Ready for the supramental evolution? As stated on the Auroville website: “Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.” The purpose of this article is to share some of our impressions, stories and thoughts after our short-term stay in the City of Dawn. Abstract I tend to write (too) long articles. This abstract gives you an overview of the content and the key messages from this blog post. Feel free to read the complete post 😊 In this article we describe Auroville both as Auroville describes itself as well as how we discovered it. The main lesson is that there is the theory, the words on the paper, and there are the facts, what we really experienced. Auroville is a concept in action, it is a living project, which is not achieved, and which is evolving. Some of the objectives are met, others are far from being met. This article is not a cold critic of Auroville, it is our personal examination of what the town aims to be, what it has achieved, which challenges it is going through. We detail our observations regarding the town’s structure and architecture, the relation to money, the relation to spirituality, and much more. We acknowledge that Auroville is a creation of people. From the initiators, the charismatic Mother and Sri Aurobindo, to the current heroes of the multiple projects in Auroville, everyone brings its stone to the edifice. Finally, Auroville is about spirituality, and one thing we cannot deny is that the city is full of vibrant energy, from the Matrimandir to the gardens, the streets, the projects’ sites, the hearts of the people… Many come to Auroville for a unique spiritual experience, all will find it! In this blopost, we share some bits of information about Auroville. We invite you to read more about Auroville on the dedicated website: https://www.auroville.org/ Why Auroville? The Dream “There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord and harmony where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weaknesses and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the search for pleasure and material enjoyment. In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not for passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts but to enrich existing faculties and bring forth new ones. In this place, titles and positions would be replaced by opportunities to serve and organise; the bodily needs of each one would be equally provided for, and intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed in the general organisation not by an increase in the pleasures and powers of life but by increased duties and responsibilities. Beauty in all its artistic forms, painting, sculpture, music, literature, would be equally accessible to all; the ability to share in the joy it brings would be limited only by the capacities of each one and not by social or financial position. For in this ideal place money would no longer be the sovereign lord; individual worth would have a far greater importance than that of material wealth and social standing. There, work would not be a way to earn one’s living but a way to express oneself and to develop one’s capacities and possibilities while being of service to the community as a whole, which, for its own part, would provide for each individual’s subsistence and sphere of action. In short, it would be a place where human relationships, which are normally based almost exclusively on competition and strife, would be replaced by relationships of emulation in doing well, of collaboration and real brotherhood.” Brief history of Auroville As stated on Auroville’s website: “The concept of Auroville - an ideal township devoted to an experiment in human unity - came to the Mother as early as the 1930s. In the mid 1960s the concept was developed and put before the Govt. of India, who gave their backing and took it to the General Assembly of UNESCO. In 1966 UNESCO passed a unanimous resolution commending it as a project of importance to the future of humanity, thereby giving their full encouragement.” Auroville was founded in 1968 by “the Mother” (aka Mother), the spiritual partner of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo was a renown Indian political activist and spiritual leader. He used to teach his “integral yoga” in his Ashram in Pondicherry, India. Integral yoga incarnates spirituality and believes that human beings evolve towards greater spirituality and awareness: the next evolutionary step for our souls being the “supramental”. In the first half of the 20th century, Sri Aurobindo and Mother envisioned an international township in accordance with integral yoga. This City of Dawn should be a place for all people of goodwill that want to be voluntary servant of the divine will; the place to initiate the supramental evolution. After Sri Aurobindo left his body in 1950, Mother worked on this divine township project and defined, with her master architect, the location of Auroville in the middle of the arid plateau that surrounds Pondicherry. The master architect, Roger Anger later draw the map of what the city should look like: a galaxy with four functional sections (see image below):
