Goodwill, maturity and the yoga: reflection on Auroville

What was your overall impression after your recent visit?

During these five weeks I sensed that the township is doing better than I have seen it before. The signs of success are everywhere. The Matrimandir, above all, is there. It is strong, the soul of Auroville, the city’s engine, its essence, its heart. In addition, there is a new level of maturity: in its citizens, its buildings and infrastructure. More smiles meet you as you pass by on the road, and the “city” and green belt are more protected from buses and lorries; the city feels more peaceful. Children are everywhere, as ubiquitous as the now white-haired pioneer generation. Aurovilians seem to be living better than in the past: their roots seem deeper, their commitment greater. Many committees seem to be working well, with results and a will. The villages seem robust and wealthier and many female Tamilian Aurovilians I talked with seem happy, successful, more independent, more realized and, thus, valuable intermediaries between Auroville and the villages.

How did you find the morale of the Aurovilians?

First, I felt more warmth than ever before, but maybe that has to do with getting older and replaying the early days with an old colleague. But I felt perhaps even more frustration than during earlier visits. Two concerns were voiced so often they began sounding like mantras: “We’re stuck, we’re not moving forward,” and “People are in positions for which they lack the capabilities to perform well.”

I also sensed a lack of transparency at many levels. I had this ironic feeling that one of Auroville’s earliest missions, afforestation, has been so successful that now it is hard to see what even your neighbours are doing. I mean that literally as well as figuratively. Homes are surrounded by fences of shrubbery and thorns, uninviting cow guards, metal gates you dare not open. People guard their lands as though they own them. Are Aurovilians more shut off to each other than ever before, I wondered. In the 1970s, I’d often walk from my home in Certitude in a straight line to Fertile, say, or Kottakarai, or Aspiration. That straight line was a symbol for what we did have in those days: abundant transparency in everything we did. You could see forever, and you knew what everyone was doing.

Transparency is a keyword in organizational thinking these days, and it’s an ideal in politics. People and organizations are transparent when they have nothing to hide, when they are open to change and evolution, when they see that growth through adaptation is a law of nature. It should be a central concept in Auroville, but I don’t think it is.

Why do you think this is?

In part it’s the situation vis-à-vis the Government of India, but it’s also something else.. Aurovilians agree that we have to move forward. Then… clunk! a steel door shuts. “Oh, if only X would do what I think… if only I wouldn't be so possessive!” I saw the play of totally human forces: ego, possessiveness, territory, power, money, even ownership in a town of no ownership, played out in a small but significant arena of what is meant to be an intentionally-conscious community which is dedicated, above all, to moving beyond those same human forces.

These ‘totally human forces’ seem to have been around for a long time.

Yes, they are the same issues Sri Aurobindo criticized in his letters to sadhaks in the Ashram and they are the same roadblocks hindering Auroville’s growth that I saw, in a much cruder form, back in the 1970s. Mother and Sri Aurobindo laid out, very clearly and repeatedly, what is involved in getting Auroville moving… yet it’s so difficult that we still seem to be in the first steps of the Yoga.

I wonder if Aurovilians are reading and digesting Sri Aurobindo. The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity, in particular, are crucial to understanding Auroville. Sri Aurobindo is clear. The only thing that can build such a dream as Auroville is the spiritualization of society: “an inner change is needed in human nature… if this is not the solution, then there is no solution.” If there is no solution this time around, he says, it has to wait until a “greater race” comes, a form of life “nearer to the divine.” Are we destined to miss our chance this time? I hope not.

Do you have any practical suggestions of how we can move forward?

I don’t live here, so it’s hard for me to preach. You can’t understand much in five weeks. But I had a few strong feelings from conversations with old and new friends.

Firstly, the Galaxy design. It holds yantric power but that does not mean it is cast in stone, never to be questioned or modified in its details. The city is organic. The only way is to move forward with flexibility, toleration, compromise and goodwill. Things can and will be rebuilt.

As for community decision-making, put deadlines on discussions. Find out how to legislate ways to bypass blockage so that they become accepted procedures. However, there has to be something better, more fitting to the Dream, than elections.

Constitute committees with people who are most capable of fulfilling the needs of that committee. The first priority is to select people who will do the work involved, who have a professional attitude and are full of goodwill to find middle ways of solving problems. They should have the attitude of civil servants who represent the community as a whole, not of politicians who represent particular interests and positions.

New Delhi has been crucial in Auroville’s development. The same attention paid to Delhi over several decades should now be made to create close relations with and honest respect for all levels of the state government. This is crucial.

Non-Tamil Aurovilians need to learn and use Tamil to create real interchange between people. Get acquainted with the culture. The true integration of the villages and Auroville has been one of the town’s greatest challenges since the earliest days, and it still remains a challenge. Respect, honesty, and transparency are crucial.

Are you optimistic about the future of Auroville?

Below the frustration Aurovilians feel, I saw growth, progress and goodwill. Among many, the Dream is alive, there is faith in the future. But everyone needs to keep feeding that fire, that fundamental aspiration at the heart of Auroville.