The Entry Board: an interview with the interviewers

AVToday: How is the work?

Swadha: There is a lot of work. Over the last 12 months we have announced about 150 people as being ready to become Newcomer or Aurovilian. The rejection rate was minimal: five to seven percent of all applicants were refused Newcomer status; two percent of the Newcomers were refused to become Aurovilian, and fifteen percent of all Newcomers were given extensions of their Newcomer period. 

How do you go about evaluating if a person is suitable for Auroville?

Matilde: We are not on a level where we can ‘see’ that a person who applies to join is in contact with his or her psychic being, as was mentioned by The Mother. Each person is interviewed by at least three Entry Board members; we make a report and then discuss it with the full team of nine members. Some cases take hours to discuss, some we just ‘walk through’. 

Grace: For example, we interviewed children of Auroville who were turning 18 years old, and we appreciated how a visible seed was growing within them which could be useful in the future for us all. Their answers were fully connected to The Mother’s vision. 

Some local people prepare for the Entry Board interview as they would for a government exam, memorising lines about the ideals of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. But if we dig a bit, we find that their understanding is very limited. But that doesn’t mean that the person wouldn’t fit in Auroville. Other aspects of their personality may be very convincing.

Swadha: We’ve found that each of the Entry Board members has a different approach. We are planning to do a team building session about values and what we, the Entry Board members, expect from a Newcomer. We all have very different ideas about what a Newcomer should know. For example, I get very worked up when someone sits here and tells me that they think Auroville is for peace and for human unity. But for others, this is exactly what they feel Auroville is about. We are all different and we are meant to bring something different to the table. The fact that we are nine people from different backgrounds is a healthy thing.

What are the reasons for extending a Newcomer period or for rejecting people?

Swadha: The reasons vary. For example, we found that some Newcomers had not obtained any knowledge during their Newcomer year about the spiritual background of Auroville and had not read anything by The Mother or Sri Aurobindo. Here we extended their Newcomer period by six months, taking into consideration to what extent they had been contributing actively, were integrated and had been bringing a positive energy. We generally refuse those who have been involved in verbal or physical violence, or who have not been able to integrate into the community, or were found to be living outside of Auroville and had lied to us that they were living in Auroville. 

Matilde: We are careful, when we extend the Newcomer period, that we do not give people the feeling of ‘having been rejected’ as this is perceived as ‘sticking a negative label’ on a person. For example, we ask people who have no knowledge about Auroville’s spiritual ideals to go to Savitri Bhavan, talk to people about The Mother, and then come back to us. Most of them are then accepted.

Swadha: Our decisions are always based on feedback. The Auroville Entry Policy 2017, which we follow, makes it mandatory that each Newcomer has two mentors, one chosen by him or herself, the other by us. This means that we, the Entry Board, don’t meet the Newcomers during their Newcomer year; we meet them twice only, at the beginning and at the end of the year. We rely on feedback from the mentors and from the community when we announce the name of the Newcomer as a potential Aurovilian for taking a decision. So we actually have very little contact with the Newcomers. I personally consider this far from ideal.

Matilde: When we are discussing if we should reject an applicant, we are always asking ourselves if this is really the right thing to do. Because such a decision can change a person’s life. Although it’s sometimes very clear that it's a ‘no’, we try not to be judgmental and to remain open. And in these cases it is very useful that the Entry Board has nine members. Each of us has a different approach and observes and notices different things. To come to such a decision is tough; we are always cross-checking with each other and with the mentors. 

But is the large majority accepted?

Swadha: Yes. As I mentioned, only a small percentage of the applicants get extensions or are rejected. But for more than 85% of the applicants we receive positive feedback or no feedback at all. For us, ‘no feedback’ means ‘good feedback’. So the process of joining Auroville is in fact very simple. Sometimes I think it’s too easy and I don’t feel happy with the way the process happens. We are not here just to increase the number of Aurovilians. We are here to ensure that people join who are inspired to progress and to become more conscious. There has to be quality to the aspiration of those who want to join Auroville. 

You recently announced in the News and Notes that you need more mentors. Is the mentor system functional? 

Matilde: Some people are very good mentors, others not so much. Sometimes it comes very naturally because they are working together or are neighbours or friends. But some mentors are very busy and have many other commitments in other places. Theoretically, the structure of an Entry Board of nine people plus the mentors should work. 

Swadha: But it doesn’t. I’ve found that having your friend as your mentor is not conducive to putting the Newcomer out of his or her little circle. And then there are mentors who know less than the Newcomers about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. I think that this mentoring thing has to be improved, also as there's no filter for being a mentor, apart from that you have to be living in Auroville for a minimum of five years. There should be a kind of education for mentors, because they're meant to serve as resource persons for the Newcomer and be a link between the Newcomer and the community. The mentor has also to make sure that the Newcomer follows through with the things that they need to do. I would say that if the mentors did their job, we wouldn't have to extend the Newcomer periods as often as we do. But this is not happening. Right now, about 75% of the mentors are just helping their friends out, and most of them never ask their mentee to participate in useful things.

Matilde: But when the mentors come here and join us in the interviews, they see that we aim to uplift the values of Auroville through the questions we ask and through our engagement. 

Do you have a mandatory ‘introduction to Auroville’ programme each Newcomer should attend?

Matilde: Yes, all Newcomers have to attend the so-called Yucca programme, which is a full week of an immersion into Auroville. The Newcomers are exposed to many aspects of Auroville, from education to research to commerce to service, including information about Auroville’s legal and spiritual background. 