The theory The Charter
The plan As mentioned above, Roger Anger designed the master plan of the city (see picture below): (Credits: https://www.auroville.org/) Few items of the plan are already integrated, and the integration of some items leads to debates; see our thoughts about that in the complementary and subjective remarks section. One remarkable item, and the first to be built, is the Matrimandir. Another remarkable effort deals with the green belt. The Matrimandir We feel that the Matrimandir is a strong symbol for Auroville. If you can go visit and concentrate in the Matrimandir, do not miss this opportunity. It is a unique experience that we will not relate in this blogpost. Auroville is a place of no religion even though it is dedicated to the Divine; it is a place of spirituality and the Matrimandir is a spiritual place with a unique energy. The Green Belt As one might notice, the plan integrates a “green belt”. Auroville is built on an arid plateau, a #1 priority and major contribution of Aurovillians to the bioregion is the massive effort to “green” the place, i.e. plant trees. During our stay, we visited several projects that work on environment rehabilitation in general and on reforestation more specifically. Feel free to read our blogpost about Pebble Garden and Sadhana Forest for more information about the history, techniques and visions of such aurovillian projects. International section Even though Auroville is in India, once in the “city” of Auroville, we did not feel like we were in India, we felt like we were indeed in an international township. This feeling is even stronger when one visits the Visitor’s Centre and the several pavilions in the international section nearby: Tibetan pavilion, African pavilion, French pavilion, … The villages around Auroville such as Kuilapalayalm, Edayanchavadi and Kottakarai have more of an “Indian flair”. However, the numerous “Auro-…” shops and guest houses and restaurants clearly indicate the attractiveness of Auroville as well as the development and business opportunities for the villages. The practice Everyday life - episode 1: money, institutions, salaries and services One of the first thing we did when we arrived to Auroville is to visit the Visitor’s Centre (VC). The VC shares good information about Auroville, its history, its purpose, its projects. The VC also allow visitors to register to visit the Matrimandir. The cafes and restaurants at the VC offer different paying options (yes, there is money in Auroville): cash or Aurocard or Aurovillian number… The two latter options are available in Aurovillians “institutions”. Auroville institutions include restaurants, supermarket, bakery, guest houses, etc. Not all place in Auroville are institutions, Auroville and the villages around Auroville integrate private companies that provide all goods and services one can need. Back to the payment options: the Aurovillian number is unique and personal for each Aurovillian (ID number linked to money account), the Aurocard is an alternative to cash; it is a prepaid debit card. To get an Aurocard, you must be more than a simple tourist: Mathieu was a volunteer, so it was ok, the International House where we stayed registered him and we could go to the financial services to load money on his Aurocard. We understand that “No-money” is an objective and that the Aurocard is one option towards this objective (NB. some institutions do not accept cash). As we went to the townhall, we understood that, in Auroville, different services are responsible for different aspects of life: the financial service for the salaries (a.k.a. maintenance) and monetary issues (e.g. for the Aurocard), the entry services for admission and newcomers, etc. All Aurovillians are supposed to work. One must work 35 to 42-hours per week in an Aurovillian institutions to get a full “maintenance”. A full maintenance is more or less 17 000 rupees per month with a part of it being given back to Auroville as a “contribution” (tax), a part that can only be spent in Aurovillian institutions and most of it that can be paid in cash (collected at the financial service). For those not working in institutions, salaries are defined based on a private agreement with the employer. We could not make our grocery shopping at "Pour Tous" as it is a cooperative supermarket only for (some) Aurovillians. However, the concept is interesting: one pays a monthly subscription fee to be part of the cooprative. When that person shops, her/his products are scanned to keep track of consumption patterns BUT that person does not pay as she/he get out of the supermarket (you already pay a monthly subscription). This way of working is another alternative to money. Everyday life - episode 2: traffic Most of the roads in Auroville are dirt roads. A company paid for a paved road that facilitates access to some of the institutions such as the Matrimandir, the Visitor Centre, the Solar Kitchen and the “Pour Tous” supermarket… Some roads are tarmac. Most of the people use bikes: they are convenient and allow to use almost all roads. Some people use cars, on the bigger