INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, its CULTURAL PAVILIONS, Televised Educational Programs, International Collaboration & relation with the UNESCO

Transcription

1 History of Auroville during Mother s Lifetime Series INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, its CULTURAL PAVILIONS, Televised Educational Programs, International Collaboration & relation with the UNESCO The Mother s brief I am perfectly sure, I am quite confident, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind, that this University, which is being established here, will be the greatest seat of knowledge upon earth. It may take fifty years, it may take a hundred years, and you may doubt about my being there; I may be there or not, but these children of mine will be there to carry out my work. And those who collaborate in this divine work today will have the joy and pride of having participated in such an exceptional achievement. (The Mother on the International University She was then launching in the Ashram ) Auroville will be the place of an unending education,... Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity. (The Mother, Auroville Charter, ) The permanent university will be the key to Auroville s reason of being. It must be a leap forward; so that it can hasten the advent of the future, of a world of harmony, beauty and union. (Roger Anger s note of the Mother s words, ) Incomplete Draft Compiled by Gilles Guigan gillou@auroville.org.in 1 st August 2015 version (Gilles is always happy to receive feedback and to add/correct any information.) 1

2 Table of Contents Page On the word University 2 Summary 2 Chapter 1 The Mother visits Cultural Pavilions in Paris 3 Chapter 2 A first School and International University at the Ashram 4 Chapter 3 Auroville s International University and its Cultural Pavilions 19 Chapter 4 Auroville as a possible site for the U N s World University 32 Chapter 5 A First Cultural Pavilion in Auroville 41 Chapter 6 Future plans for Auroville s International University 45 Annexure 1 Article on the S.A.I.C.E. in the Bulletin by K. Joshi 1959 Annexure 2 Auroville First Phase Development Annexure 3 Auroville International University Academic Plan 1968 Annexure 4 Auroville Programme of Education by Y. Artaud Annexure 5 Auroville International University Centre brochure 1970 Annexure 6 Auroville and Education by K. Jhaveri 1970 Annexure 7 International University Auroville 1970 Annexure 8 Communication in the future education of Auroville by N. Dowset Annexure 9 Universe-city by N. Dowset Annexure 10 Excerpt from Auroville s Development Program Annexure 11 Proposal to establish a C.I.R.H.U. in Auroville by K. Joshi 1999 Annexure 12 Cultural & International Zones in the Auroville Master Plan 2001 Annexure 13 Roger Anger s final plan for Auroville s International Zone 2003 Annexure 14 Excerpts from Anupama s study of Auroville s City Centre

3 On the word University We will see in Chapter 2 of this document that the Mother launched the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre in 1951 in Pondicherry and that, on 1 st January 1959, she had to remove the word University from its name because there was never any idea of it being run by the Government as was the rule for all (other) Universities in India at that time. We will see in Chapter 3 of this document that the idea of establishing an International University in Auroville was there from the outset yet, it was always well understood it will have to be fully autonomous and very different from any University in the world and that it may never be possible/advisable for it to bear the name University. Why then speak of a University for Auroville? Because the Mother and the authors of most papers quoted here used this term and because it is much shorter and easily understood than International Centre for Higher Education and Research which is what all universities are and what it aims at becoming. Summary Chapter 1 tells us that the Mother must have visited the Cultural Pavilions of several countries of the world in two of Paris Universal Exhibitions when she was respectively 11 and 22. In the following Chapters we will see that she will use this idea of the 19 th century in the context of an International University instead of that of an Exhibition open to the public at large. Chapter 2 is the story of how the Mother launched her first major ACTION 1 that is, how circumstances convinced her to start a school in the Ashram in 1943 and how, in the early fifties she widened its scope by launching the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre 2 there despite very serious difficulties due to the fact that Pondicherry was still ruled by France. Initially this endeavour included building Pavilions representing the various cultures of the world but her actual priority has been to offer university-level courses to its students and, in 1959 already, the need for Pavilions seems to have diminished and no Cultural Pavilion was ever built there. Chapter 3 shows us how the Mother launched her second major ACTION, Auroville, after circumstances had completely changed: a first descent of the Supramental had taken place, Pondicherry and all other French territories in India had merged with it, Prime Minister Nehru s attitude towards her and the Ashram had completely changed and key world leaders had expressed interest in her A Dream. She included in Auroville s program several ideas she had originally planned in the framework of the Ashram but had not yet realised there such as that of building Pavilions representing the various cultures of the world, this time in the framework of Auroville s International University. Chapter 4 recounts the efforts made in , with the Mother s full support, to offer Auroville as a site for the World University the United Nations Organisation wanted to set up at that time. Retrospectively one wonders whether it was nishkama karma (desire-less action) on her part. In any case, some of the writings which were produced to this end are very interesting and are presented in this document or in its Annexure. Chapter 5 displays the best three models submitted for the design competition of Bharat Nivas the first of the Cultural Pavilions to be built in Auroville. Chapter 6 presents Dr. Kireet Joshi s proposal (in 1999) to establish in Auroville a Centre of International Research in Human Unity (C.I.R.H.U.) and the CIRHU building (a convention centre for 2,500 participants) which Roger Anger designed with Pino Marchese designed soon after. The beginning of Auroville s relationship with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) is also related here along several Chapters. 1 According to Dr. Kireet Joshi, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is the FOUNDATION from which the Mother launched three major ACTIONS. Sri Aurobindo Action being the third one. 2 She renamed it Sri Aurobindo International Education Centre (SAICE) on 1 st January

4 Chapter 1 The Mother visits Cultural Pavilions in Paris The first of the huge international exhibitions, the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations was held in London in 1851; but it is Paris, the Mother s home-town, which has hosted more Universal, or International, Exhibitions than any other city in the world. As it was in Britain that the industrial revolution had started and, as France could not compete as yet in this field alone, its first huge exhibition, held in Paris in 1855, was termed: Exposition Universelle des produits de l agriculture, de l industrie et des beaux arts. The following ones, in 1867 and 1878 were simply called Exposition Universelle. Universal in this context meant both international and that it pertained to all human activities. 1889, May 5 th October 31 st : 4 th Universal Exhibition held in Paris to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. It covers 95 hectares (240 acres), 35 countries participate and it receives 32 million visitors. The two most popular attractions built for this exhibition are the Eiffel Tower and a replica of a street of Cairo with its 25 houses, its minaret (a copy of that of Kalid-Bey Mosque), its 225 indigenous people, its donkeys, bazaars, coffees, etc. The Mother (then 11) and her brother Mattéo must have visited it and some of the Pavilions of the countries of the world as their mother, Mathilde, and grandmother, Mirra Ismalun 3, must have been very keen to show them at least the street of Cairo. 1900, April 15 th November 12 th : 5 th Universal Exhibition held in Paris to sum up the now past 19 th century. It covers 120 hectares (300 acres); 58 countries participate and it receives 51 million visitors. The second Olympic Games of the modern era take place in Paris during this Exhibition. The Mother (then 22) must have visited this exhibition and most probably some of the Pavilions of the countries of the world. (Those represented above were built along the river Seine.) Many more Universal/International Exhibitions hosting pavilions of the countries of the world will be held in large cities in various parts of the world (such as that of Shanghai in 2011). In 1965, the Mother will speak of Auroville as a Universal Township hosting Pavilions of the various cultures of the world in its International Zone. The Pavilions the Mother will speak of for Auroville are clearly of a different nature than those hosted in these exhibitions for they will be facilities of the University of a place, Auroville, destined to be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity. * * * 3 Mathilde Alfassa and her son Mattéo were born in Alexandria but Grandmother Mirra was born and raised in Cairo. 4

