The Spirit of Auroville

The painting

In 1966 Huta, a devotee of The Mother, produced the painting which the Mother named The Spirit of Auroville. Huta had a strong connection with Auroville: a letter of hers to the Mother in 1965 inspired the creation of Matrimandir, the Mother’s Shrine, and it was to Huta that the Mother first explained her concept for the town-plan of Auroville.

Huta wrote about this painting in her book, The Spirit of Auroville.

On 13th March, late at night, I was strongly inspired to do a painting. I felt within me that the Mother had sent her inspiration and vision to me, and I must do something. I got up from my bed and did the painting. But I did not know what it represented, so the next morning I sent it to the Mother, and she wrote: ‘My very dear little child Huta, The painting is pretty and the inspiration good. Is it the spirit of Auroville that you wanted to express? When looking at the picture I had this feeling. With all my love.’ On a separate piece of paper she wrote: ‘The Spirit of Auroville’.

I was amazed, because I did not know anything except that I had followed the inspiration.

In March 1983 the painting was given back to me by my nephew Suresh in a totally ruined condition. Rain-water and mildew had worked havoc with it. I had a terrible shock. The picture remained in my apartment for a month. Then I tried to remove the stains with turpentine. The painting had become so brittle that it broke into shreds. The one surprising thing was that only the tiny face of the “Spirit” had survived the damage. So I cut it out very carefully and put it in a red plastic box and placed it in my Meditation Room near Sri Aurobindo’s photograph. Later the box was placed on the Mother’s chair in the Mother’s room upstairs in the Ashram main building…

Afterwards I was inspired to do a new painting of The Spirit of Auroville. On 9th April 1983 I took a canvas board and held it forth towards the Mother’s photograph in my Meditation Room and prayed to her ardently: “0 Mother, if the Spirit is still there; let it manifest on this new canvas board.” And lo! within two hours, without any preliminary drawing, a picture took shape as if the Spirit were emerging from the board. I had only to follow what was shown to me. The whole work was done in a sweep, not needing the slightest alteration . My hand felt possessed by the Divine Force as it moved. After finishing the painting I offered it to the Mother’s photograph. The eyes in the photograph were as if living, laughing, moving, appreciating…This was the Victory of the Mother! The entire work was done in an inexpressible serenity. It was an extraordinary experience for me…

The Spirit which is now manifested in the new picture may be the brilliant destiny of the true Auroville, which will be realised by the Power of the Supreme Lord.

In 1967, The Mother defined the spirit of Auroville:

And the concrete materialization of the spirit of Auroville hasn’t taken place yet, it doesn’t exist, there isn’t in the earth atmosphere a formation of the “spirit of Auroville,” which is a spirit... (Mother remains absorbed for a long time)... At bottom it is “The art of building unity out of complexity.” Without uniformity, you understand: unity through harmony in complexity, with each thing in its place.... It’s very difficult.

The compilation

Mr. R.N. Ravi, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, addressed the Residents’ Assembly of the Auroville Foundation on 7th November, 2022 (Auroville Today no.401). Many residents came for the opportunity of a dialogue, hoping to discuss how we could to move forward together. However, a space for interaction was not offered and, instead, residents were requested to email their suggestions.

Below is a selection from a recent compilation of these letters to the Chairman and the Governing Board titled ‘The Spirit of Auroville’. Whatever one might feel about the content and tone of the Chairman’s speech, it was clearly a catalyst for many Aurovilians to express their deepest understanding of Auroville’s raison d’etre, and how and why this experiment must be allowed to succeed.

Spirituality in Auroville

As far as our spiritual practices are concerned, for many that I know they are something intimate, something personal. We do not demonstrate them. We do not have any religious stereotyped rituals, nothing visible. Most of us have also an intimate relationship with Mother and /or with Sri Aurobindo….And it differs in shape and form between us. Even the way we integrate the Matrimandir in our everyday life differs from one person to the other. It cannot be judged if a person goes often enough into the Inner Chamber or too often to the gardens, this would be inappropriate.

There are many things happening in Auroville that appear only at a second look. And please know that the whole magic of Auroville is what the physical eyes cannot see. Only when you listen within and when you spend enough time here in silence do you get a subtle perception of some uplifting sacred sensation. This is surely the Mother’s presence and most of us are deeply connected to it.

In your speech to the Auroville community, you stated that spirituality in Auroville was “grossly deficient”. According to your analysis, the Auroville Charter asks from Aurovilians to be bhakts and you further emphasised that the freedom of Aurovilians should be that of sadhaks. However, as you most probably already know, the two only explicit conditions mentioned by the Mother for becoming an Aurovilian were goodwill and to offer one’s work in all sincerity. The Mother had expressly warned her disciples of the dangers that asceticism represents and had insisted on the need for a new spiritual path to be found. This is also what Sri Aurobindo had largely written about when he insisted on the need to create a Life Divine, on the need to bring consciousness into matter. Auroville is a place for karma yoga, and the spiritual progress of Auroville is intrinsically linked to the material and social achievements of this place. The sense of beauty everywhere present in Auroville - whether in buildings, forests, arts and culture, even in people’s personal stories - is the best testimony of Auroville’s spiritual progress over the years.

