Futile rumours or plausible scenarios? Extracts from a personal reflection by Christian Feuillette

The rumour machine has always been very active in Auroville, but in the current climate of fear and uncertainty, it’s easy to see how it can literally run out of control. Most of the rumours we’ve been able to pick up may just be fantasies without any serious basis. But, as there’s no smoke without fire, these rumours could just as well be theories conceived in certain brains, and therefore as likely hypotheses to consider, as nebulous potential roadmaps. Let’s take a look at a few of these scenarios, from a non-exhaustive list, in an attempt to analyse their validity and relevance to the Auroville vision as defined by Mother.

1. Temporary trusteeship.

Some on the Foundation’s side argue that the Governing Board would have been given a five-year mandate (more or less) to complete the road infrastructure, according to the Galaxy plan, as well as an unspecified number of buildings, and that at the end of this term the keys of power would be handed over to the residents. Balance would then be restored between Auroville’s three governing bodies as defined in the 1988 Auroville Foundation Act: the Governing Board, the Residents’ Assembly and the International Advisory Council…This temporary trusteeship would enable Auroville, sleepy and lost in its green shrine, to be put back on track for irreversible urban development. If this were really the case, we’d have to bear this self-proclaimed salutary and restorative intervention for a few more years. We should then hope that Aurovilians will re-appropriate a genuine spirit of fraternity, start working together for the development of the Town… Under this scenario, the damage could be circumscribed, and Auroville’s derailment avoided.

2. AuroUniversity, AuroSmartCity, AuroDisneyland?

The previous rumour, however, could be the result of a concerted plan to get the message across to any recalcitrant members of the community, and to put any resistance to sleep. And the governmental authority, through the members of the Secretariat and the Governing Board chosen by it, would remain in a position of absolute power indefinitely. The temporary would then become the permanent, and the government, eager to recover its stake, would become the administrator of either a profitably managed mega-university campus, or another Smart City ruled by artificial intelligence and algorithms, or - the worst solution - that of a lucrative tourist complex, a kind of spiritual mega-Disneyland, of which Aurovilians would perhaps become mere

figurants. The gigantic fence surrounding the city, which has just been enigmatically decided by the Governing Board, would serve to protect and secure the area from any unwanted intrusion… These scenarios or hypotheses, which many fear and anticipate for Auroville, clearly do not correspond to the Dream of Her founder, and would mean a deviation, a misdirection from its vocation, which Mother so clearly defined in 1972: “a center of transformation, a small nucleus of men who transform themselves and set an example to the world.”

3. The Great Replacement.

According to this scenario, Auroville would be emptied of all its current residents, sooner rather than later, and replaced by younger, more plastic and less reluctant residents. The status of Aurovilian, as defined by Mother, would be effectively abolished. Residents would be made up mainly of volunteers for ephemeral, interchangeable use, deprived of any decision-making power, as well as visitors constituting a significant source of income. Construction would proceed unhindered, under government supervision. The international character of the project could be maintained, and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and Mother made compulsory for all. This could keep up appearances for distant or superficial observers, making them believe that Auroville still really exists. What this short-sighted vision fails to grasp is that Auroville would then be nothing more than an empty shell, devoid of any interest, and deprived of the power of attraction that has made it so appealing up to now. Aurovilians are not ashram sadhaks, nor spiritual soldiers capable of reciting Savitri in one breath. They are representatives – specimens – of real humanity, with all its imperfections and shortcomings… Many Aurovilians arrived without ever having read a line on yoga, but willingly adhering to the statements of the Auroville Charter, and joyfully advancing along the path of the Great Adventure, invoked by Mother, they gradually imbibed the atmosphere of Auroville and Mother’s consciousness, and became for many “Warriors of Light”. Of course, the new residents could also eventually absorb and embody the spirit of Auroville, but in the best of cases, this roadmap of the Great Replacement would set us back several decades. Without necessarily implying total failure, this scenario would be harmful, both for Auroville and for the world.

4. Tabula rasa:

“Clean slate” or “clean house”, this is the most dizzying (or delirious) of perspectives, no longer the Dream, but pure nightmare. All residents are evicted, the forest is razed to the ground, and all buildings are demolished within the perimeter of the town, with the exception, presumably, of the Matrimandir. Sheltered by the famous and mysterious fence, all infrastructure and buildings could then be built, freely and without constraint, in an accelerated manner, according to the Master Plan in hand. In many countries around the world, and even in India (Lavasa) and Malaysia (Forest City), there are brand-new cities, some of them sumptuous, but completely uninhabited, ghost towns, veritable urban deserts. And yet, according to some inspired thinkers, more or less versed in occultism, all it would take is to build the city according to an immutable sacred geometry, a “magic yantra”, for the supramental to naturally invest these brand-new, immaculate buildings. As human beings are not worthy of the Dream, the long and chaotic phase of transformation would be dispensed with. The very structure of the radiant galaxy, playing the role of a gigantic, well-protected heliport, would be destined to receive the descent of the new species of supermen from the subtle planes. This unlikely hypothesis is not quite what Mother had in mind when she created Auroville. Worse still, our sorcerers’ apprentices may well be in for the surprise of their lives and end up with an unforeseen result…In any case, the scenario of an implementation built with brute force alone, even if spiritually tinged, devoid of the aspiration of the human heart and soul, could only result in a flagrant disaster for Auroville.

To avoid the foreseeable downfall of Auroville, to which all these more or less catastrophic roadmaps are leading us, there is only one solution - and one that more and more supporters of both sides of the debate are embracing, for there can be no winners in a fratricidal fight: at last, come together and work Spiral Dynamics and Aurovilledecisions. This is the only way to correct the potential deviations, or betrayals, indicated by the scenarios described above, and put Auroville back on the path to its destiny.

First published on Auronet and the ForAll forum