A New Note

AV Today: What has been the impact upon your unit of the pandemic?

Aurelio: We had some international orders from supporters and now are facing the end of these commissions, and have no orders. Our sales were mainly in boutiques and airport shops, which have all stopped. It was a sudden yet welcome halt, because it was the end of a very busy season and gave us an enforced rest. In the coming months we might have to work half-time. Some Auroville units have closed down or sent people home. I realised, because of our worker's dependency, if I do that, they will come and ask for assistance and food. I feel committed that we should go through this pandemic together. It's already apparent that this crisis is making us stronger, more coherent and caring in Svaram. 

What changes have you made to the functioning of your unit and its products?

We worked on three levels. Firstly, we focussed on survival. Secondly, we examined how can we realign, reinvent and renew ourselves. Thirdly, we considered how we can reform our operations. They all go together. 

One approach we emphasised was online work, meetings and classes. We are connected to an international community of students, and we delivered live classes for them. We stand for a heartfelt sharing space and are learning to bring our atmosphere and interactive work online. In any case, we see our work in a global context, and how we can contribute to the healing of this health crisis through music. We feel our amazing tools for harmonisation are a gift for a world in need. Our musical instruments help to find ways to become present in sound; they are tools of healing, awareness and harmony.

We had a complete buzz in innovation: this is what Auroville should be, a hub for research and innovation; we shouldn't just produce. Every week our whole team participated in reflections, visioning and learning meetings. We organised internal seminars to find different ways of marketing, and we completely re-invented our PR outlook with new brochures. Another outcome will be a new website, including several innovations like the "Orbits", the planetary frequencies of the qualities of the eight visible planets and how you get to play with them with sound.  

Regarding the larger Auroville economy, has the pandemic revealed weaknesses in our present financial system? If so, what are they?

Our almost full scale dependency on tourism and on outer supply chains in regard to food and basic necessities is a concern. The pandemic brought home that we ought to produce more for Auroville's needs, rather than catering for outside consumerist luxury goods. In any crisis we don’t want to depend on the outside. 

If the Auroville economy is to be put upon a more sustainable basis, what changes need to take place? Practically, how could these changes happen?

We have to get our act together regarding the economy and self governance. The first thing is to look at Auroville's needs. Which of our essential needs can we provide and produce? Our first need in Auroville is food security. How can this be set up self-sustainably? We have so much farmland here, so support to our farms is crucial. Then, how can we create a beautiful production system where we provide for our own needs? This would create a new approach in our economy and improved work ethics.

The second thing is we need to be looking for partnerships and suppliers in the bio-region. We could perhaps call it ‘Auroville Friends Cooperative’, a bioregional co-operative partnering with local farmers, and the ethically-oriented business community sympathetic to Auroville, to supply us with the necessities for living and building the city. The third layer is what we produce for income generation. This should be based on innovation and research. Unique goods and services that we produce for outside should come out of the Integral Yoga context and provide things of value that are good for the Earth and humanity.

Auroville is an amazing learning campus. How can we share that virtually? It's a chance for Auroville with all our achievements to become global through our online presence. 

I suggest we set up an Auroville media centre studio where we could broadcast holistic life productions – where, for instance, farmers, technical experts, therapists and nutritionists could share their research and offer classes. 

I feel crisis invites and challenges ‘out of the box’ thinking, intuition, creativity and strategy. We need to be grounded, creative, innovative, to plan and realistically strategise and at the same time be open to the mystery in it. What is She telling us? What is the most crucial and important thing? In this crisis we are surely challenged to listen deeper.