Ideals of Auroville - Our Ideals
OUR IDEALS
(A few of the most important extracts of conversations and statements about Auroville in Mother's Agenda)
August 1954
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 organize; the bodily needs of each one would be equally provided for, and intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed in the general organization 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 and 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 he replaced by relationships of emulation in doing well, of collaboration and real brotherhood.
The earth is certainly not ready to realize 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 ...
٭
21 March 1956
The age of Capitalism and business is drawing to a close. But the age of Communism, too, will pass. For Communism as it is preached is not constructive, it is a weapon to combat plutocracy. But when the battle is over and the armies are disbanded
for want of employment, then Communism, having no more utility, will be transformed into something else that will express a higher truth.
We know this truth, and we are working for it so that it may reign upon earth.
٭
7 September 1965
"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities, straining to realise human unity."
٭
13 August 1966
You know that scores of people have come for Auroville.... Instead of working, they spend their time talking and chatting! And they send me letters. Their whole mental ego is bubbling with excitement, all of them. Have you seen them?
No. I'm afraid they may "summon” me!
They've already begun discussing what the city's political situation will be—even before the first stone has been laid! And one of them, the one with a Communist creed (he is the one who has the greatest energy and power of realization), is scandalized: he wrote to me yesterday, saying that he couldn't take part in
something that wasn't "purely democratic"!... So I answered him this (Mother hands her note to the disciple):
"Auroville must be at the service of the Truth, beyond all social, political and religious convictions."
I told him many things (Mother makes a gesture of mental communication), but above all, I insisted a lot on the fact that it would be better to build the city first! And that we would see afterwards! Because he told me it was important for him that we should remain in the democratic system "until something better has been found." I felt like answering him, "How do you know that something better hasn't been found?" But I didn't say anything.
(...)
21 September 1966
I had a revelation, in the sense that it was more of the order of a vision.
For external reasons, I was looking at the sorry state in which all countries find themselves, the truly painful and dangerous conditions of the earth, and there was a sort of all-embracing vision showing how nations (men taken as nations) have acted and are increasingly acting in a growing Falsehood, and how they have used all their creative power to create such formidable means of destruction, with, at the back of their minds, the really childish notion that the destruction would be so terrible that no one would want to use them. But they don't know (they ought to know, but they don't) that things have a consciousness and a force of manifestation, and that all those means of destruction
are pressing to be used; and even though men may not want to use them, a force stronger than they will be pushing them to do so.
Then, seeing all this, the imminence of the catastrophe, there was a sort of call or aspiration to bring down something that could at least neutralize that error. And it came, an answer ... I can't say I heard it with my ears, but it was so clear, so strong and precise that it was indisputable. I am obliged to translate it into words; if I translate it into words, I may say something like this: "That's why you have created Auroville."
And with the clear vision that Auroville was a center of force and creation, with ... (how can I explain?) a seed of truth, and that if it could sprout and develop, the very movement of its growth would be a reaction against the catastrophic consequences of the error of armament.
I found this very interesting because this birth of Auroville wasn't preceded by any thought; as always, it was simply a Force acting, like a sort of absolute manifesting, and it was so strong [when the idea of Auroville presented itself to Mother] that I could have told people, "Even if you don't believe in it, even if all circumstances appear to be quite unfavorable, I KNOW THAT AUROVILLE WILL BE. It may be in a hundred years, it may be in a thousand years, I don't know, but Auroville will be, because it has been decreed." So it was decreed—and done quite simply, like that, in obedience to a Command, without any thought. And when I was told that (I say, "I was told," but you understand what I mean), when I was told that, it was to tell me, "Here is why you have made Auroville; you are unaware of it, but that's why...." Because it was the LAST HOPE to react against the imminent catastrophe. If some interest is awakened in all countries for this creation, little by little it will have the power to react against the error they have committed.
I found this very interesting, because I had never thought about it.
And naturally, when I was shown that, I understood; I perceived how the creation of Auroville has an action in the invisible, and what action. It's not a material, outward action: it's an action in the invisible. And since then, I have been trying to make countries understand it, of course not outwardly because they all think they're much too clever to be taught anything, but inwardly, in the invisible.
It's fairly recent, it dates from two or three days ago. I had never been told this. It was said very clearly—"said", I mean seen, shown like this (gesture of a scene offered to the sight). So my interest in Auroville has considerably increased since then. Because I have understood that it isn't just a creation of idealism, but quite a practical phenomenon, in the hope ... in the will, rather, to thwart and counterbalance the effects—the frightful effects—of the psychological error of believing that fear can save you from a danger! Fear attracts the danger much more than it saves you from it. And all these countries, all these governments commit blunder upon blunder because of that fear of the catastrophe.
