CHAPTER 3 AUROVIIIE THE CITY OF DAWN

CHAPTER3

AUROVILLE: THE CITY OF DAWN

In this chapter we will the umverse of our study, Auroville, in order to

understand the institutions of Auroville and their relevance to peace it is

necessary that we first understand the influences that went into creating this

place and how this community has evolved over a period of time. The first thing

that strikes one, as one enters Auroville is a sense of serenity, a peace that

seems to envelope the place in its loving arms. This comes as welcome contrast

to the usual harshness and rudeness one is used to in cities like Delhi. The

violence that seems to lurk just under the surface in our lives seems to totally

absent in this place. The question to be asked is whether this is just an

impression of an overactive imagination or the reality, that is result of the

sacrifices of lives spent in pursuit of noble goals. This question continuously

remained with the researcher during the fieldwork. Auroville is located in south

India, 150 kms south of Chennai (Madras). Auroville is in Villipuram district of

Tamil Nadu, about 10 kms north of Pondicherry town. It is included in the sub­

humid tropics and is situated on a plateau region with its maximum elevation of

3 2 mtr above sea level located in the Matrimandir area.

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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.

In that year he returned to his birthplace, Calcutta, as the first Principal

of the new Bengal National College. He resigned from that post because

of his increasingly active involvement in the Nationalist Movement. Sri

Aurobindo was the first of the Nationalist leaders to insist on full

independence for India as the goal of the movement, and for several

years he lent all his considerable abilities and energies to this struggle.

This led to his arrest on a charge of treason and he was kept in solitary

confinement for almost a year as an 'under trial' prisoner in Ali pore jail.

During this time he had a number of fundamental spiritual experiences,

which convinced him of the truth of the "Sanatana Dharma" - the

ancient spiritual knowledge and practice of India. After he was acquitted

and released, this spiritual . awareness led him to take refuge from

continuing pursuit by the British authorities in Pondicherry, then part of

French India, where he devoted himself intensively to the exploration of

the new possibilities it opened up to him. Supported by his spiritual

collaborator, the Mother and using his newfound spiritual capacities, he

continued to work tirelessly for the upliftment of India and the world.

When India gained its Independence, on August 151h 1947, he responded

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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.

These five Dreams were:

(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)

The great originality of Sri Aurobindo is to have fused the modern

scientific concept of evolution with the perennial gnostic experience of

an all-pervading divine consciousness, supporting all phenomenal

existence. His synthesis was not a philosophic construct, but a

realisation stemming from direct spiritual experience. The unfolding of

more and more complex forms and higher levels of consciousness out of

an original total material inconscience is seen as the gradual return to

self-awareness and the diverse self-expression of involved Spirit. This

process is evidently not complete, and the evolution of higher levels of

consciousness and less unconscious forms of expression are to be

expected. But with the development of Mind, individual human beings

can, if they choose, use their will and intelligence to begin to participate

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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 PHILOSOPHY

The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of

India, that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of

a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All

beings are united in that One Self and Spirit, but divided by a certain

separativity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Reality

in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological

discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become

aware of the true Self, the Divinity within us all.

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.

This, however, cannot be done at once or in a short time or by any rapid

or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be taken by the seeker

before the supramental descent is possible. Man lives mostly in his

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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.

In this discipline, the inspiration of the Master, and in the difficult

stages his control and his presence are indispensable - for it would be

impossible otherwise to go through it without much stumbling and

error, which would prevent all chance of success. The Master is one

who has risen to a higher consciousness and being and he is often

regarded as its manifestation or representative. He not only helps by his

teaching and still more by his influence and example but by a power to

communicate his own experience to others.

This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching and method of practice. It is not his

object to found and develop a new religion or to amalgamate the older

religions, for any of these things would lead away from his central

purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by

which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all

and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and

supramental consciousness which will transform and divinise human

nature (Sri Aurobindo Vol. 26: 95-97).

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.

It is not merely to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness

into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that

divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to

transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in

Matter.

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--

Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power, wideness, peace,

purity, truth-consciousness and Ananda of the Supramental Divine.

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

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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'.

It was the Mother, as Sri Aurobindo's 'Shakti', who organised the

growing group of followers around him into the Sri Aurobindo Ashram

from November 1926 onwards. After his passing in 1950 she created, in

1952, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education to fulfil his

wish to provide a new kind of education for Indian youth. In 1968, she

founded the international township project of Auroville as yet wider

field for practical attempts to implement Sri Aurobindo's vision of new

forms of individual and collective life, preparing the way towards a

brighter future for the whole earth.

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

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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

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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

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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 Auroville Charter

The following is the Auroville charter, which forms the basis of this

society, and sets out its guiding principles.

1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to

humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing

servitor of the Divine Consciousness.

2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant

progress, and a youth that never ages.

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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.

4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a

living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.

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.

