than I 00 commercial units,
mainly doing handicrafts, are widely scattered over the area, with a
higher concentration in the Industrial Zone.
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Map of the Auroville Area
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As Mother made clear, the Ashram and Auroville issued from the same
high source of inspiration. However, she was often asked to clarify the
relationship between the two. As early as her first detailed conversation
about Auroville, in June 1965, she stated that neither she nor the
Ashram would actually move to Auroville (although she might visit).
Auroville, she explained, is "the contact with the outside world". A few
months after the inauguration of Auroville she further clarified, "The
Ashram will keep its true role of pioneer, inspirer and guide. Auroville
is the attempt towards collective realization" (Auroville Adventure
,November 2005). Thus Mother stressed, from the very beginning,on
two of the characteristics which distinguish Auroville from the Ashram
-the fact that it is more 'outward', more involved with the texture and
challenges of the 'real' world, and the emphasis upon collective action
as opposed to the more individualistic yoga of the Ashram.
129
Mother replied, "There is no fundamental difference in the attitude
towards the future and towards the service of the Divine. But the people
of the Ashram are considered to have consecrated their lives to yoga
(except, of course, the students ... ). Whereas in Auroville, the simple
goodwill to make a collective experiment for the progress of humanity
is sufficient to gain admittance" (Ibid).
The Ashram founded and built by The Mother was the first step towards
the accomplishment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next
step, more exterior, which seeks to widen the base of this attempt to
establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and
earth, in the collective life of mankind" (Ibid). And the next year she
added, "The Ashram is the central consciousness, Auroville is one of
the outward expressions. In both places equally the work is done for the
Divine" (Ibid). The latter sentence seemed particularly aimed at those
who felt that the early Aurovilleans were not at all the right material for
hastening the advent of a new world. And this was not just the
perception of certain Indian Ashramites. In a famous conversation of
130
1Oth January, 1970 , Satprem(, a disciple of the Mother, was a French
freedom fighter against the Nazis during the Second World War)reports
an Italian disciple suggesting that the Ashramites should join
Aurovilleans in building the Matrimandir, "because without the inner
force of the people of the Ashram mingling with the Aurovilleans, the
people from Auroville will remain what they are." (Ibid) The
Aurovilleans, he explained, are not "receptive enough to do the work",
they are "full of arrogance, of incomprehension, they only see the
outside of things" (Ibid). He concluded that the "breach" between
Auroville and the Ashram could only be healed if the Ashramites and
Aurovilleans worked together. However, to Satprem's obvious
astonishment, Mother replies, "As for myself, I don't find it (the breach)
wide enough .. .It isn't at all the same plane" (Ibid). And she goes on to
explain that she didn't want Ashramites to be infected by the bad habits
of some Aurovilleans. As if to reinforce this concern, her next message
regarding the Ashram-Auroville relationship was precipitated by an
Aurovilian misbehaving in the Ashram playground, resulting in a call to
ban entry to all Aurovilleans "Being an Aurovilian is not at all the same
thing as being a member of the Ashram and living the Ashram life"
(Ibid), she wrote, and went on to say that only those Aurovilleans who
had been in the Ashram before the birth of Auroville had the right to
attend playground activities.
131
Aspirations, Satprem asked her if this was due to "a wrong attitude over
there?" "Yes. Oh, they're all quarrelling among themselves! And some
even disobey deliberately, they refuse to recognize any authority"
(Ibid).
Interestingly, however, Mother stated that, "I do not want to make rules
for Auroville as I did for the Ashram" (Ibid). And even if she was
forced to make one exception (regarding drugs), she continued to be,
from the point of view of some Ashramites, extremely lenient in her
attitude to some Aurovilleans, allowing some of them chance after
chance to reform their behaviour. She wanted, it seems, the
Aurovilleans to progress not through obedience to imposed rules, as in
the Ashram, but through the practical discovery that the old habits, "like
smoking, drinking and, of course, drugs ... all that, it is as if you were
cutting pieces off your being." In any case, she said, there would be a
natural weeding-out. "The power of the realization - of the sincerity of
the realization - is such that it's unbearable to those who are insincere"
(Ibid). In spite of Mother's strictures and the increasing scepticism of a
few Ashramites concerning the viability of the Auroville experiment,
I
throughout these years many Ashramites and students from the Ashram
School continued to come to Auroville. Some worked on the
Matrimandir, others taught in Aspiration School or helped with physical
education.
132
personal project. The situation deteriorated to such an extent that, in
1980, the Government of India passed the Auroville (Emergency
Provisions) Act, temporarily taking the management of the project out
of the hands ofthe Sri Aurobindo Society.
The conflict was clearly with the Sri Aurobindo Society rather than with
the Ashram, and throughout this difficult period many Aurovilleans and
Ashramites continued to visit each other just as before and maintained
deep friendships. However, there were incidents which, for some
individuals, weakened their links with the other community. For
example, the Ashram teachers working at Aspiration School were very
distressed when, in the mid 1970s, they were put before an ultimatum
which required them to either join Auroville or stop teaching there.
Even though the reason had more to do with radical educational theories
than opposition to Ashramites, the decision of the Ashram teachers to
stop coming reflected their feeling that they were no longer welcome.
On the other hand, when the Ashram trustees refused to support the
Aurovilleans, choosing to remain aloof from the conflict, some
Aurovilleans felt betrayed. Similarly, those Aurovilleans close to
Satprem were dismayed by the way they believed the Ashram
authorities had mistreated him in pursuit of the Agenda tapes. The
publication of Mother's Agenda, which contained strong comments on
certain Ashramites and certain aspects of the Ashram, coupled with
Satprem's pronouncement that the Ashram was dead, further reinforced
a feeling in some Aurovilleans that Auroville need have nothing to do
with that institution.
