Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988

Issue Nº431-32

Jun 2025 (5 months ago)
Subscribers-only download


The Matrimandir, the Lake and the Garden works: an update

Scale visualisation of the Matrimandir and its Gardens, surrounded by the Lake and connected by a bridge originating from the Reception Pavilion

The January 2025 issue of Auroville Today focused on the aftermath of Cyclone Fengal, which breached the Lego block dam separating sections 1 and 2 of the Matrimandir Lake.


A basket full of grace

Frederick

On 17 April, long-term Aurovilian Frederick Schulze Buxloh was informed that his application for visa extension had been denied. The decision sparked widespread concern, leading to a petition addressed to Indian authorities that garnered over 4000 signatures.


The danger of depersonalisation

Michael Sandel, the Harvard professor, believes that many of us now live in a ‘market society’ where market values have supplanted other forms of human value like fairness and justice.


50 Years of Collaboration: A Journal of Integral Yoga in America

Collaboration: A Journal of Integral Yoga in America

Once upon a time a very long time ago, deep in the woods at the bottom of a mountain — Mother’s Mountain, mata-giri—a six-page newsletter called Collaboration came into being.


New textbooks for Indian school students

Michel Danino

“Auroville will be a place of unending education”, says its Charter. The entirety of Auroville is envisioned by The Mother as an evolving educational campus encompassing all facets of life.


The Kailash Story: from foundation to summit

Collective cooking

It all started in September 1998. Jean-François and I were at home when a group of teenagers, familiar faces from the Auroville schools, walked in with a quiet determination.


Rosa’s Awareness Through the Body journey in South America

Rosa Aleman Lopez, third from left, with Francesco, second from right, and a group of South American students from their advanced workshop in Colombia

For almost two decades, Rosa lived in Auroville, immersed in the transformative work of Awareness Through the Body (ATB). Now she is bringing ATB workshops and advanced training to South America and plans to work with educators and trauma therapists in underserved areas, providing training that facilitates trauma release and inner balance.


Beauty: cultivating an attitude of humility

Jyoti | Photo: Monna Eri

Jyoti Naoki Eri was born in Kyoto, Japan, to accomplished artist parents. He trained as a sculptor in Japan through a traditional apprenticeship process.


Bits of Boris

Boris?

Boris Verjoutski, who passed away in April of this year, regularly contributed his observations of the natural world and human behaviour to Auroville’s weekly “News & Notes” community newsletter.


A soundtrack of growing up

Manya

Manya Sekar, who came to Auroville in her teens, will soon start pursuing her higher education at Oberlin College in the USA. Here she talks about her experience in Auroville.


Auroville & soft rebellion

Four years into this crisis, I find myself searching for clarity on how we move forward. Yesterday, I came across a series of writings by Shannon Willis on Soft Rebellion that articulated what many of us have been intuitively practicing all along.


How to live

Cover - How to Live: Mother’s Advice given in Questions and Answers

The seven volumes of The Mother’s Entretiens (Questions and Answers) are a treasure trove. They cover a wide range of topics in considerable depth, giving us a glimpse not only of Sri Aurobindo’s and The Mother’s vision of life and the future of humanity, but also providing many answers to questions on how to live one’s life and follow the spiritual path.


Auroville Global Fellowship website and newsletter: an invitation to participate

Dear Auroville residents, friends and well-wishers of Auroville, A website has been created for the Auroville Global Fellowship. Here is the link:


Legal updates On 29 April four cases concerning Auroville were listed in the Madras High Court before its summer closure during the month of May. The case filed by a concerned member of the Residents’ Assembly concerning the constitution of the Admission and Termination Scrutinising Committee (ATSC) was basically accepted for debate and the lawyers of the Foundation Office were directed to submit their arguments within six weeks.

Self-nominations solicited “Wishing to move forward in collaboration towards the building of the city and the right administering of Auroville,” the AVFO on 9 May issued a call for self-nomination in key areas of the Auroville administration, eg a group, service, unit or trust.

Net neutrality Concerned residents have called on the Governing Board, International Advisory Council and Secretary of the Auroville Foundation to instruct Aurinoco, the Auroville unit which created a fibre optic network in Auroville with GOI grants, to halt forcing a single connectivity upon all subscribers.

Auroville Tomorrow Two editions of a new e-magazine named “Auroville Tomorrow” have been published by the Auroville Foundation Office. The first “revised edition No. 01”, [‘revised’ may refer to three earlier issues of Auroville Tomorrow published in 2022] dated 24 April 2025 introduces itself as “Auroville’s official future-focused newsletter” of the Auroville Foundation, Ministry of Education.

Auroville Connect Auroville Connect, a WhatsApp platform “dedicated to connecting people in and around Auroville who care deeply about the Dream, the Charter, and the future of this unique city and its experiment in human unity,” has now published an e-newsletter.

Auroville Urban Planning and Development Repository A new website: Auroville Urban Planning and Development Repository has been created. This initiative, led by a group of Auroville residents, brings together hundreds of documents related to the planning and development of Auroville.

The Spirituality Industry The News Minute, a digital subscription-based news platform which reports and writes on issues in India, with a specific focus on the five southern states, has published its third edition of a series on ‘The Spirituality Industry: A Deep Reporting Project’.

RA-WCom homeless The Working Committee selected by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) has vacated its temporary office in Kailash, an educational youth residency under SAIIER, after the Funds and Assets Management Committee constituted by the Governing Board (GB-FAMC) instructed the Kailash caretakers and residents to hand over the building to the Housing Service by the end of May. [see article on page ….]

Economic Development Strategy The GB-FAMC informed the community that it has begun “a renewed effort to grow and strengthen Auroville’s economy, building on the groundwork laid in recent years around compliance, transparency and financial structure”.

Closure for small guest houses? The GB-FAMC informed the managers of small guest houses that the Financial Services accounts of these guest houses would be closed by 15 June 2025 and requested the managers to cancel any future bookings.

AVFO signs more MoUs The AVFO continues entering into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and other “collaborations” with Indian institutes, which the residents learn about via newspapers.

Auroville accounting units dismantled In May last year, the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation decided to appoint an outside company of Chartered Accountants “for accounting and allied services” with effect from the Financial Year 2025-2026.

Auroville Animal Charter Citing cases of animal neglect and abuse, the Auroville Dog Shelter team has invited Auroville residents and friends of Auroville to participate in the writing of an Auroville Animal Charter, which should become a framework for how to live in a harmonious co-existence with all sentient beings in Auroville.

Morning Star Morning Star, Auroville’s birth and wellness centre, has published its 2024-2025 Newsletter. Morning Star’s team offers professional birth and women’s wellness care in a serene, respectful environment.