All this is simply to tell you that if nations collaborate in the work of Auroville, even to a very modest extent [such as this offer of money from the French government], it will do them good—it can do them a lot of good, a good that can be out of proportion to the appearance of their actions.
You speak of the imminence of a catastrophe, but still Auroville will take some time to be realised?
No! I am speaking of the countries' collaboration in CREATING something. It's not when Auroville has been completed: it's the nations' collaboration in creating something—but creating something founded on the Truth instead of a rivalry in Falsehood's creation. It's not when Auroville is ready—when Auroville is ready, it will be one town among all other towns
and it's only its own capacity of truth that will have power, but that... remains to be seen.
No, the point is a combined interest in building something founded on the Truth. They have had a combined interest (combined without any mutual liking, of course) in creating a power of destruction built on Falsehood; well, Auroville means diverting a little of that force (the quantity is minor, but the quality is superior). It's truly a hope—it's founded on a hope—of doing something that can be the beginning of a harmony.
No, it's RIGHT NOW, right now. The force of propagation is far greater, it's out of proportion to the transmitting center [Mother], which, on a world scale, is so to say unknown and almost nonexistent. But the center, the power of radiation and propagation is out of proportion, it's rather remarkable: the response [to Auroville] is everywhere, everywhere; a response from new Africa, a response in France, a response in Russia, a response in America, a response in Canada, and a response in numerous countries, in Italy... everywhere, everywhere. And not just individuals: groups, tendencies, movements, even in governments.
What's proving to be the most refractory (and the irony of it is wonderful) is... the United Nations! Those people are outdated, oh!... They haven't yet gone beyond the "materialistic, antireligious movement," and they made a derogatory remark about the Auroville brochure, saying it was "mystic," with "religious" tendency. The irony is lovely!
(...)
A note on Auroville
by Mother:
"Humanity is not the last rung of terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for
each one to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of the new species. For those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has no raison d'être." .
٭
3 May 1967
"Auroville is the shelter built for all those who want to hasten towards a future of knowledge, peace and unity."
٭
30 December 1967
(Mother extracts from a heap of papers, letters and envelopes of all kinds, a note on Auroville, which was based on her words but written from memory.)
(Laughing) All this hangs together in a marvelous balance!
(The disciple reads out the note)
"Auroville will be a self-supporting township.
"All who live there will participate in its life and development.
"This participation may be passive or active.
"There will be no taxes as such but each will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money.
"Sections like Industries winch participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township. Or if they produce something (like foodstuff)
useful for the citizens, they will contribute in kind to the township which is responsible for the feeding of the citizens.
"No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formulated as the underlying Truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate.”
Is that all?
I thought I had said more than that. Because inwardly I said a lot, a whole lot about the organization of food and so on.... We are going to try things out.
Some things are really interesting. For instance, I'd like... To begin with, every country will have its pavilion, and in the pavilion, there will be a kitchen from that country, which means that the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to (!), and so on, but in the township itself, there will be food for vegetarians, food for non-vegetarians, and also a sort of attempt to find "tomorrow's food." The idea is that all this work of assimilation which makes you so heavy (it takes up so much time and energy from the being) should be done BEFORE, that you should be able to immediately assimilate what you are given, as with things they now make; for instance, they have those vitamins that can be directly assimilated, and also (what do they call it?... [Mother tries to remember} I take them every day.... Words and I aren't on very good terms!)... proteins. Nutritive principles that are found in one thing or another and aren't voluminous—you need to take a tremendous quantity of food to assimilate very little. So now that they are clever enough on the chemical level, that could be simplified. People don't like it, simply because... they take an intense pleasure in eating (!), but when you no longer take pleasure in eating, you need to be nourished and not to waste your time with that. The amount of time lost is enormous: time for eating, time for digesting, and the rest. So I would like an experimental kitchen to be there, a sort of "culinary laboratory," for a try. And according to their
tastes and tendencies, people would go here or there.
And you don't pay for your food, but you must give work, or ingredients: for example, those who had fields would give the produce of their fields; those who had factories would give their products; or else your own work in exchange for food.
That alone does away with much of the internal circulation of money.
And in every field things of that sort could be found.... Ultimately, it must be a town for studies—studies and research on how to live both in a simplified way and in a way such that the higher qualities have MORE TIME to develop. There.
It's only a small beginning.
(Then Mother goes over the text of the note, sentence by sentence)
"Auroville will be a self-supporting township.”