I think what stood out for me most in your address was the expression of a differentiation between the spiritual and the material. I do not see these as being separate in Auroville. … Sri Aurobindo has not asked of us to explore this deepening of consciousness by retreating to a cave and relinquishing all that is material. “All life is yoga”: We practice the yoga in all we do, we attempt to bring consciousness into every action we take.

I understand human unity as being not ruled by my ego but by the psychic which has no scorn and does not feel distant from anyone. It sees the psychic in others and wants their highest good, therefore it inspires, leads by example, is patient, gives the right advice with goodwill and treats everybody as it treats its own internal parts of the outer nature which are not yet aligned to the Truth. We are all housing plenty of those parts (vital and mental aspects) and although we would like to throw them out, a real unification within ourselves is only happening by a slow infusion of the light, making those aspects understand, reminding them again and again, showing them the beauty of a higher life surrendered to the Supreme (psychicisation).

The claim that there is no spirituality in Auroville is profoundly erroneous, from my point of view. An oversimplification that does not embrace a yoga of transformation that works to integrate the whole of human nature.

You have heard or read ideas about Auroville’s collective purpose expressed by those who were closest to the Mother at Auroville’s commencement, such as Roger Anger and Kireet Joshi. Many of us have also heard these ideas from them, as well as from the Mother herself. The message we have received through working with them is that the inner development of the human being through dedication to the Divine is the essence and truth of Auroville, necessary in order to realize its destined outer development, and the ideal of human unity.

The nature of the Auroville experiment

Auroville is essentially a laboratory - an experiment - wherein enough representatives of the positions, approaches, attitudes and modes of action and thought that are current in the present human condition must be presented to the Consciousness which has come to take the lead of evolution… it is meant to become an environment for the birth of a new being, an environment of comprehensive harmony in all fields of human existence, so that the new being may be welcomed upon earth.

Sri Aurobindo, in response to a question regarding conflicts between ashramites, stressed that it was of paramount importance that there was a great diversity of human natures represented in the laboratory and that the rajasic element was necessary and that it was not possible to have only the sattwic element. He went so far as to say that if the diversity was not complete and contained all levels of the human spectrum, the experiment might very well fail. Because what Sri Aurobindo and The Mother attempted was not solely to open up a higher consciousness, where the sattwic nature more easily can be realised, but sought to prepare the vital and physical consciousness to contain a larger Force and Presence. This is something complex and needs time to mature since the same work needs to be done over and over again to succeed.

Auroville is likewise a laboratory of evolution of consciousness whose diversity of human types is the condition for the success of the experiment. It must have the rajasic element as well. The whole human spectrum needs to be present. The secret in truly understanding Auroville is to perceive how The Mother’s Force is Acting in the community to work on it from inside out…

Whoever has tried to bring something new, knows how much resistance arises at every step. Slowly we learn that it is not so much the ill-will of our fellow Aurovilians, but forces behind the veil that try to oppose. Auroville being a representative microcosm of the entire world, the living laboratory of human evolution as Mother would say, we seem to have to deal with every possible obstacle before real change can take root. And then, it is Mother’s lasting Victory.

Indeed we are 3000 people with so many differences. This is what Auroville is supposed to be, a laboratory working on finding human unity in diversity. And we (Aurovilians and the outside world) have to integrate that this is what Mother has set up purposefully. And yes, it is difficult to find this unity, to establish consensus; that is why such a laboratory had to be created. And we are trying our best and are indeed making progress. This progress can be labelled as being too slow, granted. Like any positive effort on individual or collective level can always be considered to be insufficient. Then it depends if we want to look at it as a glass being half empty or half full. This choice is up to everyone individually.

Auroville is not a community of like-minded people gathered for some research in, for instance, some alternative way of life, although discoveries may be made on the way that will be useful for the whole; it is not either a selective “spiritual” endeavor with its own precepts and regulations.

Its raison d’être and purpose are more profound and crucial; it is meant to become an environment for the birth of a new being, an environment of comprehensive harmony in all fields of human existence, so that the new being may be welcomed upon earth.

Each of us has a shadow; this being the place of realisation, the Mother warns, the shadow turns even more devastating if not faced; then the collective shadow takes over and destruction ensues. I hope others too will open their heart, showing who we are, so that the journey together may commence anew, in mutual trust and delight. There is no other way but surrender to Mother’s guidelines, offering the shadow too.

We do know for a long time here that the way Auroville has been organized in the last few decades didn’t correspond to the ideals we are seeking for…But we are here in uncharted territories and everything needs to be discovered, invented, experimented and, as in any real adventure, mistakes and wanderings are bound to happen and when they come, they always come to teach us something. But truly, we are looking for Something Else. We do not know what, we do not know how and we don’t want to pretend anything but we are all here seeking and aspiring to a New World, despite all our shortcomings.

Not a spiritual society, not a materialist society, as they are both opposite and exclusive to each others, but a third position which has been called Divine Materialism and which much reconcile these two opposite poles of existence into a more complete expression of life and evolution.

