Succession and ageing: some challenges and solutions

The concept of ‘old age’ hasn’t gained much traction in Auroville. Unlike life outside, Auroville has no age-specific norms. Auroville residents give their energy where they can as long as they can and there is no compulsory retirement age for people working in a unit or in working groups. The situation is similar to that at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, where, recalls Alok Pandey, Mother even discouraged people from celebrating the usual ‘milestones’ in their life, such as reaching a certain age. Ageing, she said, has nothing to do with how long you have lived but with how you live. “As soon as you stop advancing, as soon as you stop progressing, as soon as you cease to better yourself, cease to gain and grow, cease to transform yourself, you truly become old, that is to say, you go downhill towards disintegration.”

Yet, as one grows older, it is likely that one may need to work at a slower pace or stop work altogether. But ‘succession’, preparing others to take one’s place, is a difficult topic for various reasons, including proprietorial feelings, the lack of competent successors, and the issue of how the needs of the elderly can be met.  Some commercial units are finding a solution, while thoughts about starting a retirement fund for the older members of the community are maturing.

One way of succession: calling on Mother

New Dawn Carpentry is run by Argentinian national Ricardo Cosarinsky, a former airline pilot who left Argentina during the Dirty War. “The military was everywhere and was very powerful. I didn’t like facing their guns when meeting them. So I left for Spain, hoping I could find a job there as a pilot. But that didn’t work out. After a few months I returned to Argentina as I had fallen in love. We settled in a very beautiful place in the countryside, far from the cities, living an idyllic lifestyle, milking our own cow and growing our own vegetables.” But while this was fulfilling to some extent, it was not sufficient; and when his nephew invited him to join his carpentry workshop in Buenos Aires for a few months a year, Ricardo accepted. “I was going there every winter. He taught me the trade. After four years, I started my own carpentry workshop at our house in the countryside.”

The isolated living brought something else as well. “I suddenly awoke to spirituality and started to read books on yoga, such as books about Ramana Maharshi and Paramahansa Yogananda. Many more spiritual books came to me, and I felt the urge to go to India. Now in my little village there was a tea shop where I used to buy snacks. The owner told me that one of his customers had a sister who was living in India, and would I like to meet her? And I said, yes, why not? So we met, and she asked me to carry a letter for her sister in Auroville, who was Prema who had founded the garment unit Auromode. I hadn’t the faintest idea about Auroville. 

“So I left for India and travelled around. My last stop was the Sathya Sai Baba Ashram in Puttaparthi, where I shared a room with another Argentinean. He had just come from Auroville, and convinced me to go there. I took the bus, came to Auroville, met Prema and gave her the letter. It clicked between us. I liked Auroville and got interested in its spiritual ideals. I went back to Argentina with the decision to come back to India and join Auroville.

When I returned I started to volunteer in different places. One day, Prema, who had a problem with the administration of the Surrender community project which she had started, asked if I would take over the carpentry team and finish the wood work of Surrender. I agreed. After finishing Surrender, Dhanasu, one of the carpenters, suggested we start our own carpentry unit. That was how New Dawn Carpentry got started. The year was 1998. Soon afterwards, Dhanasu joined Auroville as well and is now a co-executive of the unit ,”

Today, 22 years later, New Dawn is employing 12 people and is well-known within Auroville and outside for its quality carpentry work. “But I have grown older,” reflects Ricardo. “I am 73 now, and I have been thinking about what will happen with the unit when I can no longer work. Knowing that all is in Mother’s hands I started to ask for an answer. After some time She sent me the best guy in town. His name is Chaitanya. He is one of the Auroville kids who left Auroville to study abroad; he joined the Compagnons du Devoir in France and learned roof-making. Then he came back, and one day showed up in the workshop, stayed, and became co-executive. It was a gift. He was exactly the person I was hoping would join. Together, Danasu and Chaitanya are doing extremely well, and they will be able to successfully run the unit.”

New Dawn, says Ricardo, will be able to continue paying him a half maintenance even when he starts working less. “I don’t need much, and my monthly maintenance of Rs 20,000 will not be a burden on the unit. But I do not intend to stop, ever. I follow what Mother said, ‘There is one thing that is always necessary, and it is: never to give up the game’. I will hammer the last nail in my own coffin!”

