Building an Experimental City

We all came to Auroville knowing that it would be a city one day. It is a given, that’s what we signed up for, we want it. Just, not like this: Since the beginning of December 2021, starting with a series of violent altercations – involving bashing bulldozers and polite police, a court case and now visa threats to foreigners, this coexistence of people and cultures from over fifty countries has hit a serious speed bump. The crisis that our community is going through has rattled many people to the core, who are now putting into question their life choice because of uncertainty about their future.

This type of pressure is happening all over the world, it is but normal that this is happening in Auroville too; our community is, after all, just a microcosm of the macrocosm. However, Auroville was not meant to be ordinary. In January 1973, after speaking with the Mother about some Newcomer-linked issues, Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala, who had been nominated Auroville Secretary by The Mother, noted: “There is no need to build another ordinary city in Auroville; already there are so many. If people are like that, it will become an ordinary city and our money and efforts will be wasted.”

How ordinary is Auroville?

The list of Auroville achievements is long; it can boast numerous success stories over the past 50+ years, from ecology to industry to outreach to community. Internationally known for its achievements, people from all over visit this place and use it as a model to learn about these feats, sharing their own knowledge and experience, and bringing back some know-how to their own homes, to improve their own society.

The experience of Auroville is unique. Started five decades earlier on a sandy desert plateau, now you wake to the chirping of birds in the surrounding canopy of trees. Then, you toast your Auroville-made bread, slather on some Auroville-produced butter and chocolate spread, dunk it into Auroville-roasted coffee and read the Auroville paper, be it the weekly or the monthly one. Jumping on your Auroville-designed electric vehicle, you silently zip off to drop your kids off at their Auroville-run school offering innovative and unique programmes, such as Awareness Through the Body. After work, you go to your Auroville-based therapy session or dental care appointment, homeopathy or Ayurveda check-up with your Aurovilian practitioner. Lunch for many is at the Solar Kitchen, which offers a generous palette of Auroville-grown fruits, vegetables and millets, as do the increasing number of Aurovilian eateries. At the end of the day, accumulated tensions are loosened thanks to a visit to the Soul of Auroville, the Matrimandir, to a peaceful walk through the Auroville forest or to a yoga session with your Aurovilian instructor. After you cycle back home to the light of the moon, the Auroville night fauna comes alive and those sounds will lull you to sleep. Just another day in this wonderful place. Auroville is a Jewel.

One may call Auroville the smallest self-run urban settlement of the world: it is the size of a town but managed in an entirely independent manner. We take care of our own water and educational systems, we have services to deal with our roads, our healthcare, the community finances, our waste management and many more. The creation, building and expansion of Auroville has also been of benefit to the bioregion, by generating work opportunities and tourism among other things, to help the surrounding villages develop.

Envy and frustrations

Seeing how exceptional this community is, Auroville has repeatedly been the source of covetousness over the years, from the Mother’s passing back in the 1970s to the current scenario. For example, on a town planning level, a big chunk (around one third) of the Greenbelt has already been “eaten up” by non-Aurovilian settlements and real estate projects. As this severely affects the area included within the Master Plan that is meant to cover Auroville’s need for food independence and sustainability, the entire development plan will need to be adjusted to ground realities.

Between the slow-paced building of the city, malfunctioning processes and institutions, as well as the incessant struggle for survival (at Rs. 18,700, the Auroville monthly maintenance is lower than the income of a government clerk), combined with expensive Auroville products and the shortage of housing, frustrations have been building up in numerous residents over many years. As Dr Karan Singh wrote on February 26th, 2022: “It is [also] true, in my experience, that the Auroville community seems to be unable to come to a consensus on important matters and is constantly divided even on vital issues, which is most unfortunate.”

Indeed, as it is a work in progress, Auroville is far from perfect. This is, after all, a human experiment and as such we will only fail when we stop trying. The Mother said in October 1968: “After 100 years, we will know what Auroville will be. The important thing is to make the experiment!” And, as Dr Karan Singh said, the process is just as important – if not more so – than the result.

Land of opportunity

Therefore, many Aurovilians believe that rather than building a city, the emphasis should be on creating a society. Rather than speed, sustainability. Rather than rejection, adaptation. Rather than intransigence, compromise.

