Auroville belongs to humanity

And that’s what the Mother had declared in the August of 1954. The “City of the Dawn” which was the idea conceived by both the Mother and Sri.Aurobindo of a place where a group of men and women could freely live where the sky is the limit for their creation and expansion. Although numerous attempts were made in the past to create one such habitat by people around the world, it was never successful until the advent of Auroville.

I had longed to stay there, experience and discover the life in Auroville when I ran the Auroville marathon for the first time last year February. Auroville marathon 2015 appeared not more than a reason for me to visit Auroville this year. Along with Lakshmi and Avani, twelve of my friends decided to have a vacation in Auroville after the marathon this February.

Auroville marathon “Runners Adda”

Though the neighborhood I live in Bangalore is pretty much of the same age of Auroville, although our family house in my native has seen more generations growing up, Auroville has a charm that no other mundane township has. I was mistaken initially for the Europeans living there who might have brought about that charm or charisma amidst the rustic muddy roads and greenery, but I was wrong. It is simply the intention behind the creation of Auroville. Mirra Iffassa who is dearly called the Mother had defined the intention:

“Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor of the divine Consciousness.”

This gave way for a barren land about 20kms north of Pondicherry that had nothing but a big banyan tree and a few palm trees to grow into 25sq.kms of thick forest. It is a self sustained township that produces various kinds of fashion accessories, incense sticks, herbal/ organic products, home decors, toys, handicrafts etc. It is a city where humanity takes over currency. For the Aurovillians, there is a currency card (Auro-Card) that is provided, which works like a debit card for all their transactions in the Auroville city. An outsider should pay currency to avail the same.

The Auroville is characterized by the lush green man-made forest, muddy roads, artistic earthen buildings and Matri Mandir. Aurovillians have planted close to 4 million saplings over the past 6 decades that houses numerous species of birds now. Peacocks are no special birds in Auroville.

the muddy roads

Auroville city is designed for 50,000 people, however only about 2,000 currently live. There is an organization created and people employed to manage all the financial transactions, tax payments, registrations of people as newcomers or as citizens of Auroville etc.

I have heard that no Aurovillian fully owns any piece of land inside Auroville. It is all a part of the Auroville trust and the citizens use them to generate revenue for their sustenance. There are guesthouses, homestays, apartments, boutiques, restaurants, bakeries and art galleries. Most of them are focused to cater the European people’s needs as you could hardly see Indian dwellers inside Auroville.

Except for Matri Mandir and an audio-visual show about Auroville and Matri Mandir, there are no other tourist attractions. Since the common philosophy of a common Indian tourist is to watch lot of places during a holiday, a large chunk does not consider visiting Auroville. However, there is a world of its own to discover being in Auroville.

Matri Mandir

We stayed in Auroville for six nights and enjoyed every moment living there. It’s like living in a forest and yet in a civilization. The big banyan tree that is about a kilometer away from Matri Mandir is the geographical center of Auroville, and the Matri Mandir is believed as the soul of Auroville. Designed by a French architect, Matri Mandir has in its center a crystal ball mounted on a lotus made of white marble with twelve petals in a pond of water. Aurovillians strongly believe that all the energy of Auroville is focused in there and is constantly radiating. Though Matri Mandir is free to view from a distance by anyone, one has to take an appointment to visit Matri Mandir. Only 75 visitors are permitted in a day for an hour in two slots where one may choose to sit and meditate.

A host of events, workshops, different forms of art performances and film shows keep happening in various parts of Auroville. Men and women and their families from all over the world come and live in Auroville both on temporary and permanent basis. Life is as laid back as it is in any of our villages yet as forwardly thought as in any of the metropolitan cities in the world.

While busily engaged in the mundane routine of life in the dusty streets of Bangalore, a week’s stay in solitude inside Auroville; woken by peacocks, morning walks in the dense forest trails, our children running through them without being scared of traffic, is an enchanting experience for a blissful holiday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville

http://www.auroville.org/

http://www.aurovilleguesthouses.org/