I want to insist on the fact that it will be an experiment: it's to make experiments—experiments, research, studies.
An experimental city?
Yes... Auroville will be a city that will attempt to be, or strive or want to be, self-supporting, that is...
Autonomous?
"Autonomous" would be understood as a sort of independence that breaks off relations with the outside, and that's not what I mean.
For instance, those who produce food, a factory such as "Auro-food" (naturally, when we are fifty thousand, it will be difficult to meet the needs, but for the moment we'll only be a
few thousand at the most), well, a factory always produces far too much.... So it will sell outside and receive money. And "Auro-food," for instance, wants to have a special relationship with workers, not at all the old system—something that would be an improvement on the Communist system, a more balanced organization that Sovietism or Communism, that is, which doesn't too much lean either toward one side or the other.
The idea of Auro-food is good, and they are trying to make propaganda among industrialists.
And there is one thing I wanted to say. One's participation in the welfare and existence of the whole township isn't something worked out individually: such and such an individual must give so much. It's not like that. It's worked out according to one's means, activity, possibilities of production; it's not the democratic idea, which cuts everything into small equal bits—an absurd machinery. It's worked out according to one's means: one who has much gives much, one who has little gives little; one who is strong works a lot, one who isn't does something else. You understand, it's something truer, deeper. And that's why I am not trying to explain it right away, because people will start making all kinds of protests. It must come into being AUTOMATICALLY, so to say, with the growth of the township, in the true spirit. That's why this note is quite succinct.
This sentence, for instance:
"All who live there will participate in its life and development...”
... according to their capacities and means, not a mechanical "so much per unit." That's the point. It must be something living and TRUE, not mechanical. And "according to their capacities," that is, one who has material means such as those a factory gives will have to provide in proportion to his production—not so much per individual or per head.
"This participation may be passive or active.”
I don't understand what they mean by "passive" (because I spoke in French, then they put it into English). What can they mean by "passive"?... It would rather be on different planes or levels of consciousness.
You meant that those who basically are sages, who work within, won't have to...
Yes, that's right. Those who have a higher knowledge won't have to work with their hands, that's what I mean.
"There will be no taxes as such but each will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money.”
So that's clear: there will be no taxes of any kind, but everyone will have to contribute to the collective welfare through his work, in kind or with money. Those who have nothing other than money will give money. But to tell the truth, the "work" may be an inner work (but that can't be said, because people aren't honest enough). The work may be an occult work, a completely inner work, but of course, for it to be so, it must be absolutely sincere and true, and with the capacity: no pretense. But it's not necessarily a material work.
"Sections like Industries which participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township. Or if they produce something (like foodstuff) useful for the citizens, they will contribute in kind to the township which is responsible for the feeding of the citizens.”
That's what we've said. The industries will participate actively, they will contribute. If they are industries producing articles that aren't in constant need—and are therefore in amounts or numbers too great for the township's own use, so that they will be sold outside—those industries must naturally participate through money. And I take the example of food: those who produce food will give the township what it needs (in proportion to what they produce, of course), and it is the township's responsibility to feed everyone. That means people won't have to buy their food with money, but they will have to earn it.
It's a kind of adaptation of the Communist system, but not in a spirit of levelling: according to everyone's capacity, his position (not a psychological or intellectual one), his INNER position.
In democracies and with the Communists, there's a levelling down: everyone is pulled down to the same level.
Yes, that's just the point.
The true part is that every human being has the material right... (but it's not a "right"...). The organization should be such, arranged in such a way, that everyone's material need should be met, not according to notions of right and equality, but on the basis of the most elementary necessities; then, once that is established, everyone must be free to organize his life, not according to his monetary means, but according to his inner capacities.
"No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formulated as the underlying Truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate.”
What I mean is that usually (always so far, and more and more so), men establish mental rules according to their conceptions and
their ideal, then they apply them (Mother lowers her fist, as if to show the world under the mental grip). And that's absolutely false, arbitrary, unreal, so the result is that things revolt, or else waste away and disappear.... It's the experience of LIFE ITSELF that must slowly work out rules AS SUPPLE AND VAST as possible, in order that they ever remain progressive. Nothing must be fixed. That's the immense error of governments: they build a framework and say, "Here is what we've established, now we must live under it." So naturally, Life is crushed and prevented from progressing. It is Life itself, developing more and more in a progression towards Light, Knowledge, Power, that must little by little establish rules as general as possible, so as to be extremely supple and capable of changing according to need—of changing AS RAPIDLY as habits and needs do.
