The Spirit of Auroville

On 8.8.2000 I went to the Matrimandir with my younger sister, Usha, her grandson Joy and my friends. I did not go up to the Inner Chamber with them. Barbara Lohman a secretary of the Matrimandir was kind enough to take me round to show me the rose gardens near the Matrimandir. She pointed out the place where her husband Ruud Lohman was buried under a tree. Barbara also showed me the place, very close to the Matrimandir, where the digging of the lake was in progress. Inwardly I was shocked to see the plans and development of the gardens and lake, which was not at all in tune with the Mother's Consciousness, because I recalled the words She spoke to me on 25.6.1965:

The shrine must have a vast area—not like this [the Mother took Her hand-kerchief in Her palm and closed Her hand], so small like this.

But here, gardens and lake are very close to the Matrimandir. Everything was crowded, congested and suffocating.

Roger Anger and his colleagues must have found from their office the copy of the Mother's sketch which she had given to me on 25.6.1965. They have misused it without my knowledge, because I have never given it to them. If they would have done according to the Mother's ideas and wishes, I would have been happy and satisfied. But alas! this so-called lake is a sheer distortion of the Mother's Vision. This is certainly not what the Mother wanted.

I am told that in 1995 Mr. Harald Kraft, a leading water-engineer from Ger-many who has been associated with Auroville since the 1970s, realised that the Mother's vision of a large lake at the centre of Auroville could provide the solution for assuring a constant supply of pure water to the city, even when it grows to have 50,000 inhabitants, as she had wished. He has prepared a proposal explaining how this can be done, and I believe this is now under discussion in Auroville. I sincerely hope that the Mother's wish for a big lake around the Matrimandir will be fulfilled. But it should be very far from the Matrimandir, because the Mother wanted the Matrimandir as a huge island.

In fact, I would have no right to comment on the subject if the Mother had not explained to me in detail her plan through her talks, letters and sketches. I also dislike the idea of colossal discs which are extremely impractical and grotesque. There are too many disadvantages: birds and bees build their nests in grooves, cleaning problems, in case some discs get loose, they may fall down and prove to be dangerous.

The Mother believed in simplicity and practicality and not decorative designs. I feel very sorry and sad to see all these things which are quite contrary to the Mother's conceptions and wish.

Anand of Auroform showed me on 14.10.1989 a very beautiful exterior marble model of the Matrimandir. BUT...

I read in Auroville Today, January 2000, No. 132 about the outer form of the Matrimandir:

Cleaning the skin—technical solutions are being researched.

Obviously, this technique involves an enormous amount of money. It is a sheer waste of time to maintain and preserve the gigantic outer structure. This is really impractical.