Possible ways forward

Yes, as a community we still have a long way to go to realise Mother’s dream and the ideals for Auroville. Yes, there are certain elements within the community which are not in line with these ideals, yet as a community attempting to realise a divine anarchy, I believe there are forces and divine protections which are dealing with these elements and guiding them towards a reconciliation with the true ideals of Auroville. This requires trust in the process. And these processes need time and patience. They cannot be forced or coerced. This is not in the spirit of Auroville.

Team work is hard at times and it means listening to different opinions, letting go of fixed ideas and adapt to changing circumstances. More than once I had a great idea, but my team did not go for it. Instead of using my authority and pushing my idea through I accepted and adapted. This is for me the only way in Auroville. Power- and ego-trips have no place here. We need to go together as a community however difficult this process be.

Auroville wants to be the place of “a youth that never ages”, and unending education is a core component of Auroville’s raison-d’etre. It is therefore with great dismay - and symbolically evocative - that we saw that in December 2021, the first target for bulldozing was the international Youth Center. My suggestion and appeal to you, as the Chairman to the Governing Board, is to place again the youth at the centre of Auroville’s development as emphasised by Shri Kireet Joshi, for it is us who will continue to make Auroville grow closer to its aims and ideals - however long the journey may take.

I truly believe - it is every day confirmed - that Aurovilians are committed to building Auroville according to its original vision and ideals; and I hope that a fruitful collaboration based on mutual trust can be rebuilt between the Auroville Residents’ Assembly and the Governing Board. Auroville is far from perfect, and the Aurovilians are the first ones to admit it - residents are critical of Auroville’s current limitations and keep looking towards the future. However for the past 54 years, Auroville has been growing every day closer to its true self, and Aurovilians are dedicated to this continued flourishing. I truly hope that the Governing Board will join the residents’ efforts in this endeavour, and contribute to it by restoring the sense of safety, security and stability that has always prevailed within Auroville, and is necessary for the experiment to take place truly and integrally.

The IAC, the GB and Aurovilians need to wake up to the fact that only 25 % of the master plan’s greenbelt has been bought and that the land prices have skyrocketed or have been bought by private land estate developers. It’s too late to talk about a Master plan unless the Government of Tamil Nadu protects this area, with a novel plan in its entirety and doesn’t let anyone buy any land within this designated area. Land exchange without prior consultation and agreement with the Residents’ Assembly is not at all the solution and will only create more division.

When the Mother declared that “the true Spirit of Auroville is Collaboration and must be more and more so, true collaboration paves the way to divinity”, she obviously didn’t mean a collaboration which would be imposed by a section of the community upon another, but a spontaneous, genuine and joyful collaboration where each one of us could naturally find its place in the manifestation of Auroville. And that is why if we truly, sincerely, wish to work for our ideals there could be no other way than to, first of all, come to some common ground and a common vision.

Today, what is really dividing us is not at all the reluctance of some to live according to the Mother’s vision and go their own egoistic way (although we do not deny that we have some problems to solve) — no, it is just the way we interpret this vision.

Today, I believe it is urgent that a real debate happens in this community. We cannot afford to go on that way forever, and we do need to come back to our ideals. But this cannot happen in the present climate of fear, threats, and insecurity. Something drastic needs to change. And the very first thing, the only prerequisite would be that there is a general will to become more flexible in order not only to listen to each other but have the courage to challenge or be challenged so that some clarity could emerge at last.

You asked for solutions for Auroville to ensure that nobody is leading an ordinary life but is constantly reminded to strive for the highest. I think we cannot enforce that by rules or by control. We can only offer opportunities and lead by example. What does not seem conductive for the psychic growth is to live under threat and insecurity by not knowing if the next visa is granted, not knowing if the monthly maintenance will come, not knowing if we will be suspended from our work the next day or maybe homeless by demolition of houses or by construction sites coming up in close vicinity without prior notice.

I see no possible repair of the present situation unless the residents are given back their rights and responsibilities, in letter and spirit, as specified in the Act. Only the Aurovilians, despite obvious limitations that we know only too well, can realize Mother’s project and vision. It is a matter of transformation and evolution which needs to be given the space and time to mature with Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s grace.

A large majority of Aurovilians know well that they have not attained the high level of realization that the Mother asked; they are acutely conscious ̶ and more than anyone else from outside ̶ that there are deficiencies in Auroville. But the Mother said that what we are doing here is something that had never been done in the history of humanity: to search and find the spiritual within the most material. So please, Sir, kindly allow us some leeway. It took 1000 years for Bhagiratha to make Ganga descend on earth. Permit we take a few more years for achieving the goals of Auroville.

Building the city the Earth needs in the spirit of Auroville, manifesting the Galaxy with Mother’s inspiration of pioneering innovation, supple flexibility and practical non-dogmatism, is what we understand as Her guidance for the way ahead.

We look to our Governing Board for faith and support in this journey of conciliation, synthesis and divine discovery. Please trust us, please protect us; please assure us the necessary freedom and the necessary time for this arduous task of profound transformation, to accomplish this process of a new birth, for a new Earth.

Compilation by Alan