Values of Auroville

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.

Almost 37 years ago, on a rainy day in November, 1988, the first issue of Auroville Today was published. The main theme was the Auroville Foundation Act, which had just been passed by the Government of India.

“What to make of French writers, who, to stay on the right side of the occupation authorities, decide to write about anything but the one thing all French people are thinking about, or worse still, who, out of cowardice, bolster the occupants’ plan to make it appear as though everything in France continues as it did before?”

Maël Vidal was born and grew up in Auroville before going to France to pursue higher studies, where he received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social anthropology.

Societies are very complex organisms. Authorities in totalitarian societies attempt to diminish the complexity – which they see as a threat to asserting their will – by rigidly controlling the population through indoctrination and various instruments of coercion.

Letter from three members of the Auroville International Advisory Council to the Chairman, Auroville Foundation, regarding Annapurna Farm & and the Memorandum of Understanding with the IIT Madras.

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,

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.

Chali reflects on the fractures within Auroville and on the possibilities of restoration.

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

The Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly wrote an open letter to the community expressing their deep concern about how the social fabric of the community continues to be threatened “by people positioning themselves as decision-making groups, in how they have been treating other residents, and their casual disregard for well-being and livelihood.

Michael Sandel, the Harvard professor, believes that many of us now live in a ‘market society’ where market values have supplanted other forms of human value like fairness and justice.

Citing cases of animal neglect and abuse, the Auroville Dog Shelter team has invited Auroville residents and friends of Auroville to participate in the writing of an Auroville Animal Charter, which should become a framework for how to live in a harmonious co-existence with all sentient beings in Auroville.

Annapurna is Auroville’s largest farm. Comprising over 35 acres, it is a mixed farm with cattle, paddy and fruit trees, as well as a dairy and food processing unit.

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.

Working in Auroville has its own specialty. As novice honorary volunteers, drawn to the idea of Auroville and with stars in our eyes, several years can go by slightly tinted.

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.

Although relationships between Iran and India have been close for centuries, less than ten Iranians have joined Auroville. Is this because of Iran's conservative theocratic regime?

Bliss forest is a city park that is densely planted to be a forest. Aurovilians from South Korea may be familiar with a similar concept in the city of Seoul.

Many people come to Auroville as adults, but some of us were born here or came as kids. What is it like, being a child of Auroville? How is it different to grow up in an intentional community?

Debashish Banerji is Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophy and Culture and Doshi Professor of Asian Art at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

Hello Aurovilians, Sub: The Tourism Challenge in the May 2018 issue # 346. This question from you: Does it help or harm us? But what about the opposite?

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.

Stuart, a student of Sociology from Canada, has visited Auroville three times since 1981. This year he hopes to become a resident of Auroville.

Gilles came to Auroville in 1980. He is a civil engineer who specialized in Town Planning. For the last three years he coordinated the work of the Auroville Resource Center (ARC) which was set up to provide a holistic, integrated approach to the future development of Auroville.