The Mother on Auroville

AUROVILLE IN ELABORATION

A Talk in June 1965

Have you heard of Auroville?

For a long time, I had a plan of the "ideal town", but that was during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime, with Sri Aurobindo living at the centre. Afterwards, I was no longer interested. Then the idea of Auroville—I gave the name Auroville—was taken up again, but from the other end: instead of the formation having to find the place, it was the place—near the lake—which gave birth to the formation, and until now I took only a very minor interest in it, for I had received nothing directly. Then our little Huta took it into her head to have a house there, by the lake, and to have a house for me next to hers, and to offer it to me. And she wrote me all her dreams: one or two sentences suddenly stirred an old, old memory of something which had tried to manifest—a creation—when I was very young and which had again started trying to manifest at the very beginning of the century, when I was with Theon. Then all that was forgotten. It came back with this letter; all at once, I had my plan for Auroville. Now I have my overall plan, I am waiting for Roger to draw the detailed plans, for I had said from the beginning: "Roger will be the architect", and I wrote to Roger. When he came here last year, he went to see Chandigarh, the town built by Le Corbusier, up there in the Punjab, and he was not very happy. It seems quite ordinary to me—I know nothing about it, I haven't seen it—I only saw some photographs which were horrible. And while he was speaking to me, I could see that he felt, "Oh! if only I had a town to build!..." So I wrote to him: "If you want, I have a town to build." He is happy. He is coming. When he comes, I shall show him my plan and he will build the town. My plan is very simple.

The place is up there, on the Madras road, on top of the hill. (Mother takes a paper and begins to draw.) We have here—naturally,it is not like that in Nature, we shall have to adapt ourselves; it is like

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that up there on the ideal plane—here, a central point. This central point is a park which I saw when I was very young—perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world from the point of view of physical, material Nature—a park with water and trees, like all parks, and flowers, but not many; flowers in the form of creepers, palms and ferns, all varieties of palms; water, if possible running water, and possibly a small cascade. From the practical point of view, it would be very good: at the far end, outside the park, we could build reservoirs which would be used to supply water to the residents.

So in this park, I saw the "Pavilion of Love". But I dislike this word, for man has turned it into something grotesque; I am speaking of the principle of Divine Love. But that has changed: it will be "The Pavilion of the Mother", but not this (Mother points to herself) —the Mother, the true Mother, the principle of the Mother. I say "Mother" because Sri Aurobindo used that word, otherwise I would have put something else, I would have put "creative principle" or "principle of realisation" or—I do not know.... It will be a small building, not a big one, with only a meditation room downstairs, but with columns and probably a circular shape. I say probably, because I am leaving that for Roger to decide. Upstairs, the first floor will be a room and the roof will be a covered terrace. You know the ancient Indo-Moghul miniatures, with palaces where there are terraces with small roofs supported by columns? You know those old miniatures? Hundreds of them have come into my hands.... But this pavilion is very, very beautiful, a small pavilion like this, with a roof on a terrace, and low walls with couches against them to sit on, to meditate in the open air in the evening, at night. And below, downstairs, at ground-level, a meditation room, simply—something quite bare. There would probably be at the far end something which would be a living light, perhaps the symbol in living light, a constant light. Otherwise, a very peaceful, very silent place.

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Nearby, there would be a small dwelling, a small dwelling which would nevertheless have three floors, but not large-sized, and that would be the house of Huta, who would serve as a guardian. She would be the guardian of the pavilion. She wrote me a very nice letter but she did not understand all that, of course.

That is the centre.

All around, there is a circular road which separates the park from the rest of the town. There would probably be a gateway—in fact there must be one—in the park. A gateway with the guardian of the gate. The guardian of the gate is a new girl who has come from Africa, who wrote me a letter telling me that she wanted to be the guardian of Auroville in order to let only the "servants of Truth" enter (laughing). It is a very nice plan. So I shall probably put her there as guardian of the park, with a small house on the road at the entrance.

But the interesting thing is that around this central point, there are four big sections, like four big petals (Mother draws), but the corners of the petals are rounded and there are small intermediate zones—four big sections and four zones.... Naturally that is only in the air; on the ground, it will be an approximation.

We have four big sections: the cultural section, to the North, that is to say, towards Madras; to the East, the industrial section; to the South, the international section; and to the West, that is to say, towards the lake, the residential section.

To make myself clear: the residential section, where there will be the houses of the people who have already subscribed and of all the others who are coming in large number to have a plot in Auroville. That will be next to the lake.

The international section : we have already approached a certain number of ambassadors and countries for each one to have its pavilion —a pavilion from every country. It was an old idea. Some have

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already accepted, so it is on the way. Each pavilion has its own garden with, as far as possible, a representation of the plants and products of the country which it represents. If they have enough money and enough space, they can also have a sort of small museum or permanent exhibition of the country's achievements. The buildings should be constructed according to the architecture of each country —it should be like a document of information. Then, depending on the money they wish to spend, they could also have accommodation for students, conference-rooms, etc., a cuisine of the country, a restaurant of the country—they could have all kinds of developments.

