The Matrimandir Visit by the Prime Minister

The Matrimandir visit the Matrimandir, the Prime Minister was greeted by the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation and three Aurovilians. One of them gave him the darshan message of February 21st, which he accepted with a smile and kept in his breast pocket. I thought I needed to explain to him the meaning of the Banyan Tree and the Urn at the Amphitheatre, but he knew all about it. He went up to the Inner Chamber. He had agreed that we would switch on the lights after 15 minutes, but this may not have been communicated to the members of his entourage. I froze when after two minutes a security guard accidentally switched on his torch, but the Prime Minister was not disturbed, _ The time was going' very slowly. His entourage became increasingly restless and was getting up. I signaled to Judith to switch on the lights, but she motioned that four minutes were still left. Those were the longest minutes of my life, particularly the last one. When the lights finally went on, Mr. Modi took a deep pranayama breath, then left the room, walking down very indrawn. We did not disturb him. At the second level, he asked if the ray of light that passed through the crystal was artificial light. I informed that it's a 'surya kiran' , a ray of natural sunlight. Once outside, we walked through one of the petals, spent a minute there, then walked down to the lotus pond where he inaugurated the Water Ceremony. Piero gave him the vessel with the water from the Ganga, and Gloria the vessel with the Kauvery water. The third vessel with water from the Narmada was given by Narad. While a group of five students sang Sri Aurobindo's Gayatri Mantra, the Prime Minister solemnly poured each water into the lotus pond. Then we walked up to the Banyan Tree, where he greeted the Matrimandir executives and asked some questions about how we maintain the tree. He did a 'pradakshina' around the Banyan and proceeded to Bharat Nivas.