2. One lives in Auroville in order to be free of moral and social

conventions; but this liberty must not be a new slavery to the ego, its

desires and its ambitions. The fulfilment of desires bars the route to the

inner discovery which can only be attained in peace and the

transparency of a perfect disinterestedness.

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.

123

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.

6. Little by little it will be revealed to us what this new species should

be, and meanwhile the best measure to take is to consecrate oneself

entirely to the Divine. The only true liberty is that obtained by union

with the Divine. One can unite with the Divine only when the ego is

mastered.

Thus, in Auroville one finds a constant reference to occult forces and

this is a theme that is a constant even in the writings of Sri Auribindo.

And a society formed on his ideas is bound to have this theme as

constant in its social reality.

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

124

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.

From 1993 to date, is the third phase, during which a momentum to

secure the remaining land within the planned Auroville Township area

has been built up. It started with the purchase of the lands needed for the

Matrimandir Gardens out of a large sum bequeathed by an American

lady named Blanche Sherwood. Thanks to an increasing inflow of

donations, 674 acres (272 hectares) were secured. Auroville also sold

49.16 acres (20 hectares) outside the Auroville Township area for a total

of Rs. 80.79 lakhs which were used solely for the purchase of lands

within the city area. In addition, Auroville exchanged 64 acres (26

hectares) of outlying and unutilised lands for 20 acres (8 hectares) in the

city area and 34 acres (14 hectares) in the green belt.

For several years no permanent construction was authorized on the site

of the future town, except for the Matrimandir and the Bharat Nivas (the

Pavilion of India), the construction of which started in 1971. The

development of the project was first concentrated in the settlement of

Aspiration, then in Auromodele, an area earmarked for experimentation,

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.

127

Map of the Auroville Area

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AUROVILLE AND THE AUROBINDO ASHRAM

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.

The first settlers in Auroville were predominantly Western, and many

were strongly influenced by the anti-authoritarian attitudes of the 1960s.

In appearance, attitude and behaviour they represented a totally different

world from that of the highly-regulated, overwhelmingly Indian­

populated Ashram in Pondicherry. Some Ashramites must have

wondered who these strange people were, and why Mother was

welcoming them without imposing on them the same admission

conditions and discipline as prevailed in the Ashram. Was there a

fundamental difference between the ideal of the Ashram and Auroville?

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).

In 1969, she wrote her fullest explication of the Ashram-Auroville

relationship for a UNESCO committee which is as follows

"The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's vision was

entrusted to The Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity,

a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the

work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is a collective

ideal that calls for a collective effort so that it may be realized in terms

of an integral human perfection".

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.

There followed what seemed to be a blizzard of messages from Mother

to the Aurovilleans on topics like the need to tell the truth, to avoid

violence and to go beyond egotistical limitations. When, in March 1972,

a fire completely destroyed the Toujours Mieux workshop in

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.

After Mother's passing, however, there was a progressive worsening of

the relationship with the main office-holders of the Sri Aurobindo

Society (SAS) whom, it was felt, wanted to run Auroville as their

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.

Obviously, Mother created a very different ethos, or 'work

environment', for the Ashram and Auroville, and sometimes the

differences have been misunderstood or over-amplified. Ashramites, for

example, have been stereotyped as over-devotional, hidebound by

tradition and unwilling to experiment, while Aurovilleans have been

seen as 'vital', indisciplined and more interested in outer manifestation

than inner development. Partly, this reflects different cultural centres of

gravity in the two communities, as well as the failure to offload

'baggage' some of us have been carrying for many years, if not many

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.

After the death of the Mother on 17th of November 1973 ,a number of

problems of varying nature affecting the smooth running of the project

cropped up. The Government of India on receiving complaints about

mismanagement of the project and misuse of funds by Sri Aurobindo

Society set up a committee under the chairmanship of the Governor of

Pondicherry with representatives of the Government of Tamil Nadu and

of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Central Government to look into

the matter. The committee made a detailed scrutiny of the acc.ounts of

the Sri Aurobindo Society relating to Auroville and found instances of

serious irregularities in the management of the Society, misutilisation of

its funds and their diversion to other purposes. Further, various other

serious difficulties had arisen plaguing the management of Auroville

and rendering thereby any further growth of the township almost

impossible in the circumstances of taking over of the management of,

Auroville became imperative to ensure growth of the township in tune

with its objectives.

Keeping in v1ew the international character of the project and

considering the government's involvement in actively sponsoring the

project through UNESCO, the growth and management of the project

had become the primary responsibility of the Government of India. The

ideals of the project formed India's highest aspirations, which could not

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.