5 Chapter 2 A first School and International University at the Ashram 1942, March 27 th or 28 th : An extremely powerful Japanese naval force enters the Indian Ocean; it consists of six aircraft carriers and many other vessels to protect them. The bulk of this fleet is heading towards Sri Lanka and is commanded by the Admiral who had successfully commanded Japan s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor three and half months earlier, on 7 th December This is mentioned here because it will trigger a chain of events which will result in the opening of the Ashram School and also because, in 1927, when asked when and how India was likely to get freedom, the Mother had prophesised: When a Japanese warship will come to the Indian Ocean. 4 Interestingly, five days earlier, on March 22 nd, Sir Stafford Cripps had reached New Delhi with an offer from the British Government to the Indian leaders. In return for India s help during the war, at the end of it, it would be given the same Dominion status which Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Union of South Africa were already enjoying. Sri Aurobindo sent Doraiswamy 5 to Delhi with a letter to try and convince the Indian leaders to accept this offer but they refuse it. Sri Aurobindo will say that his effort in this respect was nishkama karma (desire-less action) for he expected them to refuse. Years later, Sri Aurobindo will write about himself: He supported the Cripps offer because by its acceptance India and Britain could stand united against the Asuric forces and the solution of Cripps could be used as a step towards independence. When negotiations failed, Sri Aurobindo returned to his reliance on the use of spiritual force alone against the aggressor and had the satisfaction of seeing the tide of Japanese victory, which had till then swept everything before it, change immediately into a tide of rapid, crushing and finally immense and overwhelming defeat. And indeed, Winston Churchill entitled The Hinge of Fate the Volume IV of his Memoirs of WWII which pertains to this period. 1942, December 20 th & 24 th : World War II is raging; planes from a Japanese aircraft carrier bomb Calcutta and its vicinity hitting docks, shipping and airfields in the area. It leads to an exodus of residents. Some disciples decide to leave to Pondicherry with their family in the hope of being safe close to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. (Until then children were not allowed at the Ashram.) 1943, August 15 th : Sri Aurobindo s 71 th birthday: Churchill has crossed the Atlantic to meet the U.S. President, F. D. Roosevelt, and discuss how best to proceed with the War. They appoint Lord Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command (SAC-SEAC). (3½ years later, Mountbatten will be appointed India s last Viceroy by the British Government.) 1943, December 2 nd : Feeling the need to educate the children who have come as a result of the Japanese bombing of Calcutta, Mother formally opens a school for about 20 children. She puts Pavitra and Sisir Kumar Mitra in charge of the pupils and is one of the teachers. The numbers will increase progressively along the years. 1945, May: Mother create the Ashram s Physical Education Department, which starts by organising the physical education programme for the students of the Ashram School and will later offer its program to all students of the Centre of Education and all Ashramites. Pranab is the Director and Udar organisers the activities. 1945, August 15 th : Sri Aurobindo s 73 th birthday. Following the explosion of two atomic bombs over two cities of his country, Japan s Emperor announces his country s official capitulation on Japanese Radio. WW II is de facto over. 6 4 Twelve years with Sri Aurobindo, by Nirodbaran, p Indra Sen (Aster s father) went along with him. 6 Japan s formal capitulation will be signed on September 2 nd on board of the American battleship USS Missouri in the Bay of Tokyo. 5

6 1947, August 15 th : Sri Aurobindo s 75 th birthday: India is free from British rule 7 (but some French and Portuguese pockets remain). Another prediction made by the Mother comes true: in 1920 she had told Sri Aurobindo India is free ; when asked How?, She had replied: Without any fight, without a battle, without a revolution. The English themselves will leave for the condition of the world will be such that they won t be able to do anything else except go away. On this occasion, Sri Aurobindo issues a message at the request of the All India Radio, Trichinopolly. In this message he spells out the five dreams which guided his life: 1. A revolutionary movement which would create a free and united India The resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation A world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life for mankind The spiritual gift of India to the world A step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect society... The Ashram s and Auroville s University will have to train students to work towards these ends. 1947, September 27 th : Maurice Schuman (envoy of the French Government) and François Baron (Governor of France s Territories in India) are granted an interview by Sri Aurobindo to explore the possibility of opening an Institute at Pondicherry for the study of Indian and European culture. In the course of his talk, Sri Aurobindo tells the French visitors that, next to India, he loved France most, and that the proposed Institute might afford facilities to students from all over the world to study the Indian civilisation with its many elements in creative interactions. On the political front, it was Sri Aurobindo s suggestion to the French and Indian Government that, while Pondicherry and the other French areas should certainly merge with India immediately, they should also be conceded the right to retain their cultural (as distinct from political) contacts with France, for this would be in the wider interest of both India and France. While the French Government was sympathetic to the proposal, it didn t find favour at New Delhi and this resulted in a mild confrontation and an unsavoury stalemate , December 30 th 1950 November: Sri Aurobindo publishes in the Bulletin of Physical Education a series of eight articles which will later be compiled in The Supramental manifestation upon Earth : An Introduction (December 1948), The Perfection of the Body (March 1949), The Divine Body (August 1949), The Supramental and Divine Life (November 1949), The Supramental and Humanity (January 1950), The Supramental and evolution (April 1950), The Mind of Light (August 1950), The Supramental and the Mind of Light (November 1950). 1949, April 1 st : In order to pressurise the French Government to let go of its Indian Territories, India starts an economic blockade of Pondicherry, which will last until Naturally it is also harming the Ashram and the development of its activities. 1950, August 15 th : Sri Aurobindo s 78 th birthday. It will be his last. 1950, November: The Mother publishes a first article in the Bulletin: The Science of Living. 1950, December 5 th : Sri Aurobindo leaves his body. It will be buried on 9 th in the Ashram s courtyard. 1951, February: The Mother publishes a second article in the Bulletin: Education 7 This date was chosen and announced to the surprise of all on June 4 th 1947 by the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, at the end of a press conference called to announce India s partition. He chose it because he had been made Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command on August 15 th 1943 and, exactly two years later, on August 15 th 1945 he had enjoyed victory on his front. It is also not by chance that both events took place on Sri Aurobindo s birthday as he had worked tirelessly for the victory of the allies in WW II as well as for India s freedom. 8 On the Mother, by K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, p

7 1951, April: The Mother publishes a third article in the Bulletin: Physical Education 1951, April th : The Mother had called for a Sri Aurobindo Memorial Convention on these two days thus celebrating also the 31 st Anniversary of her return to Pondicherry. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar will later write that it was a representative and distinguished gathering of intellectuals and educationists of India who felt concerned about the future. In her inaugural message, the Mother launches the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre: Sri Aurobindo is present in our midst, and with all the power of his creative genius he presides over the formation of the University Centre which for years he considered as one of the best means of preparing the future humanity to receive the supramental light that will transform the elite of today into a new race manifesting upon earth the new light and force and life. In his name I open today this convention meeting with the purpose of realising one of his most cherished ideals. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar commented later: The question had been posed earlier when the idea of the Convention was mooted whether, after all, a memorial to Sri Aurobindo should not take the form of a Yoga Institute carried on under the guidance of great Indian Yogis instead of a modern University. But clearly Sri Aurobindo himself had discussed the university idea with the Mother, and had also once told Surendra Mohan Ghose 9 that it was intended to develop the school and the Ashram into a university that was as large as life, and comprehended the past present and future. One of the participants, Kalidas Nag tells the audience: Thus, Sri Aurobindo is the University pointing to a radically new conception of the term. It should not be a mere copy of the universities of India or abroad. Sri Aurobindo University should aspire to provide the training ground for youths who would build up a new personality in a new universe. Nolini Kanta Gupta says that the ideal before the sponsors of the University would be nothing less than the founding of a new mankind upon earth with a new life and a new consciousness. 1951, August: The Mother publishes in the Bulletin an article on Vital Education. 1951, November: The Mother publishes in the Bulletin an article on Mental Education 1952, January 6 th : The Mother inaugurates the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. (Photo on the right) 1952, February: The Mother publishes in the Bulletin an article: Psychic and Spiritual Education. 1952, April: The Mother publishes in the Bulletin an article entitled: AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY CENTRE Part I The conditions in which men live on earth are the result of their state of consciousness. To seek to change these conditions without changing the consciousness is a vain chimera. Those who have been able to perceive what could and ought to be done to improve the situation in the various domains of human life economic, political, social, financial, educational and sanitary are individuals who have, to a greater or lesser extent, developed their consciousness in an exceptional way and put themselves in 9 Surendra Mohan Ghose was a veteran Congress politician who was the only person not living in the Ashram whom Sri Aurobindo received regularly after his withdrawal in

