General
Auromodèle is an attempt and an experiment. As it develops the organisation will be modified according to the need.
Every organisation should remain supple and flexible so as to progress constantly and modify itself when the need arises.
12 February 1963
*
Mother,
May I write in answer to X’s letter that any copy for a brochure or pamphlet written either in America or at the Ashram regarding the American Pavilion [to be built in Auroville] must first be approved by you?
Nothing on any Auroville project can be published without my approval.
Blessings.
22 March 1966
*
Dear Mother,
Our vegetable crop has been attacked by insects. While we are studying non-poisonous means of control, and until we have enough information to handle this problem, we thought of carefully using some insecticides. May we have permission to do this and your protection in handling them?
A mild and harmless protector is often more effective than a poisonous one.
1 April 1966
*
229Yes, the land itself has a consciousness, even though this consciousness is not intellectualised and cannot express itself.
21 March 1968
*
[Message for the Auroville Liaison Office, established to raise funds and screen persons interested in visiting or living in Auroville]
To be at the head of the Liaison Office one must feel absolutely equal towards all and every nation.
A complete sincerity is required in this attitude.
April 1968
*
Divine Mother,
Do you want me to personally interview the people who come here to work for Auroville before we send their pictures to you?
Yes.
20 June 1968
*
Divine Mother,
Last Sunday several of the Ashram younger children unexpectedly went out on the Auroville lorry and spent the whole morning in Auroville. There were several adults along, including X, Y, Z and myself, to look after them.
Should we encourage the children to go out to Auroville on Sundays if we properly supervise them, or not?
Yes, they can go if it is well organised.
Blessings.
28 June 1968
*
Divine Mother,
1. Do we need a Personnel Department in Auroville?
No.
Do not multiply departments, titles and names. It complicates life uselessly.
28 June 1968
*
[Message for the laying of the foundation-stone of Aurofood Private Limited]
We shall work for a better tomorrow.
14 August 1968
*
[About Peace—the Matrimandir Workers Camp and its surrounding area]
I should like this whole place to be called “Peace”, and that peace, actual peace should reign there, not only between the occupants but with the whole of Auroville, present and future.
29 December 1968
*
Be confident and peaceful yourself.
That is contagious.
My blessings are with you.
1969
*
[Message for the inauguration of the Auroville blockmaking unit]
To do always our best in all sincerity.
To be always our best in all sincerity.
23 June 1969
*
[Message for Auroson’s House, Certitude community]
A New House for a New Consciousness.
Blessings.
25 June 1969
*
Auromodèle is being built to make a concrete experiment and to learn how to live in Auroville.
18 August 1969
*
Divine Mother,
I want to help build Auroville. I feel that the most practical way for me to help would be to go back to America and work for Auroville. Is this your will?
My will is that you do some useful, practical and effective work in America or here according to your feeling.
With love and blessings.
31 December 1969
*
232The purpose of life in Auromodèle is to learn to live in Auroville, to make all the experiments necessary for learning to live in Auroville.
We want to find a way for the community to live for the Divine.
Each individual has his own way but the group community should find a way to suit everyone.
22 May 1970
*
[About interviewing the residents of an Auroville community on various subjects]
It would perhaps be better to ask people who, by a serious practice of yoga, have had at least a glimpse of the Higher Wisdom.
1970
*
Divine Mother,
What caused me to get sick this last time in Auroville? Will I be able to live in Auroville again?
Don’t think too much of yourself.
Love and blessings.
29 November 1970
*
[Message for the inauguration of Aspiration School]
A sincere will to know and to progress.
15 December 1970
*
233[Languages to be studied at Aspiration School]
(1) Tamil
(2) French
(3) Simplified Sanskrit to replace Hindi as the language of India
(4) English as the international language.
15 December 1970
*
[Message for the Auroville office in Pondicherry]
1971
A Sweet Year
2 January 1971
*
[Message for the Gazette Aurovilienne]
We would wish that this Gazette be the messenger of the future and of the progress to be realised for humanity.
January 1971
*
[Someone received a bill for food and transport between Pondicherry and Aspiration School in Auroville. She wrote to Mother, who replied:]
The education is free. But naturally the transport and food must be paid for.§
6 February 1971
*
[Someone asked whether chemical fertilisers and pesticides should be used in Auroville.]
234NO, NO, NO.
Auroville should not fall back into old errors which belong to a past that is trying to revive.
March 1971
*
Cultivation without chemical fertilisers and dangerous insecticides is advisable.
1971
*
[Messages for the inauguration of Last School, near Aspiration]
The future belongs to those who want to progress.
Blessings to those whose motto is: “Always better.”
In the physical the Divine manifests as Beauty.
6 October 1971
*
[Message for the flower-nursery “Beauty”]
Flowers are the prayers of the vegetal world.