Auroville Emergency Provisions Act 1980

In 1980, responding to requests from the residents, the Government of

India passed the Auroville Emergency Provisions Act, whereby the

management of all assets and undertakings relatable to Auroville were,

for a limited period of time, vested in the Government of India. The Sri

Aurobindo Society subsequently challenged the constitutional validity

of the Act, on the main ground that Auroville was a religious

denomination and that the Government had violated the Indian

Constitution by passing the Act. In November 1982 the Constitution

Bench of the Supreme Court of India judged that Auroville did not

constitute a religious denomination, and that the teachings of Sri

Aurobindo only represent his philosophy and not a religion. The validity

of the Act was upheld. Consequently, The Auroville Emergency

Provisions Act initiated a period of renewed stability and growth. An

Administrator, appointed by the Government of India, was the official

manager of all assets. An International Advisory Council was set up

under the Act to advise the Government of India on Auroville matters. It

met for the first time in Delhi in February 1981.

' 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

In September 1988, the Government of India protected Auroville once

again by passing a unique Act of Parliament, the Auroville Foundation

Act, 1988. This act provided, in the public interest, for the acquisition of

all assets and undertakings relatable to Auroville without payment of

compensation. These assets, which till then were managed by the

Administrator under the Auroville Emergency Provisions' Act, were

temporarily transferred to the Government of India, with the aim of

ultimately vesting them in a body corporate established for the purpose,

the Auroville Foundation. The Auroville Foundation came into

existence in January 1991. The assets were vested in the Foundation on

April 1st, 1992.

Legal protection of name and emblem of A oroville

In July 1999, the Government of India accorded special protection to the

name 'Auroville' and its emblem under the Emblems and Names

(Prevention of improper Use) Act 1950. Acknowledging that Auroville

is an International Cultural Township, the Government of India has

passed a special visa regulation for Auroville. The Secretary of the

Auroville Foundation will normally, upon the recommendation of

Auroville's Entry Group, recommend to the Indian Embassy concerned

the issue of a so-called Entry Visa. This Entry Visa will form the basis

on which the authorities in India will later issue a Residential Permit.

The Entry Visa and the Residential Permit are valid for periods up to

five years, and are only available for a person's stay in Auroville.

137

Consequently, there is no need for a separate work permit or a financial

guarantee for one's stay in Auroville.

Auroville received the unammous endorsement of the General

Conference of UNESCO in 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1983. Governmental

and non-governmental organisations in India and abroad have funded

various development programmes. Donations have also been given by

foundations in Europe and the United States, by Auroville International

Centres and private donors from all over the world. The Auroville

residents themselves have made a major contribution of financial

resources and energy to the Auroville project.

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:

"Auroville is to be looked upon as a vision which has a great

potentiality and this can be of tremendous service to our country and the

world at large."

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:

• To be convinced of the essential unity of mankind and to have the

will to collaborate for the material manifestation of that unity.

• To have the will to collaborate in all that furthers future

realisations.

• The material conditions will be worked out as the realisation

proceeds."

Thereafter, the Mother clearly indicated the broad lines that were to be

observed in our material life. These are to form the basis of our

collective existence, but should not be applied in a dogmatic and rigid

manner. Therefore the framework of the collective life of Auroville

should be vast and very flexible; it is evolutionary in character and will

change according to the individual and collective growth of

consciousness and with the progressive emergence and expression of

the inherent truth of Auroville. The foundations of this way of living are

trust, sincerity, responsibility, and goodwill

"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.

Work, contribution, and money

"Each one should be aware that we are here to build a city of 50,000

inhabitants as a means of realising a living embodiment of an actual

human unity" (the Mother 1969) .Participation through meaningful

work is an essential aspect of living in Auroville. Everyone is expected

to take up an activity that corresponds to the needs of the community in

harmony with the capacities, priorities and needs of each individual.

Everyone is expected to contribute to the collective welfare in work,

kind, and/or money. Productive units are expected to contribute a

substantial part of their income or production to the township. Affluent

Aurovilleans who do not depend on the community for their livelihood

are encouraged to make regular or incidental donations to the

community or to any of its projects.Since one important aim is that

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.

To increase Auroville's economic strength and to help develop a

cashless economy, individuals with the financial means to do so are

expected to contribute at least enough for all their expenses in Auroville

and as generously as they can to the general expenses of the community

through the Central Fund. They are also encouraged to keep their

financial assets in Auroville. Newcomers are expected to contribute at

least enough for their own expenses for at least the first year.Though

intensive efforts are being made, Auroville is not yet in a position to

meet the totality of needs - especially housing - of all residents.

Experiments are going on and all new Aurovilleans are expected to

participate in the economic experiment that is presently being developed

in Auroville.

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.

