The Spirit of Auroville

The Mother's birthday on 21.2.1972 was indeed significant. For on that day the first stone of the Matrimandir construction was laid at dawn.

The Mother wrote with a felt pen the date: 21.2.72, OM, her blessings and signature, on a polished piece of fossilised wood—wood turned into stone.

This stone was installed in the base of the eastern pillar of Matrimandir (Mahalakshmi). As Sunil Bhattacharya's composition, The Hour of God, with the Mother's reading, was played, 2000 people or more one by one placed blue metal chip in the concrete mixer. I too put one.

This was the commencement of the next stage of the building of the Matrimandir: the construction of the four pillars. The atmosphere was full of Peace and the Mother's Presence. There was display of the model of the Matrimandir and its gardens under the Banyan Tree.

These verses of Savitri flashed into my mind:

The voice that chants to the creator Fire,
The symboled OM, the great assenting Word. ||80.9||

Nolini Kanta Gupta read out the following message given by the Mother.

Let Auroville be the symbol of a progressive Unity. And the best way to realise this is a unity of aspiration towards the Divine Perfection in work and in feeling, in a consecration of the entire life.

The Mother, Words of the Mother - I: Matrimandir

Unhappily, the entire land for the Matrimandir had not yet been bought at that time.

The Mother also gave this message on her 94th birth anniversary:

The complete unification of the whole being around the psychic centre is the essential condition to realise a perfect sincerity.

The Mother, Notes on the Way: 9 February 1972

In the evening the All India Radio, Pondicherry broadcast a talk on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother arranged by Madhav Pandit.

The Mother has revealed about OM:

With the help of OM one can realise the Divine. OM has a transforming power. OM represents the Divine. If anything goes wrong repeat OM, all will go well. OM is the signature of the Lord.

Sri Aurobindo writes:

To the earth the Rigveda leads, to the skies the Yajur, but the Sama to that of which the sages know. Thither the wise man by resting on OM the syllable attains, even to the Supreme Quietude where age is not and fear is cast out by immortality.

Sri Aurobindo, Kena and Other Upanishads: The Prusna Upanishad of the Athurvaveda