(silence)
At bottom, the problem almost boils down to this: to replace the mental government of intelligence by the government of a spiritualized consciousness.
It's an extremely interesting experience: how the same actions, the same work, the same observations, the same relationship with the people around (near or far), how they take place in the mind, through intelligence, and how they take place in the consciousness, through experience. And that's what this body is now learning—to replace the mental government of intelligence by the spiritual government of the consciousness. And it makes (it looks like nothing, one may not notice it), it makes a tremendous difference, to the point of multiplying the body's possibilities a hundredfold.... When the body is subjected to rules, even if they are broad, even if they are comprehensive, it is a slave to those rules and its possibilities are limited by them. But when it's governed by the Spirit and the Consciousness, that gives it incomparable possibility and flexibility! And that's what will
give it the capacity to prolong its life, to last longer: it's by replacing the mental, intellectual government by the government of the Spirit, the Consciousness—THE Consciousness. Outwardly, it doesn't seem to make much difference, but... My experience is like this (because now my body no longer obeys the mind or the intelligence at all, no longer at all—it doesn't even understand how that can be done), and it more and more, better and better follows the direction and impulsion of the Consciousness. But then, it sees, almost every minute, the tremendous difference that makes.... For instance, time has lost its value (its rigid value): you can do the same thing in very little time or in much time. Necessities have lost their authority: you can adapt yourself this way, adapt yourself that way. All the laws—those laws that were laws of Nature—have lost all their despotism, if I may say so: it no longer works that way. All you have to do is constantly and always to be supple, attentive, and... responsive to the influence of the Consciousness—the Consciousness in its all-powerfulness—so as to go through all this with extraordinary suppleness.
That is the discovery being made more and more.
And it's wonderful, you know! A wonderful discovery.
It's like a progressive victory over all constraints. So naturally, all the laws of Nature, all the human laws, all habits, all rules, all that grows increasingly supple and finally becomes nonexistent. Yet it is possible to keep a regular rhythm that makes action easier—it's not contrary to this suppleness. But it's a suppleness in the execution, in the adaptation, which comes and changes everything. From the point of view of hygiene, health, organization, from the point of view of the relationship with others, all that has not only lost its aggressiveness (because for it to lose its aggressiveness, all you have to do is to be wise—wise and level-headed and calm), but also its absolutism, its imperative rule: that's entirely gone—gone.
And then, you see: as the process grows more and more perfect
—"perfect" means integral, total, leaving nothing behind—it NECESSARILY, inevitably means victory over death. Not that this dissolution of the cells which death involves stops existing, but that it would exist only when necessary: not as an absolute law, but as ONE of the processes, when necessary.
It's mainly all that the Mind has brought in terms of rigidity and absoluteness and near invincibility—that's what... is going to disappear. And simply by... handing the supreme power over to the Supreme Consciousness.
That may be what the sages of old meant when they spoke of handing the power of Nature or the power of the Prakriti over to the Purusha—handing it from the Prakriti over to the Purusha. Perhaps it was their way of expressing the same thing.
28 February 1968
"Greetings from Auroville to all men of goodwill. Are invited to Auroville all those who thirst for progress and aspire to a higher and truer life."
Auroville's 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 the future.
Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realizations. - Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity.
*
3 August 1968
(Mother remains very tired. She nevertheless listens to a long paper on Auroville, which she rejects, and prepares with the disciple a note summing up the ideal of this future city.)
"For millenia, we have been developing outer means, outer instruments, outer techniques of living—and finally those means and techniques are crushing us. The sign of the new humanity is a reversal in the standpoint, and the understanding that inner knowledge and inner technique can change the world and master it without crushing it.
"Auroville is the place where this new way of living is being worked out, it is a center of accelerated evolution where man must begin to change his world through the power of the inner spirit."
(Then Mother goes into a long contemplation)
It seems to be accelerated transformation, it's a little crushing. We'll see.
٭
22 March 1969
Two days ago (not yesterday, the day before), this Consciousness told me something; I said, "Very well," but it went on saying the same thing again and again and again, until I'd written it down! So here it is (Mother holds out a note). And it explained to me why there was "we."
"We will strive to make Auroville the cradle of the superman."
Ah... it's important news! (Mother smiles) So then, I said, "Why 'we'?" It answered, "It's because the attempt will be to get those who will live in Auroville to collaborate."
Then, once I'd written it, it left me in peace, but until I did, it came back again and again....
(...)
27 August 1969
(...)