The following is census data from Auroville

(These are the census statistics till July 2005 )

Date Total: Adults Male

13.12.2003 1752 1349 716

30.04.2004 1772 1362 720

26.07.2004 1808 1392 740

10.12.2004 1791 1378 738

08.04. 2005 1820 1409 759

11. 07.2005 1813 1407 758

(Source: Auroville visitors center)

142

Female Minors Male

633 403 221

642 410 224

652 416 225

640 413 220

650 411 217

649 406 210

Residents of Auroville 2004 I 2005

(Break-Up By Nationality Including Status Of Aurovilian, Newcomer, Long-Term

Guest)

NATIONALITY 07'05 04'05 12 '04 07'04 04-'04 03-'04

INDIAN 730 723 702 681 680 674

FRENCH 282 282 279 297 294 289

German 235 235 231 244 241 241

ITALIAN 88 92 89 83 83 82

DUTCH 82 85 85 84 80 80

U.S.AMERICAN 64 65 66 66 66 66

British 46 50 49 52 51 51

SWISS 42 42 42 46 46 46

RUSSIAN 37 37 37 36 33 32

SPANISH 31 32 32 32 32 32

CANADIAN· 26 26 26 26 26 26

BELGIAN 18 18 18 24 24 24

UKRAINIAN 18 18 18 18 18 18

KOREAN 21 24 24 25 20 17

SWEDISH 12 II 13 14 14 14

AUSTRALIAN 12 12 12 13 13 13

ISRAELI 15 14 15 13 13 13

ARGENTINIAN 8 8 8 9 9 9

AUSTRIAN 8 7 7 7 7 7

HUNGARIAN 4 4 4 4 4 4

SRI LANKAN 4 4 4 4 4 4

TIBETAN 5 5 3 3 4 4

JAPANESE 3 3 3 3 3 3

143

I '

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.

The present community of Auroville consists of some 100 settlements

of varying sizes. Auroville has created a basic infrastructure of roads,

water and electricity supply, and telecommunications, including an

electronic communications network. Accommodation has been

constructed for 1 ,500 people, and municipal services for food

production, purchase and distribution, electricity and water supply,

waste disposal and recycling, education, health care, financial

transactions, and town planning have been established.

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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)

One of the most remarkable concepts of Auroville is its master plan,

laid out in form of a galaxy - a galaxy in which several 'arms' seem to

unwind from a central region. In interviews with Auroville Today in

1988 and in 1992, Roger Anger explained how this plan came into

existence

"Mother had given a couple of parameters: the division of the city into

four areas, or zones, and the number of people for whom the city is

envisaged (50. 000). The division into those four zones (industrial,

residential, international and cultural) is unique, and has no precedent

in town planning. On the basis of this scheme, we, the architects and

town planners, started to make suggestions to her. This was done in

several stages, and finally the Galaxy came out and was presented as a

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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

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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.

Through its Master Plan, Auroville wants to break new ground in

settlement-planning in such a way as to help other cities, both in India

and abroad, which are experiencing high urbanisation trends. Auroville

also hopes to demonstrate how 'urban' & 'rural' areas can

complementarily develop in an integral and holistic way for their mutual

benefit and well-being. We talk about an 'integrated' masterplan,

implying here that both city and environment are integrally planned for,

since Auroville has come to care for its 'hinterland'.

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OVERVIEW OF THE CITY PLAN

Peace Area, City Zones & Green Belt

Industn al Zone

Cultural Zone

(source: Auroville Development Council)

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 name 'Matrimandir' means literally 'Temple of the Mother'.

According to Sri Aurobindo's teaching, the 'Mother' concept stands for

the great evolutionary, conscious and intelligent principle of Life, the

Universal Mother, - which seeks to help humanity move beyond its

present limitations into the next step of its evolutionary adventure, the

supramental consciousness.

The spacious Inner Chamber in the upper hemisphere of the structure is

completely white, with white marble walls and white carpeting. In the

centre a pure crystal-glass globe suffuses a ray of electronically guided

sunlight which falls on it through an opening at the apex of the sphere.

"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 Peace area in which the structure is situated is characterised by

three main features: the Matrimandir itself with its twelve gardens,

twelve petals and future lakes, the Amphitheatre and the Banyan Tree.

The area is seen as a whole and work in the different sections proceeds

simultaneously.The wide open, silent space is meant to embody the true

and inner peace without which no real progress, on whatever level, can

be made. "I should like this whole place to be called 'PEACE' and that

peace, actual peace should reign there, not only between the occupants

but with the whole of Auroville, present and future" (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.

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Cultural Zone

The 1 03-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.

At present, the educational facilities in the Cultural Zone comprise two

creches, one kindergarten, two primary schools, and a full-fledged

sports ground. The construction of a secondary school complex and the

Auroville High School, completed in January 2003 .Also, a youth

centre, a music studio, and a Centre for Performing Arts have been

created in the Cultural Zone. In addition, 'Kalabhumi', an artists'

settlement, has been constructed, providing studios and spaces for·

different art forms, staff quarters and a gallery. At present, Kalabhumi

offers studios for sculpture, metal work, painting, drawing, music

practice and an amphitheatre with seating arrangements for about 150

people.

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

Of the four zones defined by the Galaxy's Lines of Force, the

International Zone is, as yet, the least developed one. Understandably,

the nature of the other zones - Industrial Zone with its small scale

industries; Residential Zone with its housing for the residents; and

Cultural Zone with its schools, sports and arts complexes - were of a

more basic and urgent priority in the early stages of the township.