133
In recent years, however, there has been much more interchange
between the two communities. This is due to a number of factors. The
passing of the Auroville Foundation Act in 1988, which finally took
away the right of the Sri Aurobindo Society to manage Auroville and
gave Auroville its own legal status, gave Aurovilleans a renewed
confidence in their independence and allowed many of the
psychological battlements to be dismantled. Then the opening of the
Chamber, in August, 1991, resulted in a significant increase in the
number of Ashramites visiting Matrimandir. A few years later, another
bridge was put in place when Savitri Bhavan began inviting Ashramites
to give talks to Aurovilleans on different aspects of the yoga: these rove
proved very popular. Alongside this there has been an increasing
cultural interchange, of which the recent joint art exhibition is only the
latest manifestation. And, of course, new people have joined Auroville
who have little knowledge of or interest in the old stories, while former
antagonists have gained greater understanding of each other's
perspectives over the years.
134
lives. It's worth remembering, however, that when Mother talked of the
need to be receptive to the new consciousness and to prepare the world
for a new· creation, she made absolutely no distinction between
Auroville and the Ashram. For her, they are clearly one.
135
be allowed to be defeated or frustrated. Sri Aurobindo Society had lost
complete control over the situation and the members of the Auroville
approached the Government of India to give protection against
oppression and victimisation at the hands of the said Society. There
were internal quarrels between the various factions of the Sri Aurobindo
Society. There were also a few instances oflaw and order problems.
'
136
EARLY ASPIRATION COMMUNITY- AUROVILLE
AUROVILLE BUILDINGS
Last School Auroville (Present Day)
Residence In Auroville
(Note the swimming pool in the fore ground)
ROGER ANGER'S HOUSE
THE FUTURE ClTY
Auroville Foundation Act -1988
137
Consequently, there is no need for a separate work permit or a financial
guarantee for one's stay in Auroville.
Legal Status
In 1988, the Government of India passed the Auroville Foundation Act
to safeguard the development of the International Township of
Auroville according to its Charter. Under this Act, an autonomous
institution, the Auroville Foundation, has been established with a
Governing Board presently chaired by Mr. Kireet Joshi and an
International Advisory Council. In his presentation of the Act before
Indian Parliament, Sri P. Shiv Shanker, the then Indian Minister of
Human Resource Development, said:
138
Conditions for living in Auroville
On 19.6.1967, the Mother declared that "from the psychological point
of view, the required conditions for living in Auroville are:
"Auroville wants to be a city where people from all over the world live
in harmony, striving to realise human unity and to be at the service of
the Truth beyond all social, political and religious convictions. Thus all
are invited to come and join us in this evolutionary endeavour. While it
is not for us to question the ways of spiritual development or the private
spiritual practices of any individual, Auroville must not be used as a
place for proselytising or recruiting followers to any political, religious
or spiritual organization. Relations in Auroville should be based on
139
sincere collaboration and fraternity. Conflicts among residents are to be
solved within the community, in a manner that is consonant with the
spirit of Auroville. Any form of violence or abuse has no place in
Auroville.A friendly relationship with the local population as well as
respect for their culture and traditions is indispensable. Learning to
speak Tamil will greatly facilitate this relationship. Respect for nature
and the environment is expected from all" (THE MOTHER, 1969).
Auroville is subject to the laws of India and the laws of India are to be
respected. Anyone breaking these laws may be subject to trial in a court
of justice, which could result in a period of imprisonment or in
expulsion from the country. In this respect ,everyone is aware that the
use of drugs, which has been prohibited in Auroville by the Mother, is
also prohibited by the laws of India.
140
Aurovilleans receive no money equivalent as 'payment' for their work,
and that there be no circulation of money within the township, the
community is responsible for providing for the regular needs of each
person as much as possible.
Each resident is expected to deal with his or her resources at the highest
level of his/her consciousness. In Auroville, all is, according to Mother,
collective property to be used for the welfare of all. Money and assets in
the township are under the trusteeship of individuals, project holders,
and managers of services or commercial units. They are to be utilised
for the activities and development of the township as well as for the
promotion of the ideals of Auroville. No one has any ownership rights
over houses and other buildings, services, projects or commercial
activities in Auroville. Selling or renting these assets for personal profit
141
ts unacceptable. All activities are part of the overall Auroville
framework and all financial transactions regarding them take place
through the official channels of Auroville.
142
Residents of Auroville 2004 I 2005
143
BRAZILIAN 2 2 2 2 2 2
DANISH 2 2 2 2 2 2
ETHIOPIAN 2 2 2 2 2 2
LATVIAN 2 2 2 2 2 2
New Zealander 2 2 2 2 2 2
SLOVENE 2 2 2 2 2 2
South African 1 I 2 2 2
ALGERIAN 1 I I I I I
BELORUSSIAN 1 I I I I I
BULGARIAN 1 I I I I I
COLOMBIAN 1 I I I I I
FINNISH 1 I I
KAZAKH 1 I I
MEXICAN 1 I I
NEPALI 1 I I
..
(Source: Aurovllle VISitors center)
THE TOWNSHIP
Let us now move onto to the physical description of Auroville. In the
writings of the Mother there is detailed physical description of
Auroville, and she worked out the details of the township with the
French architect Roger Anger. The Mother was of the view that a place
like Auroville already existed at a different plane and it needed to be
brought down to earth. In her 1965 sketch of Auroville, the Mother laid
down the basic concept for the town, this sketch delineated all the
important activity areas that would fulfill the vision of making it a
universal township. The concept was as much practical as it was
144
visionary and the way in which it is fitting in with today's international,
national and local way of seeing things is quite striking. However the
plan has never remained constant and has been changed in the face of
the practical difficulties faced by the township in terms of acquiring
land, and other practical considerations. At the centre, both physically
and spiritually, stands the nearly completed Matrimandir, "the soul of
Auroville". Started on 21st February 1971, construction work on this
structure has continued uninterruptedly ever since. The inner chamber
of Matrimandir, a place for silence and concentration, has been
completed and, at present, the work focuses on finishing the outer
structure and creating the surrounding gardens.
Four zones radiate out from the Matrimandir gardens: International,
Cultural, Residential and Industrial. The Green Belt, an area for
promoting biodiversity, environmental restoration and organic farming,
will eventually surround the entire city area. While much of the land
still has to be purchased, Auroville presently manages about three-
quarters of the total acreage within the future city area, and about 25%
within the Green Belt.