Then the industrial section. Already many people, including the Government of Madras—the Madras Government is loaning money —want to start industries, which will be on a special basis. This industrial section is to the East and it is very big, there is plenty of space; it will go down towards the sea. In fact, to the North of Pon-dicherry, there is quite a large area which is totally uninhabited and uncultivated; it is by the sea, going up the coast towards the North. So this industrial section would go down towards the sea, and if possible there would be a kind of wharf—not exactly a port but a place where boats could come alongside; and all these industries, with the inland transportation they need, would have a possibility to export directly. And there, there would be a big hotel—Roger has already made a plan for it; we wanted to build the hotel here, on the site of the "Messageries Maritimes", but after having said yes, the owner said no; it is very good, it will be better over there—a big hotel to receive visitors from outside. Already quite a number of industries have registered for this section, I do not know if there will be enough room, but we shall manage.

Then, to the North—that is where there is the most space, of course-towards Madras, the cultural section. There,an auditorium - the auditorium which I have dreamt of building for a long time;

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plans had already been made—an auditorium with a concert-hall and a grand organ, the best of its kind today. It seems they are making wonderful things. I want a grand organ. There will also be a stage with wings—a rotating stage, etc., the best of its kind. So, a magnificent auditorium, there. There will be a library, there will be a museum with all sorts of exhibitions—not inside the auditorium: in addition to it there will be a film-studio, a film-school; there will be a gliding club. Already we almost have authorisation from the Government, and the promise, so it is already well on the way. Then towards Madras, where there is plenty of space, a stadium. We want this stadium to be the most modern and the most perfect possible, with the idea—it is an idea I have had for a long time—that twelve years—the Olympic Games take place every four years—twelve years from 1968—in '68 the Olympiads are taking place in Mexico—twelve years later we would hold the Olympic Games in India, there. So we need space.

Between these sections, there are intermediate zones, four intermediate zones: one for public services, post office, etc.; one zone for transport, railway station and possibly an aerodrome, one zone for food—that one would be near the lake and would include dairies, hen-houses, orchards, cultivated lands, etc.; it would spread and include the Lake Estate: what they wanted to do separately would be done within the framework of Auroville. Then a fourth zone. I have said: public services, transport, food, and the fourth zone: shops. We do not need many shops, but a few are necessary in order to obtain what we do not produce. They are like districts, you see.

And you will be there at the centre?

Huta hopes so. (Mother laughs.) I did not say no, I did not say yes; I told her, "The Lord will decide." It depends on my state of health. A removal, no—I am here because of the Samadhi, I shallstay here, that is quite sure. But I can go there on a visit; it is not so

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far, it takes five minutes by car. But Huta wants to be quiet, silent, aloof, and that is quite possible in her park, surrounded by a road, with someone to stop people from coming in; one can stay very quiet—but if I am there, that is the end of it! There would be collective meditations, etc. That is to say that if I get a sign, first the physical sign, then the inner command to go out, I shall drive there and spend an hour, in the afternoon—I can do that now and then. We still have time because, before everything is ready, it will take years.

That is to say that the disciples will stay here? Ah! the Ashram stays here—the Ashram stays here, I stay here, that is understood. Auroville is... A satellite.

Yes, it is the contact with the outside world. The centre on my drawing is a symbolic centre.

But that is what Huta expects: she wants a house where she would be all alone next to a house where I would be all alone. The second part is a dream, because myself all alone.... You only have to see what is happening! It is true, isn't it? So it does not go with the "all alone". Solitude must be found within, it is the only way. But as far as living is concerned, I shall certainly not go and live there, because the Samadhi is here; but I could go there to visit. For example, I could go there for an inauguration or for certain ceremonies. We shall see. It will be years from now.

In short, Auroville is more for outside?

Oh yes! It is a town! Consequently, it is the whole contact with outside. An attempt to realise on earth a more ideal life.

In the old formation which I had made, there had to be a hill and a river. There had to be a hill, because Sri Aurobindo's house was on top of the hill. But Sri Aurobindo was there at the centre. It was arranged according to the plan of my symbol, that is to say,

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a point in the middle, with Sri Aurobindo and all that concerned Sri Aurobindo's life, and four big petals—which were not the same as on this drawing, it was something else—and twelve all around, the town itself; and around that, there were the residences of the disciples; you know my symbol: instead of lines, there are bands; well, the last circular band formed the area for the disciples' residences, and each one had his own house and garden—a small house and a garden for each one. There was some means of transport, I wasn't sure if it was individual transport or collective transport—like those small open tramcars in the mountains, you know—going in all directions to take the disciples back towards the centre of the town. And around all that, there was a wall, with a gateway and guardians at the gate, and one could not enter without authorisation. There was no money—within the walls, no money; at the various entrances, there were banks or counters of some sort, where people could deposit their money and receive tickets in exchange, with which they could obtain lodging, food, this, that. But no money—the tickets were only for visitors, who could not enter without a permit. It was a tremendous organisation.... No money, I did not want any money.