However, the Aurovilleans are happy that since the beginning of this

millennium interest in the International Zone is picking up. They see

this as a sign that 'human unity' is more valued the world over.Of these,

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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.

The role of the International Zone is to illustrate in a living, concrete

manner, how the principle of unity in diversity is to be applied on the

world-scale, at the level of the various nations and cultures, which

comprise today's humanity. The pavilions will offer a space for the

expression of each nation's search for its soul and its true place in the

world. They will be multi-functional, with their foundation m

educational programmes, research and cultural activities.

"The first aim will therefore be to help individuals to become aware of

the fundamental genius of the nation to which they belong and at the

same time to bring them into contact with the ways of life of other

nations, so that they learn to know and respect equally the true spirit of

all the countries ofthe world". (The Mother, Vol. 12:126)

Auroville wishes to offer itself as a field of ongoing experience and

training for the youth of the world, in the inner attitudes and outer

methods which are the most conducive to the establishment of a culture

of peace on earth. In this connection, one of the functions of the

International Zone will be to organise and support educational

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

The concept of Auroville's Industrial Zone is changing into an

Economic Zone, one of three economic zones in Auroville. The

Industrial Zone, though being the smallest of the four zones of

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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.

So far, the development of the Zone has happened in a more or less

haphazard way. For instance, A few years ago Aurosarjan built a rather

big factory building, which later became known as Aurobhakti.

Aurosarjan's executives resigned when the building was finished, and

their successors were not able to keep up the business. Ultimately the

building was split-up to house several smaller units.

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.

One of the major problems is in terms of employment, who would work

in the Industrial Zone. Right now about 1,500 Aurovilleans employ

about 4,000 people. If this trend continues, the ultimate population of

50,000 Aurovilleans would employ about 140,000 people, many of

whom would be working in the Industrial Zone. This seems to be

unrealistic, particularly as the villagers that are presently employed by

the units seek to educate their children for white collar jobs. This makes

the prospect of depending on the nearby villages for the kind of labour

not feasible.

The Green Belt

The Green Belt is an integral part of the city as visualized by the

Mother. The Green Belt Zone has broadly three main categories of uses,

viz. agriculture and farming, forest and land regeneration and recreation.

Their development is designed to promote biodiversity enhancement,

environmental management, land regeneration and water management,

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.

Auroville's ongoing work in water management, soil conservation,

organic farming and seed collection, which is being carried out in

collaboration with State, national and international research institutions

and agencies, will promote the policies of food security and

optimisation of agro-economic potential both locally and nationally.

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.

One of the several purposes of a Green Belt is also to provide open-air

recreational facilities for the inhabitants of Auroville and its visitors. An

area of 260 Ha has been designated for this purpose, which will also

include a modern crematorium park as well as agro- and social forestry

for the benefit of neighbouring villages.

PLANNING THE FUTURE CITY

Until recently, urban growth was considered undesirable, and all

policies emphasised how migration from rural areas could be checked.

However, these policies have not succeeded, with the result that urban

areas are becoming more and more degraded. Presently, both national

and international opinion is in favour of urbanisation, as they have

become engines of development, and emphasise policies that promote it.

Taken too far, these policies may also become untenable, because of the

heavy toll urban areas impose on limited natural resources. They may

also disrupt the food security of the entire nation. This is why planners

today are talking of establishing rural-urban linkages.

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.

Auroville's concept is 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, as stated earlier The results of such innovative

methods will be available for application in both rural and urban areas

everywhere in support of their development. The aim of the planning

exercise has been to identify a broad framework and structure within

which all development in Auroville, whether physical or socio­

economic, can fit. It is also to include a structure of existing and

planned land-use, indicating the possible progress to be made in

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

163

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)

In 1982, impressed by the success of the afforestation project, the

Department of Environment, Government of India, offered Auroville 11

lakhs of rupees over five years to plant trees and scientifically monitor

the results so that the most appropriate techniques and species for the

situation - which is the situation of many other parts of India - could be

identified. It was the beginning of a new orientation for greenworkers in

Auroville, for now it became evident that Auroville had something

precious to offer outside its own boundaries. Auroville has gained

national and international acclaim for its wasteland reclamation and

reforestation work. More than 2,500 acres of near barren and visibly

dying land have been transformed into a lush green area.

Comprehensive contour bunding and the building of small check dams

for soil and water conservation have significantly enhanced the life­

support potential of the whole area. Over 2 million forest trees, hedge

trees, fruit, and fuel wood trees have been planted.

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.

There are plenty of areas in which the environmental consciousness of

the community as a whole remains underdeveloped or dormant. Take

water. In spite of a massive reafforestation programme, underground

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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

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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.