145
The Auroville Township Master Plan 2000 - 2025, which has been
recently endorsed by the Government of India, is dedicated to the
challenge of creating an environment-friendly, sustainable urban
settlement that, at the same time, integrates and cares for the
neighbouring rural area. Auroville's concept is therefore to build a city
that will economise on land needs by introducing development
approaches with an optimum mix of densities and appealing urban
forms and amenities, while the surrounding Green Belt will be a fertile
zone for applied research in the sectors of food production, forestry, soil
conservation, water management, waste management and other areas
which assist sustainable development. The results of such innovative
methods would be available for application in both rural and urban areas
in India and the world.( source: Auroville Development Council)
146
model to Mother, and accepted by her as a plan that answered to her
parameters. She inspired and guided the work. When I talked to Mother
one day about Auroville, she said that the city already exists in a subtle
level, that it is already constructed, that it is only necessary to pull it
down, to make it descend on earth. "
The galaxy plan shows the four zones, which are interconnected
through the 'Crown', the second circular road around the Matrimandir.
From the Crown, twelve roads radiate outwards as part as the
infrastructure. Some of them are accompanied by a succession of high-
rise buildings, which constitute the so-called 'Lines of Force', essential
for the framework of the city and for the integration of all access to the
city center.. But the plan is not finished. On the contrary, the city is still
to be invented, everything has still to be done though the daily
experience and rhythm of the Aurovilleans. Apart from these lines of
force, everything is flexible, nothing is fixed. "
The Lines of Force, then, are imperative, for without them there would
be no spiral galaxy. But ever since their conception, the Lines of Force
have been subject to much criticism and have received remarkably little
support. Those oprosed point to the fact that high-rise buildings are
very unpleasant to live in; that they are out of fashion in many parts of
the world and are being pulled down; and that they are not environment-
friendly. Should Auroville in 1998 contemplate building large structures
which date from a town plan conceived in the sixties? Shouldn't we
rather learn from the experiences elsewhere in the world? Supporters
emphasise that if one accepts that Mother was the direct inspiration and
guide behind the master-pian, and that Mother's vision was from a
147
higher level of consciousness than that which is normally accessible to
us, it follows that there is a truth behind the concept and that we should
endeavour to find that truth. Since 1991, Auroville's Development Group
has been overseeing the development of the township. This working
group faces a complex job and generally works in close cooperation
with the other municipal services in Auroville: Electrical Service, Road
Service, Solar Service, Telephone Service, Transport Service, Waste
Management Service, Water Service, Land Service, and Auroville's
Future (survey and town planning service). All these services have
substantial experience and the capacity for further development of
Auroville.
148
OVERVIEW OF THE CITY PLAN
Industn al Zone
Cultural Zone
The Matrimandir
At the very centre of Auroville, one finds the 'soul of the city', the
Matrimandir, situated in a large open area called 'Peace', from where the
future township will radiate outwards. The atmosphere is quiet and
charged, and the area beautiful, even though at present large parts of it
are still under construction.As yet incomplete, the Matrimandir emerges
as a large golden sphere which seems to be rising out of the earth,
symbolising the birth of a new consciousness seeking to manifest. Its
slow and steady progress towards completion is followed by
many.While walking through the lovely green Matrimandir Gardens
with their great variety of flowers, shrubs and trees, one's attention is
149
greatly drawn by this important and powerful feature at the heart of the
city which was seen by the Mother as the "symbol of the Divine's
answer to man's aspiration for perfection" and as "the central cohesive
force" for the growth of Auroville.
"The most important thing is this: the play of the sun on the centre.
Because that becomes the symbol, the symbol of future realisations."
There are no images, no organised meditations, no flowers, no incense,
no religion or religious forms. The Matrimandir is there for "those who
want to learn to concentrate .. " Mother further explains" No fixed
meditations, none of all that, but they should stay there in silence, in
silence and concentration. A place for trying to find one's
consciousness" (The Mother 1967).
"Let it not become a religion", the Mother said. "The failure of religions
is ... because they were divided. They wanted people to be religious to
150
the exclusion of other religions, and every branch of knowledge has
been a failure because it has been exclusive. What the new
consciousness wants (it is on this that it insists) is: no more divisions.To
be able to understand the spiritual extreme, the material extreme, and to
find the meeting point, the point where that becomes a real force"( ibid).
The Banyan tree, the actual 'geographical centre of the future city', is a
beloved and dignified growing presence which was there long before
Auroville. At the time of Auroville's inauguration ceremony, a large
copper ring was placed around its trunk with 'Auroville, the City at the
service of Truth' engraved in it in both Tamil and French. Presently the
heavy ring is only used at certain times of the year. Then, the
Amphitheatre is a red-stoned shallow bowl near to 100 metres wide,
with at its centre the marble-clad urn in the shape of a lotus bud,
containing soil of the 124 nations which participated in the Auroville
inauguration ceremony. It is here that Aurovilleans, in special moments,
come quietly together to concentrate, while twice a year an early
dawnfire flames up here as well.
151
Cultural Zone
The 103-hectare (240 acres) spanning Cultural Zone will have its own
specific vibration emanating from the various cultural institutions and
research centres related to education, arts and sport that are planned
there. City level cultural uses will find their place there, such as
auditoriums and exhibition halls, parks and playgrounds, green areas,
kiosks and convenience stores, a stadium and large spaces with sports
facilities. Although, of course, the search for a higher and truer way of
living & culture is a dominant theme for the entire Auroville Township,
the artistic and educational aspects of this research are to be pursued
with a greater focus in the Cultural Zone which is meant to explore the
fruits of all cultures through their diverse expressions in music, dance,
painting, sculpture, theatre, etc. and develop new cultural expressions,
combining the areas of the arts, education, and sports.