8 contact with higher planes of consciousness. But their ideas have remained more or less theoretical or, if an attempt has been made to realise them practically, it has always failed lamentably after a certain period of time; for no human organisation can change radically unless human consciousness itself changes. Prophets of a new humanity have followed one another; religions, spiritual or social, have been created; their beginnings have sometimes been promising, but as humanity has not been fundamentally transformed, the old errors arising from human nature itself have gradually reappeared and after some time we find ourselves almost back at the point we had started from with so much hope and enthusiasm. Also, in this effort to improve human conditions, there have always been two tendencies, which seem to be contrary but which ought to complement each other so that progress may be achieved. The first advocates a collective reorganisation, something which could lead to the effective unity of mankind. The other declares that all progress is made first by the individual and insists that the individual should be given the conditions in which he can progress freely. Both are equally true and necessary, and our effort should be directed along both these lines at once. For collective progress and individual progress are interdependent. Before the individual can take a leap forward, at least a little of the preceding progress must have been realised in the collectivity. A way must therefore be found so that these two types of progress may proceed side by side. It is in answer to this urgent need that Sri Aurobindo conceived the scheme of this international university, in order to prepare the human elite who will be able to work for the progressive unification of mankind and be ready at the same time to embody the new force which is descending to transform the earth. A few broad ideas will serve as a basis for the organisation of this university centre and will govern its programme of studies. Most of them have already been presented in the various writings of Sri Aurobindo and in the series of articles on education in this Bulletin 10. The most important idea is that the unity of the human race can be achieved neither by uniformity nor by domination and subjection. Only a synthetic organisation of all nations, each one occupying its true place according to its own genius and the part it has to play in the whole, can bring about a comprehensive and progressive unification which has any chance of enduring. And if this synthesis is to be a living one, the grouping should be effectuated around a central idea that is as wide and as high as possible, in which all tendencies, even the most contradictory, may find their respective places. This higher idea is to give men the conditions of life they need in order to be able to prepare themselves to manifest the new force that will create the race of tomorrow. All impulsions of rivalry, all struggle for precedence and domination must disappear and give way to a will for harmonious organisation, for clear-sighted and effective collaboration. To make this possible, the children should be accustomed from a very early age not merely to the idea itself, but to its practice. That is why the international university centre will be international; not because students from all countries will be admitted here, nor even because they will be taught in their own language, but above all because the cultures of the various parts of the world will be represented here so as to be accessible to all, not merely intellectually in ideas, theories, principles and language, but also vitally in habits and customs, and in all its forms painting, sculpture, music, architecture, decoration and physically through natural scenery, dress, games, sports, industries and food. A kind of permanent world-exhibition should be organised in which all countries will be represented in a concrete and living way. The ideal would be for every nation with a well-defined culture to have a pavilion representing that culture, built in a style that is most expressive of the customs of the country; it will exhibit the nation's most representative products, natural as well as manufactured, and also the best expressions of its intellectual and artistic genius and its spiritual tendencies. Each nation 10 As mentioned above. 8

9 would thus have a very practical and concrete interest in this cultural synthesis and could collaborate in the work by taking responsibility for the pavilion that represents it. Living accommodation, large or small according to the need, could be attached, where students of the same nationality could stay and thus enjoy the true culture of their native country and at the same time receive at the university centre the education which will introduce them to all the other cultures that exist on earth. In this way, international education will not be merely theoretical, in the classroom, but practical in all the details of life. Only a general idea of the organisation is given here; its detailed application will be presented little by little in this Bulletin as it is carried out. The first aim will therefore be to help individuals to become aware of the fundamental genius of the nation 11 to which they belong and at the same time to bring them into contact with the ways of life of other nations, so that they learn to know and respect equally the true spirit of all the countries of the world. For, in order to be real and workable, any world organisation must be based on this mutual respect and understanding between nation and nation as well as between individual and individual. Only in order and collective organisation, in collaboration based on mutual goodwill, is there any possibility of lifting man out of the painful chaos in which he finds himself now. It is with this aim and in this spirit that all human problems will be studied at the University centre; and the solution to them will be given in the light of the supramental knowledge which Sri Aurobindo has revealed in his writings. 1952, August: The Mother publishes in the Bulletin the second part of Her article: AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY CENTRE Part II Concerning the principles which will govern the education given at the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, it has been mentioned that each nation must occupy its own place and play its part in the world concert. This should not be taken to mean that each nation can choose its place arbitrarily, according to its own ambitions and cravings. A country s mission is not something which can be decided mentally with all the egoistic and ignorant preferences of the external consciousness, for in that case the field of conflict between nations might be shifted, but the conflict would continue, probably with even greater force. Just as each individual has a psychic being which is his true self and which governs his destiny more or less overtly, so too each nation has a psychic being which is its true being and moulds its destiny from behind the veil; it is the soul of the country, the national genius, the spirit of the people, the centre of national aspiration, the fountainhead of all that is beautiful, noble, great and generous in the life of the country. True patriots feel its presence as a tangible reality. In India it has been made into an almost divine entity, and all who truly love their country call it Mother India (Bharat Mata) and offer her a daily prayer for the welfare of their country. It is she who symbolises and embodies the true ideal of the country, its mission in the world. The thinking elite in India even identifies her with one of the aspects of the universal Mother, as the following extract from the Hymn to Durga illustrates: [Passage (Hymn to Durga) omitted] One would like to see in all countries the same veneration for the national soul, the same aspiration to become fit instruments for the manifestation of its highest ideal, the same ardour for progress, and self-perfection enabling each people to identify itself with its national soul and thus find its true nature and role, which makes each one a living and immortal entity regardless of all the accidents of history. 11 In an article entitled East and West published serially in Bengali in Udbodhan in , Swami Vivekananda had written: every nation has a national purpose of its own. Either in obedience to the Law of nature, or by virtue of the superior genius of the great ones, the social manners and customs of every nation is being moulded into shape, so as to bring that purpose to fruition. [ ] It doesn t matter much whether those superfluous customs and manners grow or disappear; but a nation is sure to die when the main purpose of its life is hurt. 9

