Mother’s Agenda

Tucked away in a small room at the back of Auroville’s Vanaville unit is Michel’s bookbinding sanctuary — a quiet space where hundreds of worn books have been given a new lease on life.

In 2016 a German forester, Peter Wohlleben, published a book which describes how trees exchange resources with each other through fungi on their roots.

Jothi was born in 1964 in Kuilapalayam. He joined Auroville by himself at a young age and has contributed in numerous ways, through service, education and sports, while battling long-term health challenges.

The earliest mention of Auroville was in the monthly issue of the Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS) Information Letter of March 1965, where its General Secretary Navajata wrote: “You will be glad to know that the Mother has taken up the model township project.

Last year Prisma released a second edition of their 2015 compilation on the theme of death. As its title indicates this includes the ‘death of death’, exploring Sri Aurobindo’s passing and his journey into the unconscious and Mother’s grappling with the transformation of death.

This small book is a recollection of J.R.D. Tata’s involvement with Auroville as well as a meditative reflection by the author, Frederick (Friedrich Schulze Buxloh), of his very special relationship with this great man, one of India’s foremost industrialists who in 1992 was awarded India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for his contribution to India’s development as the head of the then largest industrial conglomerate.

On October this year, the Ministry of Education of the Government of India appointed Auroville’s new Governing Board and new International Advisory Council.

Paolo Tommasi passed away in JIPMER on July 16th due to the COVID-19 virus. He had just turned 92 years. Paolo was born in Ancona, Italy in 1928.

In the late afternoon of April 25th, Roma Hira peacefully left her body at her home in Dana due to renal failure. She would have turned 73 in September this year.

Dear Editor Alan This is my first ‘Letter to the Editor’ of Auroville Today but I am not nervous. You usually graciously publish all the letters you get, and you get very few.

One June 24th, Yolande Lemoine, one of Auroville’s strong supporters in the early days, left her body in Paris. Yolande had been a close friend and aide of Satprem and Sujata, and liaised the important contacts between J.R.D.

Marco joined Auroville 22 years ago. He reflects here on his many and varied activities, most of which are shaped by a love of the arts.

Alain Bernard first came to Auroville in 1972. Since then, he has been involved in many key areas, including the economy, education, the Press and, most recently, Village Action and the Sustainable Livelihood Institute.

On March 6th, 2016, Eric Hughes passed away after suffering a stroke. He was 84 years old. Eric was well-known as the caretaker of Matagiri (meaning Mother’s Mountain), a 42-acre retreat in Woodstock, New York, which he co-founded with his life-long partner Sam Spanier who he had met over fifty years ago.

With the demise of Dr. Kireet Joshi on 14 September 2014, the Aurobindonian firmament has lost one of its brightest stars. Born on 10 August 1931, he studied philosophy and law at the Elphinstone College under the University of Bombay.

Auroville Today wishes to congratulate all those who work on the publication of Mother’s Agenda with the publication of the 5th volume in English, and the 2nd volume in Hindi.