152
In future, the Cultural Zone will house additional pnmary and
secondary education facilities for an estimated 5,400 children, as well as
a university, science laboratories, academies for music, dance, theatre,
artistic centres for fine arts, martial arts, an institute for photo, video and
film production, specialised libraries, a sports stadium, etc. The Crown
Road section of this zone is envisioned as a pedestrian 'cultural
boulevard', lined with exhibition halls, art galleries, theatres, libraries,
archives, guesthouses, green spaces, offices for SAilER, and staff
quarters. In order to realise the goal and concept of the Cultural Zone,
the Auroville Township Master Plan has allotted 240 acres or nearly
20% of the City Area for this purpose. As in all zones of the Auroville
Township, not all the land in the Cultural Zone belongs to Auroville. So
far, Auroville has been able to secure 200 acres. About 40 acres,
including some crucial lands along the road, still need to be purchased.
International Zone
153
the International Zone, reaching out from the Matrimandir to the future
Hall of Peace and the Unity Pavilion, has been created on a circular
model of four continental areas, with the Pavilion of India, Bharat
Nivas, at its centre, as stated earlier, around the Bharat Nivas we find
the Americas, Europe - including Russia, Asia with Oceania and
Australia, Africa and the Middle Bast pavilion areas, giving room for
the expression of the national identity and culture of the various
countries of the world.
154
opportunities and research by visiting students.The Peace Trees
initiative, where students from Auroville and abroad worked together
and planted trees in Auroville, as well as in several major American and
European cities, has been successful. Service learning opportunities,
such as GeoCommons and the University of Washington Student
Exchange Programme, have brought students to work and study in
Auroville. Identifying the soul of each nation is at the core of the work
of the pavilions, made possible as a clear and concrete image emerges
through research and action. Researchers can take advantage of
Auroville as a field of experimentation, discovering in the lively
interaction of the International Zone support for "material and spiritual
researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity" as per
Auroville's Charter.
Just as each individual has a psychic being which is his true self and
which governs his destiny more or less overtly, so too each nation has a
psychic being which is its true being and molds its destiny from behind
the veil: it is the soul of the country, the national genius, the spirit of the
people, the enter of national aspiration, the fountainhead of all that is
beautiful, noble, great and generous in the life of the country (The
Mother, vol. 12.).
Industrial Zone
155
Auroville, has the maximum amount of land features. It has the most
canyons; it has low-lying waterlogged lands; it has excellent farm-lands.
The rich soil in its environs has been under cultivation for generations,
giving rise to the neighbouring villages of Bharatipuram and
Alankuppam. Its density, in contrast to other areas of Auroville, is high.
Agricultural farms and manufacturing industries intermingle with
residential settlements, a pony riding school and the substantial pieces
of land that Auroville has not yet been able to purchase. "This makes it
so difficult in terms of logistics to introduce new industries," explains
Sheril, one of the residents of Auroville. Whenever someone wants to
start a business in the Industrial Zone, the request is discussed in the
group and there follows a rather tedious process involving the entire
neighbourhood. Where can the business be best located? What is its
impact on the environment? Where does it get its water from? What are
its electricity demands? Can access be given to existing infrastructure?
Does the unit intend to build caretaker houses or staff quarters? Are the
finances sufficient to pay for the buildings and the extensive
infrastructure? For Auroville's Industrial Zone is not comparable to
industrial zones elsewhere: there are no demarcated plots with water and
electricity brought to the doorstep.
156
A problem is caused by the ideas that have been put forward for the
Zone. One of the major disagreements that have blocked development is
the interpretation of the Auroville Master Plan, with its road plans and
mega-structures called Lines of Force. The Master Plan envisages these
Lines of Force in two of Auroville's zones, the Residential and the
Industrial Zone. The Cultural Zone and the International Zone do not
have them. In the Residential Zone, they will start low close to the
Matrimandir and gradually rise to their highest point at the periphery of
the city. In the Industrial Zone they go the other way: they are low at the
periphery and rise upwards towards the Matrimandir. So far, the
Development Group has made it a point to locate new industries within
such lines of force. It is difficult to see how industries can be located in
Lines of Force. The present land use according to the Master Plan with
its Lines of Force, its ring road and its radial roads, creates a problem it
appears that there is very little land where a new unit could come up.
The other available lands are either not yet owned by Auroville, or are
intended for roads or Lines of Force, or are canyons. Is it possible to
increase the area of available land by simply filling up the canyons, for
example with sand to be excavated from the future Matrimandir Lake?
A few years ago the lack of effluent treatment plants in the Zone
sparked a protest action from the residents of Kottakarai. In 1999, the
then Industrial Zone Monitoring Group resigned as it found that the
attitude of many unit executives in the Auroshilpam area was not
supportive of the development of an environmentally-healthy Industrial
157
Zone. This was a major issue as the Industrial Zone is located on top of
a water recharge area. But the units have completely changed their
attitudes and are now very responsible: they have either improved their
waste water systems or are in the process of doing so. Several units have
even taken out loans for the purpose. In a way, the past years with bad
. monsoons have helped to convince people that water is a precious
resource and that waste water management is necessary. Ironically, the
private residences are now the problem, and they are being urged to take
action and build small-scale waste-water treatment plants.
158
with technology transfer of the above activities for wider application.
This will make the Green Belt not only an asset for Auroville and the
surrounding villages, but also a National Resource Centre (NRC) for
sustainable development.
1
The western part of the Green Belt, consisting of eris, natural drainage
channels and village settlements, is reserved for intensive agricultural
development. The area involved covers approximately 486 Ha. At
present these lands are vacant or marginally used. They will be utilised
to set up prototype farms for raising appropriate crop categories that can
be efficiently produced in differing geographic conditions in Tamil
Nadu in order to replicate them for the benefit of farmers in those areas.
The eastern part of the Green Belt, which has already been developed
with dense plantations of trees, acts as a barrier against cyclone-strong
winds coming from the coast, which were till recently the main cause
for soil erosion, gully formation and degradation of land.
These lands occupy 544 Ha. They will be utilised to strengthen the
ongoing work of land regeneration, re-establishing indigenous forest
vegetation, propagation of biodiversity through gene pools and seed
banks, and instituting zero runoff parameters and practices. This part of
159
the Green Belt will also provide the Auroville township with
opportunities to carry out waste water treatment and recycling, solid
waste management and experiments for producing alternate energy
through use of biomass and wastes. In this regard Auroville is
collaborating with State and central government agencies.