With the impending climate change and crisis, numerous cement-filled cities will soon become unlivable. Countries all over the world are studying their “cities of the past”, assessing their failures and working towards finding solutions turned to the future, such as renewable energies, motor-free city centres, parks and green areas. Often called or compared to an eco-village over the years, Auroville certainly seems to fit with that concept through its various achievements, be it with regard to reforestation or the striving to find alternative governance and societal solutions. Can it become an ecocity, focused on being socially, culturally, economically, spiritually and ecologically sustainable? This would address not only climate change but also reflect the spirit of the third point of the Auroville Charter: “Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.”

On the basis of a series of precepts given by its founder, the Mother – A Dream, The Auroville Charter, To be a True Aurovilian – each resident is invited to actively participate in its making and shape a new society, physically as well as psychologically and spiritually. Nevertheless, funding, population and expertise are purveyed in small doses only, which implies slow-paced development. This allows for adaptation to new discoveries and the involvement of all community members in the moulding of this place. It is a work in progress: building an entire city and society hand in hand cannot be done in a hurry. In October 1972, the Mother said: “In Auroville I do not want many men. I want some people, but true people. If you want many people, I can give you a hundred thousand in a moment from South Africa.”

People are drawn to Auroville because it does not impose the same limitations as elsewhere. Thus, the population of Auroville is international, and what makes this place special is, among numerous others, the diversity of people all striving for a common goal! Each person has their own story of how and why they moved here; there are the “children of Auroville” (people who were born and/or raised here), whose souls simply chose this place; there are individuals from around the world who left their countries and lives to invest everything they had in Auroville; there are Indians from all over the country, for whom there is also no “going back” as they openly admit to no longer being fit for “normal” society. Even volunteers and (long-term) guests are touched by Auroville’s energy. They all share this sense of belonging. Whether Indian national or foreigner, born or having moved here, they all have chosen to give their energy, time and commitment to this experiment.

Where are you from?

For some, this is the most common question one is posed around here. Our common answer is: HERE. Auroville, City of Dawn, City of the Future, The city the Earth needs, A body for the soul, A dream come down to Earth…

Due to the present limitation of visa recommendations, the feeling of trust and safety is lost, not allowing for anyone affected by that to work untroubled or start any new projects. In the same letter quoted above, Dr Karan Singh also wrote: “However, as Gandhiji taught us, means are as important as ends, and if the right means are not adopted the end will necessarily get distorted. This is unfortunately what has happened in Auroville, resulting in a great deal of tension in the community and even panic when there was a hint that some visas may be disturbed. That should certainly not be done because, over the decades, people have come from almost 60 countries giving up their homes, positions and taking up residence in Auroville as a unique inter-cultural community.”

Many Aurovilians have invested all their worldly wealth in this incredible project, without any possibility of getting it back. For studies, work or experience, many of us have lived elsewhere for some time, but we have made the conscious decision to come (back) to live and continue to invest in Auroville. Some cannot or do not wish to adapt to “normal society”. Most would evidently survive elsewhere, because one of Auroville’s main lessons is resilience, but it is in becoming part of Auroville that they have grown, progressed, and thrived, as Auroville itself has done.

What is the Dream?

As of today, many of us feel our physical and spiritual home is being taken from us through the destruction of the dream, values and stand we all came here for. Imagine what a loss if would be for Auroville if entire generations, entire families, were to leave! All their learning, experiences, connections and relationships would be gone, just like that. The diversity of the population would sink, as would contributions and donations from around the world. Enthusiasm and support to this project would certainly take leave too. The trust and motivation of residents would plummet, as would new requests to join the project. Who wants to live in a place where one lives in fear of retribution for putting the emphasis on process rather than end results?

Instead, let us all participate in building a trustful society with a healthy modus operandi. In point of fact, people from all over the world have consciously chosen this place as their home because of the essence of the Mother’s guidelines included in “A Dream” as well as in the Auroville Charter. Indeed, the true raison d’être of our city is to become a spiritual city, the cradle of the superman. Incidentally, India is witnessing the death of massive quantities of Azadirachta indica, commonly known as neem or “Spiritual atmosphere” as the Mother had called it. Maybe, instead of uprooting trees, it is time to nurture what we have, and plant more of the right seeds in the right places, at the right times?

Undoubtedly, our mission is to change Auroville, but let’s do that for the better! Let us build the city of human unity! Together! If we can resolve our problems here, there is a chance that this spirit of compassion and unity can spread to the macrocosm too!