10 Regarding these Cultural Pavilions, years later M. P. Pandit will remember what he had understood from Mother 12 (most probably on some other occasion): She said in sum: students from different countries, with their different civilisations and traditions, should be given opportunities to stay in independent blocks; students from France, students from Japan, students from America each in a separate block not demarcated by walls but by the free development of their own pattern of life, so that if any student wanted to know of the Japanese way of life, he could straightaway walk into the Japanese sector, a distinct part of the hostel, mix with the students there, see what kind of food they ate, how they cooked, how they lived. And at that time she said also that each country must have its own pavilion a pavilion where its own culture at its highest point should be represented in its special characteristic way... She saw the whole area round the Ashram, with all buildings contained in it, split in twelve different segments together forming the Mother s symbol. 1952, December 13 th : Jawaharlal Nehru (India s Prime Minister) writes a memorandum to the secretary general and the foreign secretary, M.E.A. (Ministry of External Affairs), On Exemptions to Aurobindo Ashram : 1. I have considered this matter carefully and am of opinion that the concession asked for by the authorities of Sri Aurobindo s Ashram in Pondicherry should not be granted. We should advise accordingly the Ministries concerned here In view of our difficult relations with the French Establishments in India [as Pondicherry was still ruled by the France], any such concession is undesirable, more especially because this means Indian currency going into Pondicherry. 3. The attitude of the Ashram has hardly ever been favourable to India and sometimes it has been definitely hostile 13. Sri Aurobindo was undoubtedly a great man and we should welcome any proper memorial to him, more especially a new educational centre. But Sri Aurobindo is no more and it is not quite clear how the Ashram is going to run in future. Such accounts as we had are not favourable and we have even heard that there are internal conflicts there. Most of the property stands personally in the name of Madame Alphonse 14, otherwise known as the Mother. So does the jewellery. It would be extraordinary for us to give this concession to a private individual So far as the University Centre is concerned, a number of prominent men in India have commended it, but I have failed to find out under whose auspices it will run and who will be responsible for it. To take some steps to support a University of this type, about which we know nothing, except that it is a memorial to Sri Aurobindo, is obviously not desirable. Etc , December 22 nd : Jawaharlal Nehru writes another memorandum, State of Affairs at the Aurobindo Ashram, to the general secretary, M.E.A. I had a visit from Shri Dilip Kumar Roy of Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. 1. He was much concerned at the state of the Ashram, which according to him consists of eight hundred persons now. He complained about the Mother. He said that while the Ashramites were almost all in favour of merger of Pondicherry with India, the Mother was very French in her outlook. 2. He also complained of the way the Mother controlled everything autocratically and dealt with all the 12 M. P. Pandit The Mother and Her Mission, p. 15 ff. 13 Note by Georges van Vrekhem: This was a grievous misconception by the prime minister. By now the reader has some idea not only of the love Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had for India, but also of the feelings of love and even worship they fostered in their disciples and students. Moreover, it would be thanks to the Mother s personal intervention that Pondicherry would merge with the Motherland without difficulties, at a time when the respective positions of France and India had hardened to the breaking point. (See Mother India, January 1990, pp. 9, 10.) 14 He means Alfassa. Some properties were registered in Sri Aurobindo s name. At the time of the merger, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust was registered and all properties transferred to it. 15 The Mother wanted to sell her jewellery to Indian disciples as the International University Centre was in dire need of money. Pages of Volume 1 of How they came to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Dhyuman tells the readers how he sold it. Some had been her grandmother s but, considering the quantity, most of it must have been donated to Her by disciples. 16 Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru External Affairs, p

11 moneys of the Ashram as if they were her private property. She gave no account of these public funds. She takes nobody in her confidence. There is no trust or committee to deal with the moneys or other matters of the Ashram. 3. Then he referred to the University. He said there is no University, but it has been declared that this has been started and money is being collected. Why is this money collected? He expressed his gratification at the fact that we refused to allow a concession to the Mother to sell her jewellery without payment of customs dues. 4. Shri Dilip Kumar Roy wanted us to bring some pressure on the Mother or on the French Government in regard to the Ashram and in regard to the so-called University. Etc. 17 Georges van Vrekhem commented in his book The Mother : These two memoranda throw a harsh light on the calumnies and the antagonism the Mother, and with her the Ashram and the Work, were subjected to in this case by a disciple of twenty-four years standing to whom Sri Aurobindo had written: I have cherished you like a friend and a son. Dilip K. Roy would leave the Ashram, around the time of his meeting with Nehru, to found his own ashram in Pune together with Indira Devi, the woman who had become the centre of his life and whom Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had saved from a certain death. 18 The Mother will keep his apartment in the Ashram available for him till , May 28 th : The Mother writes to Surendra Nath Jauhar this very definite statement. I am perfectly sure, I am quite confident, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind, that this University, which is being established here, will be the greatest seat of knowledge upon earth. It may take fifty years, it may take a hundred years, and you may doubt about my being there; I may be there or not, but these children of mine will be there to carry out my work. And those who collaborate in this divine work today will have the joy and pride of having participated in such an exceptional achievement. Let us note that a University aiming at becoming the greatest seat of knowledge upon earth would probably need to have thousands of students and that this is an extremely ambitious project. 1953, December 10 th : Opening of the University classes of the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. 1954, November 1 st : The de facto merger with India of these territories comes into effect. The economic blockade imposed on these territories by India since 1949 is thus lifted and, as it is now far easier for Indians to move to Pondicherry, many more people will join the Ashram. 1955, January 16 th : First visit of India s Prime Minister, J. Nehru, to Pondicherry since its de facto merger with India. He is received by the Mother and very positively impressed by what he sees; he immediately understands that he had been given a wrong impression by D. K. Roy and others about Her and Her attitude towards India, about the Ashram and its University. During his visit of the Ashram, the Prime Minister is shown a plaster model of a chariot representing the new Indian State of Pondicherry for the Ceremonial Parade in New Delhi, on Republic Day of 26 th January. 17 Ibid, p When Indira Devi did not want to go back to her family, the family guru, who was a tantrik, made an occult attack on her body. Her life was in danger. After intense pain and vomiting blood she swooned into unconsciousness. Mother saw the tantrik s action behind it and countered it. She was saved. (Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala, Down Memory Lane, p. 4) 11

12 This model, executed by Ashram artists and craftsmen, was conceived by the Mother to explain symbolically Pondicherry s future role which she explains as follows. 19 The new State of Pondicherry is here represented by a small country craft carrying a pavilion. The four principal pillars of this pavilion are the four Continents of Asia, Europe, Africa and America. Asia is represented by the Buddha, Europe by Pallas Athene, Africa by Isis and America by the Statue of Liberty. The spiritual supports upbear the globe of the world on which the Dove of Peace descends from on high. On either side of the globe stand an Indian lady with a welcoming leaf of palm and a French lady with an auspicious olive branch. This amity between the Orient and the Occident augurs well for an enduring peace and concord among nations. The open spaces between the four pillars of the pavilion are covered by entwining creepers with alternating red and white lotuses. The red and the white lotuses represent the twin spiritual Consciousness guiding the terrestrial evolution. At the four corners of the pavilion stand four guarding lions symbolising spiritual Powers. It is hoped that the State of Pondicherry will materialise this spiritual vision and become a meeting place of all the cultures of the world with the full consciousness of the fundamental Unity that binds the peoples of the world together. 1955, April 4 th : The Mother issues this message for the inauguration of the French Institute 20 at Pondicherry: In any country the best education that can be given to children consists in teaching them what the true nature of their country is and its own qualities, the mission their nation has to fulfil in the world and its true place in the terrestrial concert. To that should be added a wide understanding of the role of other nations, but without the spirit of limitation and without ever losing sight of the genius of one s own country. France meant generosity of sentiment, newness and boldness of ideas and chivalry in action. It was that France which commanded the respect and admiration of all: it is by these virtues that she dominated the world. A utilitarian, calculating, mercantile France is France no longer. These things do not agree with her true nature and in practising them she loses the nobility of her world position. 1955, June: Though no Pavilion has been built as yet, the idea of presenting the genius of various cultures of the world to the students of the International University Centre is very much alive. 19 Bulletin and CWM, Volume XIII (Words of the Mother I), Page: (or 374?) The photo on the left is from the Bulletin; that on the right from the Golden Chain. 20 The French Institute and the Ecole Française d Extrême Orient, both based in Pondicherry, were created by the French Government; they both operate under France s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS. 12

13 Exhibitions present the particular genius of some countries such as that in June of Germany. (See photo on the right) The Mother inaugurates an exhibition on Germany 1955, August 15 th : The quarterly exhibition this year on the 15 th August is held at Golconde instead of at the University Library. It is an exhibition on Japan and consists almost wholly of articles from Japan which the Mother had Herself used there and brought with Her in The arrangement of the exhibition is in four separate rooms. The first showing the country: the second Art and Culture, the third the comparison between the old (1915) and the new (1955), and the fourth Home Life. In setting the exhibition with recent Japanese members who were in attendance each day in their national costume. They had, in addition, prepared a Japanese garden in the Golconde grounds and a number of Bonzai or dwarf trees which is so typical of Japanese horticultural art, It was a very successful exhibition and attracted many visitors not only from the Ashram but from the town as well. (From the Bulletin.) 13