160
It is common knowledge that expanding urban areas encroach not only
on valuable agricultural land, but also tend to surround village
settlements in such a way that they become islands of poverty, with
scarce infrastructure, in neighborhoods which are otherwise well served
with infrastructure. It is also seen that village settlements, even at a
stone's throw from the limits of a city, have no semblance of improved
quality in housing, sanitation or quality of life. Auroville's approach
asptres to go much further. The approach of its Master Plan is to
establish that the economic and human intellectual resources, which
normally gravitate to urban areas, can be effectively used to spread
development more evenly, and to create an equitable and economically
sound society. This is, more often than not, presently not the case in
regard to the way cities are planned, developed and are functioning.
161
development of the various parts of the city's development and forming
a clear and transparent basis for its overall direction.
Environmental Regeneration
The first Aurovilleans, struggling in the late sixties and early seventies
to gain a foothold on a scorched and almost barren plateau in south
India, the destruction of the ozone layer or the greenhouse effect. They
had no choice. They dug, they planted, they watered. And this basic,
uncomplicated approach, taken up by many others and refined over the
years, has O?ade Auroville what it is today - a comparatively green and
pleasant land which is the indispensable physical base for its dreams
and its experiments.
India was a land of forests. Forests where heroes and bandits hid and
lived in exile, forests that they journeyed through perilously, forests
where sages lived and gathered their disciples around them. Today these
forests, once the wealth of a mighty land, are all but gone. From the
foothills of the Himalayas to Kanya kumari less than 12% of India's
land mass bears any form of tree cover. And despite a growing
awareness of an ecological catastrophe in the making (20% of India's
forest cover has disappeared since 1960), the destruction continues.
Around two hundred years ago, also the Auroville plateau and its
surrounding area was covered in forest. In 1825, trees were felled in the
Jipmer area between Auroville and Pondicherry, to drive away the
tigers. Slowly the forests were cut down to build cities like Pondicherry
and towns like Kalapet. Timber was used for export, and the British
162
accelerated the process by allocating plots of land to anyone who would
clear it and cultivate it for a year. Much of it was then left fallow and
under the violent onslaught of the monsoon, erosion inevitably began.
The last remaining plots of forest in the Auroville area - 2,000 mature
neem trees - were cut down in the mid-fifties for timber to make boats.
In less than 200 years, what once had been forest had turned into an
expanse of baked red earth scarred with gullies and ravines which had
been carved out by the monsoon floods. Each year tons of the remaining
topsoil were swept into the nearby Bay of Bengal. The first needs that
confronted Auroville's earliest settlers were for shade and water.
However, it soon became clear that if the young seedlings were to
survive, other measures had to be taken. They needed to be protected,
for example, against marauding goats and cows, and some way had to
be found to catch and control the monsoon rains so that they would not
sweep away precious topsoil but would percolate into the water table.
So 'bunds' (raised earth-banks to stop water flowing off the land were
born.
In these early years it was a process of trial and error, and many
mistakes were made. For example, a massive dam erected near
Forecomers broke in a heavy rain, because the water flow into the
canyon was not controlled. Ten years later, in 1978, a freak rain of thirty
ems in twelve hours broke bunds and washed away numerous young
trees. Auroville's afforestation campaign began in the early 1970's. The
first tree nurseries were started in Success and Kottakarai and, with the
help of grants from the Point Foundation, the Tamil Fund and friends
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abroad, large-scale tree planting began. In the next ten years, as part of a
massive soil and water conservation programme, over a million trees -
timbers, ornamentals, fencing, fruit and fodder trees, nut trees etc.- were
planted here. Some were exotic, like for instance the Australian 'Work
Tree' (Mother's name for Acacia auriculiformis) which has adapted so
well that it's now crowding out other species. As the trees grew, and
micro-climates formed, many species of bird-life and animals returned,
further accelerating the dissemination of seeds and enriching the
environment. (Source: The Auroville Centre for Ecological Land Use and Rural
Development)
164
The Auroville Centre for Ecological Land Use and Rural Development,
"Palmyra", has been carrying out soil and water conservation, and
reforestation programmes over the last decade on almost 3,000 acres of
village land with a total of more than 1.2 million trees having been
planted. Palmyra also offers training programmes for farmers, NGOs,
and government officers in the field of ecological and sustainable land
use. For many years, Auroville's credentials rested primarily upon its
considerable environmental achievements. Over two million trees have
been planted to stabilize and refertilize the soil, canyons have been
dammed and hundreds of fields bunded to prevent water run-off, there
has been much experimentation in developing environmentally-friendly
building techniques and recycling waste water, while solar power is
widely used for pumping, heating water and providing electricity.
During the last decade, Auroville's eco-service has ensured that much of
Auroville's waste is recycled, and ground-breaking work is being
undertaken to develop non-polluting biofuel and to expand the uses of
effective micro-organisms (EM) which work with rather than against
nature. The bioregion has also not been neglected. A.urovilleans have
worked with villagers to desilt rainwater catchment tanks, afforest
wasteland, find safe alternatives to toxic pesticides, develop organic
farming and vegetable cultivation techniques, and to clean up the
villages.
165
water levels are falling. Aurovilleans' per capita water usage is way
above the average of India (and of many Western countries!), partly
because of wasteful irrigation techniques and inefficient storage and
supply systems. There are plenty of houses in the community which,
rather than taking advantage of materials which release heat quickly,
use large amounts of energy-intensive materials like cement and
function as oversized solar cookers. Then there is the lack of public
transport which results in large numbers of motorcycles (and,
increasingly, four-wheelers) clogging up the roads. Finally there is the
matter of Aurovilleans' changing tastes in food and entertainment which
sees the growth of a more consumeristic, less environmentally-sensitive
lifestyle than was the case in the early days.
The landscape in the early days was a barren one.A few palmyra, neem
and scrubby thorn bushes and, for the rest, acres and acres of eroded
laterite unshaded from the fierce south Indian sun. Out of necessity,
greenworkers in the early years of Auroville concentrated upon building
bunds and planting trees. A few were already interested in exploring
indigenous species, but the majority of greenworkers were happy to
plant anything which was fast-growing, drought-resistant and shade-
providing- including exotic pioneer species like Eucalyptus and Acacia
auriculiformis, otherwise known as the 'work' tree.