Have you seen a difference since the Secretary joined office in July 2021? She has caused quite some anguish in Auroville, which has also been broadcast out of Auroville. Has this resulted in fewer people coming to Auroville? 

Swadha: No, we haven't seen that. Actually, we have an overload of applications, not only from people from the villages surrounding Auroville, but also from people living in big cities in India. I think this is the after-effect of COVID as many people who were somehow stuck in the city suddenly had this wish for a better lifestyle. 

But the Secretary has definitely affected our work: over the last two years, she has not accepted any of our recommendations to enter the name of a new Aurovilian into the Register of Residents. Strangely, we received a request from the Governing Board appointed FAMC for a list of all Aurovilians and Newcomers (announced and confirmed) who have completed their process. They want to fast-track their inclusion in the Register of Residents because they need people for the Governing Board constituted working groups. We replied saying that everyone since two years needs to be fast-tracked because the Register of Residents has not been updated since.

Matilde: What people are concerned about is the instability. In the present situation many people, even those who have the money, don't want to make a donation to the Auroville Foundation to become the steward of a house or apartment. They prefer to stay in guest houses and see how it is going to be for the next two years. And it doesn’t help that the office of the Secretary delays issuing letters of recommendation for new visas and for visa extensions. Some Aurovilians are waiting for months to get their letters. This creates a lot of insecurity, not only for those Aurovilians, but also for the Newcomers who are afraid that they might be treated similarly in future. 

Sara: One can foresee that there might be fewer and fewer applicants from abroad, as the crisis and chaos that is experienced in Auroville at the moment brings a sense of insecurity and stifles the creative and adventurous spirit needed for progress and the ‘Great Adventure’ we are called for. Someone who is new to Auroville might be intimidated and discouraged by the disharmony we live in at the present moment as a collective entity. Only the future will tell.

What is the ratio of Indians versus non-Indians who apply to join Auroville?

Matilde: 60% of the applicants are Indian nationals; 40% are non-Indians.

Visas are granted on the conditions that the person ‘lives in’ and ‘works for’ Auroville. Is it acceptable to the Entry Board that Newcomers are staying in a guest house?

Swadha: Right now we are trying to accommodate people who have long term agreements with guest houses. Our rule is that there should be basic amenities, such as attached bathrooms and a kitchenette. People have to stay there for a year, so it cannot just be a room. We accept that as a solution to become Aurovilian. 

Matilde: We are becoming a bit more flexible. We had a similar housing crisis 15 years ago, and at that time we had set a rule that if you don't have at least five lakhs to put into future housing, we wouldn't even start the Newcomer process. But we have dropped that demand.

How important is it today that people live in Auroville? Do you still see the condition as strong as in the past? Or can they now rent a house or a room in a nearby village?

Grace: We hold on to that rule. Village life is very different from Auroville life; it is still very much ruled by politicians, by the temple, and by the customs of the villagers. Living in the village as compared to living in Auroville is not as conducive to developing oneself as an individual. In Auroville, the Newcomer will become integrated into a community and will interact with other Aurovilians, many from countries with completely different cultures.

Swadha: But we have a few cases where we know that the Newcomers are living outside Auroville, in one of the villages surrounding Auroville or in Pondicherry; they rent a room in Auroville only to satisfy the process, without the intention of settling in Auroville. The mentor, if it is a friend, is sometimes complicit. They know that we, the members of the Entry Board, can't go and check all the Newcomers. If we find out, and cancel the Newcomer process, there is drama, and the mentors will always tell us that the Newcomer is an amazing person. And some really are. They have been working in Auroville for 20 or 30 years and have built a house in one of the villages and have a very strong social network within the village and in Auroville. Becoming Aurovilian is for them a sign of status. But they don’t intend to actually move to Auroville. 

Matilde: I know people whose parents encroached on Auroville Foundation owned land. Their children became Newcomers and had to live in Auroville. But as soon as they became Aurovilian, they moved back to live with their parents on the encroached land. We have all these different situations. And we don’t have solutions for that.

How do you evaluate Newcomers and new Aurovilians becoming part of the Auroville collective?

Swadha: I think 85% of our Newcomers are very decent beings and will integrate seamlessly. My main problem is with our current community members who don't care to build something better, who don't care to give feedback even if they know that a person has done something wrong, and people who are here to do their own little thing, who only are here for their personal gain. That is why I am very insistent that people have a minimum understanding of what the ideals of Auroville are. If the aim is not to progress and evolve together, then I don't know. Sometimes I feel that the exit part of our policy is much more needed than the Entry one.

Aren’t you afraid that it would be misused?

Swadha: Yes, of course. And I would never be part of an Exit group. But before even starting such a group, we need to get legal clarity on the respective roles of the Residents’ Assembly and the Governing Board and its Secretary. This means that we need the judgements in the many court cases that are now pending before we should move in this direction.

The Governing Board has mentioned its ideal of a large increase in the number of Aurovilians. What would be required from the Entry Board to do something like this?

Matilde: To just double the number of applicants we are dealing with from 150 to say 300 a year, we would need to have full time members in the office, who receive full maintenances to do this work. Most of the members of this Entry Board work without receiving any maintenance, which is not sustainable. We would also need to have super competent secretaries and more resource people. But then again, even if we process 300 people a year, there wouldn’t be enough housing or infrastructure for them. Growth is an organic community process of expansion of our social fabric. It includes so much more than just numbers, such as schools, health centres, houses and workplaces. This doesn't happen overnight. And it is not about quantity, but quality.