Aims and Principles
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 realise human unity.
8 September 1965
*
The Supreme Lord.
The Supreme Lord.
To try to attain the Supreme Perfection.
All life is yoga. Therefore one cannot live without practising the supreme yoga.
Whatever the Supreme Lord wants it to be.
All things are as they should be, when they should be.
189If one has not gone beyond that.
If one has not gone beyond that.
If one has not gone beyond that.
If one has not gone beyond that.
Nothing is compulsory.
No, Auroville will have money relations only with the outside world.
“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 190capacities 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.”fnExtract from “A Dream”, an essay by the Mother.
Each person is allowed full freedom. The external relations of residents in Auroville will be established for each one according to his personal aspiration and his activities within Auroville.
The Supreme Lord.
All the spoken languages of the earth.
We do not know.§
1965fnMother answered these questions orally in 1965. When she read the notation on 8 October 1969, she changed answers 12 and 17 to read as printed here.
*
Auroville is going well and is becoming more and more real, but its realisation does not proceed in the usual human way and it is more visible to the inner consciousness than to the outer eye.§
January 1966
*
191You say that Auroville is a dream. Yes, it is a “dream” of the Lord and generally these “dreams” turn out to be true—much more true than the human so-called realities!
20 May 1966
*
Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each individual to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of this new species.
For those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has no reason to exist.
August 1966
*
We would like to make Auroville the cradle of the Superman.
1966
*
Auroville should be at the service of Truth, beyond all social, political and religious convictions.
Auroville is the effort towards peace, in sincerity and Truth.
20 September 1966
*
Auroville is an attempt towards world peace, friendship, fraternity, unity.§
20 September 1966
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As long as you are for some and against others, you are necessarily outside the Truth.
You should constantly keep good will and love in your heart and let them pour out on all with tranquillity and equality.
16 December 1966
*
192Auroville: At last a place where one will be able to think only of the future.
January 1967
*
[Message to be carved in stone and placed in or beside a lotus pond at Promesse.]
Auroville is the shelter built for all those who want to hasten towards a future of Knowledge, Peace and Unity.
16 March 1967
*
Conditions for living in Auroville
From the psychological point of view, the required conditions are:
(1) To be convinced of the essential unity of mankind and to have the will to collaborate for the material realisation of that unity;
(2) To have the will to collaborate in all that furthers future realisations.
The material conditions will be worked out as the realisation proceeds.
19 June 1967
*
The aims of Auroville
An effective human unity
Peace
upon earth
*
Auroville the City
at the service of Truth
28 February 1968
*
193[Message for the Inauguration of Auroville]
Greetings from Auroville to all men of good will.
Are invited to Auroville all those who thirst for progress and aspire to a higher and truer life.
28 February 1968
*
Auroville Charter
1) 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.
2) Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
3) Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future.
194Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
4) Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity.
28 February 1968
*
At last a place where one will be able to think only of progressing and transcending oneself.
196At last a place where one will be able to live in peace, without conflicts and without rivalries of nations, religions and ambitions.
At last a place where nothing will have the right to impose itself as the exclusive truth.
February 1968
*
The Ashram will retain its true role of pioneer, inspirer and guide.
Auroville is the attempt towards collective realisation.
June 1968
*
It is true that to live in Auroville a great progress of consciousness has to be made.
But the moment has come when this progress is possible.
With all my love.
June 1968
*
[Message for the recipients of the essential material items distributed by Auroville Prosperity]
Auroville is meant not for the satisfaction of desires but for the growth of the true consciousness.
16 June 1968
*
Any sincere attempt to bring peace and unity among men is welcome in Auroville.
20 July 1968
*
197The push towards the future is to be ready to give up all gains, moral and material, in order to acquire what the future can give us.
Very few are like that, there are many who would like to have what the Future is bringing, but they are not ready to give up what they have in order to acquire the new wealth.
5 August 1968
*
It is not for comfort and satisfaction of desires that one comes to Auroville; it is for the growth of consciousness and consecration to the Truth that has to be realised.
Unselfishness is the first need to participate in the creation of Auroville.
5 November 1968
*
Divine Mother,
How dependent is the building of Auroville upon man’s acceptance of spirituality?
The opposition between spirituality and material life, the division between the two has no sense for me as, in truth, life and the spirit are one and it is in and by the physical work that the highest Spirit must be manifested.
19 April 1968
*
Divine Mother,
Is there any reason why in Auroville we should have to compromise with the truth out of a feeling of expediency or material gain?