The first tree nursenes date from the early 1970s. However,
afforestation in Auroville received a huge boost in the 1980s when the
Department of the Environment funded a project to explore the species
166
that could be successfully grown under these conditions. Many of the
largest tree-planting programmes - like the one at Aurobrindavan - date
from this period and, once again, many of the trees planted were non-
native species, like Acacias and Khaya senegaliensis. At one time an
almost unique ecosystem - an evergreen forest - had stretched along the
coastline from Madras in the north to Kanyakumari in the south. Over
the years, however, most of it had been cut and cleared for farming,
settlement and firewood; at the time of Auroville's inauguration, less
than 1% of it remained in scattered pockets which were under continual
threat.
167
knowledge of local species, made frequent visits to remnant indigenous
groves to collect seeds to propagate in Auroville nurseries. Today, all
tree-planting by Aurovilleans involves almost exclusively TDEF
species. Many foresters are retrofitting the areas they steward by
underplanting with TDEF species and then slowly removing
regenerating exotics (particularly work tree saplings), so allowing a new
type of forest to gradually emerge over the next ten years.
In the last 15 years, the new emphasis upon the recreation of the original
TDEF has been accompanied by an increasingly scientific approach to
ecosystem restoration. The earlier "if it will grow, plant it" approach has
given way to more sophisticated scientific studies of symbiotic
relationships, of the water uptake and transpiration rate of selected tree
species, and of the rate at which soil forms under different conditions.
The FRLHT project has resulted in valuable research into the medicinal
properties of local plants and trees based largely upon the wisdom and
experience of traditional healers, who are themselves an endangered
species. This illustrates the third main component of afforestation over
the last 15 years - outreach. Actually, Auroville landworkers have been
sharing their skills outside of Auroville for many years. In the early
1980s the greenworkers began bunding the fields of local farmers and
offering them saplings. But the last 15 years have seen an increase in
outreach activities as some Aurovilleans realized that the environmental
and social health of Auroville couldn't be separated from the health and
vibrancy of the bioregion of which it is an integral part. Auroville
landworkers, in conjunction with Village Action, have run courses for
local farmers in organic agriculture and have introduced kitchen gardens
168
into the villages. Palmyra has been involved in large wasteland
reclamation projects in the region while the same organization and
Harvest have done extensive tank restoration and set up water-users
organizations in many surrounding villages. The Pitchandikulam seed
museum has become a centre for botanical research and environmental
education, visited by conservationists, healers, government officials and
schoolchildren, while the Botanical Gardens will soon provide a living
experience of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest biotope.
169
The development of an ecologically sound agriculture, which excludes
the use of pesticides and detrimental chemicals, and the application of
agro-forestry techniques are being actively pursued in Auroville. Efforts
are being made with the surrounding village farmers to reverse the
process of growing cash crops using chemical inputs in the form of
fertilisers and poisonous pesticides such as DDT. Alternative
biodegradable pesticides are being developed and marketed as part of an
overall attempt to re-introduce sustainable agricultural practices
throughout the bioregion.
The total area of the farm is 13.5 acres, of which 4 acres have been
under cashew for the past 35 years. There are about 70 coconut palms.
Previously some of the land had been used for irrigated cultivation of
soya, peanuts, gram and cow fodder, but this had become economically
unsustainable. In the course of the last five years, an additional six acres
were put under cashew (totally about 700 trees). Flood irrigation has
been drastically reduced with the help of heavy mulching around the
coconut palms and the use of cover crops like Stylosantes hamata
(short: Stylo) A few cows have been introduced to achieve an optimum
ratio between acreage and cattle, to eliminate the need to purchase
organic manure from outside, and to have cow urine for the preparation
of bio-pesticides. In the open fields, fodder crops - e.g. elephant grass,
guinea grass and Centrosema pubescens - and vegetables and tubers
have been grown. (Source: The Auroville Farm Group)
170
Thus, Auroville's environmental reputation continues to grow. Recently,
funding has come from the European Commission to promote the
concept of shared forest management in the Kaluveli bioregion. This
has given some Aurovilleans the opportunity to get involved in
developing practical steps towards the sustainable development of an
area vital for our water resources to the north of Auroville. It is a huge
task that will take many years to complete, but it is one which can be
achieved in small manageable steps. One of these is promoting
environmental education in schools - this has just received a funding
boost from the Australian Government, while another is working with
the Forestry Department to develop management plans for the reserve
forests of the area.
Renewable Energy
Since the beginning, Auroville has been involved in the research and
implementation of renewable energy systems. Concerned with the
ecological implications of energy consumption, Aurovilleans have been
experimenting with the use of renewable energy sources from the
beginning. The major forms of renewable energy utilised in Auroville
are solar, wind and biomass. At present, more than 1,200 photovoltaic
(PV) panels are in use for electricity and water supply. Some 30
windmills of various designs are in operation for pumping water, and
specially designed ferro-cement biogas systems process animal and
vegetable waste to produce methane gas and organic fertilisers. Today,
Auroville has become a major testing ground for renewable energy
sources in India.
171
Today, Auroville is recognised in India as a 'testing' centre for a wide
variety of renewable energy technologies. The Auroville Centre for
Scientific Research (CSR), a research institution approved by the
Government of India in 1984, is the focal point for many of these
activities. It also runs "Awareness Workshops towards a Sustainable
Future" for NGO's, government officials, students and professionals on
the sustainable ter.hniques applied in Auroville. . Interest in these
systems developed out of sheer necessity to secure energy for living and
day-to-day activities. Interested persons carried on with the
improvement of the devices, and those activities led to the formation of
units involved in R&D, the manufacturing and the promotion of the
different renewable energy devices.
Today Auroville has the reputation of being one of the most important
demonstration sites for renewable energy (RE) technologies in India.