The plants offer their beauty to the Supreme.
5 November 1971
*
[Significance of the garden surrounding the banyan tree at the geographical centre of Auroville]
Unity.
*
235Divine Mother,
About Mahalakshmi, Sri Aurobindo has said: “If she finds herself in men’s hearts surrounded with selfishness and hatred and jealousy and malignance and envy and strife, if treachery and greed and ingratitude are mixed in the sacred chalice, if grossness of passion and unrefined desire degrade devotion, in such hearts the gracious and beautiful Goddess will not linger. A divine disgust seizes upon her and she withdraws, for she is not one who insists or strives.…”
In fear that you may do this, and with sorrow that we have caused you pain, we, at Aspiration, ask your forgiveness. Many of us, many times, have promised to change; many of us again do so promise now. We pray for the grace. With our love.
My love and blessings are always with you for progress and transformation.fnWhen writing her reply, Mother said that this letter should be framed and kept in the place of meditation.
12 April 1972
*
Beloved Mother,
In the practical contact with the “outside” world I am often confronted with the decision how far I can comply with their forms and conditions and how strictly I should insist on the total newness of our attempts in Auroville.
A word from you would bring more light into my engagement with the world outside of Auroville.
At the service of the Divine in full receptivity and sincerity.
Blessings.
2 January 1973
*
236Social Regulations
[Someone asked about proper arrangements for the birth of an Auroville child. Mother advised that only the doctor and the father should be present, and added]
The most important thing is to be quiet, in a peaceful atmosphere so that the Force can work without disturbance.§
1967
*
… Of course the whole idea of marriage is amusing because I consider the thing childish.
You know in Auroville there will be no marriages. If a man and a woman love each other and want to live together they may do so without any ceremony. If they want to separate they can also do so freely. Why should people be compelled to stay together when they have ceased to love each other?
A lot of crimes would be prevented if people were free in this respect. They would not have to hide things from one another or even commit crimes to be separated. Of course, if they truly love each other they will continue to live together always naturally, without being forced to do so by any law. That is why this ceremony and ritual of marriage is so childish.
Children born in Auroville will have no family name. They will have just the first name.§
15 June 1968
[Mother suggested that the following letter of hers about marriage be published with the statement above.]
To unite your physical lives, your material interests, to become partners in order to face together the difficulties and successes, the defeats and victories of life—that is the very foundation of marriage, but you already know that it is not enough.
237To be united in your sensations, to have the same aesthetic tastes and enjoyments, to be moved in common by the same things, one through the other and one for the other—that is good, that is necessary, but it is not enough.
To be one in your deeper feelings, to keep a mutual affection and tenderness that never vary in spite of all the blows of life and can withstand every weariness and irritation and disappointment, to be always and on every occasion happy, extremely happy, to be together, to find in every circumstance tranquillity, peace and joy in each other—that is good, that is very good, that is indispensable, but it is not enough.
To unite your minds, to harmonise your thoughts and make them complementary, to share your intellectual preoccupations and discoveries; in short, to make your sphere of mental activity identical through a widening and enrichment acquired by both at once—that is good, that is absolutely necessary, but it is not enough.
Beyond all that, in the depths, at the centre, at the summit of the being, there is a Supreme Truth of being, an Eternal Light, independent of all the circumstances of birth, country, environment, education; That is the origin, cause and master of our spiritual development; it is That which gives a permanent direction to our lives; it is That which determines our destinies; it is in the consciousness of That that you must unite. To be one in aspiration and ascension, to move forward at the same pace on the same spiritual path, that is the secret of a lasting union.
March 1933
*
At Aspiration (Auroville)
They want to have a meditation at the same time and with the same programme as the Ashram. The necessary information should be given to X.
*
238Don’t you think that the two collective “meditations” that we are trying to have in Aspiration—on Thursday and Sunday at the same hours as the Ashram—are the minimum of inner discipline that our Aspiration should give to itself?
These rare moments of silence and the effort to concentrate together—if not to meditate—are they not an opportunity to receive your force and to open ourselves a little more to you and to Sri Aurobindo, helping to form our collective soul?
Without any wish to impose anything on anybody from outside, is not this elementary discipline, however, necessary in the beginning?
Concentrating together is indeed a very good thing and helps you to become conscious. But it cannot be imposed. I advise you and them to organise this moment of silence daily for all those who want to participate, but without imposing anything on the others. It is not compulsory but it is good.
13 November 1970
*
Auroville
Smoking must not become a public menace.
Those who cannot do without smoking may do it in a room expressly set aside for the purpose.
1971
*
Children below fifteen years will see only educational films.§
Care should be taken in selecting films to be shown in Auroville.§
All that encourages the lower movements and actions must be avoided.
