The Spirit of Auroville

Here I may mention that so far the Mother and I had called the Centre, 'the Truth Pavilion' or simply 'the Pavilion' or else, 'The Mother's Shrine'.

Then the Mother named the Centre:

The Mother called me in the morning on 16.2.68. After our work on About Savitri I informed her about the rumour. She said:

Yes, nasty people speak against the Truth.

Then she went into a trance for a few moments. On waking she once again told me what she had explained to me earlier:

Your tiny house will be between the Mother's Shrine and the banyan tree. There will be 12 gardens with various kinds of Hibiscus and other flowers, plants, tall trees with marble seats underneath. Marble statues, marble fountains, small waterfalls, small pools with different coloured lilies and lotuses, small bridges, rockeries in Japanese style with varieties of cactus. There will be only one entrance. The pavement will be decorated with precious and semi-precious stones. This area will be surrounded by a huge lake. On one side of it, there will be tall trees—they mean Unity. On the other side of the lake there will be hillocks with fir and pine trees. The Mother's Shrine will be on an island.

After a pause the Mother continued,

The city will have four zones representing the four Powers of the Supreme Mother.

I want that in each part of the town, houses should be built in particular shapes: Square, Hexagon, Round and Triangular. Each shape will have a special colour: Rainbow, Orange, Gold, and Light Blue.

Mahakali: North—Industrial zone

The shape will be square, colour will be rainbow—it has seven colours. The number seven represents Realisation. There will be five Industrial zones. Some are on the sea-side where the big factories, godowns, stores and sheds, will be built to export goods.

Small scale industries like handicrafts, bakeries, potteries and other workshops will be built for things of immediate need. Also there will be showrooms, manufacturing and displaying things and guiding people where things can be obtained and bought. Also there will be schools to learn handicrafts, offices, and this zone will be surrounded by trees and gardens.

Maheshwari: South—Residential zone

The shape will be Hexagon. The colour will be gold, golden pink. The shape signifies 'Perfect Creation'.

The Residential zone will have 3 sections

1) People who wish to stay in a collectivity, that is to say as neighbours, can stay there.

2) There will be old men's and women's houses. Also big houses like management houses where people can have all the facilities, because they work outside in various places. All these houses will be surrounded by gardens and trees.

3) There will be independent houses with gardens and trees.

Mahalakshmi: East—Cultural zone

The shape will be round—the circle means 'integral Power'. The colour will be pale orange. This zone will have 3 sections.

Mahasaraswati: West—International zone

The shape will be the triangle, which signifies wisdom. The colour will be pale blue, which means peace.

The Pavilions of all the Nations will be in this area. They will represent their culture and customs.

I marvelled at the Mother's description

According to Sri Aurobindo:

Rainbow — signifies Peace and Deliverance.

Square — signifies Supermind.

Mountain — Ascending planes of the higher consciousness. Symbol of the embodied consciousness based upon earth but rising up towards the Divine.

Lake — The Lake is the being in its individualised consciousness.

Trees — Standing image of the Universe—the Tree of Life.

Water — The symbol of a state of consciousness or a plane, also multiplicity the creation.

Lotus — The Lotus is the symbol of the opening of the centre to the Light.

Flower — A blossoming in the consciousness, sometimes with special reference to the psychic or the physical vital, mental and physical consciousness.

Usually indicates a psychic activity.

Red flowers ordinarily indicate an opening of the consciousness either in the physical or some part of the vital according to the shade.

About the triangle, Sri Aurobindo has written:

In one position it can symbolise the three lower planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones. So both can be combined together in a single sign.

About flowers the Mother wrote:

Flowers teach us the charm of silence and thus the self-giving which demands nothing in return.

Flowers speak to us when we know how to listen to them,—it is a subtle and fragrant language.

The Mother has also written about flowers in Vol. 6, [p. 229]:

Flowers are extremely receptive. All the flowers to which I have given a significance receive exactly the force I put into them and transmit it. People don't always receive it because most of the time they are less receptive than the flower, and they waste the force that has been put in it through their unconsciousness and lack of receptivity. But the force is there, and the flower receives it wonderfully.

The Mother, Questions and Answers (1954): 14 July 1954