The community is home to around 500 k W of photovoltaic (which
includes the largest stand-alone photovoltaic power plant in India), 30
windmills, 20 biogas units, a ground-breaking solar bowl, and there is
continuing experimentation in areas like solar electric transport, solar
desalination, and plant oil as a diesel substitute. Auroville is also
increasingly sharing its Renewable Energy experience and expertise
with other parts of India. For example AuroRE, the unit which promotes
renewable energy through the intelligent use of financial mechanisms,
has recently installed 175 solar pump sets in the Punjab, Aureka has
erected 40 windmills in Tibetan settlements, CSR has fabricated biogas
172
units for the Andaman Islands, and Auroville Energy Products 1s
involved in a wind generation project in Bengal.
173
this? In fact, it is not easy to obtain information and implement certain
renewable energy alternatives in Auroville at present. Yet even among
those Aurovilleans who have chosen to use renewable energy systems
the level of environmental consciousness is not always high. In fact, the
sustainable use of renewable energy, given its present state of
development, seems inextricably linked with a commitment to a certain
lifestyle-one which is relatively modest and low in its impact upon the
environment. To illustrate this, an Auroville community which initially
embraced renewable energy and purchased a large number of solar
panels. However, when the inhabitants realized that it would be difficult
and costly to run washing-machines and fridges on solar power, they
chose to tap into the conventional grid instead. Environmental
consciousness also has an important social component. Similarly, in the
field of construction (houses and apartments represent a large amount of
embodied energy) the students did not find a high level of awareness
among Aurovilian architects concerning the principles of energy-
efficient and solar-passive architecture, and even among those who
knew there were very few instances of them putting the principles into
practice in an integrated way.
174
city water use. The Auroville community has been experimenting with
small scale wastewater recycling systems for over fifteen years. During
that time pilot systems were built, experience was gathered, and the
operating skills with such plants improved.
175
At present Auroville operates nearly forty treatment systems for
recycling domestic wastewater, from small individual households to
communities and small industrial units, producing effluent with similar
characteristics to domestic wastewater.
AQUADYN SERVICE
176
Violet process. The latter had been tried and tested in France during the
seventies, but it could not develop owing to the tendencies of the French
medical board.
177
awareness of this development and the meanmg this has for the
individual.
178
workers serve in 17 villages, giving first aid, home cures and basic
health education.
Rural Development
Rural development has been a major activity of Auroville since its
inception. There are 13 villages in the immediate neighbourhood,
comprising about 40,000 people, and altogether 40 villages in the
bioregional area. At present, ten Auroville working groups have
dedicated themselves to fostering sustainable programmes in these 40
179
villages. With funding from a number of national and international
organisations, Auroville's rural development programme aims at:
180
centers, which is so often the only option for those seeking self
improvement and employment.
*Ilaignarkal
* Isai Ambalam
* Arul Vazhi
181
When the task of building Auroville was given by Mother to a group of
seekers around 35 years ago, it envisaged the recovery of the ecosystem,
the building of the first settlements and the starting of Matrimandir. The
intention and objectives were shared with the neighbours living in the
villages around the newly obtained pieces of land where the township
was to be built. Gradually, the labour force to build the city was
assembled, comprising men and women from the local villages together
with men and women from all over the world. In the early days the
population of the neighbouring villages was not so great, may be 25-
30,000. Presently, in the year 2000, it has increases increased to nearer
40,000, thanks to immigration and the normal increase in population.
(The entire bioregion of Auroville covers some 50 villages, though not
all are in the immediate vicinity of the future township.)
182
circulation of cash throughout the local communities, and this is very
noticeable as well. As a general rule, the wages paid in Auroville to the
workers are higher than those around the area or in Pondicherry town
due to the policy of dignified salaries, followed in Auroville. Thanks to
the presence Auroville, there has been a gradual improvement in living
conditions in the villages. The transfer of various techniques of
appropriate technology which have been adopted by or developed in
Auroville has been applied in two ways: either through development
schemes worked out by Auroville and the local government and
implemented in the villages concerned, or instigated by the villagers'
own initiative. The construction materials frequently used in the villages
today are far more durable (reinforced cement/concrete, ferrocement
channels, tiles, etc) than the traditional ones. Style and design often
reflect the models of housing found in Auroville.
183
Auroville is a place where 'training' of the labour force is taking place
either intentionally or unintentionally through the work activity
perfonned. This learning in the work place has been an important input
for men and women, resulting in new awareness, self-esteem and
personal gain. The result is that many local people can now compete in
the qualified labour market within or outside Auroville, or become
managers of their own enterprise, providing the local population with
yet more opportunities for employment.
184
There is, however, a drawback in the "increased family income"
situation where men, women and youth are all working, and it is one
widely recognised in developing countries today. This problem is the
increase in consumption of alcohol in the region. As of today,
approximately 80% of the older male population and 5% of the youth
drink alcohol on a regular basis. This practice, according to the women
in the villages, pushes them - the women - to become the breadwinners
in absence of the full support of the income of the male head. They
express that the husbands spend more or less 50% of their income in
alcohol, and contribute to the family only 20 or 30%. Moreover, the
new fashion of the younger generation of boys is to treat the household
as if they were paying guests: they pay towards the running of the
household only the equivalent of what they eat, whereas in the case of
the younger working daughter it is demanded that she entirely hands
over whatever she earns in order to help the Mother run the family.
Another facet of the same practice is that the selling of liquor has been
so profitable in the last years that shop owners work out an agreement
with the village panchayats whereby a considerable donation per year is
given to be invested in programmes of community development i.e.
temple improvement, land purchase, etc.
185
women independent of the pressure of money lenders, and enabled them
to be their own organisers of the loan scheme. At present, over 1,000
women from 43 villages are saving and taking loans from group
savings. This capacity for saving helps them when confronted with
economic crises, and also substantially enhances their self-esteem and
recognition by their family and the community.
The women are now very much aware of the developmental problems,
and it happens more and more that they are part of committees that deal
with labour contribution towards construction of infrastructure needed
in their villages. In some communities they also take part in local
politics, albeit often 'for namesake' representation only.