The very fact of living and acting is a compromise because the world is not yet living under the law of Truth.
7 June 1968
*
198Auroville
No big creation is possible without discipline—
individual discipline,
group discipline,
discipline towards the Divine.
16 September 1968
*
[About the organisation of work]
The important thing is the execution which is to be carried out without ever losing sight of the ideal we want to realise.
December 1968
*
Sweet Mother,
There will be a general meeting tomorrow to try and see whether it is possible for all of us to agree on a course of action.
Nobody speaks the same language; all the individuals are very different and do not submit to a common discipline of action. I would like to receive some clear written answers from you so as to know what to say—something which would be the Truth and could help to dispel the confusion.
Does the construction of Auroville require a working-method, organisation and coordination?
Discipline is necessary for life. To live, the body itself is subject in all its functions to a rigorous discipline. Any relaxation of this discipline causes illness.
Organisation is a discipline of action, but for Auroville we aspire to go beyond arbitrary and artificial organisation.
We want an organisation which is the expression of a higher consciousness working to manifest the truth of the future.
A hierarchical organisation grouped around the most enlightened centre and submitting to a collective discipline.
This is a makeshift which we should submit to only very provisionally.
In order to be workable, this requires all workers of Auroville to be yogis conscious of the Divine Truth.
An organisation is needed for the work to be done—but the organisation itself must be flexible and progressive.
All those who wish to live and work at Auroville must have an integral goodwill, a constant aspiration to know the Truth and to submit to it, enough plasticity to confront the exigencies of work and an endless will to progress so as to move forward towards the ultimate Truth.
And, finally, a word of advice: be more concerned with your own faults than with those of others. If each one worked seriously at his own self-perfection, the perfection of the whole would follow automatically.§
6 February 1969
*
Auroville
The city the earth
needs.
22 February 1969
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[Message for the first anniversary of Auroville]
Let Light, peace and joy be with all those who live in Auroville and work for its realisation.
Blessings.
28 February 1969
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[Message for the first anniversary of Auroville]
Freedom is possible only in union with the Divine.
To unite with the Divine one must have conquered in oneself the very possibility of desire.
28 February 1969
*
201The freedom we want to realise in Auroville is not licence—each one doing what he pleases without concern for the well-being of the organisation of the whole.
1969
*
The conception of Auroville is purely divine and has preceded its execution by many years.
Naturally, in the details of the execution the human consciousness intervenes.
17 April 1969
*
The solution is to go deep within oneself and find the place where all the differences combine to constitute the essential and eternal Unity.
4 May 1969
*
To Aurovilians
To establish in Auroville the harmonious atmosphere which, by definition, ought to reign there, the first step is for each one to look within himself for the cause of friction and misunderstanding.
For these causes are always on both sides and before demanding anything from others, each one should first strive to eliminate them from himself.
4 July 1969
*
202Every good Aurovilian should strive to free himself from all desires, all preferences and all repulsions.
Equality in the face of all circumstances is the chief aim to be attained in order to live in Auroville.
*
Quarrels are altogether contrary to the spirit of Auroville.
*
Earth needs
a place where men can live away from all national rivalries, social conventions, self-contradictory moralities and contending religions;
a place where human beings, freed from all slavery to the past, can devote themselves wholly to the discovery and practice of the Divine Consciousness that is seeking to manifest.
Auroville wants to be this place and offers itself to all who aspire to live the Truth of tomorrow.
20 September 1969
*
Auroville is the ideal place for those who want to know the joy and liberation of no longer having any personal possessions.
18 September 1969
*
Peace through human unity:
Unity through uniformity is an
absurdity.
Unity must be realised through the union of the many.
Each
one is part of the unity; each one is indispensable to the whole.
October 1969
*
203That is absolutely certain for all those who understand Sri Aurobindo’s teaching and have faith in him.
It is with the intention of creating a place where this could come about that we want to establish Auroville.
But for this realisation to be possible, each one of us must make an effort to transform himself; for most of the sufferings of men are the result of their own mistakes, both physical and moral.
8 November 1969
*
I have never thought that there would no more be suffering in Auroville, because men, as they are, love suffering and call it to them even while they curse it.
But we shall try to teach them to truly love peace and to try to practise equality.
What I meant was involuntary poverty and begging.
Life in Auroville will be organised in such a way that this does not exist—and if beggars come from outside, either they will have to go away or they will be given shelter and taught the joy of work.
