Create space for the 47,000

If Auroville was prepared with a physical material base, thousands of sincere capable young people would come to serve and give the whole of themselves here. Auroville needs people who are willing to work selflessly and intensely with a spirit of service. We need to prepare ourselves to receive the future. 

Remember, we do not become Aurovilians through the entry process. We become Aurovilians by becoming “willing servitors of the Divine Consciousness.” And from this, we see many people around the world who are developing into “Aurovilians” and many of us, even as we are physically in Auroville, are yet to truly become the willing servitors of the Divine Consciousness. 

But we think only we who are here in Auroville at present is all that there is to Auroville. Auroville is a future being born. And that future needs a physical base. And for that physical base to be established, our current physical base needs to shift a bit, be tweaked a bit, requires us to let go of what has been done so far and our attachment to it. It requires us to welcome the town.

The town that has space for the forest, but does not ask us to go back to being the forest dwellers. It has a space for everything – including the city – not the ugly “smart cities”, but a new beautiful city of dawn with all of modern technology and yet a great harmony with nature. In our dear Auroville – the spiritual and material research lab – if we will not dare to take up this challenge, then who will?

There is cutting edge material research that Auroville can draw from. For example, American-Israeli multidisciplinary designer Neri Oxman makes sustainable sky-scrapers using plant-based materials. We should be undertaking such interesting and exciting projects, rather than being stuck in the old tension between concrete jungle and a forest hut. 

And last but not the least, in the dance of “numbers” and “consensus”, we must have the conscience to exclude ourselves if our personal selfish interest lies on one side or the other. What I mean is – if my “property” lies on the Crown, then, of course, our ego's viewpoint will be to not let it go. For then not only are we being unjust to the 47000 who are not present here, but also to the 3000 who are present here. 

I hope we create space for the rights of the 47000 who have yet not been invited to Auroville.

Originally published in a slightly different form on Auronet.