Water from the world comes to the Matrimandir

The water ceremony was planned at least 1 ½ years ago. The Matrimandir Events Team felt they should do something special to mark Auroville’s 50th anniversary. For the original inauguration, earth had been brought from many countries to symbolise unity, so this time they thought that people from around the world could bring or send another element, like water. They floated the concept with many people and everybody was enthusiastic. 

They announced the idea in the News and Notes a year ago. They also opened a Facebook page and Manohar put it on the Auroville website and created a beautiful logo for it. Initially the team felt all the water should be boiled or sterilized to prevent contamination, but dropped this idea when people told them this would destroy the specific structure of the waters. 

The Auroville International Centres helped them to spread the word and last August, the water started flowing in. 

There were many water stories. Three Auroville trekkers brought the first water from India from high up in the Himalayas. One man chipped ice off an iceberg in Antarctica. Mother’s great grandson brought water from Tlemcem in Algeria, the place where Mother studied with Theon in 1905-6. An ex-Ashram student who had represented Cuba in the original inauguration ceremony made a special trip there to bring back water and so ‘complete the circle’. Some of the water came from pilgrim sites or sacred places, like Lourdes or The Chalice Well in Glastonbury, from sacred sources in Spain, Portugal, South America and many other countries, as well as from the sacred places and rivers of India.

“Everything was done with so much care and consciousness,” says Srimoyi. “Somebody from a small Sri Aurobindo Centre in the middle of the Western Ghats told us he read page 352 of Savitri near the water before he collected it. Two Ashramites collected water from the drinking tap near the Samadhi, kept the water in both the Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s room, said a special prayer, then brought it in special blue bottles which The Mother had used for her eyewash. This particular water, along with water from the Lotus Pond under the Matrimandir, was used as the base water for the water ceremony.

“We felt we had to honour every water sample.” So every sample was labeled and kept on trays close to a picture of The Mother in the new dehumidified storeroom underneath the Amphitheatre. In all, over 321 samples were sent or brought from different water sources around the world.

Planning the ceremony

But obtaining the water was just the first step. The next question was how the water should be used. Srimoyi remembered that when there was a drought, The Mother had given the children in the Ashram particular instructions to invoke rain. She drew a sign for water which was traced out on the ground and told the children to walk around it, chanting a certain number of times. She gave them words to be chanted, calling for rain, but said that for it to work the words must be given by your guru and the invocation should be carried out with sincerity. 

“This is why we chose children for the water ceremony, because of their purity and simplicity. We explained to the children that when they did this, it is like praying to The Mother for water for the world, for India, for Auroville. They took it very seriously.” 

It was decided that the children would come down the spiral ramp from the urn in the Amphitheatre, walk along the water sign given by the Mother, enter the Auroville symbol then pour the water into an inverted gold disk that represented the central circle of the Auroville symbol: in its centre there was a crystal, representing the central dot. The disc was placed on sand from the Samadhi, “So it was a complete representation of the Auroville symbol with the Samadhi sand at the base of its centre. Everything was very sacred and symbolic. This was our way of praying for the wellbeing of one of earth’s most precious resources both for Auroville and the world.”

In an echo of the original inauguration ceremony, each sample of water would be accompanied by two children. One child would carry the water, the other would carry a placard in the shape of a water drop with the source of the water written on it. “It was truly a collaborative work. Shradhanjali workshop provided and spray painted the papers and made them into placards later, Vanaville Press cut them into the required shape and Auroville calligraphers wrote out the names on them. 

“The very beautiful containers for the water were made by Priya as an offering. It was very beautiful; it just came from her heart.” 

Live music from the Auroville choir and musicians would complete the ceremony. A year before, the choir in a performance had sung a particular chant. The Mother had given it to a music teacher in the Ashram and called it ‘The Earth’s Aspiration Chant’. “It seemed appropriate to chant it during the ceremony as it would symbolize Auroville’s aspiration for the New World, for unity, and for the water essential for its continued growth and sustenance. Nuria, the conductor of the choir, agreed to the idea and asked Matthew to compose additional instrumental music because the water ceremony would take a long time.” 

