Kireet, a lover of Auroville

I was asked to write a few lines so that Aurovilians who may not know much about Kireet Joshi, who has just left us, would understand better how important he has been in Auroville’s life. The problem is that I cannot just write a bland piece describing his work for Auroville. So I hope you will pardon me when I become quite personal.

For those who may not know, Kireetbhai came to the Ashram at the age of 25, having resigned from government service. After only two years, in 1958, Mother made him the Registrar of the Centre of Education, a position which he would continue to hold till 1975. He was then called to work as Educational Advisor to the Central Government in Delhi by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She had been told by The Mother, whom she deeply respected, that it would be good if Kireet could work for her in the future. He became quickly quite close to the Prime Minister. This is how Kireetbhai could help Auroville when the need arose in 1976 and during twelve long years thereafter.

The work he accomplished for Auroville, often in difficult circumstances, is truly phenomenal. Like few others, I have been a close witness.

The most obvious and most difficult work was to secure for Auroville a safe status. A few weeks ago, I was happy to present him with a booklet dedicated to him which was the English translation of a talk about the genesis of the Auroville Foundation Act, in which he has been the central actor. When one sees the formidable odds that had to be surmounted from 1976 till 1988 one feels that Kireetbhai was truly a miracle worker. There was fierce opposition at every step, and till the last moments in 1988 there were chances of a final adverse result of all these efforts.

I remember vividly one circumstance in 1987 where I was sitting with him in Delhi and he was telling me that the Auroville file had to be taken from him due to too many negative letters having been sent to the Minister. Of course, on our side, we had forgotten to write supporting messages. When I blurted out that he must feel bad about our ingratitude, I remember him nearly jumping out of his seat and saying with such joyful élan, “Oh no, oh no, what a wonderful privilege we had to work for the Mother; you and me, we have seen miracles happening, oh no, I feel so grateful…” he was literally bubbling with enthusiasm and joy. It made such a profound impression on me, I can still see the scene.

I had the privilege for many years during the 1980s for the SAIIER work to often sit in his office at Shastri Bhavan when he was in charge of the Department of Higher Education (which included all the universities, colleges, many research centres, a tremendous charge). And yet he was adding to it by working toward devising new policies for education through two large education commissions of which he was Member-Secretary, and he was the originator of two major research centres, one on Philosophy and the other on Sanskrit. (He was able to speak in Sanskrit. I remember numerous occasions when, hearing it spoken by him, I realized it was such a beautiful language to listen to.) And of course he managed many other major works that I would not know about. Despite all that, his office was an oasis of calm. It was a ceaseless work, which he would continue at home late at night. I remember sitting with him while he was dealing with piles of files.

But he was always ready to work for Auroville whenever needed. Mother’s work was a priority. He had to manage the Auroville case in the Supreme Court of India in 1981 and 1982, a period he remembered as being particularly heavy because he had additional preoccupations and work. In addition, there was a very difficult beginning of the case. From 1983, he initiated the creation of SAIIER, as he was very concerned with the development of education in Auroville. Soon large grants were made available supporting teachers’ maintenances and the development of educational facilities, such as Transition School, from 1984.

During this period, the mid 80’s till the mid 90’s, we would hold large workshops with him in Delhi for research on value-oriented education. We would come by train, 15 to 20 of us, for at least one week and would sit with him during the late afternoon and at night when he managed to free himself. All those, and there are many, who participated in those workshops will remember the light and joyful atmosphere, the creativity, and, above all, how much Kireetbhai deeply enjoyed these moments. These workshops resulted in the production of three books, The Aim of Life, The Good Teacher and The Good Pupil and Mystery and Excellence of the Human Body as well as preparing the ground for further research work in the form of monographs for vital education.

During the same period, immediately after the successful outcome of the Auroville case in the Supreme Court, his preoccupation with a permanent solution for Auroville which would guarantee its autonomy became prominent, for which he was continuously consulting experts, friends and various government officers as well as Aurovilians. I remember meeting him in Geneva for 3 days sometime in 1984, during which we worked on a kind of mock-up of an Auroville Act. After many twists and turns, and many anxious moments when the chances of success looked very dim, the Auroville Foundation Act ended up being passed by the Indian Parliament on September 5th, 1988. It was the end of three amazing weeks during which Frederick, Krishna Tewari and myself could see the miraculous workings of Mother’s force.

Later, somewhat unexpectedly, Kireet became Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, from 1999 till 2004. Among his preoccupations, besides education, Auroville’s internal governance was high. He participated in a collective research in Auroville as a place for divine anarchy. But it became overshadowed with the difficulties around Matrimandir which created a painful controversy. This weighed heavily on him and saddened the end of his tenure. Nevertheless, it was during this period of his chairmanship that he initiated the making of a large development plan for Auroville. This resulted in a sizeable increase of the yearly financial allotments from the Central Government for the development of Auroville, opening a new and larger channel for funds to flow into Auroville.

After a stint from September 2008 as Educational Advisor to the then Gujarat Chief Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, during which he promoted the development of a vast educational programme, including a Children’s University, following some health problems he had an inner command to come back to the Ashram. He responded immediately in June 2010. He was happily living in a small room of the Care hospice of the Ashram when in 2013 he unfortunately developed a throat cancer. He waged a courageous battle against it and had to suffer many very difficult moments. Those who had the privilege to assist him would, I am sure, testify to the beautiful atmosphere of surrender and peace around him. And the blessing of his beautiful smile, to the very end.

Quite recently Kireetbhai told me, as I believe he had said to quite a few other people, “Whenever I think of Auroville, I feel happiness in my heart”. It was not the first time that he had told me this or something similar. Kireetbhai was -is- a great lover of Auroville.