The Spirit of Auroville

The inauguration ceremony of Auroville took place on 28.2.1968 at 10.30 a.m.

I did not go there, but sat quietly on a terrace close to the Mother's room in the Ashram main Building and heard the Mother's message when it was relayed by the All India Radio, Pondicherry.

Her message was given first in French and then in English as follows:

Greetings from Auroville to all men of good will.

Invited to Auroville are all those who thirst for progress and aspire to a higher and truer life.

After a pause the Mother proclaimed the Charter as follows in French:

28.2.68

Charter of Auroville

1) Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.

2) Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.

3) Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.

4) Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity.

I heard from some people a vivid description of the event.

The world assembled at the centre of Auroville. The weather was bright and pleasant. The colourful flags of various countries like France, Czechoslovakia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, America, Hungary, England, Germany, Central Africa, Italy, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Fiji, El Salvador and so on fluttered in a gentle breeze along with the flags of the Mother and Auroville.

The youth of 124 member states of UNESCO participated in the Ceremony by depositing a handful of soil from their own countries in the foundation urn, to symbolise the coming together of the Nations of the World.

This quotation from the Mother is quite apt here:

The World is One. This is a fact.

Let us become conscious of it and live up to this Unity.

Also the youth of 23 Indian States collaborated in the function by bringing soil from their own places and placing it in the urn. Soil from Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi was also brought and placed in the urn by young people from the Ashram school, also the soil of Auroville.

After the ceremony Nolini Kanta Gupta, Secretary of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, sealed the urn, after putting in a copy of the Auroville Charter written by the Mother on parchment paper. This Charter was read out in sixteen languages in front of the enormous gathering who witnessed the occasion. UNESCO's General Secretary, Mr. Fewtic was present. Also there were other top officials and dignitaries.

There was a display of plans, papers, models, and designs approved by the Mother, as well as the Charter of Auroville. The beautiful floral decorations were simply charming.

The urn was designed and made by an Italian Aurovilian, Vincenzo. It was covered with small pieces of marble split with a hammer and arranged in rows. Between the rows were seven strips of black granite. On a rectangular metal plate was an inscription from the Mother: the date, 28.2.1968, her blessings and signature. This plate was fixed on the urn. But later, unfortunately, twice or three times the plate was damaged, and then it disappeared.

The present urn was not at all the Mother's idea or wish. When she came to know of the removal of the plate, she remarked:

An evil spirit was there also.

Personally I feel that the true Spirit of Auroville was rejected and removed, so no wonder the evil spirit remained! And played havoc! Nonetheless, the Mother's Force and Grace were and are still there to make Auroville her "Dream".