Listening to the Shakti: a path toward Auroville’s healing

Auroville Today: Amrit, in 2018 we interviewed you about your book and your experience as a “neutral” in Auroville’s early conflicts. Recently, you mentioned parallels with the current situation. Could you elaborate?

Amrit: Though I initially supported the Auroville community in its conflict with the SAS in the late 1970s and early 1980s, those of us who finally refused to take sides were subjected to many forms of intimidation. Unfortunately, as in most revolutions, the persecuted, in this case the Auroville collective, became the persecutors of fellow Aurovilians. Because of differing viewpoints, we were ostracised, our visas threatened, we were told we did not belong here in Auroville and that we should go. Many former friends and acquaintances turned against us, some attempting to drive us off the roads, others spitting on the ground when meeting us; people were thrown out of work, maintenance cut, mobs were coming to our houses to harass us. This went on for years.

This was pure tribalism. Either you were “in” or you were “out”. The dominant group was fanatical, almost theocratic in its mindset. In some cases, I felt people were behaving as if possessed. There was no attempt at mutual understanding, which was going completely against the ideals of Auroville to reach unity and harmony.

When The Mother was confronted with conflicts between people in the Ashram, she stressed the necessity for people to agree. “You must all agree. That is the only way to do good work.” And “For everyone to agree each one must rise to the summit of his consciousness; it is on the heights that harmony is created.” This is not just moral advice, but a spiritual imperative. True spirituality, by its nature, is inclusive. And yet, in those years, this was totally absent.

Now, looking at our present circumstances, has anything changed? We are once again living in a split community with some people fully collaborating with the decisions and actions taken by the Governing Board and its Secretary, others strongly objecting, and a large group in difficulty because of the loss of maintenances, or the delay of visa recommendations. People who were friends or who were on good terms with each other have cut connections or pass each other with a dead-pan face. It all sounds so familiar—as if the past has been resurrected.

You’ve referred to this as an issue of “collective karma”. What do you mean?

In Sri Aurobindo’s The Problem of Rebirth, he explains that karma extends beyond individual actions and also encompasses family, society, and nations. Collective karma is not just the sum of individual karmas; it has its own evolving force that affects individuals and communities over time.

Sri Aurobindo cites the example of Belgium. Its colonial atrocities in the Congo, especially under King Leopold II in the period 1885-1908, were characterised by extreme violence—millions ultimately died and many mutilated. Six years later, Belgium itself was invaded by Germany during World War I, its people experiencing similar horrors. Collective karma doesn’t spare anyone, and even innocent children suffer for the sins of their fathers.

That made me reflect: are the divisions we face today a karmic residue from Auroville’s past? Have the past actions of the Auroville collective returned to haunt us?

Do you see the Government of India’s intervention—first through the Auroville Emergency Provisions Act (1980), then the Auroville Foundation Act (1988)—as part of this karma?

That’s my observation. Mother stated clearly: “To hand over the management of Auroville to any country or any group, however big, is an ABSOLUTE IMPOSSIBILITY.” And yet, that is what happened.

At the time, it was claimed this was to safeguard Auroville’s ideals. Maybe there was some truth in that. But in reality, I believe it was politically motivated—a way to seize power and expel those who didn’t align with the dominant group.

This became obvious to me in late 1982, when several key figures who had led the fight against the Sri Aurobindo Society left Auroville. They issued a statement saying Auroville had “failed” because the Government had allowed the influence of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram to enter Auroville and not purged the “undesirables”—people who didn’t agree with them. It was a time when some in Auroville divided people into basically two groups, those who were in “the inner circle of Truth”, the “true” Aurovilians as they saw themselves, and the others “in the Falsehood” who should be eliminated.

Do you feel attitudes have changed since then?

Sadly, somewhat, but not enough. Some still believe that critics or dissenters should be pushed out, though I feel personally very uncomfortable with asking people to leave Auroville.