(Mother takes a note near her)
There's a Druid (laughing), a still-existing druid, from Brittany, who has written a letter to F. saying he had heard about Auroville from friends of hers and wants to come. He says, "I am poor, I am not bringing anything" (he is married, he and his wife intend to come together). He writes that he will bring a book; a book by one of his friends, who has had "the economic and financial vision" of the world. He will bring it—he says it's a revelation—for it to be used in Auroville. So, in my answer, I intend to tell him, "Here is the basis on which Auroville is established..."
(Mother hands her note)
"Money is not meant to make money ...
I wrote this in English very long ago and sent it to America: it caused a revolution! Most people were indignant that one might think such a thing!
"...Money is meant to prepare the earth for the new creation."
So we'll see the druid!... That makes the fourth person: we have a healer of cancer coming; we have a healer pure and simple coming; we have... (Mother tries to remember) ah, yes, a Persian inventor who has made "extraordinary inventions" for education (he sent a paper), especially for children's education; he is coming in September....
All that will be very amusing!
Yes, at least we'll have variety!
But the druid said he is penniless, so we'll send him to R., who might be able to arrange something....
He has studied all religions, and... (laughing) stopped at druidism.
He is Breton.
Yes, I guessed so!
He regards that book by his friend as a very precious gift (I don't know whether it's published or not), as a revolution. So I prefer to send him this note in advance, because, I don't know what's in that book, but if it's a similar idea, I want him to know that we had it before!
(long silence)
(...)
30 August 1969
Things are beginning to come for Auroville (Mother points to several written notes); there are many, many others, but there is above all the internal financial question: I would like there to be no money within Auroville (we would have to work out something), I would like money to be retained only for relations with outside. But that I haven't written; I wrote something else (Mother gives a first note). This I have told you several times:
"Auroville wants to be
the cradle of
the superman."
Then, this one:
"Auroville,
the free international township.
No army,
no police....
Bravo!
"... They are replaced
by a battalion of guards,
consisting of
athletes and gymnasts."
Oh, all this is splendid!
It's for now. It's to be done now.
Yes, no army, no police. Oh, yes!
And then (Mother points to a third note), this is for entry, because there's a port in Auroville, so naturally entry is free, but conditional: we have no borders, no walls, we're overflowing in India, so I can't impose my law to the whole of India (!), but it will be replaced by a control at the port: we'll let in only what can be consumed within Auroville—so as not to be used as a clandestine entry for a deluge of free goods.
(The disciple reads)
"No customs, but permission to import granted only for goods meant to be consumed in the town."
That's all.
Yes, to avoid illicit traffic with the rest of India.
Yes. If people were honest, it would be fine, but they aren't! No police and no army.
Yes, that’s fine!
So it gives physical education a deep raison d'être: people capable of stopping fires, saving drowning people and so on. There needn't be many: if there were five hundred of them, it would be enough for the entire town, in little groups going about like that.
Dr. S. also has some ideas to replace jails (because we don't have jails, and we can't dump all the dishonest people into the rest of India! That wouldn't be nice). Prisons and old people's homes would have to be replaced with something.... It's being studied, something has been found. It's going to be interesting!
And one last thing: a place where all the children could be kept when their parents don't want to look after them, or don't
look after them properly. And all of it with no possibility of accident or flight—but no prison or hospital, none of that sort of thing.
It's being worked out.
(silence)
North of Pondicherry, there are places by the sea where nothing could ever be done (they're constantly flooded), but there's a way to make use of them, so I am trying to get the government's permission to occupy it all. If we can get hold of it, then we can have a free port, a free airport, an airfield (but more inland), also cultivation based on the new methods of irrigation with sea water, and naturally the transformation of sea water — but they've found something to transform sea water into drinkable water (Mother takes a brochure by her side). It's French, I think, and an economical method; it's very interesting. It's under way, and if we wait for a few more years, they'll have perfected it quite well.
(long silence)
(...)
20 September 1969
Auroville is the ideal place
for those who want to know
the joy and liberation of not having
any more personal possession.
25 March 1970
(...)
A system of "coupons/or hours of work”, and a scale for the quality or degree of the work one does.
Where is that practiced?
/ don’t know, in my imagination!
Oh, it's you! But yes, that's very good!
Something based on work.
Yes.
Coupons for hours of work. So you can say that the coupon of a coolie is worth one, and the coupon of an engineer is worth five, for example, that’s all.
A whole organization would have to be developed. There will have to be... something like that in Auroville.
Based on work.
Yes, an activity. You can define work as an activity that has a collective utility, not egoistic.
