The Spirit of Auroville

Piero and Gloria wrote to me again on 7.11.79:

Dear Huta,

In Matrimandir: the roofs of the stores which were badly leaking have been renewed, order for 10 tons of steel placed, the last lorry of cement of the permit should come in few days and will be enough for at least 2 months, the construction of the new big crane (20 meter wide) suitable for the construction of the sphere is going on in the workshop. In the meanwhile the pre-casting of the beams for the outer cover is going on and the removal of the old wooden towers, used for the construction of the ribs and the meditation room, almost completed. We are also cleaning the whole area and putting properly in order the stores for tools and materials. We have also decided to do some work in the gardens, especilly around the banyan, in order to keep the area clean from all type of grasses, and made a protection around the tree; Narad from his side has fitted new water lines for the watering of the young trees, and is going on in his work.

Huta, I wished to write only few lines, but a full page is now there! Gloria has also written to Saralaben.

With affectionate regards, love from Piero and Gloria.

During the course of one year I received numerous letters from Aurovilians informing me about so many unpleasant things which happened in Auroville. Here is the gist of them:

Blockage of permits to buy materials for the Matrimandir, blockage of funds, suppression and censoring of important letters, cutting of water-pipes, beatings, threats to force people to quit Auroville, quarrels, disputes, clashes, creating problems, disharmony, accusations, all sorts of harassments, throwing stones in the middle of the night, harming people concerned, with strong opposition from the majority of Aurovilians against the hostility of opponents who brought division, disharmony in Auroville—opening the doors to violence—sheer barbarian and inhuman acts.

Aurovilians was not happy with the management and the way things were going on in the Matrimandir and in Auroville.

Let me quote the Mother about Self-control:

The largest number of difficulties that one has, come just from lack of control over one's actions and one's reaction to the actions of others.

According to one's nature and one's weaknesses, one must impose on oneself a discipline which should always be followed. For example, never to argue, never to reply when someone says or does something disagreable, never to discuss when one does not agree, it is well understood that one should never get into a temper when things or people are not the way one would like them to be.

Naturally, when one does not have the habit of controlling oneself it is a hard work to acquire this habit. But this is absolutely indispensable if one wants to make progress. The way is long and that is why one must have patience and a sincerity towards oneself which should never fail.

To be able to live in peace with others, control over oneself is indispensable and should be practised even by those who do not aspire for transformation.