Yes Auroville is making lot of news these days though for all the wrong reasons. To understand Auroville is difficult for the human mind in its present stage of evolution. To pass a judgment on the events and circumstances is even more difficult if not impossible. The reason for this is twofold. First and foremost Auroville is a Divine Creation and not one of those human creations that is built along certain fixed mental plans with the help of reason and logic. To understand Auroville and what is happening out there one has to go deep behind the surfaces and identify oneself with the Wisdom that has gone into the conception and inception of Auroville. Secondly, Auroville is a dream project in the sense that it is an effort to fulfil the dream of the Divine of a divinely ideal society and an ideal world, not as the human mind conceives it but as the Divine intends it. The Mother has enshrined this ideal in a writing titled the Dream. It is the blue print of Auroville, the direction it must take, and the sole criteria, if at all along which it is to be judged. It is no doubt a most difficult task and hence the difficulties are going to be equally enormous. The Mother herself knew about the difficulty and yet she went ahead with the project because she knew that Auroville was an urgent necessity for saving the world from the forces of division and disintegration to which human nature is always susceptible. Here is the blueprint that the Mother gave.
A Dream
‘There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one single authority, that of the supreme truth; a place of peace, concord and harmony where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weaknesses and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the search for pleasure and material enjoyment. In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not for passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts but to enrich existing faculties and bring forth new ones. In this place, titles and positions would be replaced by opportunities to serve and organise; the bodily needs of each one would be equally provided for, and intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed in the general organisation not by an increase in the pleasures and powers of life but by increased duties and responsibilities. Beauty in all its artistic forms, painting, sculpture, music, literature, would be equally accessible to all; the ability to share in the joy it brings would be limited only by the capacities of each one and not by social or financial position. For in this ideal place money would no longer be the sovereign lord; individual worth would have a far greater importance than that of material wealth and social standing. There, work would not be a way to earn one’s living but a way to express oneself and to develop one’s capacities and possibilities while being of service to the community as a whole, which, for its own part, would provide for each individual’s subsistence and sphere of action. In short, it would be a place where human relationships, which are normally based almost exclusively on competition and strife, would be replaced by relationships of emulation in doing well, of collaboration and real brotherhood.
The earth is certainly not ready to realise such an ideal, for mankind does not yet possess sufficient knowledge to understand and adopt it nor the conscious force that is indispensable in order to execute it; that is why I call it a dream.
And yet this dream is in the course of becoming a reality; that is what we are striving for in Sri Aurobindo’s Ashram, on a very small scale, in proportion to our limited means. The realisation is certainly far from perfect, but it is progressive; little by little we are advancing towards our goal which we hope we may one day be able to present to the world as a practical and effective way to emerge from the present chaos, to be born into a new life that is more harmonious and true.’
As you can see from this Auroville is not the roads or the residents. Auroville is a dream of the Divine and the roads, the residents, the programs, the events are all meant to be an instrument towards fulfilling this dream.
Now we can look at the recent as well as the past events with this background. By past events we mean the way Auroville has been evolving from its very beginning. If we juxtapose them we shall that the same forces are at play now as they were during the inception. The forces of division invariably create two rival sides and then lock a lot of time and energy in a mock battle that none can win. Both sides believe they are right based on their limited understanding but the real issue is not who is right and who is wrong but who is acting genuinely under the Impulsion and inspiration of the Divine Mother and who is pushed by the usual forces and motives under which most of humanity acts, that is greed for money, lust for power, drive of ambition, revolt and hostility against the Divine Will, fear and doubt, and the rest. There is also the idea of freedom that the human mind almost invariably understands as the power to do whatever one likes. These are tremendous forces that have always held man’s mind and vital a captive and thereby delayed the Divine Will. Though nothing can prevail against the Divine Will yet its fulfilment can be delayed and the path taken full of thorns and ambushes.
This is what has been happening in Auroville right from the inception. There are people who have resisted the Divine Will. Instead of engaging in Yoga to tune themselves to the Divine Will they have prefered acting according to their own ideas often concealing behind the neat polished reasoning a dark inner motive. Whom are people trying to fool after all? That is how Auroville residents had invited and brought in the government because some people wanted control of power. Hence they cut themselves off from the Ashram and Society and landed up with the government managing it! Imagine they had more trust in the government than in the Divine arrangement! And all this simply to prove their point, out of personal hatred and bitterness. Does a branch survive if it cuts itself off from the parent tree? Well Auroville residents are tasting their own bitter pill. They called the government and now it refuses to go. And the very same people who were then happy that the government has come are now lamenting that the government is gradually taking control and wants to run it in it’s own way. Surely government has its own interests, and even the well-intentioned ministers cannot understand the why and how of the Divine Will and its workings. We may well say that there are two sides in Auroville, but they are not the government authority and the rebels. The two sides are those who are genuinely trying to feel and express the Divine Will and others who want things to run according to their own ideas. And there are both these types on both sides of the fence. Most however are silent witnesses but perhaps contributing more by their silence rather than being active participants in the politics of the day which, of all things, was adviced against by the Mother.