roads. Some use bicycles; we went for the bicycle option and it was great. Indeed, the area is rather flat which means the effort is minimal and the area is full of trees which means that there is usually shading to protect from the sun. Projects, initiatives and experiments There are plenty of projects, initiatives and experiments happening in Auroville. Many people come here to feel free and express their talents through creative projects with positive impact on the Auroville community, the neighboring villages and -potentially- the world. We briefly describe some of the projects we visited. We provide links at the end of the blogpost. Sustainable architecture: Auroville Bamboo Centre Auroville Bamboo Research Centre was founded in 2009 to bring awareness of the many applications of bamboo to the people in the Auroville community and to the villages in the Auroville bioregion. The Bamboo Centre is a social enterprise that offers workshops, research and development, volunteering and internships opportunities. After visiting the centre, the only thing we can say: bamboos are amazing… Sustainable architecture: Auroville earth institute As stated on their website: “The Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a non-profit organization specializing in the research, development, promotion and transfer of earth-based building technologies, among the most cost effective, low carbon, low embodied energy solutions for sustainable development. Over the last 28 years, AVEI has become one of the world’s top centers for excellence in earthen architecture, working in 36 countries to promote and disseminate knowledge in the construction of sustainable habitats. As the Representative and Resource Centre for Asia of the UNESCO Chair “Earthen Architecture, Constructive Cultures and Sustainable Development”, AVEI aims to empower local stakeholders through an international network of experts. The work of the Earth Institute has attempted to revive traditional skills and to link vernacular traditions of raw earth construction with modern technologies of stabilised earth.” Permaculture farm & restaurant: Solitude As stated on their website: “Solitude Farm has been inspired from the work of Masanobu Fukuoka and aims at reconnecting people to where their food comes from. “A society that doesn’t know where its food comes from is a society without humanity, without culture, and it will perish.” Masanobu Fukoaka All the organic matter that grows on and around the farm is a bio-resource. This is our profit, not financial but nutritional. The currency that we are generating is the currency of wellbeing. We understand that a healthy soil means healthy crops and healthy crops in turn mean healthy people and healthy people mean a healthy society and a healthy society means a vibrant and creative culture. We deeply believe that to bring any meaningful social change we have to bring people together. Healthy nutritious food is at the root of this solution. These ideas come together on Solitude Farm through sustainable food projects such as fruit and vegetable baskets; permaculture and cooking workshops; the People, Food, Music movement; music festivals and events; and in the heart of the organic farm, the Solitude Organic Farm Café.” The choice is limited: thali of the day of salad of the day and some drinks (juices and smoothies) and desserts. The prices are rather high for India and considering that the food comes from the place directly. Nevertheless, the food is so fresh and so delicious! Maybe our favorite restaurant in town; it really feels good to eat there. Oh, if you like papaya, Solitude Farm has amazing papayas… Waste management & upcycling: “Upcycling Studio Auroville” (USAv) As stated on their website: “We are Ok and Marc, two designers working on Upcycling in a Studio based in the multicultural city of Auroville (South India) We want to be seen as an open space for research, experimenting and educational practice on upcycling. Our goal is to spread the knowledge we have on upcycling different materials, our designs will be open source. We believe in reduce-reuse-recycle, and work on the goal "zero waste" in Auroville. Everybody and every good will is welcome to join our workshops and exibitions.” As we visited the studio we saw pieces of furniture made of tetra Pak, some others made of cardboard, we saw some hats and bags made of magnetic cassette tape, jellyfish-shaped luminaires made of thin plastic, cushion cases made of vinyl publicity posters that one should fill with trash (instead of feathers for instance…) Marc is one of the first person we met in Auroville. we really enjoyed our conversations and his active way of militating to raise awareness about the dramatic waste issue. Upcycling is therefore somehow contradictory: the ultimate goal of upcyclers is to be technically jobless because of the lack of resources: wasteless future! We agree that a cultural shift is what the earth really needs. Positive world tour: Martin autour du monde A family, a truck for house, 6 years and 56 countries visited, Fred, Laure, Martin (four years old when they departed) and