Published: August 2023 (2 years ago) in issue Nº 409
Keywords: Dying and death, Documentaries, Integral Yoga, Films and Aurora’s Eye Films
References: Danielle de Diesbach, Dr Uma, Mauna, Renu and Bhaga
Go with grace
Documentary film "Conversations on Death with Aurovilians"
It was only recently that I attended a funeral in Auroville for the first time, and I found it a powerfully moving experience. Subsequently, and seemingly by chance, I received an invitation from a Findhorn community linked group to attend an online event exploring the topic of death. To my surprise, I discovered their previous meeting had been spent watching what they called the ‘Auroville film on Death’, which I hadn’t heard of. The documentary, in fact entitled ‘Conversations on Death with Aurovilians’, came out two years ago and won the Wisdom Award at the Auroville Film Festival, 2022.
The film comprises a series of interviews with a dozen or so Aurovilians of various ages offering their perspectives on death and dying in Auroville and organised around conversational chapter-like themes, each introduced with quotes from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The interviews are conducted by Danielle de Diesbach, a long time Friend of Auroville, and the film is co-produced by Danielle, together with Serena of Aurora’s Eye Films.
The Auroville way of death and dying
The documentary explores whether there is such a thing as a unique Aurovilian way of passing on. Although there are differing perspectives, as befits the diverse nature of Auroville, emerging through the answers is a tentative and understated sense that – yes, there seems to be. A commonality is the understanding of a life and body that has passed on but has a psychic self that continues. And funerals that mourn our passing and celebrate our life in this community.
Renu recalled that the first death in Auroville was a shock, then “we had to learn to deal with it”. Like so much of the best of Auroville, this emerged naturally until here we are, with a Farewell Centre, the Adventure burial and cremation grounds, and a certain spiritual understanding of the dying process.
A new kind of death
Mother’s passing in 1973 was a shock for the then young community, which had presumed that she would go beyond a conventional dying. Bhaga – who has herself since passed on – recalled seeing Mother’s “so-called dead” body and realising the need for “a new kind of death”.
Integral Yoga’s ‘death of deaths’
Auroville seems to have evolved its own particular understandings, influenced deeply by the exploration of death contained within Integral Yoga. These include seeing death as a transition to a different phase, what happens after we pass away, and Mother’s work on the ‘death of death’. The film illustrates this well through anecdotes from Mother, including Frederick narrating an instance where Mother spoke directly about the death of death.
The process of passing
Still there is a great deal of variation in how individual community members conceive of and experience this process. When interviewed, Dr Uma observes that some Aurovilians come home to die and others pass away in hospitals. How we perceive passing on a life to be fought for, or one to be released – from those values, so much plays out. If we have the choice, will we choose to pass to the sound of bleeping machines or cradled in the arms of friends and family?
The documentary is recommended. Various aspects of the community’s insights, awareness and learning about death, as well as Mother’s inspiration and deeper soul questions around life and death, are thoughtfully captured. In death as in life, Auroville is an adventure of consciousness, exploring new ways of being, paradoxically even within the dying process.