Before we started our travels with our baby, we had the inclination to live in a community at least for a short period of time to understand and experience the life and lifestyle of people. We heard a lot about Auroville and we wanted to understand a bit more about that community and see if it might be a place for us to live for short or long term at some point of our lives.
======== A bit of background about Auroville ===========
Auroville is an experimental township that is spread across Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. It was founded in 1968 by Mira Alfassa (1878 - 1973) (also referred to as "the Mother") based on Sri Aurobindo's vision. Sri Aurobindo (1872 - 1950) was an Indian philosopher, poet, yogi, guru, and a nationalist who resisted the British rule in India. During his time in jail he was said to have mystical and spiritual experiences after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. This is where he developed a spiritual practice called Internal Yoga. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mira Alfassa, he established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The day to day operations of the Ashram were later taken up by Mira Alfassa and the Ashram slowly took the shape of a spiritual entity. About 15 years after the death of Sri Aurobindo, Mira Alfassa envisioned a community that became what is Auroville today. The site is spread across approximately a 20 sq. km. area. During the inauguration of Auroville in February 1968, youth from 124 countries and 23 Indian states brought soil from their lands and placed in a raised marble urn and a challenging experiment was born.
To give you a general idea behind Auroville, this community was established with the following idea that was shared by Mira Alfassa in a public message in 1965 -
"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity."
Later during the inauguration ceremony, Mira Alfassa shared the vision in a four-point charter:
Overall, our stay in Auroville was confusing to say the least. We left with the feeling that Auroville is trying to build a strong capitalistic society where most of the residents are using the idea of Auroville to the best of their ability for their personal gains. Regarding the issues in Auroville, their argument seems to be that the world we live in is a place with a lot of issues, conflicts, and hypocrisies and Auroville is just a small area representing the image of the world. The original idea that Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony seem to have been lost in time. The other thing that saddened us is that the message of Internal Yoga as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo got lost somewhere over the years by people looking for perfection. In short, we saw that Auroville is on a path to becoming a materialistic society which originally had a goal and intent to become a society that values oneness in everything and everyone.
We do want to end this blog post with a disclaimer that this blog is only based on our personal experience from a short 10 day stay in Auroville. Others who lived and visited Auroville might agree, or partially or fully disagree with our opinions. Our intent here is to just be true to our experience and share it with you.
======== A bit of background about Auroville ===========
Auroville is an experimental township that is spread across Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. It was founded in 1968 by Mira Alfassa (1878 - 1973) (also referred to as "the Mother") based on Sri Aurobindo's vision. Sri Aurobindo (1872 - 1950) was an Indian philosopher, poet, yogi, guru, and a nationalist who resisted the British rule in India. During his time in jail he was said to have mystical and spiritual experiences after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. This is where he developed a spiritual practice called Internal Yoga. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mira Alfassa, he established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The day to day operations of the Ashram were later taken up by Mira Alfassa and the Ashram slowly took the shape of a spiritual entity. About 15 years after the death of Sri Aurobindo, Mira Alfassa envisioned a community that became what is Auroville today. The site is spread across approximately a 20 sq. km. area. During the inauguration of Auroville in February 1968, youth from 124 countries and 23 Indian states brought soil from their lands and placed in a raised marble urn and a challenging experiment was born.
To give you a general idea behind Auroville, this community was established with the following idea that was shared by Mira Alfassa in a public message in 1965 -
"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity."
Later during the inauguration ceremony, Mira Alfassa shared the vision in a four-point charter:
- 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.
- Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
- 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.
- Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researchers for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.
======== Our experience staying here ===========
We stayed in Auroville for 10 days. It is hard to give a full picture of a community just based on living there for 10 days but we want to share our experience and the things that excited and also confused us about this place. To be up front, we did not talk to the officials or took a guided tour about Auroville. What we are sharing here is our personal outsider experience as a curious observer living inside the community.