Chine (1,5 years old when they departed) on a tour of the world to meet those who reconcile mankind and nature. Realizing the dream of many families, they prove that it is still possible to "hit the road" with kids to visit all countries, even the most unlikely. we had the chance to preview a first cut of the complete movie “Martin autour du monde”. You want to see it? It is coming out soon, meanwhile if you did not already enjoy them on television, check out their reportages about the projects and people they met. Reforestation & seed preservation: Pebble Garden How can sustainable horticulture, reforestation and biodiversity transform pebbles into a flourishing productive garden? If you check Auroville’s website, you will read that Pebble Garden is “A garden area of a quarter acre devoted to Seed Conservation. It was created by an intensive process of soil building, using select pioneer species to create biomass in-situ in raised beds, and today supports a plant collection of more than 100 endangered traditional vegetable varieties from all over India - root crops, herbs, perennial and wild food crops, medicinal plants and flowers. These varieties are ideal for home use and home gardens. ‘A Garden for Everyone’ is an outreach initiative to share these hardy plant varieties, which have performed well on this wasteland, with home gardeners and subsistence farmers throughout India. They are shared within known organic farmers’ collectives via organic fairs, seed melas and through personal contacts and references. A place of continuous learning, Pebble Garden also has a charcoal/wood vinegar production plant and conducts research on in terra preta.” See article. Organic farming: Auro-Orchard If you check Auroville’s website, you will read that “Auro-Orchard is the oldest and the second largest farm of Auroville, that grows most of the fruits and vegetables produced in the community. It also serves as the main poultry farm of Auroville. Since its inception, Auro-Orchard’s main vision was to provide food for the Auroville community. For many years, to meet the immediate needs of the Auroville community in food, conventional farming practices were used, but since 2012, Auro-Orchard is being converted into an organic farm. (…) Regenerative organic farming (agro-ecology) is now the motto of the farm.”. This article is about the recent and successful transition from “conventional” agriculture to regenerative organic agriculture. You will read about our visit of Auro-Orchard as well as Mathieu’s two-week volunteering session there. See article. Sustainable architecture: International House What can individuals do to tackle climate change? What role can architecture play for sustainability and resilience? I rented a room at the International House during my three-week stay in Auroville. Not only did I enjoy the room, facilities, design, solutions, location; I also enjoyed a lot learning from Manu, the architect, his philosophy, purpose and vision of sustainable architecture. This article is about the International House in Auroville and the solutions implemented on site as well as the reason, the purpose, the vision and the mission of sustainable architecture as presented on the 26th of April by Manu to young architects. See article. Water harvesting, indigenous reforestation & sustainable lifestyle: Sadhana Forest Before coming to India, we planned to volunteer at Sadhana Forest Kenya, but our plans changed. After, we planned to volunteer at Sadhana Forest India, but our plans changed again. As a result, we did not volunteer for Sadhana Forest, but Mathieu had the opportunity to enjoy the Friday-afternoon tour they offer each week to discover the project, its realizations, its vision as well as enjoy a movie and delicious dinner. This article retraces this afternoon and evening. See article. Complementary and subjective remarks We are impressed by the longevity of the community: Auroville just celebrated 50 years! We think it has a lot to do with the symbol of Sri Aurobindo & Mother. Everything is “Mother” here; what she said, what she wanted, what she planned, etc. We are also impressed by the attractiveness of the place: people from all over the world come to see, try to understand, volunteer, study, search themselves. As a result, there is a lot of human energy here and it feels like many things are possible in Auroville or at least made easier than outside: most of the people are people of goodwill that consciously decided to come to this place to lead meaningful lives. Nevertheless, we do not have the feeling that all come for the spiritual motivation and the karma yoga way of life. Human are humans… The FHF (F…ing Human Factor) still applies here: land access, discrimination, greed, influence, ego, etc. still are around. In this section, we share our thoughts about how reality does not always fit, according to us, the ideal of the place. Environmental awareness As he volunteered at Auro-Orchard, Mathieu was a bit confused when he was told that the end customers do not like “ugly” vegetables… Like elsewhere, many people have their own views about what a bean