Surrender community

Anne Goldsmith, previously of Surrender Community, passed away peacefully on 23 October, shortly after her 87th birthday in Clitheroe, England.

André, one of Auroville’s early architects, arrived in Auroville in 1968, aged 26. On the invitation of the Mother, he started working with Roger Anger, Auroville’s chief architect, and was his first draughtsman.

Josette, who had been living in Surrender community, passed away on March 17th. She had recently celebrated her 80th birthday, and had been suffering from cancer.

Sylvia Zimmerman, who lived in Surrender, passed away in the evening of February 4th. Sylvia had come to join Auroville in 1999, after a long worldwide search and experiences in different spiritual places and communities.

Giorgio Luciani from Surrender Community left his body in Italy in the early morning of December 22nd at the age of 65. He had been suffering from cancer.

On December 23rd, Peggy Ann Pfaff passed away in her daughter Lila’s home in Fraternity at the age of 91. Both Lila and her sister Laura, who had come over from the USA, were with her in the moment of transition.

The idea of Sanjana began in 2011, shortly after Gundolf had moved into one of the new apartments he had designed in the Surrender community.

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.

When my family and I moved to Auroville in 1999, we stayed in various places before settling down in Surrender. After having gone out for a few years, I returned to Auroville in 2013.

The doors are four meters high, each smoothly rotating on two ball bearings. The scene is the new Centre for Indian Culture at Bharat Nivas, the construction of which is in the finishing phases.