New location for Sri Aurobindo statue at UNESCO

Auroville International France, which has had a close relationship with the UNESCO headquarters in Paris through the years, has been collaborating to change the venue of the Sri Aurobindo statue at UNESCO. On October 21st this statue, which is similar to the Sri Aurobindo statue at Savitri Bhavan, found a prominent place overlooking the Garden of Peace, directly adjacent to the UNESCO entrance of Avenue de Suffren. The installation of the statue took place in the presence of Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s Director-General, Ms. Ruchira Kamboj, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of India in UNESCO and Dr. Karan Singh, member of the UNESCO Executive Board and chairman of the Auroville Foundation. In her speech, Ms Bokova called the placement of the statue a recognition of the immense spiritual work for humankind done by Sri Aurobindo. She mentioned that Sri Aurobindo’s vision is at the origin of the Auroville project, and that his vision continues to inspire and educate the world. “He represents that which is most precious in India, as did Swami Vivekenanda whose birth anniversary was celebrated last year.”

Dr. Karan Singh then took the floor, retracing the life of Sri Aurobindo the philosopher, revolutionary and visionary, and suggesting that yoga be added to the ‘UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. He ended his speech by reciting the beautiful ‘Who’ poem by Sri Aurobindo.