Look! In my plan I forgot one thing. I wanted to build a housing estate for workers, but the housing estate was to be part of the industrial section, perhaps an extension along the edge of the industrial section.

Outside the walls, in my first formation, on one side there was an industrial town, and on the other, fields, farms, etc., to supply the town. But that represented a real country—not a big country, but a country. Now it is much reduced. It is no longer my symbol; there are only four zones and there are no walls. And there will be money. You see, the other formation was truly an ideal endeavour.... But I counted on many years before trying to start. At that time

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I thought twenty-four years. But now it is much more modest, it is a transitional attempt, and it is much more realisable. The other plan was... I almost had the land; it was in the time of Sir Akbar, you remember, from Hyderabad. They sent me some photographs of the State of Hyderabad and there, in those photographs, I found my ideal spot: an isolated hill, quite a big hill, and below it, a large, flowing river. I told him, "I want this place", and he arranged the matter. Everything was arranged. They sent me the plans, the papers and everything, saying that they were giving it to the Ashram. But they laid down one condition—it was virgin forest, uncultivated land—the place was given on condition, naturally, that we would cultivate it—but the products must be utilised on the spot; for example, the crops, the wood must be utilised on the spot, not transported ; nothing could leave the State of Hyderabad. There was even Norman, who was a navigator, who said that he would obtain a sailing boat from England to go up the river to fetch the products and bring them to us here. Everything was very well planned! Then they set this condition. I asked if it was not possible to have it removed; then Sir Akbar died and that was the end of it, the matter was dropped. Afterwards, I was glad that it was not done because, now that Sri Aurobindo has departed, I cannot leave Pondicherry. I could only leave Pondicherry with him, provided that he accepted to live in his ideal town. At that time, I had spoken of this project to Raymond, the person who built Golconde; and he was enthusiastic, he told me, "As soon as you start to build, call me, I shall come." I had shown him my plan; it was based on an enlargement of my symbol; he was most enthusiastic, he thought it was magnificent.

It was dropped. But the other one, which is just a small intermediate attempt, we can try.

I have no illusions that it will keep its original purity, but we shall try something.

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Much depends on the financial organisation of the project ?

For the time being, Nava is taking care of that, because he receives the money through the Sri Aurobindo Society and he bought the land. A fair amount of land has already been bought. It is going well. Naturally, the difficulty is to find enough money. But, for example, the pavilions—each country will bear the expenses for its own pavilion; the industries—each industry will provide the money for its own business; the residents—each one will give the money necessary for his land. The Government—Madras has already given us the promise—will give between 60 and 80%: one part grant, that is to say, gift; one part loan, free of interest and repayable over ten years, twenty years, forty years—a long-term repayment. Nava knows all about it, he has already had quite a few results. But according to whether the money comes in quickly or comes in little by little, it will go more or less quickly. From the construction point of view, it will depend on Roger's plasticity; the details are all the same to me—only I would like this pavilion to be very beautiful. I can see it. For I have seen it, I have had the vision of it; so I shall try to make him understand what I have seen. And the park too, I have seen it —these are old visions which I had repeatedly. But that is not difficult.

The greatest difficulty is the water, because there is no river nearby, up there. But they are already trying to channel the rivers; there was even a project to channel water from the Himalayas across the whole of India: Louis had made a plan and had spoken about it in Delhi; they objected that it would be rather expensive, obviously! But, anyway, even without such grandiose things, something must be done to supply the water. That will be the greatest difficulty; that will take the most time. All the rest, light, power, will be done on the spot in the industrial section—but water cannot be made! The Americans have seriously thought of finding a way to use sea-water,

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because the earth no longer has enough drinking water for man— the water which they call "fresh": it is ironical; the amount of water is not enough for the needs of man, so they have already started chemical experiments on a large scale to transform sea-water and make it utilisable—obviously, that would be the solution to the problem.

But that already exists.

It exists, but not on a sufficiently large scale.

It does in Israel.

Do they do that in Israel? Do they use sea-water? Obviously, that would be the solution—the sea is there.

We shall see.

It would have to be brought up.

A yachting club would be rather nice?

Ah! certainly, with the industrial section.

Near your port, there.

It will not be a "port" but, well.... Yes, the visitors' hotel with a yachting club nearby, that is an idea. I shall add that. (Mother writes it down.)

It will surely be a success.