Finding these pockets, identifying the different species and

understanding their relationships was no easy task. By the late 1980s

some Auroville greenworkers were beginning to have doubts about the

wisdom of planting so many non-indigenous species. While exotics like

Work and Transformation were providing valuable shade for less hardy

species, they were also spreading like weeds, crowding out many other

trees. It was also noticed that some, like the eucalyptus, tended to crash

down in high winds. The turning-point came in 1993 when the

Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT)

which is based in Bangalore set up two centres in Auroville - in Shakti

and Pitchan-dikulam - to propagate local medicinal plants. A spin-off

from this was a new interest in recreating the original ecosystem of the

area, which was now referred to as Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest

(TDEF). Dr. Meher-Homji ofthe French Institute compiled a list of266

plant species which he considered belonged to the TDEF and

greenworkers like Joss, Jaap and Walter, who already had considerable

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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

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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.

The few who continued to practice agriculture were inspired by

Mother's statement that Auroville should strive for self-sufficiency in

food. Gradually they learned to adapt and to draw the most out of the

limited resources available. The watchword was diversification. Most of

the food eaten in Auroville was purchased from Pondicherry market: it

was grown using artificial fertilizers and pesticides. However, in 1994 a

Farm Group was constituted, consisting of almost all the Aurovillean

farmers, with the aim of sharing resources, coordinating production and

agreeing upon prices. It also facilitated problem-solving and common

funding appeals. In some ways it was the beginnings of a turnaround in

the farms' fortunes. The Farm Group persuaded the Economy Group to

classify farming as part of the service sector of Auroville, and this led to

farmers receiving a maintenance (albeit a very low one) from the

Central Fund and some security against financial losses. Other funding

for infrastructure improvements came from the Foundation for World

Education and Stichting de Zaaier, while the Auroville incense unit,

Maroma, has provided substantial support over the past few years to

Annapurna and Siddhartha farms. Organic Farming

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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)

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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.

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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

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units for the Andaman Islands, and Auroville Energy Products 1s

involved in a wind generation project in Bengal.

Auroville is well on its way to a renewable energy future, it is liable to

be a considerable time before the vision of the Master Plan is fulfilled.

This is due to a number of factors. For example, most renewable energy

technologies have steep up-front costs in comparison with conventional

energy delivery systems. This is why renewable energy proponents the

world over are awaiting technological breakthroughs in renewable

energy technologies to make them more efficient and comparable in

price to conventional technologies. Renewable energy systems also

require more maintenance than conventional energy systems, thus

requiring a higher level of commitment from the end-user. In fact, while

the main reason why Aurovilleans switch to renewable energy

technologies seems to be the freedom from power-cuts so prevalent on

the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board grid, many of them are also motivated

by the feeling that they are doing something for the environment. Does

this mean that Aurovilleans have a high level of environmental

consciousness? While the environmental consciousness of Aurovilleans

is well above the average in India, it compares unfavourably with that

found in some of the Western nations. Even though there is widespread

awareness among Aurovilleans of the need to protect the environment,

often it doesn't translate into action. Why not? It is not just tamas or the

cost, or the ubiquity of the conventional grid, or the difficulty of ,

obtaining good quality components or renewable energy devices in

India. It's also the fact that it's uneconomic to run certain devices and

systems on renewable energy at present. But how does one discover

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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.

Waste water recycling

Auroville is situated on a large plateau, about 65 metres above sea level,

sloping gently towards the Bay of Bengal. The absence of rivers or

major lakes makes it necessary to draw water needs from underground

for its present population of over 1500 people. If the projected growth

rate towards a small city of 50,000 people is to be achieved and

sustained, wastewC~ter treatment will be an essential part of the overall

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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.

In the mid-eighties the first experiments with recycling of wastewater

took place. Absence of specialised literature and proper guidance made

the small household pioneer plants more of an exercise in trial and error

learning. A dedicated group maintained the interest in the subject and

relied for expert advice and information mainly on visiting experts from

western countries. During the nineties the preferred choice for recycling

domestic wastewater shifted towards treatment systems called planted

filters. With such natural functioning systems one could obtain a high

quality effluent. The large space requirement for this kind of system was

not viewed as a disadvantage since the treatment systems can be

beautifully landscaped into any environment, even urban.

From 1995 to 1998 Auroville participated in a European Union funded

project on Decentralised Wastewater Systems (DEWATS) The project

was executed by BORDA (Bremen Overseas Research and

Development Association), and gave Auroville the opportunity to

research and develop horizontal planted filters, also called constructed

wetlands or root zone treatment systems. Access to expertise in the

technology proved extremely beneficial for further growth and

development. Four specially designed research plants were constructed

and tested under the project.

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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

The people of Auroville have started using dynamised water called

aquadyn.Aqua Dyn has been producing dynamised water for several

years, at first within the framework of its research. Then this water was

freely distributed to Aurovilleans from the small production unit of

Aspiration. In order to finance production and research, a commercial

unit was launched in 1999. For the last two years, numerous processes

were implemented in order to obtain high quality water: optimisation of

pumping, filtration on silica, storage, and sterilisation without chlorine.