9 November 1969
*
There is no fundamental difference in the attitude towards the future and the service of the Divine.
204But the people in the Ashram are considered to have consecrated their lives to Yoga (except, of course, the students who are here only for their studies and who are not expected to have made their choice in life).
Whereas in Auroville simply the good will to make a collective experiment for the progress of humanity is sufficient to gain admittance.
10 November 1969
*
[Written for a UNESCO committee]
The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo’s vision was entrusted to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is a collective ideal that calls for a collective effort so that it may be realised in the terms of an integral human perfection.
The Ashram founded and built by the Mother was the first step towards the accomplishment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, more exterior, which seeks to widen the base of this attempt to establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and earth, in the collective life of mankind.fnWhen Mother reread this text in 1972, she added the words “more exterior” in the last sentence.
1969
*
The Ashram is the central consciousness, Auroville is one of the outward expressions. In both places equally the work is done for the Divine.
The people who live in the Ashram have their own work and most of them are too busy to give time to Auroville.
Each one must be busy with his own work; this is essential for a proper organisation.
*
Auroville aspires for union.
1970
*
To all those who want to live for the future:
A physical work is as indispensable to the balance of the body as food.
To eat without working causes a serious imbalance.
February 1970
*
You must all agree.
That is the only way to do good work.
2 April 1970
*
For everyone to agree each one must rise to the summit of his consciousness; it is on the heights that harmony is created.
April 1970
*
206Auroville and the Religions
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.
Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future.
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.
Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it.
The objective study of religions will be a part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness.
Religions make up 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 realisation.
PROGRAMME
Research through experience of the
Supreme
Truth
A life divine
but
NO RELIGIONS
Our research will not be a search effected by mystic means. It is in life itself that we wish to find the Divine. And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed.
2 May 1970
*
The Mother on 29 February 1968We give the name of religion to any concept of the world or the universe which is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have an absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation.
Most religions affirm the existence of a God and the rules to be followed to obey Him, but there are some Godless religions, such as socio-political organisations which, in the name of an Ideal or the State, claim the same right to be obeyed.
To seek Truth freely and to approach it freely along his own lines is a man’s right. But each one should know that his discovery is good for him alone and it is not to be imposed on others.
13 May 1970
*
At Auroville nothing belongs to anyone in particular. All is collective property. To be utilised with my blessings for the welfare of all.
14 May 1970
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To Be a True Aurovilian
1. The first necessity is the inner discovery in order to know what one truly is behind social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary appearances.
At the centre there is a being free, vast and knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the active centre of our being and our life in Auroville.
2. One lives in Auroville in order to be free from moral and 208 social conventions; but this freedom must not be a new slavery to the ego, to its desires and ambitions.
The fulfilment of one’s desires bars the way to the inner discovery which can only be achieved in the peace and transparency of perfect disinterestedness.
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 according to the place we must occupy.
The more we are consciously in contact with our inner being, the more are the exact means given to us.
4. Work, even manual work, is something indispensable for the inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not put his consciousness into matter, the latter will never develop. To let the consciousness organise a bit of matter by means of one’s body is very good. To establish order around oneself helps to bring order within oneself.
One should organise one’s life not according to outer and artificial rules, but according to an organised inner consciousness, for if one lets life go on 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 utilisation.
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.
13 June 1970
*
In Auroville “all is collective property.” Does this mean that everything can be used by everyone? Or should things be given only to those who treat them well?
209I have also noticed that delicate pieces of equipment become attached to one person and do not work well if they are lent to others.
All this implies a consciousness which is not very widespread on earth.
This does not mean that things should be given to people who do not know how to use them.
What is needed to administer Auroville is a consciousness free from all conventions and conscious of the supramental Truth. I am still waiting for someone like that. Each one must do his best to achieve that.
15 July 1970
*
[Some temporary visitors claimed the right to intervene in the organisation of Auroville. In this regard Mother wrote:]
To the inhabitants of Auroville
Only those who have resolved to stay in Auroville for good have the right to intervene in its organisation.
22 January 1971
*
All that I have to say for Auroville henceforth shall be put in writing and signed by me.
15 February 1971
*
Blessings.
17 February 1971
*
210Calm, peace, tranquillity always, and always to speak as little as possible and to act only when it is necessary. To avoid unconsciousness as much as possible.
17 February 1971
*
True spirituality lies in the service of the divine work.
To refuse to work for all is only a demonstration of selfishness, and has no spiritual value.