The Mother, in a message to Auroville after a devastating cyclone struck on 5 December 1972 [Sri Aurobindo’s Centenary Year and Mahasamadhi Day, eds] made it clear that the cyclone was a warning from physical nature that those who do not want to change will have to go. The Mother, of course, was able to ‘see’ to what extent a person belonged in Auroville and could or wanted to change, and her ‘seeing’ was based on the inner state of the person. But she rarely decided that a person had to leave Auroville.

When someone asked Her if a person should stay or leave, her answer was that it was the Force that would decide. And when the Secretary appointed by Mother for Auroville mentioned the case of an Aurovilian who was on drugs and not working, the Mother asked that if he had not already been told to leave, “Can he be not given another chance?” She was always the Mother solicitous of her children.

I do not think anybody in present day Auroville has that capacity of ‘inner seeing’. Those who have chosen to come and live in Auroville often have an inner reason, even if, outwardly, it looks like they are not doing any ‘yoga’ or have little understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s or The Mother’s work. They are here for a purpose.

I have never felt that, because people didn’t agree with me, they don’t belong here—even though I went through that hard period in my life. Luckily, through introspection based on guidance in dreams and inner experiences, I realised that all the conflicts were fundamentally reactions of the ego.

For this reason, I felt the necessity to withdraw from all the controversies in Auroville, including the initial conflict with the SAS as indicated by a dream. Sitting in my home, I could see a hostile entity circling the house. Thinking to drive it away, I rushed out to attack it. Because it was a subtle negative force, as soon as I opened the door, it immediately slipped into the house, and it was now inside laughing at me, ”You fool, you see what you have done!” And I was now locked out of my own home! I then understood my mistake. If I had remained quietly seated inside and not opened the door, this darkness could never have entered and affected me. Clearly, a reversal of attitude was in order.

The judgments of what is good and bad are only egoistic reactions to things that hurt us, or to things we don’t like. We want to change things in a way that we think is the best, but is it the best? What I learned from this was a way to deal with misfortune—to seek a living contact with the inner being. Mother indicated how to do that; other spiritual systems have also helped.

For example, in Buddhism, there are practices for this: one is metta or friendliness, goodwill and kindness to all beings. As the Dalai Lama, the very embodiment of metta, stated, “My religion is a religion of kindness.”

Another is called satipattana, which means mindfulness. You become conscious of all the different movements in your being. You start with your physical being and become aware of everything the body is doing—sitting, talking, brushing your teeth, going to the toilet, walking, and so on. You observe yourself. Once you are able to perfect that on the physical level, you go to the vital level, what you’re feeling—irritation, happiness, anger, etc. The mental level is the most difficult to observe because thoughts are very subtle. But if you can do this, slowly, slowly, it detaches you from your ego because all these different aspects are, in fact, conditioned parts of your ego. This facilitates the emergence of the inner consciousness. When someone asked the Mother about how to know one has made spiritual progress, Her answer was only one word: “detachment”.

The Japanese samurai, called the Yamabushi or Mountain Warriors, also engaged in a similar practice known as uketamo, meaning ‘acceptance’. Whatever happens, good or bad, you say, “I accept”; you stop reacting to things to slowly abolish your likes and dislikes. No reaction. The next step is “arigato” or “thank you”, to express gratitude.

This is quite similar to a response of someone very close to the Mother when asked the secret of her spiritual progress. She answered, “I take everything, good and bad, as a Grace and Blessing from the Mother!” The cultivation of this attitude, through whatever means, is a great aid in the fulfilment of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. For this consciousness enables a greater receptivity to the action of the Divine Shakti, which guides and protects. This the Yamabushi well understood; these practices prepare an opening to the universal pranashakti, termed ‘ki’ in Japan, which is a Conscious Force of action. And to be a true warrior, this receptivity to act according to the ki is paramount. All these have been tremendous aids in my own personal development and have helped me to slowly understand what was happening in Auroville.

You managed to apply this in your daily life?

