Conflict resolution

Lakshay Dharan shifted to Auroville in 2015 and became an Auroville resident in Feb 2018. Since then, he has been active in art, communication, strategy, and organisational work.

Dear Residents of Auroville, This month we complete our four-year term as members of the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation.

To: Shri R.N. Ravi, Chairman, Governing Board, Auroville Foundation. Subject: The MoU with IIT Madras & Land Use Concerns Dear Shri R.N. Ravi ji,

Heartweaving is quietly bringing together Aurovilians with different perspectives to manifest possible ways forward through sustained inner work.

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.

A reader comments on the article “Time for integration?” in which Alan interviews Divakar about his recently circulated paper entitled Auroville and its destinies.

On 27 February 2025, at the invitation of Mr. Koshy Varghese, a group of seven residents met with the Secretary, the OSD, Dr. Seetharaman, and the consultant for visa matters, Mr.

“In this as in all great human aspirations and endeavours, an a priori declaration of impossibility is a sign of ignorance and weakness. For by the doing the difficulty will be solved.”

Born in Paris, Nathalie grew up surrounded by the evocative scents of her grandfather’s painting studio. At the age of seven, her life took a profound turn when her family moved to India, eventually settling in Auroville.

In 1993 Lyndi Fourie, aged 23, died in the Heidelberg Tavern Massacre in Cape Town, South Africa. Thirty years later, Lyndi’s mother, Ginn Fourie, and the man who gave the orders that resulted in Lyndi’s tragic death, Letlapa Mphahlele, sit together as they lead a workshop titled Equity Matters at Auroville’s Pavilion of Tibetan Culture.

Heart Weaving was started in December last year in an effort to deepen our capacity for dialogue in Auroville and to be able to truly listen to each other across differing perspectives and opinions.

Jay Naidoo, former leader in the South African struggle against apartheid, and former minister responsible for Reconstruction and Development in the country’s first democratic government, where he worked closely with Nelson Mandela, recently visited Auroville.

The Wednesdays for Auroville meeting is planning to issue a ‘White Paper’ on Auroville’s way forward. A couple of papers have already been prepared outlining what has been realised in Auroville since its inception, and what is being planned on the foundation of these achievements.

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.

On 26th February, there was an informal community gathering with the South African activist and former minister, Jay Naidoo, in the Unity Pavilion.

Ms. Dena Merriam, who has been elected the Chairperson of the Auroville International Advisory Council, is the founder and coordinator of the Global Peace Initiative for Women (GPIW), an international network of spiritual and community leaders that builds interfaith understanding and develops leadership in young community leaders concerning climate change.

On 21st November residents were invited to the Unity Pavilion to see a video presentation by Raghu Ananthanarayanan, who had been invited by the GB and IAC to “foster a dialogue that will hopefully help address some of the core issues dividing the community, a dialogue that an outside, neutral voice can best foster”.

The Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chairman of the Governing Board, Shri R N Ravi, visited Auroville on 18th and 19th of October, 2022. He was welcomed by the Collector, Mr.

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.

Mandakini Gupta, a former student of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (Ashram school) in Puducherry, was a member of the Working Committee from December 2014 to December 2019 and has been active in the areas of Auroville’s internal conflict resolution and governance.

To respected members of the Governing Board... Dear Aurovilians... Dear Dr. Jayanti Ravi... Dear friends of the Auroville Working Committee...

As a therapist I know that one of the first steps to healing is to acknowledge trauma, whether individual or collective. This is an unusual article in that I invite the reader to hold and witness with compassion our inner and outer diversity as a community.

When things get hot, it’s easy to get caught up in the frame of the moment and lose of sense of the larger picture.

On August 8th, long-term Canadian Aurovilian Janet Fearn quietly and peacefully slipped away from her severely emaciated body after weeks of gently fading during which loving contact with family members and friends always remained.

In January 2017, the community approved the Auroville Appeal Process, a policy that regulates how an individual, a unit or a service can object to a decision of a working group.

At the beginning of April, Koodam, the conflict resolution platform that offers personal and group conflict transformation services in Auroville, extended their support to anybody needing help in coping with the challenges presented by the lockdown and quarantine regulations.

Like the rest of the world, Auroville has had to confront the challenge of sexual harassment and the devastating impact it can have on those who experience it.

Koodam, Auroville’s conflict resolution referral platform, recently published the “Koodam Impact Analysis Research Report,” presenting an overview of Koodam’s growth and development since 2013 and assessing the impact of its work.

By a vote of 214 ‘yes’ against 23 ‘no’, the Residents Assembly approved that affected individuals can appeal against decisions of some working groups

For some years, Vikram has been very much involved in youth and sports activities in Auroville. He is also deeply interested in conflict resolution and meeting process.

Restorative Circles, a system of conflict resolution which is based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication, is proposed to become part of Auroville’s Conflict Resolution Policy.

Danaan Parry helped organize the recent American-Soviet-Indian exchange In Auroville. At one time he was a nuclear physicist, working for the U.S.

In mid-December, youth teams from the USA, the USSR and India will arrive in Auroville to participate in a unique experiment – “TEAMWORK ’88”.