Published: September 2022 (3 years ago) in issue Nº 398
Keywords: Entry process, Entry Policy, Population, Auroville history, Governing Board, Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS) and Auroville Foundation Act, 1988
References: Roger Anger, Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala, André Morisset, Navajata and Kireet Joshi
A ‘more welcoming’ Entry Process?
The Governing Board has expressed the need for a ‘more welcoming’ Entry Process to speed Auroville’s growth to a population of 50,000 as initially envisaged. Regrettably, the Board does not indicate what ‘more welcoming’ implies.
The Auroville Entry Process originated with Mother herself. In the first years of Auroville, Mother was the authority who accepted or rejected applicants. Shyam Sundar Jhunjhunwala, Mother’s Secretary for Auroville, noted in February 1971 that “Admission to Auroville is subject to approval by The Mother. There will be a trial period of one year. This period can be made longer or shorter.” The note was approved by The Mother and signed by her. This is the genesis of the one-year Newcomer period which is now an essential part of the Auroville Entry Policy.
When I came for a one-month visit in 1972, admission requests were dealt with by Roger Anger (Chief Architect) and Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala (Mother’s Secretary for Auroville). In my case, when I presented myself in August 1972, there were also with them André Morisset (Mother’s son) and Navajata (SAS General Secretary and Treasurer). They reviewed my application form, asked a few questions (mostly by Roger, who was very friendly). My application with my picture and their recommendation was then sent to Mother. A few days later, Shyam Sunder, with his well-known grin, told me that I had been accepted by Mother on probation. (Incidentally, as no one has ever told me that the probation had conclusively ended, I am still under probation, which is true in many ways!)
Acceptance into Auroville was such a serious task that Mother herself had the last word. As early as 1967, in a talk with Yvonne Artaud, She had elaborated on the conditions required for selecting people for admission to Auroville:
“There was something about the choice of people and admission to Auroville...so I told her that naturally the essential condition to be able to choose people is that preferences, attractions, repulsions, sympathies, antipathies, all moral rules, all that must have completely disappeared – not that one is in the process of overcoming them, it’s not that: all that must have disappeared (laughing), there must be no more ego! And then I told her: “it’s not a judgment, it’s not looking at people and judging if they’re capable of being there or not, if they are destined to be there or not, it’s not that at all – you don’t – judge”... And when she was gone, I jotted down the end of it.
“The Force is put on all, identical and supreme ...”
The Force is identical for all (uniform gesture all over the earth) and supreme, that is ... well, it means supreme, like this (same even, outspread gesture). Whoever they are, whatever their attitude, the Force is put on all identically and they are the ones who classify themselves; it’s not that you decide that such and such person goes here or there or here: they classify themselves according to...
“And everyone classifies himself, by himself, according to his own receptivity and the quality of that receptivity – or else his refusal or incapacity.”
Mother spoke to Yvonne at a time when the possibility of Mother remaining in her body and therefore continuing to guide the development of Auroville was very much in the air. It was obvious to all that only She would have the power to put the Force equally, as she said, which would determine whether a person is fit. But I believe that this Force is still very active today.
In the years following Mother’s passing in 1973, when the problems between Auroville and the Sri Aurobindo Society intensified, there was no formal entry system in place and people were admitted on an ad-hoc basis. It was only after the Auroville Cooperative was formed in 1978 that something more formal began. When the Government of India promulgated the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act 1980, which vested the management of Auroville temporarily in the Government of India, a more formal entry group came into existence which was recognized by the Administrator appointed under this Act as the working group that had the right to admit people into Auroville.
The Auroville Foundation Act
The person instrumental in the preparation of the Auroville Emergency Provisions Act and its successor, the Auroville Foundation Act, was Dr. Kireet Joshi, the former Registrar of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram who, after Mother’s passing, had been appointed Educational Adviser, and subsequently Special Secretary, to the Ministry of Education and Culture by India’s Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. Having witnessed the control mindset of the Sri Aurobindo Society and particularly, of its chairman Shri Navajata, Kireet proposed that the right of admission to Auroville would be given exclusively to the Residents’ Assembly. This was enacted in the Auroville Foundation Act, which gives the Residents’ Assembly the power to allow the admission or cause the termination of persons in the Register of Residents in accordance with regulations made by the Governing Board, approved by the Government of India and published in the Gazette of India. The Auroville Foundation (Admission and termination of persons in the register of residents) Regulations were published in the Gazette of India on June 23, 2020. Auroville now has an Admission Committee (also known as the Entry Board) whose members are appointed by the Residents’ Assembly.
The question of admission into Auroville is of paramount importance. It makes sense that this responsibility has been given to people who have committed their lives to Auroville – not because they would have reached the state of ‘no more ego’ Mother was talking about, but because they know through their lived experience what it means to live in Auroville. The one-year probation as decided by Mother has been maintained, for it is only through the experience of this period that the Newcomer knows if joining Auroville is indeed his or her calling; it also provides an insight to the community on the suitability of the Newcomer joining Auroville. The final decision is with the Entry Board, after having invited feedback from the community. But I think we may safely assume that the Force Mother spoke about is still the ultimate authority if a person should join Auroville.
What it means to be an Aurovilian
While talking about admission to Auroville in a talk given to the Auroville community on the internal organization of Auroville (25 august 1999), Kireet Joshi said the following:
“I would like to read one last statement of the Mother: ‘For millennia we have been developing outer means, outer instruments, outer techniques of living and finally those means and techniques are crushing us. The sign of the new humanity is a reversal in the standpoint and understanding that inner knowledge and inner techniques can change the world and master it without crushing it.’ It’s a wonderful balm to mankind which is striving to find the true solution. And then Mother adds, ‘Auroville is the place where this new way of living is being worked out. It is a centre of accelerated evolution, where men must begin to change this world through the power of inner spirit.’ I think this should be stated to all the people who want to join Auroville. Because this is the starting point of Auroville and this is elucidated by the Mother further where She says, ‘We will strive to make Auroville the cradle of the superman.’
And The Mother clarified in June 1970 in the message To be a True Aurovilian what is expected from those who want to join Auroville. The first point encompasses all: The first necessity is the inner discovery in order to know what one truly is behind social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary appearances. At the centre there is a being free, vast and knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the active centre of our being and our life in Auroville.”
The deeper truth
Kireet spoke about the deeper meaning of Auroville. There is also a deeper truth about entry to Auroville, which is that it is in answer to the call from the Divine. Mother had said that many of those who have come to Auroville had already been associated with Their work in previous lives. She spoke of redeeming a promise to those souls that, when the time comes of the great transformation, they will be called again to participate in the last stages of this divine work. This is another mystery of Auroville, this association of souls beyond the personal appearances.
This is why we cannot recruit Aurovilians.
We, and in particular the members of the Entry Board, can only aspire to be open to a higher consciousness to facilitate the entry of those who are destined to participate in the work of Auroville for the Earth. The experience of many Aurovilians is that they were guided to Auroville through the circumstances of their lives. And through the experiences of recently joined Aurovilians we can see that this process continues. Obviously, recruitment to Auroville is best left to that pervasive omnipotent Consciousness that we believe is behind the building of the true Auroville