(silence)
The difficulty is the appraisal of the value of things. You know, you have to have a very broad vision for that. The easy thing about money was that it became mechanical.... But this
other system can't become quite like that, and so.... But for example, the idea is that those who will live in Auroville won't have money—there's no circulation of money—but to eat, for example, everyone has the right to eat, naturally, but.... From the strictly practical standpoint, one had conceived the possibility of every possible food according to the taste or needs of each one (for example, there are vegetarian kitchens, non-vegetarian kitchens, diet kitchens, etc.), and then those who want to receive food from them must do something in exchange. So work, or... it's difficult to organize practically, quite practically.... You know, we had foreseen a lot of the land around the city would be used for large-scale agriculture for the consumption of the city. But to cultivate these lands, money or materials are needed at the moment. So... I have to face the problem in every detail now, and it's not easy!
There are some who understand.
You know, the idea is that in Auroville there won't be any customs and duties and that the Aurovilians won't have any personal property: on paper that's all very well, but when it comes down to doing it practically...
And the problem is always the same: the responsibility should fall on those who have a... universal consciousness, you see, otherwise.... Wherever there is the personal consciousness, it is a being incapable of governing—we see what governments are like, it's dreadful!
(long silence)
There is a psychological viewpoint: there is something very interesting, which is that material needs diminish in proportion to the spiritual consciousness. Not (as Sri Aurobindo said) through asceticism, but rather because the attention, the concentration of the being shifts fields.... One can very well imagine that only material things please the purely material being; and
the interest of all those who live in the emotional being and the outer mind is turned towards... for example, things of beauty, like those who need to live surrounded with beautiful things, who want to use lovely things. Now, that seems to be the height of humanity, but it's quite... what you could call a "middle region" (gesture hardly above the ground), it's not at all a higher region. But the way the world is organized, people who have no esthetic need return to a very primitive life—that's not good. There should be a place where life... where the very framework of life is not an individual matter, but a beauty which would be the natural accompaniment of a certain degree of development.
Now, the way things are arranged, you have to be rich in order to be surrounded by beautiful things, and that's a source of imbalance because wealth generally goes hand in hand with a very average, sometimes even mediocre, degree of consciousness. So everywhere there is an imbalance and disorder. There should be... a place of beauty—a place of beauty where you can live only if you have attained a certain level of consciousness. And it is not something which is decided by other people but it is decided very spontaneously, naturally. So how to do it?
There are starting to be problems like that in Auroville, and it makes things very interesting. Of course the means are very limited, but that too is part of the problem to be solved.
(long silence)
The conditions for organizing—for being an organizer (it's not "governing", it's ORGANIZING)—the conditions for being an organizer should be as follows: no more desires, no more preferences, no more attractions, no more repulsions—a perfect equality for all. Sincere, naturally, but that goes without saying: wherever insincerity creeps in, it acts like a poison. And then, only those who are themselves in that condition are capable of discerning whether someone else is or is not.
And now, all human organizations are based on: visible fact (which is a falsehood), public opinion (which is another falsehood), and the moral sense, which is yet another falsehood! (Mother laughs) So....
(silence)
٭
2 May 1970
I have something for you... (Mother indicates a written note)
Two or three days ago it came imperatively like that, in connection with a story. They have meetings in Auroville, in Aspiration; I think they are meditations or something like that, I don't know. One of them came and put up my photograph; then someone else ran back to his room and came back with a cross!... And he said, "No, if you're going to put up a photograph of Mother, then I'm going to put my cross." They told me that. They told me because the one who had put up the cross came to see me with the others (they come once a week, a few, four or five), they told me nothing about it. He came and he sat down in front of me... I found his atmosphere a little prying (I didn't know anything at all, you know), and when they left, I asked who he was.
Then they told me he was Catholic and they told me that story. After that came a whole series of things. But I must say there is literally an invasion out there (at different places in Auroville), because it's not guarded, there are free plots of land; especially at the Centre, there are people who have settled there and there are more coming all the time and settling there without asking permission. And we had thought it was going to be necessary to have a badge for those who are really Aurovilians.
(Mother shows a sample of the badge) We have already been thinking of organizing all that for several days: for the first year they'll have a sort of identity card, and afterwards, if at the end of the year it's all right, they'll be given the badge.
But what came to me is this (Mother points to her notes). It's not finished... (Sujata gets ready to bring the lamp so Mother can read). I don't need light, I don't see clearly any more.
(The disciple reads:)
"Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially religious, but who renounce all forms of religion, whether ancient, modem, new or future...
Sweet Mother, excuse-me, but why didn't you put "spiritual ” instead of "religious ”?
