Aum Lotus in Auroville
The City of Dawn • Auroville
A vision of the future? A Universal City? The evolution of the human race? These are all questions that come up when you confront the inspirational and admirable experiment that is Auroville, the ‘City of Dawn’. Having just spent the last 5 weeks staying in Auroville we were able to dive deeper into these questions and have some experiential insights to help us see the many benefits and challenges faced in Auroville today.
Revelation Forest… a green home
After exploring around Auroville’s red dirt roads on our moped in search for a place to stay, we found the right space in one of the oldest and biggest forests in Auroville…Revelation. This community is guided by the aspiration of a beautiful French couple, Nathalie and Patrick (the Master of the Forest). At the very beginning of Auroville (1968) when the land was just a dry desert, he had a vision of this dense and wild forest and started to spread seeds and plant lots of trees…till date more than two hundred fifty thousand. Amazing! It is so beautiful to see how well the human being can work in harmony with the environment for Mother Nature. Being there was truly a gift. They are always looking for responsible volunteers, so if anyone is interested in helping them grow their forest, please contact them! Hello Forest Lovers!
A special meditation at the Matrimandir
The Matrimandir is the Temple of The Mother. It is the “soul of the city” of Auroville.
As The Mother said about it: “A place…for trying to find one’s consciousness. It is like the central Force of Auroville”.
Journal entry by Violante:
It is almost 10 am and I am walking toward the Matrimandir for my daily meditation. At some point between the treetops a huge golden sphere appears in front of me, it is the symbol of the Universal Mother. Someone explains to me that it took around 45 years to built it and lots of people from different parts of the world came here to help in this adventure. I’m inspired. It is definitely a piece of art! Once I approach the entrance, it reminds me of a sort of spaceship, being supported in the air over a lotus flower pond with water running down it’s petals towards a crystal ball. Around the main building there are twelve lovely gardens (today, only three are complete). Every garden has a different name; Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, etc., and each one is associated with a particular flower; Sincerity, Peace, Equality, etc. which are represented by each one of the 12 petals that surround the central golden sphere.
While I am waiting outside, under the shadow of a big banyan tree I can appreciate the sound of the breeze and the contact with the bark of the tree. A sense of calm starts to descend into my body and into my mind.
Andrew tries to practice a little bit of Qi Gong, but a woman immediately arrives to cut his flow, reminding us that the Matrimandir is not a place for “rituals”. Here there are no fixed meditations or practices; we should strive to stay only in silence and concentration. This is a place for trying to find one’s consciousness.
Finally we enter in, the path to the inner chamber begins. Everything is white; white marble, white carpet, even the socks that everyone must wear are white! There is a spiral ramp that we ascend to reach the inner chamber in the upper hemisphere of the Matrimandir, and in the center of the chamber sits the world’s largest crystal globe. It is luminescent. It radiates natural light, directed from the sun, to illumine the inner chamber. There are no images, no flowers, nothing… you just sit there and you are “alone” with the crystal. The power of this connection is like a door to another dimension. Body, mind, vision, colours, sounds, emotions; everything works together.
If you allow yourself to let go… the experience is there, waiting for you in Silence.
Auroville as Art:
As we open the many doors that lead to our inner chamber, we unlock the powerful gateway to our true inner nature. We start to see the world, both the inner and outer, in rich vivid colours, shapes, and sounds. We gain an ability to realise our inner aspirations, all the while being totally present in the moment. As our inner landscape enriches, so does our desire to express ourselves and share our unique perspective with the world around us. When you explore Auroville, you can see the colourful expressions of the many Aurovillians that live here. From the unique hand built homes in various building materials, to the beautiful gardens and wild forests that grow around them; from the many painted murals and sculptures found in courtyards, to the graffiti spread throughout the area; we were able to see all the people’s colourful expressions. This not only reminded us of the wonderful sense of freedom felt in this place, but also showed us the strong communities that have been built here. People understand that sharing their unique ideas as art is a way to share themselves with each other, and in turn, they offer each other the possibility for more meaningful relationships and cultivating a community that supports everybody and thrives on the individual’s unique freedom of expression.
-
- AUM
-
- Pitanga Health Center
-
- The Canadian Pavillion
-
- Wabi Sabi Pottery
-
- Art Caravan
-
- Svaram’s Sound Bath @ The Unity Pavillion, Auroville
-
- Andrew sawing the Didgeridoo
-
- Violante filing the Didgeridoo
-
- Andrew chiselling the Didgeridoo
Sounds of Svaram:
Experience of Andrew:
Do you think that is possible to sweat a litre, or more per day during your Yoga practice?
Check it out! An insight into Violante’s Yoga studies and practice at Ashtanga Auroville:
Where are we headed?
So after five weeks of Auroville, how can we answer to the grand questions posed at the beginning of this blog entry?
A vision of the future? We hope more and more places on earth find their own way to cultivate the ideals and vision of Auroville, so if that happens, then this place may very well be a vision of the future. You can also see and experience many things here that seem like the future, but also can seem from the past, and in that way Auroville is certainly a vision of an alternate ‘Now’. That is surely something that is needed in this world today.
A Universal city? You can see that Auroville is created and made up with people from all across the globe, and with the ideals and charter that are the core values, it is certainly universal. But we think with a current population of only around 2500, it’s still a ways from being considered a city. Hopefully over time, more and more people from all over come to live here and join Auroville, and help it grow into the city of 50 000 that was envisioned by The Mother in 1968.
The evolution of Humankind? By far the biggest question of them all, but as we found by speaking to many Aurovillians here, the concept of evolution as illumined by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, is an ongoing process. Just as there was a long arduous evolution from our closest relatives of Neanderthals, and even the primate species, there too will be such a path to our future evolved relatives. The important thing to realise that we are not separate from this process, and in fact an integral part of it, and we have the responsibility to bring awareness and consciousness to our ever important role in the future of humankind and our planet.
We resonate a lot with this philosophy, so meeting so many people who shared the same ideals in one place, certainly helps us to believe that for sure Auroville has an important part to play in the evolution of humankind. So, until the next time we return to this powerful place, we leave here filled with inspiration and an aspiration to cultivate more awareness about Auroville and share the ideals and vision of just what’s possible in our world today.
Andrew & Violante • Auroville, May 4th, 2016
Previous Post
Next Post