The Area: According to the Auroville official website, the land area of Auroville is divided into Peace Area, Industrial Zone, Residential Zone, International Zone, Cultural Zone, and Green Belt.
Environmental Work: Auroville has done almost a miracle by turning around a wasteland into a lush forest and greenery where a lot of animal and bird species returned to. As part of their soil and water conservation program, over a million trees were planted. With enough support from environmental organisations and the government of India, they were able to scientifically monitor the growth of plant species and identify appropriate afforestation techniques. Today, Auroville is a lush forest covering almost the entire land of Auroville.
Activities in Auroville: This short blog post doesn't do justice to the number of activities that are happening at Auroville but we would like to share a few things that we feel has made a huge contribution to the betterment of humanity. There were a wide range of activities happening at Auroville ranging from Planning & Architecture, Green initiatives, Education & Research, Art & Culture, Health & Wellness, Social Enterprises, Media & Communications, Rural Development, and City Services. Each of these services by themselves serve both to support the Aurovilians and also to develop ideas and innovations that help people outside Auroville. If you are interested in these, we suggest you visit their website to know more about them.
And now a few things that left us confused .....
The Area: According to the Auroville official website, the land area of Auroville is divided into Peace Area, Industrial Zone, Residential Zone, International Zone, Cultural Zone, and Green Belt.
Environmental Work: Auroville has done almost a miracle by turning around a wasteland into a lush forest and greenery where a lot of animal and bird species returned to. As part of their soil and water conservation program, over a million trees were planted. With enough support from environmental organisations and the government of India, they were able to scientifically monitor the growth of plant species and identify appropriate afforestation techniques. Today, Auroville is a lush forest covering almost the entire land of Auroville.
Activities in Auroville: This short blog post doesn't do justice to the number of activities that are happening at Auroville but we would like to share a few things that we feel has made a huge contribution to the betterment of humanity. There were a wide range of activities happening at Auroville ranging from Planning & Architecture, Green initiatives, Education & Research, Art & Culture, Health & Wellness, Social Enterprises, Media & Communications, Rural Development, and City Services. Each of these services by themselves serve both to support the Aurovilians and also to develop ideas and innovations that help people outside Auroville. If you are interested in these, we suggest you visit their website to know more about them.
And now a few things that left us confused .....
Population/workforce and their attitudes: According to January 2018 census, a total of 2814 residents from 54 countries live in Auroville with average resident's age of 39.7.
Approximately 5000 - 6000 workers come in to work on Auroville premises but don't live there. To our disappointment, this place looked a lot like a mini Europe built inside India with culture and people's attitudes directly confronting with the local villagers around them. Based on our conversations with Aurovilians, each able Aurovilian was required to work for at least 30 hours a week irrespective of their age and gender. So we saw almost everyone working away all day during the week. This brought a huge need for people to rely on maids (or they call "Amma"s) to take care of their household chores. The division of people into various classes based on their intellectuality, educational status, financial status, and reach of their power was starkly visible. The income and status inequality seemed very large between Aurovilians and adjacent villagers. It was sad for us to see a few people asking/begging us for money inside Auroville. The attitude and culture of Aurovilians towards nearby villagers might have come from selfish interpretation of the message Mira Alfassa gave - "A relationship that is not only cordial but friendly with the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages is absolutely indispensable. For the realisation of Auroville the first step is to establish a true human fraternity - any shortcoming in this regard is a grave mistake which can compromise the whole work". (CWMCE, XII, p.249, 23 November 1969). The focus of her message seems to have been interpreted to use the workforce from nearby villagers to realise the dream of Aurovilians, which was visible in their attitudes. It seems that this is a common observation by many visitors to Auroville because there is a separate document to address this issue under FAQs on their website.