should look like and do not want to see insects on them! And other people also do not want to consider seasons when dealing with grocery shopping. Apparently, the trend for local organic food is rather recent and some consumerist habits hard to kill. This might explain why Auro-Orchard was not organic for so long. Water management… we still do not know what to think. For instance, the township wants to build an artificial lake around the Matrimandir. we would be interested in knowing more about the environmental impact studies. Energy: apparently, Auroville is energy sufficient and even an energy provider thanks to an outsourced renewable energy park in Karnataka (or Kerala? Feel free to comment if you know) that gives more to the grid than Auroville needs. Is outsourcing energy production a real solution? We were glad to see biogas experiments in Auroville and interested in the off-the-grid houses in Auroville even though I believe that “renewable” energies such as solar photovoltaic and wind energies carry many non-renewable aspects (rare-earths scarcity + non-recyclability + geopolitical issues, polluting extraction and manufacturing processes…). Divine anarchy & human consensus She was perhaps right, no one understands. we invite the reader to document her/himself more about anarchy, its moral and its ideal. We feel it is a beautiful desire to set anarchy as a goal for a society. In the case of Auroville, without any leader, with the desire to have no laws and the search for an adapted organization seem to have led to some governance issues: there is no proper governance. Aurovillians face a complicated decision-making process where consensus is not easy to find as one must deal with many individual points of views and egos as well as the related political / influence games among, between and outside dedicated “services” with, sometimes, competing goals, taboos and legacies. Auroville could be seen as a reverse Tower of Babel: people from different corners of the world uniting in the construction effort towards the divine. Even though it seems quite clear that ego is again at stake in the governance issues, staying longer would have most probably allowed a deeper understanding of the roots of the conflicts and difficulties to achieve human unity in the construction of Auroville. S(t)°ick to the plan! “Mother said…”, “Roger Anger said…”, “Mother wanted…”, etc. People in Auroville very (very)° often refer to the Mother, Sri Aurobindo, Roger Anger and go on about what they wanted and what Auroville should therefore be. It was interesting to learn about the philosophy and the ambition, it sometimes felt a bit narrow-minding when talking about concrete solutions for the now and the future. For example, Roger Anger’s plan integrates a lake around the Matrimandir. It sure looks nice and would most probably add to the bucolic scenery and quietness of the place, however there is now the paved road and trees around the Matrimandir. Should effort be put into removing everything to dig the lake? Removing trees is a question that is currently being asked: to achieve the initial plan of the Matrimandir gardens, one would have to remove now 40-year old trees: how to move them? They ask, and some solutions exist but are very expensive and might lead to killing the trees. Other solution would be to simply kill the trees but that is not cool for the tree, not nice for the guys that planted the tree, and not in line with the “care for the earth” spirit of the days. Another solution… do not move them, move the garden! As stated earlier in this blogpost, there seems to be quite some debates between conservators and progressists (sounds familiar, no?). Also, some people want to build everything asap to make Auroville happen as planned, other prefer to take time. Political decisions and consensus are not easy to find… We feel that that plans never really happen as planned: this is how it is. Most of the time, one is way better off living with the flow. A plan is good if it adapts; we feel the values are far more important: adapt the plans in accordance with the values and the best guess about constraints and opportunities that will pop-up during the development phase, do it, assess it, change it, repeat the process; more iterations, better. Trees are there, and people love trees? Keep the trees, move the building elsewhere. Big buildings with a design from the 60s are not the sexiest thing nowadays and might be unfunctional on top of being dramatically not environmental friendly? Go for better-adapted solutions that use local resources and serve the purpose in the smartest way we can think of today. If Auroville is all about evolution towards supramental and this evolution is only starting, we should gladly embrace revisions of the plan: that would mean the plan is alive. And, food for thoughts, we heard that Mother’s initial plan was to build a city with walls around it, only one entrance where people would abandon everything they have before they get in. This city would be open to the world through a harbor… There is no harbor in Auroville, no walls around the city and we kept