Regarding dynamisation processes, several techniques were tested,

optimised and adapted like diamond water and systems using vortices

and dynamising ceramics. Marcel Violet process, which is the basis of

Aqua Dyn dynamisation, was modified with regard to the filtering

medium and the electrodes. Finally, mantras were being systematically

recorded in the water, which considerably amplifies the radiations in the

copper chloride sensitive crystallizations. Aqua Dyn's first concern was

the production of quality water, healthy water according to the official

norms and standards, without pathogens nor coliforms, which is

increasingly difficult without treatment, as has been shown by the

analysis of samples that were received from different places in

Auroville, including the schools. Afterwards the aim was the

dynamisation of this water, which was healthy but lifeless, with the

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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.

Health & Healing

Within Auroville itself there are many diverse approaches, beliefs,

attitudes and ideologies about both the nature of health and how it can

be achieved. Individual Aurovilleans have experienced many different

health care approaches and systems, coming as they do from diverse

cultural backgrounds. As a result there is a wide range of health

promoting activities which includes a number of experimental

approaches based on different hypotheses and philosophies in health.

The subject of health was addressed extensively by Sri Aurobindo and

the Mother on many different levels of the individual being, from the

physical to the mental to the psychic/spiritual levels. 'Health' is an

important aspect of the Integral Yoga which has the aspiration towards

the transformation of the body being guided by evolutionary forces. In

this light, health crises of various sorts can sometimes be perceived as

part of the transformatory process. For the individual, the maintenance

of his or her health and dealing with health crises can be perceived as an

opportunity to learn more about physical/mental/psychic balance on the

spiritual path, one more aspect of the unending education one submits

oneself to in Auroville.

More formally in the schools here, the physical side of developing

young bodies is balanced with the development and nurturing of

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awareness of this development and the meanmg this has for the

individual.

It is commonly understood that if true health is to be achieved, the

health of the individual and of the community must support and

complement each other, and that the well-springs of health for the

individual are more easily accessed and activated in a holistically

healthy environment. Within Auroville there are at present many

different treatment modes available. These are not exclusively for

Aurovilleans, but also provide for those living in the bio-region as well

as visitors, some of whom come specially to take advantage of what is

offered. The treatments range from the allopathic model to various

alternative and complementary therapies which are provided within a

range of different settings.Health in Auroville is, however, a dynamic

process with not only new and experimental treatment approaches but

also a wide range of activities that foster a physically, mentally,

emotionally and spiritually healthy life and enable individuals to reach

the source of all health within.

Many systems of primary health care are in use in Auroville. These . include allopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropody, podology,

massage, chromat0-therapy, and others. The Auroville Health Centre,

recognised as a Mini Health Centre by the Tamil Nadu State

Government, is equipped with basic medical facilities and staffed by an

international team. It serves the Auroville community as well as about

200 patients daily from the villages at its headquarters in Kuilapalayam

and its sub-centres. A team of 30 local women trained as village health

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workers serve in 17 villages, giving first aid, home cures and basic

health education.

Under the aegis of The Indian Foundation for Revitalization of Local

Health Traditions (FRLHT), Auroville hosts one of the 15 Medicinal

Plants Conservation Parks which are being set up in the three South­

Indian states of Kerala, Kamataka and Tamil Nadu. The aim of these

centres is to revive the local health traditions and the ancient medical

systems of India as described in the Ayurveda and its Tamil equivalent,

the Siddha. For this purpose, Auroville has established an ethno­

medicinal forest area to conserve medicinal plant diversity, an outreach

nursery focusing on medicinal plant propagation and distribution, and a

Bio-Resources Centre dedicated to education, training and research in

the use of locally available medicinal plants in primary health care. In

1997, a new healing centre complex, "Quiet", near the beach was

inaugurated to focus on providing alternative healing therapies. An

international homeopathic seminar, led by world-renowned homeopaths

from India and UK, marked the beginning of a new chapter in

Auroville's endeavour to combine new therapies with conventional

health care.

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

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villages. With funding from a number of national and international

organisations, Auroville's rural development programme aims at:

• Raising the standard of living of the local population through

vocational training and self-employment;

• Involving the villagers in a cooperative effort of wasteland

reclamation and organic farming;

• Improving the health situation through education, preventive care

and treatment;

• Empowering women and providing education to the village

children;

• Encouraging in each village the growth of community spirit and a

sense of self-confidence through social initiatives, micro-projects

and awareness campaigns .

•

Auroville's development 1s inextricably intertwined with the

surrounding villages, which are classified as part of a "most backward

area in need of development" by the Tamil Nadu Government. There

are 13 villages in the immediate area of Auroville, comprising about

40,000 people, and altogether 40 villages in the bioregional area, as

stated earlier. Some 350 people from the surrounding villages have

joined or been born in Auroville. Almost 5,000 local people are

employed by Auroville, from sweepers to engineers; most of them have

been trained in Auroville to improve their qualifications and skills. Most

important is that Auroville provides for the young of this rural area a

real and viable alternative to the migration to the cities and urban

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centers, which is so often the only option for those seeking self

improvement and employment.