The first thing to do to be able to live in Auroville is to consent to free oneself from one’s ego.
24 February 1971
*
[Message for the third anniversary of Auroville]
To all Aurovilians
My blessings for the progress and the growth of the collective and individual consciousness.
28 February 1971
*
To be an Aurovilian one must at least belong to the enlightened portion of humanity and aspire for the higher consciousness which will govern the species of tomorrow.
Always higher and always better,—beyond egoistic limitations.
February 1971
*
211Auroville is not a work of charity. A night spent in Aspiration is equivalent to a day’s work.
February 1971
*
One does not live in Auroville to be comfortable but to grow in consciousness and to serve the Divine.
1 March 1971
*
Is it to satisfy little personal needs that you have come to Auroville?
That was really not necessary. The ordinary world is there for that.
One comes to Auroville to realise a divine life which wants to manifest on earth.
Each one should make an effort in this direction and not remain hypnotised by the so-called “needs” which are nothing but personal fancies.
Look upward and forward, strive to surmount the animal human nature. Make the resolution and you will see that you are helped on the way.
3 March 1971
*
To work for Auroville is to hasten the advent of a more harmonious Future.
27 March 1971
*
In our smallest action we can serve the Divine if we have the right attitude.
15 April 1971
*
It is in work done as an offering to the Divine that the consciousness develops best.
212Indolence and inaction result in tamas which is a fall into inconscience and the very opposite of progress and light.
To surmount one’s ego and to live only in the service of the Divine, that is the ideal and the shortest way to acquire the true Consciousness.
27 April 1971
*
I disapprove totally of violence. Each act of violence is a step back on the path leading to the goal to which we aspire.
The Divine is everywhere and always supremely conscious. Nothing must ever be done that cannot be done before the Divine.
6 May 1971
*
Symbol of Auroville
The dot at the centre represents Unity, the Supreme; the inner circle represents the creation, the conception of the City; the petals represent the power of expression, realisation.§
16 August 1971
*
Each thing in its place and there will be a place for everything.
26 August 1971
*
213To say “it is impossible to include this thing”, simply means that its true place has not been found.
26 August 1971
*
All fancies are vital movements and most undesirable.
Liberty does not mean to follow one’s desires but, on the contrary, to be free from them.
27 August 1971
*
For each problem there is a solution that can give satisfaction to everybody; but for finding this ideal solution each one must want it instead of meeting the others with the will to enforce one’s own preference.
Enlarge your consciousness and aspire for the satisfaction of all.
28 August 1971
*
Auroville must not lie. Everyone who aspires to be an Aurovilian must make the resolution never to tell a lie.
28 August 1971
*
You see only your side of the question, but if you want to widen your consciousness it would be better to look from all sides impartially. Later you will discover that this attitude has great advantages.
17 September 1971
*
Widen your consciousness to the dimension of the earth and you will have a place for everything.
20 September 1971
*
214The ideal of the Aurovilians must be to become egoless—not at all to satisfy their ego.
If they follow the old human way of selfish claim, how can they hope the world to change?
23 October 1971
*
In the beginning the organisation of the week was conceived in this way: six days of work for the collectivity to which the individual belonged; the seventh day of the week was reserved for the inner quest for the Divine and the offering of one’s being to the divine will. This is the only meaning and the only true reason for the so-called Sunday rest.
Needless to say, sincerity is the essential condition for realisation; all insincerity is a degradation.
25 October 1971
*
Each one has good reasons to support his own opinion, and I am no expert to judge between them.
But from the spiritual point of view I know that with true goodwill all opinions can be harmonised in a more comprehensive and truer solution. This is what I expect from the workers of Auroville. Not that some give way to others, but that on the contrary all should combine their efforts to achieve a more comprehensive and perfect result.
The ideal of Auroville demands this progress—don’t you want to make it?
Blessings.
14 November 1971
*
215The only true freedom is the one obtained by union with the Divine.
One can unite with the Divine only by mastering one’s ego.
1971
*
Auroville wants to be the first realisation of human unity based on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo, where men of all countries would be at home.
January 1972
*
Message for UNESCO
Auroville is meant to hasten the advent of the supramental Reality upon earth.
The help of all those who find the world is not as it ought to be is welcome.
Each one must know if he wants to associate with an old world ready for death, or to work for a new and better world preparing to be born.
1 February 1972
*
Spontaneous work can be done only by a man of genius.
Is there anyone claiming to be a genius?…
Blessings.