Now look! A shower of letters, my child! From everywhere, from all over the world, people are writing to me: "At last! This is the project I was waiting for", etc. A shower.

There is also a gliding club. We have already been promised an instructor and a glider. It is a promise. It will be in the industrial section, on top of the hill. Of course, the yacht club will be on the sea, not on the lake; but I had thought—because there is much talk of deepening the lake, it is almost filled up—I was thinking of a hydroplane station, there.

We can also have boating on the lake?

Not if there are hydroplanes. It is not big enough for boating.

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But it would be very good for a hydroplane station. But that depends: if we have an aerodrome, it is unnecessary; if we do not have an aerodrome.... But already, in the Lake Estate project, there was an aerodrome. Samer who has become a Squadron Leader, has sent me a plan for an aerodrome too, but for small planes, whereas we want an aerodrome which can handle a regular service to Madras, a passenger aerodrome. There has already been much talk about it. There were discussions between Air India and another company; then they could not come to an agreement—all sorts of petty, foolish difficulties. But all that, with the growth of Auroville, will fall away quite naturally—people will be only too glad to have an aerodrome.

No, there are two difficulties. Small sums of money we have —to be precise: what the Government can loan, what people give to have a plot—it is coming. But it takes massive sums, you know, it takes billions to build a town!

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Some Messages

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Organisation

Q : Does the construction of Auroville require a working-method, organisation and co-ordination?

Discipline is necessary for life. To live, the body itself is subject in all its functions to a rigorous discipline. Any relaxation of this discipline causes illness.

Q : What should be the nature of this organisation, in the present and in the future?

Organisation is a discipline of action, but for Auroville, we aspire to go beyond arbitrary and artificial organisations.

We want an organisation which is the expression of a higher consciousness working to manifest the truth of the future.

Q : Until this group consciousness appears, and until we can work collectively in the true and right way, what should we do?

A hierarchical organisation grouped around the most enlightened centre and obeying a collective discipline.

Q : Must we use organisational methods which have proved effective but which are based on human logic and the use of machines?

This is a makeshift which we should tolerate only very temporarily.

Q : Must one allow individual initiative to manifest freely and inspiration and intuition to be the moving force behind personal action, and should one reject all ideas not felt as good by the interested party?

In order to be workable, this requires all workers of Auroville to be yogis conscious of the Divine Truth.

Q: Has the time come to wish for, to set up, to try for a general organisation, or should one wait for the right attitude and men?

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An organisation is needed for the work to be done—but the organisation itself must be flexible and progressive.

Q : If to wait is the solution, nevertheless it is necessary to define organisational principles and to avoid uncontrollable disorder ?

All those who wish to live and work at Auroville must have an integral goodwill; a constant aspiration to know the Truth and to submit to it; enough plasticity to confront the exigencies of work and an endless will to progress so as to move forward towards the ultimate Truth.

And, finally, a word of advice: be more concerned with your own faults than with those of others. If each one worked seriously at his own serf-perfection, the perfection of the whole would follow automatically.

6.2.1969

*

At Auroville nothing belongs to anyone in particular. All is collective property. To be utilised with my blessings for the welfare of all.

14.5.1970*

*

Q : In Auroville "all is collective property". Does this mean that everything can be used by everyone? Or should things be given only to those who treat them well?

I have also noticed that delicate pieces of equipment become attached to one person and do not work well if they are lent to others.

All this implies a consciousness which is not very widespread on earth.

This does not mean that things should be given to people who

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do not know how to use them.

What is needed to administer Auroville is a consciousness free from all conventions and conscious of the supramental Truth. I am still waiting for someone like that. Each one must do his best to achieve that.

15.7.1970

*

To the inhabitants of Auroville Only those who have resolved to stay in Auroville for good have the right to intervene in its organisation.

22.1.1971

*

All that I have to say for Auroville henceforth shall be put in writing and signed by me.

15.2.1971*

Q : Three years ago, you said:

"I have been asked what the rules are for life in Auroville.

Thank God, as yet there are none.

As long as there are none, there is hope."

In July, again you were telling the young people of Aspiration,

"I do not want to make rules for Auroville as I did for the Ashram." But recently you wrote "Drugs are prohibited in Auroville." Has there been a change in your vision of Auroville?

Perhaps Aurovilians have not attained the level of consciousness that is expected of them.

724.3.1971

*

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Matters concerning Auroville and Aurovilians must always be handled in consultation with Shyam Sunder to whom I have entrusted the responsibility for Auroville.

8.2.1973

*

Auroville is not a place for politics; no politics must be done in Auroville and in the offices of Auroville.

15.2.1973*

*

Auroville is still in the state of elaboration, and those who want to remain here have to collaborate in its erection according to the plans made and to be made, approved by me and signed by Shyam Sunder.

4.3.1973*

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