my belongings as we went in: plans change, even Mother’s plans. Does Auroville want to be the bridge between the past and the future and boldly spring towards it? Spirituality Vs. Religion A journey to Auroville can easily become a highly spiritual one. What would make Auroville a religious city / city of cult? A religion can be defined as a system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Or, -we thank Wikipedia for that one- religion can be defined as “a cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, world views, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that claims to relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.” It sometimes feels like Auroville is devoted to the cult to Sri Aurobindo & the Mother: pictures everywhere, invited to read the literature, special days, etc. In Pondicherry, when we visited the ashram, it was obvious that many people adore Sri Aurobindo as they pray around his Samadhi (Samadhi is a place and construction for keeping in peace the bodies of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother). Behaviors of kindness, sharing and open-mindedness are strongly recommended, views of human unity commonly shared, Sri Aurobindo's work as well as Mother's work are recommended reads, Matrimandir is a holy place, supramental is supposed to be the next step of human evolution, the city is devoted to the divine... However, there is no proselytism. There is a lot of spirituality for those seeking it; Auroville is not a sectarian place. The Chart and the dream Apparently, some Aurovillians do not really understand that the land they work on or the place where they built their house does not belong to them. For instance, one should not expect that his or her kids will inherit anything in Auroville: Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. As stated earlier, we are not sure that all people coming to Auroville come for the spiritual journey; some come for living an alternative life, others to enjoy to relative low-cost luxury of South India; some come for their families and benefit from the good education and sane environment for their kids. We guess that most people in Auroville are people of goodwill. However, we understood that some people have their convictions; is this compatible with the ever-learning effort that the chart integrates? We feel one becomes old when one stops learning, i.e. when one believes she/he is right without any doubt. Also, it sometimes feels like equality is relative in Auroville. Clearly non-Aurovillians and Aurovillians have different statuses ("Pour Tous" but not for me...). Also, as we discussed with some Aurovillians we understood that seniority plays an important role: one should not expect to have full freedom to develop ambitious project as she/he becomes Aurovillian: the community must accept you and influencial Aurovillians should endorse you beforehand. Money is still around… We would love to see how Auroville manages to get rid of it. What alternatives are available for people outside Auroville? More and more communities are using alternative complementary moneys; we feel that the Aurocard as well as the structure of the Aurovillian “maintenance” (with a part only useable in Auroville institutions) somehow gets close to it… We want to learn more about community local moneys. “Criticism is easy, art is difficult” Auroville is a unique place. We are impressed by the multitude of projects happening and the positive spirit that supports them. We also feel humbled and very appreciative for all the great people we met, the great ideas we shared and the great energy they gave us. Auroville proves, even though tough, that working with human is good because people can change for the better, that community can bring to life incredible projects and great achievements. We believe our societies need more places like Auroville. More places where communities are allowed to try and error, to live the alternatives that might be our redemption tomorrow. In a world of growing uncertainty, more than ever, we must value diversity and allow alternatives to blossom. Especially when those alternatives are motivated by values of unity, freedom and virtuous evolution that respect Life through strong spiritually-based ethics. Who knows: either they are right, and we might win, either they are wrong and life goes on. This is for us the opportunity to support initiatives such as the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes near Nantes: let those people protect the Nature and explore alternatives; we do not need to all fall in the same societal mold... We do not believe that the current mold is sane; it shows its limits everyday and more and more signs suggest global collapse. May there be more places to make dreams come true. Go further… Auroville website: https://www.auroville.org/
Auroville wiki main page: http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Main_Page Auroville Bamboo Centre: http://aurovillebamboocentre.org/ Auroville Earth Institute : http://www.earth-auroville.com/ Solitude Farm:
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