14 1955, September 29 th : India s Prime Minister, J. Nehru visits Pondicherry for the second time and meets again the Mother this time impromptu. He is accompanied by K. Kamaraj 21 (Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), his daughter Indira Gandhi, and Lal Bahadur Shastri. (Shastri will succeed Nehru as Prime Minister and soon after Indira will succeed him. Again, Nehru is obviously very impressed by what he sees.) The Mother, J. Nehru, Kamaraj, Indira Gandhi & Lal Baladur Shastri 1956, February 29 th : a first descent of the Supramental consciousness takes place. 1958, October 4 th : In the course of a conversation with Satprem, the Mother says in effect that humanity is using money and other resources in an unsustainable way leading it to ruin and that she wants to create an example of true living and of what is now called sustainable development. (This at a time when hardly anybody was aware of the now looming environmental and financial global disaster.) Eventually, it will be for Auroville to provide such an example. 1959, January 1 st : The de jure Merger of Pondicherry is nearing 22. In order to conform with India s laws 23 the Mother decides to merge the Ashram School and the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre into the Sri Aurobindo International Education Centre SAICE. (We will see that, years later, she will nevertheless use the word University in the context of Auroville though she was aware that another name may have to be adopted when time comes to establish it officially.) 21 According to Wikipedia, Kamaraj was widely acknowledged as the Kingmaker in Indian politics during the 1960s. 22 It will take place on 16 th August Like in most other countries in the world, at that time, universities in India as well as in France could only be managed by the Government. Knowing that they were anyway on the way out, the French authorities may not have bothered about what was then only the embryo of a University in a then remote part of the world. 14

15 1959, February: The Bulletin publishes an article on the International Centre Education which its Registrar, Kireet Joshi 24, has written. (See Annexure) The Mother is very pleased with it 25. It gives a good idea of the progress made in the past seven years. Excerpts from this article: Principles and Methods of Education The philosophy of education adopted by the Centre regards the child as a soul with a body, lifeenergy and mind to be harmoniously and integrally developed. Our education system is therefore so organised as to secure: (a) the fullest possible development of the physique; (b) a fruitful canalisation of the life-energy in pursuits that contribute to the growth of the personality; (c) a full training of the mental faculties in the field of the various Humanities and Sciences; and (d) the requisite help through a powerful spiritual atmosphere for the soul to come forward and gradually begin to govern the rest of the being. The following are the means adopted to ensure the above-mentioned ends: (1) There is a carefully planned programme of physical training, consisting of athletics, gymnastics, combatives, aquatics, field games and the Indian system of physical culture in which participation is obligatory. Contests and tournaments are spread all over the year, thus helping to keep up the interest. Individual attention is paid to each student and steps are taken to inculcate an aspiration in the youngsters to have not only a healthy body but also a form of grace, symmetry and beauty. They are encouraged to make the body increasingly supple and responsive. (2) The life-energy is canalised in disciplined and fruitful directions. The principle of assigning responsibility and leadership in various activities so as to develop courage and heroism among students is given its full value and practical application. Besides, students are encouraged to develop the qualities of straightforwardness, uprightness, frankness and honour. Those students who show interest and talent in art, photography, crafts etc. are given every facility to develop themselves in these directions. There is provision for learning music, vocal and instrumental (both Eastern and Western), and dancing (Indian and Ballet). Gifted artists are in charge of guiding the students in drawing and painting. Similarly, there are arrangements for students to participate in works of applied science carried out by the various departments of the Ashram, such as printing press, cottage industries, farms, building service, bricks and ceramics workshops, foundry and smithy, workshop for automobile and metal work, electrical and mechanical technology department, bakery, dairy, laundry, medical establishments etc. In addition, there is a technical course which students at the Centre take up along with their academic studies. Besides, the centre arranges every year several programmes of dramatics and dancing, and on every 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd December on which the School Anniversary is celebrated, there is a programme of physical display at the Sports Ground and another programme of dramatics at the Theatre both attended by a great number of distinguished guests from the city. (3) There is a graded instruction in languages, mathematics, history, geography and natural sciences including physics and chemistry, and other subjects which contribute to the development of the powers of the mind. Classical languages such as Sanskrit and Latin, European tongues such as English, French and German, and Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada are taught. The Centre has a Library with about 40,000 volumes, educational films, collections of natural history and additional facilities for the extension of knowledge. The library receives nearly On , Mother had appointed Kireet bhai as Registrar of the Centre of Education. 25 Personal communication from Kireet bhai to the author. This entire article is Annexure 1. 15

16 magazines and periodicals related to a variety of subjects from all over the world. Young students are helped by competent hands to choose and read books. Special exhibitions of literary, artistic or historical interest are organised and children encouraged to participate. There are, besides, meetings for visual education in the open air, at frequent intervals, with the help of instructional films. (4) Finally, there is the spiritual atmosphere pervasively providing a new life-power. Whether it is in art, literature, music or sport that one is interested, the stress is laid on and attention repeatedly directed to the divine verities sustaining their value. The entire life-organisation of the student bears the mould stamped upon it by the soul directing its course. To achieve this end, the presence, example and teaching of the Mother is a capital factor which creates a natural and spontaneous turn towards the cultivation and expression of the divine values of love, truth in speech and directness in action. The International Character of the Centre As the name of the Institution itself suggests, the centre is international in character; it is international not only because students from all countries are admitted here without any distinction of nationality or religion, but particularly because an attempt is made to represent here the culture of the different regions of the world in such a way as to be accessible to all, not merely intellectually, in ideas, theories, principles and languages, but also vitally in habits and customs, in art under all forms painting, sculpture, music, architecture, decoration and physically too through dress, games, sports, industries, food and even reconstruction of natural scenery. The ideal is that every nation with its distinctive culture should have a contribution of its own to make so that it would find a practical and concrete interest in cultural synthesis and collaborate in the work. Note that the word Pavilion is not used here. Such buildings do not seem to be necessary anymore. 1960, August 20 th : Excerpt of a conversation with Satprem. While filing various old papers, Mother happens upon the plan, in the mid 1950 s for a film studio by Usteri lake: MA, I, p.409 French, conversation, tape-recording available It s at [Usteri] lake. The property belonged to the mission and at that time its manager was a very good friend of ours, even though he was a missionary. He said that that they wanted to sell and that he would arrange for us to have it. Everything was arranged, and I was to receive the money to buy it (they asked for more than fifty or sixty thousand [rupees]). But then the money didn t come and our missionary friend left. He s no longer there; he s been replaced by someone else. Mother looks at a piece of paper Calling Antonin Raymond, the architect for the construction. Then there was also making ready temporary quarters for [an American film maker] Dr. Alexander Markey 26. But then Markey left; he died [in 1958]. That s what happens things change. It s not that the project stops, but it s forced to take other paths. Satprem asks: But this film project has been completely abandoned now, hasn t it? No, no. You see, it wasn t a studio it was a school, a school of photography, television and film. It s not at all buried. But Louis 27 has enlarged the program. This is only a small part of his extensive total program. He is planning to have a school of agriculture 1961, September 6 th : The Mother issues a message which explains the spirit in which university work is to be taken: 26 P. 54 of the April 1955 issue of the Bulletin, the Report on the Quarter mentions an exhibition by Dr. Alexander Markey [ ] of stills from the picture he is producing Gandhipath in which Babu Ramanarayan, the Indian Parlementarian, plays the principal role. 27 Louis Allen, an Ashramite from South Africa who was at that time in-charge of the Ashram s Lake Estate. 16

17 We are not here to do (only a little better) what the others do. We are here to do what the others cannot do because they do not have the idea that it can be done. We are here to open the way of the Future to children who belong to the Future. Anything else is not worth the trouble and not worthy of Sri Aurobindo s help. 1962, August 16 th : De jure merger of Pondicherry and other French territories with India. 1963, June 13 th : India s P. M., J. Nehru visits Pondicherry for the third time. Nolini-da and Nehru greet each other 17 Sisir, Pavitra and Nehru at the Centre of Education 1964, January 18 th : The Mother tells Satprem that Khrushchev has showed a real interest in her article, A Dream :... I saw Sudhir Ghose this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. 29 It seems (I don't know if it's quite true, because it's Z [a Russian disciple] who says so)... but Z sent him my article A Dream, on the possibility of creating a small international centre (I don't like the word "international 30, but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality. Well, I don't know whether it's correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this Sudhir is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi... In brief, Sudhir has sent me the new proposal the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for a conference. 31 At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving... Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won't upset the apple cart... We'll see. If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence. 28 Kennedy was assassinated on November 22 nd Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later on November 15 th. 30 This explains why she will call Auroville a Universal Township. 31 Nehru will die four months later on May