Approximately 5000 - 6000 workers come in to work on Auroville premises but don't live there. To our disappointment, this place looked a lot like a mini Europe built inside India with culture and people's attitudes directly confronting with the local villagers around them. Based on our conversations with Aurovilians, each able Aurovilian was required to work for at least 30 hours a week irrespective of their age and gender. So we saw almost everyone working away all day during the week. This brought a huge need for people to rely on maids (or they call "Amma"s) to take care of their household chores. The division of people into various classes based on their intellectuality, educational status, financial status, and reach of their power was starkly visible. The income and status inequality seemed very large between Aurovilians and adjacent villagers. It was sad for us to see a few people asking/begging us for money inside Auroville. The attitude and culture of Aurovilians towards nearby villagers might have come from selfish interpretation of the message Mira Alfassa gave - "A relationship that is not only cordial but friendly with the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages is absolutely indispensable. For the realisation of Auroville the first step is to establish a true human fraternity - any shortcoming in this regard is a grave mistake which can compromise the whole work". (CWMCE, XII, p.249, 23 November 1969). The focus of her message seems to have been interpreted to use the workforce from nearby villagers to realise the dream of Aurovilians, which was visible in their attitudes. It seems that this is a common observation by many visitors to Auroville because there is a separate document to address this issue under FAQs on their website.
On the other hand, Auroville has produced magnificent opportunities for livelihood and skill development for thousands of nearby villagers which they would't have had otherwise. Needless to say, Auroville has raised the standard of living for thousands of people around it.
Spiritual Center: Matrimandir (or Temple of the Mother) is considered to be the soul and spiritual centre of the city. Matrimandir has no association with any religion. It took almost 37 years to build this place. The inside of the Matrimandir has a quiet environment for visitors and Aurovilians to meditate. This place is supposed to provide a calm and peaceful centre for Auroville and the people who visit it. We did not enter the place as we were not allowed to take Nora with us and our inner drive to see the inside of it was not strong enough for us to visit separately.
To our disappointment, we made the assumption that people who live in Auroville are happy people and they choose to live in Auroville to be joyful. We hardly saw anyone in Auroville smile. Walk 10 minutes to the nearby village and people were all smiles. We were a bit confused by this attitude of Aurovilians, who all seemed to be in a hurry and trying to get somewhere, impatiently. It was not just one person or one random day, it was every day and every one. One reason might be that Auroville wants to grow to support 50,000 residents as compared to current 2,800 and they are in a hurry to get to that number. It is also possible that there are a large number of visitors coming into Auroville and the people living in Auroville don't see the point in connecting with short term visitors. Maybe we would need to spend some more time here to understand their life priorities.
Buying Food: There were two small stores in Auroville to buy groceries if you wanted to cook. The prices of groceries were unreasonably high compared to prices in India. If you walk 10-15 minutes to the nearby village you will find same groceries for a fraction of the price you pay in Auroville. It was a bit crazy for us to see this difference. Some people who live in Auroville buy groceries from nearby villages as they can't afford Auroville prices. From the little bit of research we did, Auroville is working towards growing enough food to sustain the needs of everyone living there. But it seems like there is still a fair way to get there. Until then, they have to rely on cheap food sources from nearby villages and expensive food sources from within Auroville.
Housing for Aurovilians: This was another idea that was too difficult to understand for us. As per the Auroville Housing Policy 2011 - "As per the Charter of Auroville, private property has no place in Auroville and all assets including those created by individuals, belong to the community as a whole. The assets are then entrusted to individuals and groups for proper management or stewardship on behalf of the community. While housing is a basic need, individuals are asked to significantly contribute to the material development of the city and especially toward housing...."
In short, Auroville is looking for rich people who would like to invest money in land and construction of housing (which is quite expensive) that doesn't belong to individuals but to Auroville. In case an individual decides to leave Auroville at some point, the person has no rights on the property. Even when individuals are living on the property they invested in, it doesn't belong to them, it belongs to Auroville. For some reason, if the individuals decide to leave Auroville community, they have to let go of the property. It was a crazy idea to hear for us as an outsider. However, as Auroville is still attracting people to come and live there, we feel that we are definitely missing the perspective of those who feel comfortable with the housing policy and are coming to live there.