Planned succession

Auroville’s fashion unit Miniature is run by Italian national Liliana Fassino, now 77 years old. She joined Auroville in 1995, after running a big fashion shop in Turin. Her daughter Ambra, who joined Miniature a few years ago, is primed to run the unit when Liliana steps back. 

“Compared to my mother, I am at a disadvantage,” admits Ambra candidly. “My mother was the daughter of a textile importer and got the sense of fabrics at a very young age. She is also artistically gifted, designing not only garments, but also shoes, accessories and jewellery. My background is completely different. Though I was always attracted to fashion, I became a Kindergarten teacher. I received my training in Indian textiles at a much later age, and it is still continuing.” Liliana and Ambra regularly travel the whole of India to source textiles, with a preference for block-printed cotton from craftsmen of Rajasthan, and hand-woven khadi silks and cottons in traditional weavers patterns from Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Bengal. “We support small artisans who have incredible skills and so we help keeping those traditions alive. They produce only small quantities, which make our products unique.”

Succession, says Ambra, is a painful topic. “My mother is one of the Auroville pioneers who started her unit from scratch and built it up to what it is today – a highly successful and well-known garment unit, which, before COVID came around, employed 45 people. The unit is built around her and her system of working. And now the daughter comes in with different ideas. My mother is adapting as she knows that change is the only way to survive, and she pushes me to find my own ways.”

One of those changes, imposed by the pandemic, is turning to the online market as a new sales outlet. It is an area where neither Liliane nor Ambra feel at home. “Our major outlets are the Mira boutique in Auroville and a few other clients in India. But all have been heavily hit by COVID. Some of our products are available online from Auroville.com; but we never pursued product sales through our own social media, such as Instagram or Facebook. Even Miniature’s own website is not geared to online purchasing. We will need a person familiar with aggressive online marketing techniques.”

“The problem for Auroville units is that we are not able to create teams,” reflects Ambra. “That’s the power of big companies: they’re able to create teams, so there are always professionals who can carry the unit forward.” 

Ambra does not see any difficulty in providing a maintenance to her mother when she will work less or stop working. “We have been discussing this, and some money has already been put aside for that purpose. But I think it is time to look deeply into the matter and agree on concrete guidelines for everyone for the future.” 

The Silver Fund

If some older Aurovilians who worked for commercial units may expect to receive a pension-maintenance from that unit – assuming the unit continues being in business – those who have been working for Auroville’s services do not receive that benefit. Some may have savings or will receive a private or state pension. But an increasing number of Aurovilians do not have those advantages. 

A subgroup constituted by the Funds and Assets Management Committee has been working on the modalities of a so-called Silver Fund, which is yet to be presented to the community. Stephan, one of the group’s members, explains that the idea behind the fund is to guarantee a basic maintenance for any Aurovilian who has lived in and contributed to Auroville for a long period of time, say 25 or 30 years. “So, if you have reached a certain age – say 70 years – and you have lived in Auroville for let’s say 25 years, you would be entitled to receive a maintenance from the community, regardless of where you worked or if you continue to work. We have debated if people who receive a pension from elsewhere are eligible and decided that the Silver Fund maintenance would be unconditional. It would be paid regardless of any other income or benefits. The Aurovilian just has to state once that s/he wants to receive it after fulfilling the criteria.” He points to the obvious advantages: it would provide security for those who are now growing older and have no means; and it would create a sense of security for younger Aurovilians who would like to spend their life working and living in Auroville. 

“We have been doing many calculations concerning how the community could pay for this,” says Stephan. “We planned to present this to the community last year, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the project was shelved. Now that quite a few of Auroville’s commercial units are suffering due to COVID, our financial calculations will need to be adjusted. But the principles are sound.” He expects that the financial situation in Auroville has to first stabilize and a sense of normalcy return before this project can be taken up again. 

Assuming the community would eventually accept the proposal, it will allow the elderly Aurovilians to leave their workplace while having the security that they will continue to receive a maintenance. It is then up to them to decide how they want to contribute to the community or focus more on their own yoga and spiritual work.