18 Chapter 3 On Auroville s International University & its Cultural Pavilions 1964, August 14 th : Excerpt from the first World Conference of the Sri Aurobindo Society held at the Ashram Theatre in Pondicherry, during which the decision to build Auroville is taken: A tape recording of Mother s answers to questions on human unity (the topic of a seminar with the Conference started) is played of Navajata asking questions to the Mother: Q. 1. How can humanity become One? By becoming conscious of its origin. Q. 2. What is the way of making the consciousness of human unity grow in man? Spiritual Education, that is to say an education which gives more importance to the growth of the spirit than to any religious or moral teaching or to the material so-called knowledge. Q. 3. What is a change of consciousness? A change of consciousness is equivalent to a new birth, a birth in a higher sphere of existence. Q. 4. How can a change of consciousness change the life upon earth? A change in human consciousness will make possible the manifestation upon earth of a higher Force, a purer Light, a more total Truth. Among the proposals approved by the Conference and Mother (President of the SAS) were: Development of a township [later named Auroville] near Pondicherry, with all the amenities and facilities for residence and work for those who want to prepare for a better life. Establishment of a studio for production of good films. 32 Publications and meetings in different countries of the world to explain what is spiritual education, how it can be imparted, and how a true world unity in diversity can be achieved. 1965, 1 st quarter: At first, the Mother showed very little interest of the township idea, which was Navajata s idea; but early 1965, the scope and magnitude of the project increase a lot (for example by including in it the cultural pavilions she had not yet been able to build for the Ashram s International Centre of Education) and Mother becomes sufficiently interested to take up this township project, to name it Auroville, and to ask Roger whether he would be its architect. He agrees to it. 1965, March 29 th : Kailas Jhaveri, who had worked for the U.N. in New York and has settled in the Ashram a year earlier, meets in Bombay the Deputy Director-general of UNESCO, Dr. M. Adiseshiah, whom she knew from before; she talks to him about Auroville and its aim, Human Unity. She asks him whether UNESCO could help Auroville. His answer is that UNESCO should be approached through the Government of India. Kailas then tells him that we would not like the Indian Government or UNESCO to interfere in our project. He then suggests that UNESCO should be approached through the affiliation of the Sri Aurobindo Society as a N.G.O. with UNESCO. The Mother had approved of this meeting beforehand and, when informed about its outcome, she commented Very good! When informed about this, Navajata says that UNESCO doesn t accept affiliations with religious organisations; to which Kailas replies that the SAS is not a religious organisation but a spiritual one and, having offered to explain the difference between the two, she prepares, at Nava s request, a paper on Religion and Spirituality in the light of Sri Aurobindo As can be seen, the project of Dr. Alexander Markey has not been abandoned. 33 This did not prevent Navajata from affirming fifteen years later, in to India s Supreme Court that the SAS is a religious organisation and that hence, as per India s constitution the Government has no right to interfere in the management of its Auroville project... 18

19 1965, June 23 rd : The Mother describes her plan of Auroville to Satprem (and two days later to Huta) 34 as she has now become very interested in it. To Satprem she says: each country would have its pavilion there: a pavilion for every country (that was my old idea) 35 ; some have already accepted, anyhow it s under way. Each pavilion has its own garden with, as far as possible, a selection of the plants and produce of the country represented. If they have enough money and space, they can also have a sort of small museum or permanent exhibition of the achievements of the country. And the pavilion should be built according to the architecture of the country represented: it should be like a document of information. Then depending on the amount of money they want to put in, they can also have quarters for students, conference rooms, etc., the country s cuisine, a restaurant of the country they can have all sorts of developments. Naturally the difficulty is to find enough money, but for example, for the pavilions, it s each country that will meet the expenses for its pavilion To Huta she says: Pavilion of all countries which present their customs and cultures. Strangely, in neither of these conversations does she say that an International University is part of her program neither while speaking of the International Zone and its Cultural Pavilions, nor while speaking of the Cultural Zone. She doesn t use another locution to say the same thing either. She also tells Satprem that in the Cultural Zone: there will be a cinema studio, a cinema school , September 8 th : The Mother issues her first message on Auroville: 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. 1966, March 19 th : Opening of the 1 st Exhibition on Auroville at the Ashram. Roger brought on 7 th his first plans for the township (the Rectangular and Nebula models). Mother is very happy and directs that an exhibition should be arranged where all would be able to see them. The Mother will decide to send to the UNESCO delegations a brochure of the Nebula model and the following paragraph which brings out in a nutshell the role of the Mother and her purpose in creating the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville: 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 in the accomplishment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, 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 She must have described it also to Navajata and others, but these are the only 2 records of her description in As we have already seen, in 1952, in an article entitled An International University Centre (which is now known as SAICE or the Ashram School ), she wrote that, in this University, there would be Pavilions of the various cultures of the world. As in 1965 they hadn t been built, she decided that they would come up, not in the Ashram, but in Auroville s International Zone. Obviously as part of Auroville s International University. 36 The December 1965 issue of Mother India included a first presentation of Auroville which included A Film Studio: for producing educational and cultural films. 37 In 1969 and 1972, this message was used again. Two words were added in

20 1966, April 23 rd : The Cold War is endangering the world 38 and the Mother tells Satprem: And that s precisely what I want that these two countries [America and Russia] clashing with each other should come here, and each of them have a Pavilion of their culture and ideal, and that they should be here, face to face, and shake hands , April: Mark Stephen Saxton completes the plans of his proposal for the American Pavilion at Auroville Especially because of the ongoing Vietnam War. 39 It must be remembered that the Mother said this during the Cold War. Read the following conversation. 40 Years ago, Poppo rescued the presentation document of this project which was in a bad state; he brought it to AV Archives in July Would you know more about this architect and his project, kindly share with AV Archives. 20

21 1966, September 21 st : The Mother speaks to Satprem of the need to invite the countries of the world to create something based on the Truth together, Auroville, and thus counteract the piling of deadly weapons of mass destruction which is extremely dangerous: I had a revelation, in the sense that it was more on 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 neutralise 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 centre 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 unfavourable, 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. 41 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. 41 However, on 3 rd February 1968, she will tell Satprem: For some time I used to think that [Auroville] was the only real possibility of preventing a war, but that seemed to me a slightly superficial explanation. 21

22 All this is simply to tell you that if nations collaborate in the work of Auroville, even to a very modest extent [such as the French government s offer of money] 42, 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. Satprem: 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 centre [Mother], which, on a world scale, is so to say unknown and almost nonexistent. But the centre, 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! [...] Unfortunately, following the present tendencies, for Auroville they are trying to get UNESCO S support (!) I, of course, knew beforehand that those [UNESCO] people couldn t understand, but... they are trying. Because everywhere people (it s a sort of superstition), everywhere people say, No, I ll open my purse strings only with UNESCO s approval and encouragement I am talking about those whose contribution matters, lots of people, so... Only, to me, all this is the crust, the quite superficial experience the crust; and things have to happen underneath, beneath that crust. It s just an appearance. I said that to those who look after Auroville, I told them, Those people [of UNESCO] are two hundred years behind the earth s march, so there s little hope they ll understand. But anyway, I didn t tell them not to deal with them I don t give any advice. But tiny details such as the one we spoke of just before [the French government s offer of a pension] are an indication: it is countries collaborating in the Truth without knowing it. And it s very good, it will do them good. It s good for them. It doesn t matter if they aren t aware of it [smiling]: they won t have the pleasure of having done it, that s all! [silence] But I was the first to be very interested, because it came like that [gesture of irresistible descent], with all-powerful authority: That s why Auroville has been created. [Mother goes into a contemplation, then resumes] I see all kinds of very amusing things pass by; just now, this reflection: Ah, it s a Tower of Babel in reverse. [Mother laughs] That s interesting! They united and divided in the construction, so now, they come together to unite in the construction. That s it: a Tower of Babel... in reverse! 42 A pension given to Satprem for having been held in a Nazi concentration camp during WW II. 22