To our disappointment, we made the assumption that people who live in Auroville are happy people and they choose to live in Auroville to be joyful. We hardly saw anyone in Auroville smile. Walk 10 minutes to the nearby village and people were all smiles. We were a bit confused by this attitude of Aurovilians, who all seemed to be in a hurry and trying to get somewhere, impatiently. It was not just one person or one random day, it was every day and every one. One reason might be that Auroville wants to grow to support 50,000 residents as compared to current 2,800 and they are in a hurry to get to that number. It is also possible that there are a large number of visitors coming into Auroville and the people living in Auroville don't see the point in connecting with short term visitors. Maybe we would need to spend some more time here to understand their life priorities.
Buying Food: There were two small stores in Auroville to buy groceries if you wanted to cook. The prices of groceries were unreasonably high compared to prices in India. If you walk 10-15 minutes to the nearby village you will find same groceries for a fraction of the price you pay in Auroville. It was a bit crazy for us to see this difference. Some people who live in Auroville buy groceries from nearby villages as they can't afford Auroville prices. From the little bit of research we did, Auroville is working towards growing enough food to sustain the needs of everyone living there. But it seems like there is still a fair way to get there. Until then, they have to rely on cheap food sources from nearby villages and expensive food sources from within Auroville.
Housing for Aurovilians: This was another idea that was too difficult to understand for us. As per the Auroville Housing Policy 2011 - "As per the Charter of Auroville, private property has no place in Auroville and all assets including those created by individuals, belong to the community as a whole. The assets are then entrusted to individuals and groups for proper management or stewardship on behalf of the community. While housing is a basic need, individuals are asked to significantly contribute to the material development of the city and especially toward housing...."
In short, Auroville is looking for rich people who would like to invest money in land and construction of housing (which is quite expensive) that doesn't belong to individuals but to Auroville. In case an individual decides to leave Auroville at some point, the person has no rights on the property. Even when individuals are living on the property they invested in, it doesn't belong to them, it belongs to Auroville. For some reason, if the individuals decide to leave Auroville community, they have to let go of the property. It was a crazy idea to hear for us as an outsider. However, as Auroville is still attracting people to come and live there, we feel that we are definitely missing the perspective of those who feel comfortable with the housing policy and are coming to live there.
Stay in Auroville: We stayed at an apartment offered by an Aurovilian. We found this place by researching places on their website - http://guesthouses.auroville.org/. He was living in the community for the past 14 years out of which 9 years with his wife and son. It was nice to hear his point of view about the place he lived for so long. We got a nice insight into the workings of the place from our conversations with him and his family. Aurovilians are allowed to rent out their spaces to outsiders but there is a cap on how much they are allowed to charge. Like many other things in Auroville, this idea was also challenged by some living in Auroville offering their home for a much higher price and bypassing the requirement to register with the City hall the details of their guests.
Overall, our stay in Auroville was confusing to say the least. We left with the feeling that Auroville is trying to build a strong capitalistic society where most of the residents are using the idea of Auroville to the best of their ability for their personal gains. Regarding the issues in Auroville, their argument seems to be that the world we live in is a place with a lot of issues, conflicts, and hypocrisies and Auroville is just a small area representing the image of the world. The original idea that Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony seem to have been lost in time. The other thing that saddened us is that the message of Internal Yoga as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo got lost somewhere over the years by people looking for perfection. In short, we saw that Auroville is on a path to becoming a materialistic society which originally had a goal and intent to become a society that values oneness in everything and everyone.
We do want to end this blog post with a disclaimer that this blog is only based on our personal experience from a short 10 day stay in Auroville. Others who lived and visited Auroville might agree, or partially or fully disagree with our opinions. Our intent here is to just be true to our experience and share it with you.
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