Re-envisioning the Residents Assembly

Interestingly, for Kireet the prime function of the Residents Assembly was neither to debate issues nor to take decisions. Rather, it was to be the vehicle for the residents to come together in a shared aspiration to understand the Divine’s will. In his words, “We have to be reminded every time we are here for the Divine. So I would like to suggest that the Residents Assembly is basically a collectivity for promotion of the knowledge of the Divine's will. Nothing else. Or (anything) else is secondary.”

He added that the Residents Assembly should not be an instrument for disagreement or agreement, but it should meet regularly, ideally “in quietude”, to generate harmony among all residents and “mature constantly the sense of all of us as a collectivity devoted to the Divine's will”. “If you sincerely meet and talk to the Divine in your heart, and if this is done weekly, monthly, a real collectivity will be gathered, will be created, all dedicated to the Divine's will”.

This, he explained, would not preclude discussions. But these discussions would be held in a very different atmosphere from the one to which we are used. Positivity and harmony would be emphasized and we would never lose the sense that we are fellow seekers. For Kireet, this meant that the Residents Assembly should be a caring assembly, an all-inclusive body, “an assembly which looks after each and every individual resident. We have to arrive at that point where each individual resident is awake, he is alive and he is very keen, as Sri Aurobindo says, to perfect himself and to aid and to be aided by others’ perfection. This is the stage where we should reach. And the Residents’ Assembly is an instrument for springing into this. As long as individuals are simply put aside or simply taken up sometimes for getting their opinion, it is a mask and it is very inadequate and a very, very unsatisfactory form of service to the divine consciousness.”

And he stressed, “It is not a question of majority and minority, it is not a question of opinion building, it is not a question of a few against the others. If you read Sri Aurobindo's writings, there is a constant emphasis on all, and therefore our organisation must be such that it serves all...We must take care that every individual develops.”

As to the powers of the Residents Assembly, “I would like to say very clearly, I do not like when it is said that the Residents Assembly is the Authority. No. The Authority is only ONE in Auroville—the Divine.”

Kireet’s suggestions have sometimes been dismissed as impractical given the present reality of Auroville. And it is difficult to see how some of his suggestions – like the one that we should all meet together regularly, or that there should be some individuals who know every resident well enough to ensure their perspective is understood and integrated in every discussion and collective decision – can be implemented given the size of the present community and, it should be added, our present state of collective consciousness.

But this misses the point. Kireet was not offering a temporary fix for our present problems, nor was he offering something that is immediately ‘practical’. He was offering an entirely different conception of what the Residents Assembly could be; something which he believed was founded upon The Charter and other indications given by The Mother, and, therefore, something which we should aspire for. The practicalities of how it could be implemented would need to be discovered, but the important thing was the willingness to make the experiment. For if, as he asserted, Auroville is a unique spiritual experiment upon Earth, why should we rely upon old world methods of understanding, of decision-making and ways of exercising authority?

Granted, his suggestion requires a veritable revolution in the way we think about decision-making and how we relate to each other. The Residents Assembly would no longer be viewed primarily as a body to discuss issues or take decisions but as a means of uniting us in a collective call for higher guidance. The focus, in other words, would shift from us – our disputes, failings, frustrations – to an appeal to something higher. And a genuine call, Kireet pointed out, would inevitably elicit such guidance, and then the way forward would emerge naturally. Harmoniously.

Today, we are far from that. Dogma and ideology seem more common than genuine spiritual seeking, conflict has replaced feelings of mutuality, individuals are often viewed as mere instruments in the fulfillment of a ‘higher’ agenda, and administrative diktats or decisions based on head counts have replaced attempts to understand divine guidance and integrate the concerns and higher aspirations of everyone in the community. And the Residents Assembly itself has either been dismissed as irrelevant or it has become politicised, claimed by rival orientations, while the majority of residents are failing to participate in it in any meaningful way.

Even if one does not agree fully with Kireet’s reflections, clearly something is amiss with the way we are conceiving of the Residents Assembly and the way it is functioning. Of course, it can be argued that we live in exceptional times, that Auroville is experiencing disruption on an unprecedented scale and therefore whatever means that can be used at present – including involving the Residents Assembly in the political realm – to protect its integrity should be employed. But this ignores the fact that Auroville’s strength lies precisely in its spiritual foundation and aspiration, and when we use other means in an attempt to protect these, we weaken rather than strengthen that foundation.

One thing, at least, is clear. The remedy lies with us rather than with any external authority. It lies with our willingness to pour new energy into making the Residents Assembly an expression of our collective aspiration and care for each other’s spiritual welfare. For nothing else is really worthy of the great experiment to which we have been called.