Let Thy Will be done

Mandakini Gupta, a former student of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (Ashram school) in Puducherry, was a member of the Working Committee from December 2014 to December 2019 and has been active in the areas of Auroville’s internal conflict resolution and governance. Here she shares her perception of the present situation and suggests a way forward.

The fundamental nature of any vision is that it seeks to materialise itself. The loftier the vision, the more unknown its path to materialisation.

This is particularly true in Auroville’s case. Auroville is an experimental laboratory for the evolution of consciousness, an enabling playground for the manifestation of human unity, a potent promise of the transformation of earthly life into a life divine. Auroville’s vision is unique. It is the first time ever it is being attempted anywhere on earth in the history of mankind. Its road to manifestation, therefore, has not been discovered nor previously mapped, and neither has any measure of success about its physical manifestation, nor a timeframe for its completion been deliberately provided by the Mother.

It is consciously left to all those who consecrate their earthly lives to Auroville’s vision, to discover it on the way because in this very discovery lies the possibility of the vision’s successful manifestation. The only condition that is asked of all Aurovilians, whether registered resident or not, is to have made a conscious and active choice to be willing servitors of the divine Will. Thereafter, the more sincere this collective discovery of the path, the more the ever-present help of the divine is felt and received, especially during times of difficulty.

For five years I have been a member of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly and I have observed the necessity of all the working groups established by the Residents’ Assembly to work closely together, also with the Governing Board and the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation. Currently, since 2020, I have withdrawn from this work to dedicate my life to creating a family. But my interest in the general affairs of Auroville has never diminished.

In July 2021 a new Secretary joined Auroville; and in October that same year, the members of a new Governing Board and a new International Advisory Council were appointed by the Government of India. Prior to this the International Advisory Council had not been appointed for four years; the Governing Board was vacant for almost one year; and the office of the Secretary was functioning with an interim secretary for about two years. It was therefore a relief to have all three entities in place as per the Auroville Foundation Act, as in the past due to collaboration between the three entities, I have myself witnessed Auroville progressing towards manifesting the ideals of Auroville.

But since these recent appointments have taken place, I and hundreds of residents of Auroville have been feeling increasingly insecure and troubled about the ways the Secretary and the Board are perceiving their role and have been acting. At the same time there are also a number of residents who support the approach of the Secretary. It appears that the overarching aim of true collaboration between the three entities as formulated in the Auroville Foundation Act meant to ensure that the residents of Auroville are given freedom to grow and develop activities and institutions for the fulfillment of the aspirations envisaged in Auroville’s Charter, is not being respected. Instead, the Secretary and the Board have been acting as the bosses of Auroville, using an archaic top-down method of leadership in a progressive governance system that has a flat pyramid as its base to start with; ignoring the Residents’ Assembly, even invalidating its decisions; and giving unilateral instructions for building Auroville. The Board appears to believe that Auroville has stagnated and has not progressed, that the residents have delayed the building of the city and are incapable of building the city; and that Auroville’s internal governance needs rescuing.

There is much intellectual talk within the community about whether these decisions of the Governing Board are reasonably founded or are erroneous judgements and to what extent the office of the Secretary is implementing the decisions in a way that is befitting of an experiment like Auroville. For on a path as yet undiscovered of an adventure with innumerable permutation combinations, which authority has sufficient experience in the field and wisdom to declare whether Auroville is regressing, stagnating or progressing, and take actions accordingly?

What’s missing is the active engagement of the members of the Governing Board and the Secretary with the residents – not only with those who support their views, but also with those who question or oppose them – to talk things out together. For no matter which side each of us belongs to, are we not all instruments of the divine Will? Shall we not shift our perception so that we see each other as different parts of the One, not as divided parts against each other? Hundreds of residents have jointly requested to meet with the members of the Board to dialogue, but the Board has not responded to this call. Perhaps the International Advisory Council can initiate and arrange for such a confluence with the expert assistance of a mediator / facilitator?

As fellow-travellers on the path of transformation, our primary responsibility as seekers is to exceed the limitations of our human nature and (re)establish harmony within and without. As we deal with the external circumstances of Auroville’s current reality, we must all take the time to turn our gaze inward and reflect; from that space of inner reflection to collectively reassess the progress of Auroville through a more integral lens; and design a road-map for a way forward for the external manifestation to come closer to the vision. And in doing so, we shall have not wasted an immense opportunity to experience true collaboration and unity.

In the light of the Integral Yoga as envisioned and brought down by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, it is absolutely essential to see the divine hand in circumstances, and use circumstances to mirror corresponding areas for growth within, and in doing so witness the change or transformation in the external again. In the brief history of Auroville every trying phase, whether it was dealing with a natural calamity or a man-made disaster, has united the community; elements that were detrimental to progress were brought to the surface, and a certain transformational leap forward was made towards the external manifestation of Auroville’s vision.

The residents of Auroville have experienced such miracles in the past. Today’s happenings are but another springboard towards a collective leap forward. Now again in the chaos of conflicting views about how to ensure Auroville’s progress, we have a great opportunity for a collective transformational leap forward in the manifestation of Auroville’s vision. What’s needed is an ardent aspiration seeking divine intervention, for it is only when the human being chooses consciously to join hands with the divine that transformation becomes a miraculous and natural outcome. Our collective power to aspire for and invoke the divine grace in action is not an impossibility, it’s not a theoretical impracticality, but the only sure way to work through this predicament.