25 February 1972
*
239Not more than a week.
27 February 1971
*
Drugs are prohibited in Auroville.
If there are any who take them, they do it deceitfully.
The ideal Aurovilian, eager to become conscious of the Divine Consciousness, takes neither tobacco, nor alcohol, nor drugs.
February 1971
*
Three years ago, you said:
“I have been asked what the rules are for life in Auroville.
“Thank God, as yet there are none.
“As long as there are none, there is hope.”
In July, again you were telling the young people of Aspiration, “I do not want to make rules for Auroville as I did for the Ashram.” But recently you wrote, “Drugs are prohibited in Auroville.” Has there been a change in your vision of Auroville?
Perhaps Aurovilians have not attained the level of consciousness that is expected of them.
4 March 1971
*
This is a lie.
240I have said, no drugs in Auroville, and I do not go back on my word.
This so-called experience warps the development and damages the consciousness; on the pathway to the Divine it is a fall into the rut.
This is clear, I think.
15 April 1971
*
Matrimandir Workers Camp Kitchen and Dining Room
In this country cleanliness is indispensable to avoid typhoid.
1 June 1971
*
[Message for the Matrimandir Workers Kitchen]
An absolute cleanliness is indispensable in this country and climate to avoid illness. Great precautions must be taken.
1971
*
Sexual activities bind man to the animal and they will be completely transformed in the future.
Those who want to work for the future and prepare themselves to live it, would do well not to be hypnotised by this 241subject which animalises the consciousness. Above all, do not associate it with love in your thought, for they really have nothing to do with each other.
23 November 1971
*
We are always too attracted by animals, and it is more interesting to look to the future than towards the past.
As far as I am concerned, a zoo does not interest me. We already tend to be too attached to animality rather than supermentality.§
31 August 1972
*
To take pleasure in dirt and disorder is a sure sign of a nature which rejects its psychic being and wants nothing to do with it.
21 October 1972
*
Cleanliness is the first indispensable step towards the supramental manifestation.
21 January 1973
*
Relations with Local Villagers
Mother Divine,
A few points on which Thy divine guidance is required.
There is resistance from the villagers in selling their lands. This may be because we have done nothing to integrate them with Auroville. They feel it is a foreign imposition on them which will do them no good but will drive them from their hearths and homes.
242Should we not demonstrate to them our real intentions by providing them with facilities such as a dispensary, a school, clean drinking water, etc.? This would be money well spent if it is done with love and humility and not as charity.
This is indispensable.
April 1969
*
[Someone working at the Community Workers Kitchen near Aspiration wrote:]
Once you have started giving food to the workmen, you cannot stop doing so, otherwise you would lose their confidence. This is imperative—show it to the others.
Blessings to all.
4 April 1969
*
[After the departure of the supervisor of the Community Workers Kitchen, someone wrote:]
Very good.
Goodwill for all and goodwill from all is the basis of peace and harmony.
Blessings.
13 August 1969
*
Those who are in contact with the villagers should not forget that these people are worth as much as they are, that they know as much, that they think and feel as well as they do. They should therefore never have an attitude of ridiculous superiority.
They are at home and you are the visitors.§
September or October 1969
*
To the inhabitants of Aspiration:
A relationship that is not only cordial but friendly with the inhabitants of the neighbouring village is absolutely indispensable. For the realisation of Auroville the first step is to establish a true human fraternity—any shortcoming in this regard is a grave mistake which can compromise the whole work.
My blessings are with all sincere effort towards harmony.
23 November 1969
*
In connection with the integration programme of the families from the village, which started on 7 August 1970, we pray for your guidance in the following:
(1) Whether they are to be treated as Aurovilians in all matters.
Yes.
Yes.
244All that they choose to take.
Certainly it would be good if somebody was intelligent enough to do it and do it well.
There must be a period of at least one month during which they are given what they ask. Afterwards we shall see what may be done reasonably.
10 September 1970
*
Yes—at cost price.
Blessings.
November 1970
*
From the spiritual point of view, India is the foremost country in the world. Her mission is to set the example of spirituality. Sri Aurobindo came on earth to teach this to the world.
245This fact is so obvious that a simple and ignorant peasant here is, in his heart, closer to the Divine than the intellectuals of Europe.
All those who want to become Aurovilians must know this and behave accordingly; otherwise they are unworthy of being Aurovilians.
8 February 1972
*
[Someone offered to help to clean Last School]
It is all right. But while putting things in order, be very careful not to offend the people from the Tamil village. It has been very difficult for us to win their confidence and nothing should be done which could make them lose this new-born confidence which is of capital importance.
Take with you someone who knows and speaks Tamil fluently so that you can talk with them and explain things to them.
They are your brothers in spirit—this should never be forgotten.
July 1972