I'm not sure yet.
It gave me a funny feeling!
Yes, I noticed!... Maybe it's better to put "spiritual". I'll see.
"It is only in experience that there can be knowledge of the Truth. No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine...
That's the important point.
"...Know the Divine, then only you will be able to speak of it....
You understand, I can put "spiritual", but...
"...The objective study of religions will form part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness...
I put religions underneath: in the realm of mind.
Yes, exactly, yes!
In the mental realm, and it was "a subject of study".
It’s funny, two days ago, that came to me almost like an experience: religion is the mental world.
Yes, yes! It's the mentalization, an attempt at the mentalization of... that which greatly surpasses the mind.
"...Religions form part of the history of mankind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville—not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to adhere, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realization."
Then, "programme"... (Mother laughs)
PROGRAMME
Research through experience of the
Supreme Truth.
A life divine
but
NO RELIGIONS.
That's good.
Oh, very good!... It's the "religious” there that bothers me.
Then we'll take it out!
Because, in fact you say, "No religions”.
No, I used "religious" in the other sense, but it will always create confusion.
It’s taken on such a false meaning.
Yes. I'm going to explain to you, I didn't want to put "spiritual" because, first, the word "spiritual" in French has another meaning, and then the people who live a "spiritual" life reject Matter, and we don't want to reject Matter. So it would be false.
I admit that "religious" isn't a good word because immediately.... I used "religious" in the sense of a "life essentially preoccupied with the discovery of or search for the Divine." There aren't any words in French, and it's not "spiritual".
Divine?
We have to find a word—we can put this:
"Auroville is for those who want to live a divine life..."
Yes, "a life essentially divine,” yes. "Divine” is wide, Sweet Mother.
(silence)
Is it finished?... There was so much, I didn't jot everything down.... It was the day before yesterday, I think, the whole day was taken up like that in the experience, and I had the impression
of the revelation of the true aim of Auroville, and it was THAT which had to be said, and THAT which... will select the people. The true Aurovilians are those who want to undertake the research and discovery of the Divine. But in fact, you know, it's not by mystical means: it's in life itself. That too should be said.
(Mother writes:)
"Our search will not be a search effected by mystic means.
It is in life itself that we wish to find the divine."
(...)
Shall we put a title on these notes on Auroville?... For example, "The Position of Auroville with Respect to Religion"?
If we put, "We want the Truth"?... I use that word because no one in the world would dare to say: we don't want the truth!
(laughter)
For most people it's like this: what WE want is the truth!
(laughter)
I showed R. the "Auroville Programme", (laughing) his hair stood on end: "But... but people can't tolerate that now!"— Oh?...
And then, the Aurovilians must want the Truth WHATEVER IT IS. They call what they want the Truth, whereas they must want the Truth whatever it is.
(Mother writes her last note on Auroville:)
We want the Truth.
For most men, it is what they want
that they label truth.
The Aurovilians must want
the Truth whatever it may be.
I put "Truth" with a capital letter. (Mother laughs) Because, to tell the truth, it's not that, it is: "We want THE DIVINE." But then right away there's an argument! So it's better to put "Truth".
٭
3 June 1970
Yesterday we started a work for Auroville, that is, we want to give the people of "Aspiration" what is basically an idea of what Aurovilians want: why they're here and what they want. Because it seems that... basically they don't know anything. Each one came with an expectation of something, but all that is not coordinated and not clear. So R. asked me to express the most important things clearly. I thought it would be better to do it with the people in order to find out what they want and to get them to make an effort to find out. Otherwise... So we began yesterday (Mother picks up a sheet of paper).
Yesterday I asked C. (one of the Aurovilians of Aspiration), "But why are we in Auroville? Why is Auroville going to be created?" Then he gave me the first paragraph:
TO BE A TRUE AUROVILIAN
1. The will to consecrate oneself entirely to the Divine.
That's what he said. I found it good.
After having listened inwardly, I added this:
2. The Aurovilian does not want to be a slave to his desires.
The idea is this: "We come to Auroville to escape from the social and moral rules that are practised artificially everywhere, but it is not to give license to the satisfaction of all desires: it is to rise above desires into a truer consciousness." Something like that.... It seems they have great need of it! (Mother laughs') So that should be added.
We could make a whole programme, it would be rather interesting.
Yes, but practically speaking, as long as people haven’t gone behind appearances a little, as long as they live on the surface of themselves, nothing will mean anything.
But all that is just what should be said!
Then the first necessity is to go into their depths a little. Because
even if you say "the Divine” to them, what does it mean in their
surface consciousness?