In any case this is a passing phase, a phase that has come to give an evolutionary push to Auroville and its residents. The fate of Auroville does not depend upon the Supreme Court or the Parliament. Nor does it eventually depend upon who stays and who leaves the place. It depends solely upon how many are ready and willing to engage sincerely in the Integral Yoga which alone can complete the half finished project. My own impression as an outsider / insider is that there are people who are actually into the practice of the Integral Yoga. Their names may not be known as they are neither on this side or that. They do not make headlines or occupy prominent administrative positions or otherwise. But they are doing what the Auroville residents were always meant to do, to engage in the Integral Yoga, to tune their will to the Divine Will, to change and exchange their human consciousness into the Divine. These are the silent builders of Auroville and these recent events will end up either pushing more in this inward direction or else take out those who stayed on like weeds or else who joined thinking that ah here is a place where we can finally enjoy life without external restrictions, in freedom and licentiousness. They naturally resist the pressure for change. Yet the change will come, is bound to come, with or without the government since Auroville is required for the future. But it is best if the change comes without the government because authentic change as envisaged in Yoga is always self-motived. A change due to outer pressure collapses, often violently after the pressure is withdrawn. And if Auroville continues to change only through external pressure then it means that humanity is not yet ready for the Divine Ideal. It is an error to believe that governments can change people by forced rules and regulations. In fact too much of government brings its own danger of turning Auroville into a human project managed by the government machinery rather than a Divine Dream emerging and expressing from within. Sri Aurobindo cautioned us.
‘This erring race of human beings dreams always of perfecting their environment by the machinery of government and society; but it is only by the perfection of the soul within that the outer environment can be perfected. What thou art within, that outside thee thou shalt enjoy; no machinery can rescue thee from the law of thy being.
Be always vigilant against thy human proneness to persecute or ignore the reality even while thou art worshipping its semblance or token. Not human wickedness but human fallibility is the opportunity of Evil.’
The Mother remarked.
‘No law or government can save us from meeting in life the consequences of what we are.
Submit exclusively to the Divine Truth and It will govern life outside all human laws and governments.’
In fact the solution she gave to the Ashram during its difficulties is the solution that alone can help Auroville.
‘Ours is neither a political nor a social but a spiritual goal. What we want is a transformation of the individual consciousness, not a change of regime or government. For reaching that goal we put no confidence in any human means, however powerful; our trust is in the Divine Grace alone.
For us here there is only one thing that counts. We aspire for the Divine, live for the Divine, act for the Divine.’
‘None of the present achievements of humanity, however great they are, can be for us an ideal to follow. The wide world is there as a field of experiment for human ideals.
Our purpose is quite different and if our chances of success are small just now, we are sure that we are working to prepare the future.
I know that from the external point of view we are below many of the present achievements in this world, but our aim is not a perfection in accordance with the human standards. We are endeavouring for something else which belongs to the future.
The Ashram has been founded and is meant to be the cradle of the new world.
The inspiration is from above, the guiding force is from above, the creative power is from above, at work for the descent of the new realisation.
It is only by its shortcomings, its deficiencies and its failures that the Ashram belongs to the present world.
None of the present achievements of humanity have the power to pull the Ashram out of its difficulties.
It is only a total conversion of all its members and an integral opening to the descending Light of Truth that can help it to realise itself.
The task, no doubt, is a formidable one, but we received the command to accomplish it and we are upon earth for that purpose alone.
We shall continue up to the end with an unfailing trust in the Will and the Help of the Supreme.
The door is open and will always remain open to all those who decide to give their life for that purpose.’
To sum it up Auroville is a challenge, the greatest challenge or puzzle placed before mankind. The way to overcome this challenge has also been given to us. The problem lies in whether we are sincere and ready to apply the solution. It is this alone that would matter. Newspaper reports, difficult moments, challenging circumstances are bound to come in such a project which was never meant to be realised easily. In fact humanity has not even attempted it so far, let alone realising it. Time is needed. And just enough members who are ready to go through the purifying furnace to turn into pure gold. The furnace has been lit. The purification is going on. Auroville is being made and prepared through it all.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
