Change

This is the last issue of Auroville Today. While this issue was in the press, the editorial team learned that a new media policy for Auroville is about to be implemented.

Mother once described Auroville as a “centre of accelerated evolution”. (“Auroville is the place where this new way of living is being worked out; it is a centre of accelerated evolution where man must begin to change his world through the power of the inner spirit.”)

Some would argue that healing is not possible without a change in the policies of the present administration which, they feel, is demolishing, brick by brick, what has been created over many years, and everything which they believe Auroville stands for.

In 1989, more than three decades ago, a retired British police sergeant and school welfare officer visited Auroville. Having recently lost his wife, Roy Wicks was in search of new meaning and purpose.

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.

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.

As a child, growing up in a Hindu household in Odisha, I was always intrigued by the images of Lord Jagannath and his siblings. Like most Hindu households, an entire room was reserved for the gods, and the main icons from Hinduism’s rich pantheon of reportedly 330 million gods were prominently displayed and revered.

Maurice Shukla grew up as a child in the Mother's School and now helps wherever he can be useful at the Ashram: translating, editing, teaching and, evidently, forever learning.

H.P. Rama is a successful hotelier based in the U.S. He is also a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and has founded a university – AURO University – in Surat based upon the former’s educational principles.

Some time ago, Ms Dena Merriam, Chairperson of the International Advisory Council (IAC), approached Raghu Ananthanarayanan with the approval of the Governing Board (GB) to see if he could help in identifying the next steps towards healing and dialogue in Auroville.

One of humanity’s oldest fears – perhaps, the oldest fear of all – is fear of the unknown: of how the world was created, why the sun disappeared every night, why winter followed summer etc.

The following is the first in what may become a series of articles featuring Aurovilians who hold the city deeply in their hearts, even though they may disagree about the details of its manifestation

The Journey of Auroville festival, a project under the special grants from the Government of India for Auroville’s 50th anniversary, was most recently held in Kolkata (earlier called Calcutta) from 28 to 31 January 2019.

In the late 1970s a young American, Peter Callaway, had a vision. He saw a globe of the world with three points of light radiating from it. He had no idea what it meant.

Monica Sharma trained as a physician and epidemiologist, then worked for the United Nations for 22 years. She was the Director of several global programmes, including the UNDP programme on HIV/AIDS, as well as being Director of Leadership and Capacity Development at the U.N.