In this way, all the four elements - water, fire, earth and sky (ether) - would be represented in the ceremony on the 28th February. 

However, before then a lot of preparation was required. The organizers realised they would need a lot of children (two for each water sample), so about six months before the ceremony they contacted all the schools, including the outreach schools, and asked them if they would like to participate. They specified that the children had to be 10 years and above. By January, about 170 children had agreed to take part, plus a number of young adults. 

In February, rehearsals began. The younger children ran through the whole ceremony four times, the older ones twice. A very efficient team of teachers and volunteers managed the children and conducted the rehearsals. Meanwhile, another team patiently sorted out the water samples and placed them with their respective placards in preparation for the ceremony.

Participation of the Prime Minister 

“In December the Working Committee asked us if the Prime Minister, whose visit had just been confirmed, could inaugurate it. But how? We had already planned to take water from the Lotus Pond underneath the Matrimandir as the basis for all the other waters. So we thought if the Prime Minister pours some water into the Lotus Pond and we use some of this water on the 28th, in a sense he will have inaugurated the ceremony.”

Around midday of 25th February, the Prime Minister solemnly poured the water from the Ganges, Narmada and Kaveri rivers (three of the sacred rivers of India) from three special containers into the Lotus Pond beneath the Matrimandir. 

“The whole atmosphere around the Matrimandir during his visit was quiet and peaceful. There were relatively few people and the Prime Minister was very focussed.” 

Inspired by the Prime Minister, the Governing Board members and the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation also participated in the Water Ceremony and we facilitated by giving them water from different rivers in India, which they poured into the lotus pond on February 26th.

The ceremony on the 28th 

The night before the event, the two young men taking care of the sound system slept at the Amphitheatre to be sure that they would be ready in the morning in time to carry out their work.

“We had no idea how the ceremony would finally turn out because rehearsals had always been a bit chaotic. We always found things to improve, and we could never do a full run-through with all the children, choir and musicians. We only prayed to Her that everything would go well.

“The morning of the 28th, after the meditation, when the choir and the musicians began to play and the children began coming down the ramp, was beautiful. Those children were so quiet, and they did everything with such sincerity: it was very touching. This is what created that beautiful atmosphere. There was also something else in the atmosphere that everybody felt and were deeply touched by. We believe it was the magic created by the special presence of the Universal Mother.”

The crowd management was organized by the Matrimandir executives and Auroville Security, aided by about 100 or more volunteers from Auroville and the Ashram. “They collaborated so well and did a fantastic job. There must have been around 6000 people in and around the Amphitheatre, yet it was quiet and concentrated for a long time. When so many people are fully concentrated in their aspirations, it is very powerful.”

Actually, those numbers were even greater because the proceedings were being streamed live and many people around the world were watching. “Because of the live streaming, so many people who had sent their water but couldn’t come felt they were able to attend the ceremony. Afterwards, they contacted us to say how important it was for them to see their drop being poured. It was truly wonderful and very touching.” 

In fact, the first water that was poured came from Lake Mansarover, the sacred lake of Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva high up in the Himalayas, followed by water from the Ganges at Gangothri and the other sacred rivers of India. 

What next?

On 22nd March, World Water Day, a concentration was held under the Banyan and afterwards some of the water was sprinkled around the Banyan with a prayer and as an offering to Mother Earth.

At present, the rest of the water is stored in three airtight containers under the Amphitheatre in the same cool room that houses the sound system. What will happen to it?

“Now that this water has come here, it has received The Mother’s force. It might be our imagination, but we believe this must have an effect upon each of the sources from which the water has been taken. As for the future of this water, The Mother had seen a lake around the Matrimandir, so we thought it would be wonderful if this water of the world flows in the Matrimandir lake. 

“We hope there will be a test lake made at some point soon. When the test lake becomes the first segment of the Matrimandir Lake, the water will be poured into it, thereby bringing the Water Ceremony to its fulfillment and conclusion. We may preserve some of the water for posterity, it remains to be seen. We pray to be guided in this matter, too.”