Yes.... For him, for that boy, it has a meaning, but for most of the others...
Yes, it has no meaning.
So we should put, "The first condition is the inner discovery..."
In the ideal order, the first condition is to need something other than the present earthly and human conditions.
That, of course.
And then to get there, the first condition is to go deep inside oneself to find out what one IS behind all the hereditary, social, cultural appearances, etc.—what one really is. Then from that moment on, things take on meaning, but before, they don't have any meaning. Before that, they have whatever moral or religious or philosophical value we attribute to them—but that has no meaning.
So let's put (Mother writes): first essential condition...
It’s more than a condition: it’s a necessity.
1. The first necessity is the inner discovery to find out what one really is behind the social, moral, cultural...
Racial?
Oh, yes!
...racial, hereditary appearances.
But then, they have to be told THERE IS a discovery to make, because many don't know it at all! (Mother writes:)
At the centre there is a being free, vast, aware, all-knowing, who awaits our discovery and must become the effective centre of our being and our life in Auroville.
Then, afterwards, do we put this (Mother indicates the previous paragraph on consecration to the Divine), or do we put something else?... That seems to me rather a consummation,
something that should come at the end.
(long silence)
They should also be taught to liberate themselves from the idea of personal possession.... You know, everything belongs to the Divine, and the Divine, at the same time that he gives a centre (the centre of an individuality), he also gives the possibility for the personal use of a certain number of things; but everything has to be taken that way, as things LOANED to us by the Divine. The Divine is eternal, you see, he is "everlasting", as the English say, and at the same time as he creates this individual centre, there are a certain number of things that will be at its disposal for His work, and so those things are LOANED. That's a very exact fact: they are in your possession for a certain time.
It's to uproot this sense of personal possession.
(silence)
It would be interesting: "The description of the citizen of the city of tomorrow."
There’s paragraph 2 on desires and 3 would be on personal possession.
The only real way to cure desire is self-giving to the Divine and accepting what He gives you as the only things necessary. But that's already very advanced.
In the beginning you said that the Aurovilians had come "to escape all moral conventions, etc., but that it wasn't to give free reign to license...
Yes, that's it. (Mother writes:)
2. One lives in Auroville in order to be free from moral and social conventions; but this freedom must not be a new slavery to the ego, its desires and ambitions.
Is that all? That's enough for today!
If you want to connect that with the other paragraph, can you say something like this:
desire is the most powerful de former of the inner discovery?
Oh, yes! (Mother writes:)
The fulfilment of one's desires bars the way to the inner discovery which can only be achieved in the peace of a perfect disinterestedness.
A word comes to me, Sweet Mother: not only peace, but transparency.
Yes. (Mother writes:)
...in the peace and transparency of perfect disinterestedness.
This is going to become something interesting!
That’s the basis. And the third paragraph, you had said, "The Aurovilian should free himself from the idea of personal possession.”
But it's not the "idea"! It's the "sense"! (Mother writes:)
3. The Aurovilian should lose the sense of personal
possession. For our passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and to our action is put at our disposal....
You don’t say by whom?
(Mother laughs) No!... By the All-Possessing!
...according to the place we must occupy.
Sweet Mother, I would like to add: the more we are in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means given us.
Oh, that's good! (Mother writes:)
The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more are the exact means given to us.
It's getting interesting!
That gives them a basis.
Oh, but we will be able to make something interesting!
*
6 June 1970
Wouldn't it be good if you did the rest of the "Auroville programme” with the people of Auroville, since you've started to do it?....
I had them speak to see what they would say....
They're almost all terribly lazy, and so I would like to tell them that manual work...
(Mother writes:)
4. Work, even manual work, is something indispensable for the inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not put one's consciousness into matter, the latter will never develop. To let the consciousness organize a little matter by means of one's body is very good. To establish order around oneself helps to bring order within oneself.
One other thing too:
One should organize one's life not according to outer and artificial rules, but according to an organized inner consciousness, for if one lets life go without subjecting it to the control of the higher consciousness, it becomes fickle and inexpressive. It is to waste one's time, in the sense that matter remains without any conscious utilization.
13 June 1970
We have to finish our "Auroville programme"... Auroville is to prepare the advent of the new species.
(Mother writes:)
5. The whole earth must prepare itself for the advent of the new species, and Auroville wants to work consciously to hasten this advent.
6. Little by little it will be revealed to us what this new species must be, and meanwhile the best course is to consecrate oneself entirely to the Divine.
That's enough!... To be continued!...
*
* *