186
personal responsibilities. For this, the youth have to be guided to work
for their community, developing healthy personal, emotional and social
habits, helping them to also organise savings schemes, exposing them to
new findings in education, sports, culture, technology and social issues.
The villages appear like satellites of Auroville, where both sides have
been gaining from each other, not only economically, but also in values,
practices and material wealth. The villagers have been not only earning
a salary, but have also been enabled to set a course in life without much
imposition from Auroville. Auroville is in a constant dynamic state of
exchange, and this is a form of wealth from which both sides benefit.
Much more still needs to be done, but real long-term change can only be
achieved when it is allowed to emerge from within, naturally, gradually,
organically.
In this chapter we have tried to describe the universe of our study.
Auroville is unique in more ways than one; solutions for many of the
problems that we encounter in our daily lives are being sought here. We
can see a spirit of creativity and innovation in all the aspects of their
lives. In the next chapter we will describe the institutions of Auroville.
187
REFERENCES
Aurobindo, Sri
(All works of Sri Aurobindo Are Published By The Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. The
edition used is the centenary edition)
• Volume 1 Ban de Mataram, Early Political Writings -- I ( 1893-
1908): New Lamps for Old,· Bhawani Mandir,· The Doctrine of
Passive Resistance; editorials and comments from the Bande
Mataram; Speeches.
• Volume 2 Karmayogin, Early Political Writings -- II ( 1909-
191 0): Uttarpara Speech; the Ideal of the Karmayogin,· An Open
Letter to My Countrymen,· other essays, notes and comments from
the Karmaygin,· Speeches.
• Volume 3 The Harmony of Virtue, Early Cultural Writings: The
Harmony of Virtue; Bankim Chandra Chatterjee; The Sources of
Poetry and Other Essays; Valmiki and Vyasa; Kalidasa,· The
Brain of India; Essays from the Karmayogin; Art and Literature;
Passing Thoughts; Conversations of the Dead.
• Volume 4 Writings in Bengali: Hymn to Durga; Poems; Stories;
The Veda; The Upanishads; The Puranas; The Gita; Dharma;
Nationalism; Editorials from Dharma,· Stories of Jail Life;
Letters .
•
• Volume 11 Hymns to the Mystic Fire: Foreward; The Doctrine of
the Mystics,· Translations (Hymns to Agni from the Rig-veda
translated in their esoteric sense); Supplement.
188
• Volume 12 The Upanishads, Texts, Translations and
Commentaries: Philosophy of the Upanishads,· On translating the
Upanishads; The Upanishads; Early translations of some
Vedantic Texts; Supplement.
• Volume 13 Essays on the Gita: First Series. Second Series, Part
One: The Synthesis of Works, Love and Knowledge; Part Two:
The Supreme Secret.
• Volume 14 The Foundations of Indian Culture and the
Renaissance in India: Is India Civilised?,· A Rationalistic Critic
on Indian Culture; A Defence of Indian Culture (Religion and
Spirituality, Indian Art, Indian Literature, Indian Polity); Indian
Culture and External Influence,· The Renaissance in India.
• Volume 15 Social and Political Thought: The Human Cycle,· The
Ideal of Human Unity,· War and Self-Determination.
• Volume 16 The Supramental Manifestation and Other Writings:
The SupramentalManifestation upon Earth,· The Problem of
Rebirth,· Evolution,· The Superman,· Ideals and Progress,·
Heraclitus,· Thoughts and Glimpses,· Question of the Month from
the Arya,· The Yoga and Its Objects.
• Volume 17 The Hour of God and Other Writings: The Hour of
God,· Evolution -- Psychology -- The Supermind; On Yoga;
Thoughts and Aphorisms,· Essays Divine and Human,· Education
and Art; Premises of Astrology; Reviews; Da yananda -- Bankim
-- Tilak -- Andal -- Nammalwar; Historical Impressions; Notes
from the Arya.
189
• Volume 18 The Life Divine, Book One and Book Two, Part One.
Book One: Omnipresent Reality and the Universe; Book Two:
The Knowledge and the Ignorance -- The Spiritual Evolution;
Part I: The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance.
• Volume 19 The Life Divine, Book Two part Two: The
Knowledge and the Spiritual Evolution.
• Volume 20 The Synthesis of Yoga, Parts One and Two:
Introduction: The Conditions of the Synthesis; part I: The Yoga
of Divine Works; Part II: The Yoga of Integral Knowledge.
• Volume 21 The Synthesis of Yoga, Parts Three and Four. Part III:
The Yoga of Divine Love; Part IV: The Yoga of Self-Perfection.
• Volume 22 Letters on Yoga, Part One: The Supramental
Evolution; Integral Yoga and Other Paths; Religion, Morality,
Idealism and Yoga; Reason, Science and Yoga; Planes and Parts
of the Being; The Divine and the Hostile Powers; The Purpose of
Avatarhood; Rebirth; Fate and Free-Will, Karma and Heredity,
etc.
• Volume 23 Letters on Yoga, Parts Two and Three. Part Two: The
Object of Integral Yoga; Synthetic Method and the Integral Yoga;
Basic Requisites of the Path; The Foundations of Sadhana;
Sadhana Through Work; Sadhana Through Meditation; Sadhana
Through Love and Devotion; Human Relationships in Yoga;
Sadh~ma in the Ashram and Outside; Part Three: Experiences and
Realisations; Visions and Symbols; Experiences of the Inner and
the Cosmic Consciousness.
190
• Volume 24 Letters on Yoga, Part Four: The Triple
Transformation-- Psychic, Spiritual Supramental;
Transformation of the Mind; Transformation of the Vital;
Transformation of the Physical; Transformation ofthe
Subconscient and the Inconscient; Difficulties of the Path;
Opposition of the Hostile Powers.
Mother,The
(All The Works Of The Mother Have Been Published By The Aurobindo
Ashram. The edition used is the centenary edition )
191
• Vol. 13. Words of the Mother I
Short written statements on Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Sri
Aurobindo Ashram, etc.
• Short written statements on religion, war, wealth, illness, etc.
• Vol. 16. Some Answers from the Mother
Correspondence on spiritual life.
192