23 1966, October: Plans and model of a Japanese Pavilion in Auroville, which Antonin Raymond is conceiving at the Mother s request: 23

24 1966, November: A resolution inviting participation and support to Auroville is presented on behalf of India to UNESCO s General Assembly by Mr. Poushpa Dass, who interestingly hailed from a place near Pondicherry. 43 While introducing this resolution, Mr. Poushpa Dass said: A little more than 50 years ago, Aurobindo, a young and ardent partisan in the struggle for the liberation of India, moved by the Grace while in the prison of Calcutta where he was interned, came to take refuge in the South, at Pondicherry, then a French territory. There he took the decision to give up all political activities so as to consecrate himself to a life of concentration and meditation. Very soon disciples came to join him and thus was created one of those astonishing spiritual communities known in India as Ashrams. There, Sri Aurobindo lived, meditating and writing. There reigned around him, by his subtle influence, an atmosphere of deep faith and peace of heart. From all parts of the world people came in search of that knowing which we know all the rest, and where there one single look of the master changed the entire life. From 1926, Sri Aurobindo who had retired from active life to enter into the silence of the sages, confided the direction of the Ashram to an early disciple, a French lady who thus became the Mother of the Ashram. Since 1950, when the Master left his body, the Mother animates this astonishing collectivity where the multifarious play of life goes on alongside the most implacable renunciations, where people, carrying in their secret heart the nostalgia of that immutable serenity which shines on the faces of sages and happy souls, mingle in the atmosphere of intense work and joy. They are 1,200, coming from all the corners of the world: engineers, architects, foremen, doctors, advocates, accountants, teachers, artists, agriculturists, and simple folk all of them exercise the same productive activity for the good of the community that they have joined, in the same way as they would for their own good in their ordinary social life. Thus they form a vast industrial and commercial collectivity with its stadium, swimming pool, hospital, playground, school, cinemas, foundries, its workshops for mechanical constructions and prefabricated concrete, its press, automobile workshop, bank, stores, dairy farms and poultry farms, etc. Now this extraordinary institution, unique in the world, by its natural progression, seeks on the occasion of the 20 th Anniversary of our organisation and in harmony with its aims and principles, to enlarge its action and to radiate still further. It wants to regroup, in a vaster centre, a real town where people of the entire world will be ready to live according to the ideal of Sri Aurobindo s thought. It will be a town of beauty, of culture, of research, where each one will be able to live in harmony and freedom. Auroville, for that will be its name, will stretch some kilometres from the north of Pondicherry. It will be on the Coromandel Coast, facing the Bay of Bengal a vast territory covering 20 sq. kilometres, offering, by virtue of its geography, an infinite variety of possibilities for housing. An area of great natural beauty will be preserved intact all around the city. At the centre of the town there will be the Park of Unity, a circle of gardens overhanging a lake. All this, you will say is a mental construction, a dream. Perhaps. But does it not awaken an echo in the greatest depth of our soul? Don t we find there again that marvellous world of our hopes of long ago, the kingdom glimpsed and then lost, the castle where the beautiful princess sleeps, expecting the look of him who will awaken her? Don t we all carry in some part of our secret heart, the nostalgia of that immutable serenity, of that pure light, of that indefinable joy which radiates on the face of those happy beings and sages, of that smile which illumines the face of the Buddha? Since those who live at Sri Aurobindo Ashram approach a certain perfection and marvellous plenitude, why should Auroville be different? For, in fact, the will to live, the aspiration for happiness and the desire of an incessantly renewed quest translated by the great questions Why am I here? Where am I going? Do I have an aim? What is the meaning of my life? What is my own position considering the fact that I exist and I live? Are the only references which will ever be demanded for entry into Auroville and the only baggage truly necessary to sojourn there? All the rest will be given including the spirit of sacrifice, faith, hope and love. That is why the Government of India wish that the General Conference, acting in conformity with the aims of our organisation, whose ideals we solemnly reaffirm on this 20 th Anniversary, give to this unique and exceptional project in some respect unprecedented, its moral support and its confidence. Then UNESCO s General Conference passes unanimously the following resolution: Resolution 4. 36: The General Conference. Being apprised that in connection with the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of UNESCO, the Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, India, a non-governmental organisation affiliated to the Indian Commission for UNESCO, proposes to set up a cultural township known as Auroville where people of different countries will live together in harmony in one community and engage in cultural, educational, scientific and other pursuits, 43 More resolutions of support will be approved by UNESCO s General Conference in 1968, 1970 and

25 Noting that the township will have pavilions intended to represent the cultures of the world, not only intellectually but also by presenting different schools of architecture, painting, sculpture, music, etc. as part of a way of living, Appreciating that one of the aims of Auroville will be to bring together in close juxtaposition the values of different civilisations and cultures, Expresses the belief that the project will contribute to international understanding and promotion of peace and commends it to those interested in UNESCO s ideals. 1967, April 28 th : The Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO writes to the Secretaries General of all national Commissions for Cooperation with UNESCO to inform them about Auroville and request them to put Auroville in contact with interested institutions, organisations and individuals in their respective countries which share similar ideals and aims. 1967, June 3 rd : In a conversation with Satprem, the Mother speaks of one of Yvonne Artaud s ideas, education via world television which is very similar to what the internet will achieve decades later. This idea will be mentioned again later. I saw Yvonne on the 31 st. She stayed for about an hour and told me of her hopes: she sees the possibility of a sort of world television (I don t know how that would be arranged), with a telephone and a central office where answers to all possible questions would be collected each question answered by someone eminent or qualified. The result would be the organisation of a universal well, a world education that would really be an education for all countries, in which the knowledge and best qualities of every country in the artistic, literary and scientific fields would be gathered in a kind of transmitting centre, and all you would have to do would be to get into communication with it. So then, instead of having more or less incapable teachers to teach what they know also more or less, you would have the answer to every question, the most competent and best answer. Thus there would really be all over the earth an education that would be the best possible, from which everyone would receive only what he wants; you wouldn t have to attend classes, a number of useless classes, in order to catch the little you want to know: you would have it just by getting into communication with the centre; you would ask for such and such a number and would get your answer. If it could be realised, it would be very good. It means that the most beautiful works of art, the most beautiful teachings, all the best of what humanity is GOING to produce, would be collected and within the reach of all those who had a television. There would be pictures along with the explanation, or a text or speech. A kind of imposing central building where everything 25

26 would be gathered. I found it rather attractive. I told her that we would have that in Auroville (not the central office: just a receiving set). She said that instead of teachers who teach poorly what they know, there would be the best teaching for each subject... (I didn t ask her WHO would select those people that remains the somewhat delicate point.) But I found the idea very attractive. She said things are moving in that direction. 1967, July 11 th : The Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO writes to all Ambassadors/High Commissioners in India to inform them about Auroville and request them to put Auroville in contact with organisations in their respective countries which share similar ideals and aims. 1967, November 11 th : Navajata (General Secretary of the SAS) gives a talk on All India Radio after reading it to Mother and obtaining her approval. Among other things, he says: Auroville will also participate in the Design of Integrated Living programme of UNESCO. There will be an integrated effort and a practical research towards creating conditions, where each individual can occupy the place for which he is best suited, develop himself to his highest possibilities, inner and outer, and give his maximum to mankind. Permanent cultural pavilions for each country and also for each State of India are an important feature of Auroville activities. To give an example, the Japanese pavilion will have a Japanese garden, houses built in the Japanese style, a lake, a boat pier, a meditation house, rooms for the Tea ceremony, guest rooms, library, museum and an exhibition hall for Japanese handicrafts, works of art, etc. One will experience in this pavilion, the aesthetic sense and culture of Japan in a living manner. Thus each country and each Sate of India will plan its own pavilion. Auroville will also have an International University, perhaps the first in the world, established specifically for world unity. In fact the whole of Auroville will be a living university. [ ] Regular conferences, seminars on different aspects of world welfare, youth camps and other similar activities will bring together those interested in a collective effort towards a new and better life. A physical education department covering all games and sports, [ ] a film studio with an artists colony, 26

