Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS)

As I was looking through the minutes of the last Governing Board meeting regarding proposed changes to the Auroville Foundation Act, I recalled that when the Act was originally being prepared, there were already two different tendencies.

Last December, there was a photographic exhibition in the Tibetan Pavilion which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the second caravan in Auroville.

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.

Land exchange is very much in the news at present, with Auroville land being exchanged for privately-owned land in AuroOrchard and mooted as a possibility in places like Forecomers and Pebble Garden.

In the October 2023 issue of Auroville Today [#411] we highlighted the 901-page framework study ‘Governance in Auroville’ of Professor Raag Yadava and his associate Nidhi Harihar.

Having arrived in Auroville as a child with her parents in 1968, Marta provides a unique perspective as a member of the first generation of children within our community.

Dr. Debashish Banerji is the Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophies and Cultures and the Doshi Professor of Asian Art at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, where he also chairs the Department of East-West Psychology.

“We do not belong to the past dawns, but to the noons of the future.” At 09.30 am on Sri Aurobindo’s 151st birthday, Manoj Pavithran premiered ‘Sri Aurobindo: A new Dawn’ in Bharat Nivas.

Michel Danino is a French-born Indian scholar of ancient Indian civilization, history and culture. He authored The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati (Penguin Books, 2010), Indian Culture and India’s Future (DK Printworld, 2011), and edited Sri Aurobindo and India’s Rebirth (Rupa, 2018).

On November 17, the Findhorn community celebrated its 60th birthday, marking the occasion when the founders and their children arrived onto what is now known as ‘The Park’.

The minutes of the 57th meeting of the Governing Board held in December last year mention the need for a more welcoming Entry Process to allow for a speedy growth of Auroville’s population to 15,000 by 2025.

Covering about 25 acres in the northeast part of the Greenbelt, Aurogreen is one of Auroville’s oldest farms and was the first to go organic.

On March 26th, the Auroville Press in Aspiration community celebrated its 40th anniversary. Claude Arpi, Christine Devin, Luisa Meneghetti and Jayalakshmi look back at a challenging past and forward to an uncertain future.

The clearing of the Crown, Auroville’s main urban path, once again met with resistance after 25 years of discussion and waiting, on December 4.

Kailas Jhavery passed away on May 10th, 2021 at the age of 94. Kailash had become a member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1964, after studying and working for more than ten years in New York, USA.

In Auroville, the prevalence and the meaning of face masks has shifted radically in recent months. From something that was previously worn to protect two-wheeler motorists from dust and pollution, the mask has now become ubiquitous as a signifier of a public health disaster.

On 1st January, 2020, Auro e-Books () published Auroville: Sun-Word Rising – A Trust for the Earth. This seminal work on Auroville’s early history was first published in 1979.

Nothing happens by chance and we are therefore entitled to wonder what is the meaning of the crisis which has been shaking Auroville for some time.

Auroville is under attack, both from the outside and the inside. It started in February 2019 with the publication of the book Auroville – A Dream Hijacked, authored by Dr.

The Auroville Archives was established in 1991 by Krishna Tewari. For many years it was located in a temporary space in Bharat Nivas but in 2018 it moved into a new building in the Auroville Administrative Zone and the team was expanded.

Francis was one of the first settlers on the Auroville plateau. Since then, he has been involved in many activities in the community.

Prasad joined Auroville in 1989. He has taught in New Creation School, worked on the Matrimandir and at present manages the construction unit Auromira which is involved in the completion of the Sunship and Kalpana projects.

Amrit joined Auroville in 1969. Recently he wrote about his life and spiritual development before and during his residence in Auroville. As a member of the so-called ‘Neutral’ group, his account offers a very different perspective upon Auroville’s troubled history in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Dev Mohanty describes the trials and satisfactions of live streaming Auroville’s 50th events.

From comments on Auronet and casual conversations, it is evident that quite a number of Aurovilians are not looking forward to the 50th birthday celebrations.

This is really two books in one. The first book is an introduction to Auroville, the vision, the history and its inhabitants. The second book is a passionate advocacy of the need to build the city as soon as possible according to the original Galaxy plan.

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.

Former Aurovilian Bomi Homawalla, passed away on May 23rd at the age of 86, in Baroda, Gujarat. Bomi, Perin and their son Michael lived in Promesse in the seventies (1970-76) and it was Bomi who started Service Farm (next to Aurobrindavan).

Two of the major challenges facing the community at present are a fragile economy and a severe lack of low-priced accommodation. Clearly, the two are interlinked.

On 23rd January, 2010, for the French Pavilion, Alain Bernard gave a talk on the background and passing of the Auroville Foundation Act. Here is an edited version of the translation of that talk.

Little is known about those early days before Auroville’s inauguration, when land purchase and the first Auroville developments were started by the Sri Aurobindo Society.

Records of Auroville’s history during Mother’s lifetime are found in periodicals (Mother India, the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, the Information Letter of the Sri Aurobindo Society and the Gazette Aurovilienne), in books published by disciples (Satprem, Shyam Sunder, Huta, Savitra), in archives (Sri Aurobindo Society, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville), in personal archives as well as in published and unpublished interviews of disciples (Roger Anger and others).

One name keeps coming back over the years, in connection with the Galaxy: Roger Anger, the well-known French architect. Soon after leaving the Beaux Arts, he constructed some buildings which were architecturally remarkable and which immediately associated him with the avant-garde.

After months of speculation and incertitude, the Auroville Foundation Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament in early September. There is no doubt of the historic importance of this bill in terms of Auroville’s growth.