In memoriam - Pashi Kapur

Pashi left his body on 20th October 2023 at the age of 91, after having dedicated his life to his most beloved idea and project of Auroville.

Pashi’s (Prakash Chandra Kapur) life began in Rawalpindi, in Pakistan today, and at a young age left his home to be in Delhi for the historical moment of India’s independence. The tumultuous events of that time made him stay back in India.

Life however took him to the United Kingdom for his higher studies in mechanical engineering. Having completed his studies, he returned to India where he worked as a lead engineer in a British firm and lived in Calcutta where he also began a family.

He didn’t want his children to have a conventional education and started his quest for a new world. A friend suggested he should visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram where new experiments in schooling were happening. In an Auroville Today interview in 2016 he recalled “There I met Kireet Joshi, who at that time was the Registrar of the Ashram School, and told him I would like to understand this system of education. He said, ‘Go and see’ and waved me towards the classrooms. I walked into one classroom and sat at the back. Everybody was quietly reading. Suddenly, a student raised his hand and asked a question. The teacher paused, and then said, ‘I am sorry, I do not have the answer. Shall we go to the library and find out the answer together?’ “That really hit me: it was so different from the schooling I had experienced.”

But still he was not convinced that the Ashram was the best place for his children. However, in 1968 he had the opportunity to meet The Mother.  “It was July, 1968 and the time I was given to meet Mother was 7.13 in the morning. I still remember this because it was so damn specific! But at that time I was very reluctant to accept somebody as a guru, so when this friend gave me flowers to give to The Mother I said ‘I don’t need these, I am just going for an interview’.

“Finally I was called in, and she looked up. My eyes locked with hers. All I remember after that is that I had my head in her lap and she was stroking it. I don’t know how long I was there, but when I finally got up, I was shaking and crying. I walked down to the meditation hall and there I kept on crying. 

“This was the moment that decided my life.”

After this he met Navajata, who talked about Auroville. “For me, there were no second thoughts; I fell in love with the concept of Auroville and immediately offered to work for it in any way I could.”

In 1970, Pashi suggested that the various Ashram-associated organizations around India could initiate karma yoga activities to benefit the society around them as well as contribute revenue for the Ashram and Auroville. He sent his proposal to The Mother. The Mother sent for him and asked him what it should be called. “I said, “Auroville service”. Then she took a large sheet and wrote on it, ‘Auroservice’. Organizing the activities of Auroservice became one of Pashi’s main jobs. 

In November 1973, while Pashi was in Assam on Auroservice business, The Mother passed away. “By the time I reached Pondicherry it was too late. She was already in the Samadhi. I cried my heart out because I couldn’t see her one more time. Nolini came by and asked why I was crying and I said I could not have Mother’s last darshan. He said, ‘Don’t you see, Mother is always with you?’ He put his hand on my head, I closed my eyes and since that moment I’ve never felt away from her. It’s amazing.”

In May, 1974 he moved permanently to Auroville where, in addition to his work with Auroservice d’Auroville, he worked closely with Roger Anger and his team: “My relationship with Roger was very close.”

Events in Auroville during the 1980s made him start a new life as the Indian representative of an international marketing company. Pashi returned to Auroville on 1st January, 2000. “By that time Roger had also returned and he asked me to come back.” Since then, he helped to raise funds for Matrimandir and worked on tax-exemption issues, but his main concern was finding ways to secure the land so that at least the urban aspect of the city can be built. During his last years he worked tirelessly to establish the CIRHU project.

“Above all, my faith in Auroville has never been shaken, I have an absolute faith in The Dream, in the Charter and in The Mother’s vision. It has to come because it is what the world needs.”

His family, friends and well-wishers are in deep appreciation of his exemplary commitment and dedication to Auroville and The Mother’s work. His cremation took place on Monday, 23 October at the Auroville burial and cremation ground.