In memoriam - Manuel Thomas

Manuel Thomas, a long-time friend and well-wisher of Auroville, left his body peacefully in his sleep during the night of January 26th. His passing is a great loss for Auroville and for his many friends and admirers.

Manuel was a Chartered Accountant based in Chennai who came into contact with Auroville at the end of the 90’s. For the next three decades he interacted with many Aurovilians and freely shared his vast experience in legal and accountancy matters for Auroville’s benefit and that of many Auroville working groups, services and individuals.

One of his memorable contributions was his work on Auroville’s economics. Together with Dutch Professor Dr. Henk Thomas, he authored the book Economics for People and Earth: The Auroville Case 1968 - 2008.

It all began when, in 1997, the then Economy Study Group and Auroville’s Funds and Assets Management Committee made a request for research and advice to Henk Thomas. At the recommendation of a few Aurovilians, in 1998 Manuel Thomas was brought in for his expertise in data management and analysis. At the time, Auroville had no statistical office and, as Manuel later said, “an almost heroic effort was made to gather income and expenditure statements and balance sheets from various locations, some in forgotten dark cellars.” The more than 3,000 records of commercial units were digitized and used to do an economic analysis of Auroville units, including issues of their survival, expansion and sustainability.

In 2002, Henk and Manuel presented a White Paper on Auroville’s Economy to the Auroville community. The document, which focused on Auroville’s commercial units, was well-received and they were asked to extend their study to include Auroville’s service sector. This was taken up and they decided to cover Auroville’s economy over the first 40 years of its existence. The result was the book Economics for People and Earth: The Auroville Case 1968 - 2008, which was published in the summer of 2013.

The book gives a synthesis of the different phases of Auroville’s economy; gauges Auroville's economic system in the light of the principles and guidelines given by The Mother; assesses Auroville’s sustainability and its coherence as a model for durable socioeconomic development; and identifies many areas of concern for Auroville’s development.

But the book was not only on Auroville economics. It contains brief biographical notes on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother along with an overview of the Mother’s vision on Auroville’s economy. “We can’t stress enough that the spiritual dimension is the cohesive part of the Auroville experiment. If someone would like to duplicate it elsewhere, there would need to be a similar ‘glue’ in one form or another. In Auroville, it is the spiritual dimension and the dream of humanity living in harmony in an international township which brought people together,” said Manuel in an interview with Auroville Today.

In recent years, Manuel shared the pains and frustrations of many Aurovilians witnessing the difficulties brought by the new Auroville administration, and he wondered if this anticipated the end of the Auroville experiment. While this question remains unanswered, there is no doubt that Manuel was part of that spiritual dimension that sustains Auroville and its residents.

Manuel’s remains were interred in Chennai on 29 January.