Hopefully. I started working again at the Matrimandir Nursery from late 1988. The previous years of being ostracised were, in fact, times of great Grace because they forced me to focus exclusively on my Sri Vidya Puja practice, meditation and inner development, resulting in one of the best periods of spiritual experience and growth. And the subsequent responsibility for the organisation of the general access to the Matrimandir, the reception of people and issuing of passes for visits to the Chamber compelled me to interact and speak with people—including with those who had actually caused the most difficulties—and people had to talk to me. I had to be respectful and kind and helpful: I had to be patient, never losing my temper and expressing my point of view without any antagonism or anger at the other’s ideas. In fact, it was a blessing that the Mother gave to me because I had to deal with people who were very difficult. This forced me to change my attitudes, and to try to act more from within.

How would you propose we heal the present divisions in Auroville?

By trying at least to reduce, modify and soften the ego level and open to the Shakti, the Mother’s Force. In Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga, aspiration, rejection, and surrender are the three crucial elements for spiritual transformation. Aspiration is the yearning for the Divine, rejection is the conscious effort to eliminate negativity and falsehood, and surrender is the complete offering of oneself to the Divine, one step leading to the other. Some people think that surrender means passivity, giving up. But this is a misunderstanding. Surrender, according to The Mother, means ‘surrender to the Shakti’. What is the Shakti? It’s an energy. It’s the Mother’s energy, and if you open to it, you’ll experience that it will guide you in what needs to be done. If more and more individuals in Auroville consciously open to the workings of this Force, the more will an harmonious resolution of our difficulties occur. For this, the Mother also emphasises the Sunlit Path, which is essentially similar to uketamo.

The Matrimandir is key. Mother called it “the Soul of Auroville”; it is the cohesive force to keep Auroville together without disintegrating and collapsing in spite of our stupidities. She also stated, “The sooner it is there, the better it will be for everybody.” This, I believe, means that the structure, and especially the Chamber, has a function in helping to open to the Shakti. For the Matrimandir is truly a symbol of the Yoga, and the Force there has the power to activate this awakening. 

The Crystal symbolises the Psychic Transformation—the first of the three transformations mentioned by Sri Aurobindo. The light from the sun on the Crystal represents Sri Aurobindo’s descending force of Spiritual Transformation, while the entire Inner Chamber with the Force radiating out to the meditation petals and especially the gardens stand for the Supramental Transformation, which in his book, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo describes as the fifth aspect of the Mother, the Anandamayi, who is the Mother of Transformation. For Ananda, Bliss or Joy, has the greatest power of transformation. In my experience, being in the Chamber helps to open to the Mother’s Shakti.

So the Shakti is the key to healing the present divisions?

Yes, because the Shakti will guide and protect you, will show you what has to be done, and will give you the energy to do what has to be done. It’s not a question of going to the Matrimandir for having a nice meditation; it is an attempt to open up to Her, surrender and inwardly listen. But how does this opening occur? The Inner Chamber has the actual power to help effect a very crucial process in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga called the descent of the force through the top of the head, working on all the energy centres in the body. This is indeed both the symbolism and power of the Inner Chamber, to effect not only inner changes, but even to alter external circumstances. And you will be surprised to see what can be done if you rely on the Shakti.

The willingness to work together and to open to the action of the Shakti in gratitude and joy are fundamental to the goodwill that the Mother regards as the essential attitude for a true Aurovilian. And this, I believe, will heal the present divisions. According to the Mother’s advice to Piero when there were difficulties in Auroville:

“Each one has good reasons to support his own opinion, and I am no expert to judge between them. But from the spiritual point of view, I know that with true goodwill all opinions can be harmonized in a more comprehensive and truer solution. This is what I expect from the workers of Auroville. Not that some give way to others, but that on the contrary all should combine their efforts to achieve a more comprehensive and perfect result. The ideal of Auroville demands this progress—don’t you want to make it?”

This admonition is as valid today as it was in 1971.