*More than 500 children from neighbouring villages attend Auroville

schools; another 900 are touched by Auroville classes in their village

schools.

* More than 20,000 patients from the neighbouring villages receive

health care from Auroville every year.

At present, there are five major educational programmes for village

children:

*New Creation (with boarding facilities)

* Ilaignarkal

* Isai Ambalam

* Life Education Centre and

* Arul Vazhi

There is also a programme that sends animators to the village schools

for regular classes and special activities.Apart from the Aurovilleans,

who work on a voluntary basis for a maintenance allowance, Auroville

employs some 4,000 people from the local villages, whose work

typically covers anything from agriculture to engineering, cleaning,

gardening, driving, accounting, teaching, commerce and supervising.

There is also a blossoming of small-scale businesses, not belonging to

Auroville, in the surrounding villages, like building contractors,

handicraft workshops, taxi operators, boutiques, shops, etc, all of whom

may have derived direct or indirect support from Auroville.

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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.)

Without specifically aiming for this, Auroville has become a central

point for most of these villages. It is in daily contact with them through

labour relations and various educational and other programmes. While

no one planned this from the beginning, it has slowly evolved this

way. Without any doubt, the presence of Tamil neighbours in Auroville

itself has been increasing day by day, and not only from the 50 villages

around but also from farther away villages and middle-sized towns.

There are more or less 5,000 people employed in Auroville. That means,

in each of these families at least one permanent monthly income is

available from the wages of the father, the Mother or a youth working in

Auroville. This job security represents an economic security for many

households, a fact which allows them to improve aspects of their lives

according to their priorities. We can definitely affirm that there is more

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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.

Presently a considerable number of villagers are in the economic

position of acquiring new land for commercialising agriculture. This

brings to light that in the nearby villages a great change in the increase

of land prices has taken place, to the point of creating inflationary trends

due to speculation. The picture of agriculture has veered away from

cultivation of paddy, groundnuts, and cereals to growing casuarinas,

sugarcane, cashew nuts, etc. This change is largely due to the scarcity of

the labour force, since the feminine and youth labour forces, who both

used to work in the agrarian sector, have now been absorbed by

Auroville or nearby towns through schooling, the service sector,

construction, handicrafts or export units.

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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.

Many educational programmes have been implemented in the area,

either through formal education or through programmes of adult

education in areas such as social awareness, health, agriculture,

recovery of traditional medicines, local infrastructural development,

savings opportunities and reforestation. While these continue to

function as a strong stimulus for the villagers, the latter have now the

opportunity to either take their own initiative and develop their own

enterprises, or choose to participate in the already existing programmes

worked out by Auroville. Through the services provided by Auroville

for the improvement of health, control over epidemics, conditions of

sanitation, water sources, ante- and post-natal care, and efforts towards

reduction in birth rate and female infanticide, there gradually emerges a

new outlook on life, where life and health are related and better

understood by the majority of people.

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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.

One successful attempt towards solving the economic problems of

village women running households has been a programme of savings.

Here, with the support of Auroville, they initiate their own women's

clubs with one of their objectives being the development of a savings

scheme. Presently some of these clubs own up to Rs. 4 lakhs which can

be used as a loan scheme in times of need. These projects have made the

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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.

Generally speaking, it is easy to perceive that new trends of

consumption are now consolidating: most of the households in villages

falling within 5 kms radius from Auroville have 2-wheeler motor

vehicles, television with cable connection, cassette players, music tapes,

radios and electro-domestic devices like fans and mixer/grinders. Most

families have also adopted new dress styles for their young girls and

boys, and commonly wear gold chains and watches. Some 80% of the

children go to school, some of them to private schools. One can also

observe the increase in expenditure for social functions like ear-piercing

ceremonies, puberty ceremonies, and especially for weddings, where a

minimum of Rs 1 lakh is spent. Before, all these expenditures were

modest, and simply not possible for the average population, while today

the majority can afford them. One of Auroville's concerns today is to

help the younger generation to acqmre new social perspectives and

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 Karma yogin, 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 )

• Vol. 1. Prayers and Meditations

Early prayers and meditations from diaries of 1912 to 1919.

• Vol. 2. Words of Long Ago

Early writings on spiritual life, women, war, etc.

• Vol. 3. Questions and Answers

Early conversations with disciples on Yoga and life ( 1929-1931 ).

• Vol. 4-9. Questions and Answers

1950-58. Six volumes of conversations with students and

disciples.

• Vol. 10. On Thoughts and Aphorisms

Commentaries on Sri Aurobindo's Thoughts and Aphorisms.

• Vol. 11. Notes on the Way

Conversations with a disciple on the Mother's own spiritual

experiences between 1961 and 1973.

• Vol. 12. On Education

Writings and conversations on education.

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