3 July 1972
*
216To follow all the impulses of the lower nature is surely not the supramental way and has no place here.
What we want is to hasten the advent of the supramental, not at all to fall into the ugly condition of a humanity full of desires and low impulses.
10 July 1972
*
So long as we go on telling lies, we go on pushing the happy Future far from us.
13 July 1972
*
Auroville wants to shelter people happy to be in Auroville. Those who are dissatisfied ought to return to the world where they can do what they want and where there is place for everybody.
2 October 1972
*
For those who have been taken into Auroville on a wrong statement of theirs, there is only one solution: it is to cure in themselves all falsehood, that is to say, all that contradicts in their consciousness the Presence of the Divine.
22 October 1972
*
The true spirit of Auroville is collaboration and must be more and more so.
True collaboration paves the way to divinity.
22 October 1972
*
217[Three possible forms of greeting for those Aurovilians who wish to use them]
Au service de la Vérité
At the service of Truth
Truth
30 October 1972
*
Harmony
Good will
Discipline
Truth
I can work with you only if you do not say a lie and are at the service of Truth.
31 October 1972
*
Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing.
Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the Truth?
I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be.
It is only the Truth that can save us, truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed.
26 November 1972
*
Auroville has been created for a progressive superhumanity, not for an infra-humanity governed by its instincts and dominated by its desires. Those who belong to the infra-humanity, the animal humanity, have no place here.
Auroville is for those who aspire for the supramental and make an effort to reach there.
1 December 1972
*
218[About a cyclone on the night of 5 December 1972]
It is a warning that nature is giving, that those who do not have the true spirit of Auroville will have to change or to go if they do not want to change.
7 December 1972
*
Everybody has to progress and become more sincere.
Auroville has been created not for the satisfaction of the egos and their greeds, but for the creation of a new world, the supramental, expressing the divine perfection.
12 December 1972
*
Auroville has been created for a superhumanity, for those who want to surmount their ego and renounce all desire, to prepare themselves for receiving the supermind. They alone are true Aurovilians.
Those who want to obey their ego and satisfy all their desires belong to a subhumanity and have no place here. They must return to the world which is their true place.
18 December 1972
*
To all those who are telling lies
By the simple fact that you are telling lies you prove that you do not wish to be true Aurovilians.
If you wish to remain in Auroville you must stop lying.
19 December 1972
*
To be a true Aurovilian one must never lie.
28 December 1972
*
219Not the only solution. It is a centre of transformation, a small nucleus of men who are transforming themselves and setting an example to the world. This is what Auroville hopes to be. As long as egoism and bad will exist in the world, a general transformation is impossible.
28 December 1972
*
An amusing definition occurs to me: a divine anarchy. But the world will not understand. Men must become conscious of their psychic being and organise themselves spontaneously, without fixed rules and laws—that is the ideal.
For this, one must be in contact with one’s psychic being, one must be guided by it and the ego’s authority and influence must disappear.§
28 December 1972
*
Auroville has been created for those who want to progress, their own progress.
This is written for each one; each one is concerned with himself first.
28 December 1972
*
As long as they have desires, they are not true Aurovilians.
Let them not play with words: there is a world of difference between desires and aspiration. Every sincere person knows this. And above all let them not mistake their ego and their desires for the Divine. It is because they deceive themselves that they make this confusion.
220They must be conscious of the divine presence in themselves, and for that, the ego must be silenced and desires must disappear.§
28 December 1972
*
Jesus is one of the many forms which the Divine has assumed to enter into relationship with the earth. But there are and there will be many others; and the children of Auroville should replace the exclusiveness of one religion by the wide faith of knowledge.
1972
*
There is only one solution for falsehood: it is to cure in ourselves all that contradicts in our consciousness the presence of the Divine.
31 December 1972
*
It is not what you do but the spirit in which you do it that makes Karmayoga.§
5 February 1973
*
Auroville is not a place for politics; no politics must be done in Auroville and in the offices of Auroville.
15 February 1973
*
Auroville will become what it must be:
Only if and when the people living there will stop lying.
18 March 1973
*
221
When you say “I want to serve the Divine”, do you believe the All-Knowing does not know that it is a lie?
18 March 1973
*
Auroville is created to realise the ideal of Sri Aurobindo who taught us the Karma Yoga. Auroville is for those who want to do the Yoga of work.
To live in Auroville means to do the Yoga of work. So all Aurovilians must take up a work and do it as Yoga.
27 March 1973