27 1967, December 31 st : The Mother explains Auroville s economy to Satprem and tells him: 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. I want to insist on the fact that it will be an experiment: it s to make experiments experiments, research, studies. 1968, January 12 th : The Mother tells Satprem: It seems I have given Yvonne [Artaud] full freedom to organise Auroville. So she s calling it the University Town 44. She was told that the word was used in a strict sense; she said to me, Oh, I explained, and on the invitations for the 28 th [Inauguration Ceremony], she wanted to put the University Town ; but we didn t ask her advice, we made the invitations and put, The city of universal culture. That s always the sign of people who have a purely mental power of construction: they want to force words to express what they want to say. I told her, It won t do, you can talk all you like, for everyone the word will have the meaning it has; invent another word or turn of phrase. [aggressive tone] But THAT S what it means... The Mother seems to be referring here to the word University and to the fact that she had to change the name Sri Aurobindo International University Centre into Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education precisely because, at that time, in India the word University could only be used by Government run institutions , January 21 st : Roger lands in Madras with his latest model knows as the Galaxy. 30 Campus 31 Faculties 32 Faculty of medicine 40 Pavilion of India 41 International Pavilions 46 Radio, Television & Cinema studios 48 Convention Centre Note that, 20 years later, Roger will locate his C.I.R.H.U. building on the place earmarked here for the Convention Centre. 44 Ville Universitaire in the original French meaning: a city which has a university. 45 Aster says that, in a letter to her father (Indra Sen), Mother wrote that the word University refers to an idea of the past (or something on this line). It would be good if Aster could share with us the Mother s exact words. 27

28 1968, probably prior to the inauguration ceremony: A brochure presenting a First phase development ( ) is released. (See Annexure) Among other things it says: International Sector and Cultural Pavilions: This is the most important sector in the township. It is expected that as many nations as possible will participate in this sector by putting up cultural pavilions. The Indian National Commission has addressed 143 National Commissions commending the project and seeking their participation. The Education Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has addressed a personal letter to all the Ambassadors of our country abroad to give this Project adequate publicity among the government and non-government organisations in the respective countries to which they are accredited and to also enlist popular support for this Project. Another circular has also been sent by the Ministry of Education to all the Embassies and High commissions in New Delhi bringing this Project to their notice and seeking the support of the Embassies and the High Commissions in obtaining their countries participation in the Project. This sector will reflect the cultures of different regions of the earth. It is expected that each nation will participate in Auroville by setting up its permanent cultural pavilion on a model which most displays the habits of the country it represents. The architecture, decor, cuisine, etc. of the pavilion would be such as would create the atmosphere of the country and is expected to contain the following: 1. A residential house for students, citizens of the participating country and permanent residents and visitors. 2. A garden with plants, flowers, vegetables and fruits from that country as can adapt themselves to the soil and climate of Auroville and if possible, replicas of natural beauty spots of the country. 3. A museum or an art gallery showing works of art such as painting and sculpture in original or its reproduction. It can also exhibit handicrafts and the nation s most representative products natural as well as industrial. 4. A library of books, recorded music, photographs and films as well as other items which may best bring out the various aspects of the county and its cultural heritage. 5. Other objects which most express its intellectual, scientific and artistic genius, spiritual tendencies and national characteristics and emphasise the unity of man. It will, therefore, be seen that the cultures of different regions of the earth will be represented in Auroville in a concrete and living manner, accessible to all not merely intellectually in ideas, theories, principles and languages; but also in habits and customs; art in all forms painting, sculpture, music, architecture, etc.; as well as physically through natural scenery, dress, games, sports and diet. In the financial estimates provision has been made only for land development as we expect that each participating nation will spend its own money in putting up its pavilion. Auroville International University: The need for a truly International University has been felt by various peoples in various countries. We are happy that the Indian National commission referred this project which has been under correspondence by the Indian National commission with UNESCO, to us for implementation. A full project report is under 28

29 preparation 46. It is, however, expected that during the first phase covering the years , our expenditure on this would be limited to land development and starting a few experimental institutions which will ultimately develop and evolve into the various faculties of a full University later. Provision in the financial estimates has, therefore, been limited to land development plus a lumpsum provision of Rs. 15 lacs for the various experimental institutions that we may be starting. This full project report was indeed prepared; it is dated 28 th February (See Annexure) 1968, February: India s Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi receives in New Delhi some of the delegates on their way to Auroville s Inauguration Ceremony. 1968, February 28 th : Inauguration ceremony of Auroville, in the presence of 5,000 well-wishers including a large number of Ambassadors and Consuls. During this ceremony, youth representing each state of India and each country of the world places a handful of earth of their respective states or countries in a white urn as a symbolic gesture of human unity. The Mother reads its Charter, which is mainly about research and education (university activities): 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. Taking 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. 46 See below 29

30 Some high UNESCO officials attend the ceremony, together with many Ambassadors and Consuls. Following this event, Kailas writes for UNESCO a paper based on Sri Aurobindo s writings: Auroville and the Ideal of Human Unity. Auroville s Inauguration Ceremony 1968, October-November: UNESCO s General Conference passes unanimously its second resolution in support of Auroville. Resolution : The General Conference, Recalling that in connection with commemoration of the 20 th anniversary of UNESCO, the Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, India, had taken steps to establish an international cultural township known as Auroville where people of different countries will live together in one community and engage in cultural, educational and other pursuits, and that this project has been commended to all those interested in UNESCO s ideals in resolution 4.36 passed at the fourteenth session of the General Conference, Considering that Member States, believing in the pursuit of truth and the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, have agreed and determined to develop and to increase the means of communication between their peoples, Considering also that, despite the technical advance which facilitates the development and dissemination of knowledge and ideas, ignorance of the way of life and customs of peoples still presents an obstacle to friendship among the nations, to peaceful co-operation, and to the progress of mankind, Taking account of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideas of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples and the Declaration of the Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, Noting that the foundation stone of Auroville has been laid on 28 February 1968 and that the youth of many nations participated in this solemn ceremony symbolising the coming together of nations in a spirit of human unity, Confident that Auroville with its many interrelated sub-projects will add a new dimension to UNESCO s activities for the promotion of international co-operation and understanding and appreciation of cultural and human values, Invites Member States and international non-governmental organisations to participate in the development of Auroville as an international cultural township designed to bring together the values of different cultures and civilisations in a harmonious environment with integrated living standards which correspond to man s physical and spiritual needs. 1968, November: A detailed report on the state of the project states the following: Education Beginning of a University of the Future Through our study in depth of the electronics art of television we hope that the whole curriculum of a truly international university will unfold. From art history, aesthetics, and a deep look at contemporary art we will gradually create a full-fledged curriculum in the humanities of the modern world. From our study of the electronic art of television we will go on to embrace all the courses necessary for an understanding of contemporary technologies in the cybernetic age. The motivation of the new university will be to recognise the unity of all human knowledge so that we may help man to be ready, when the time comes, to exceed himself, and to enter the new stage of evolution. 30

31 1968, December 28 th : An All India Radio Symposium on Auroville is held in Pondicherry; Dr. M. Adiseshiah, Deputy Director-general of UNESCO, concludes and comments it at the end; he ends his speech by saying the following before reading the latest UNESCO resolution. We have tried [to realise human unity] in UNESCO, in the UNESCO world, which represents the plusses and minuses of humanity which represents the world as it is, and not the world as it can be, or should be we have tried every way, and we have failed. And so now we turn to Auroville, and to its foundations, the firm foundation on which its human unity, its universal harmony, is to be built. That foundation is MAN... MAN in all his glory, in his divinity, in his unfathomable depths which he can reach, and which Auroville will make it possible for man from everywhere-from Africa, from Europe, from Asia and from the Americas-to achieve. It is not surprising therefore that UNESCO has embraced Auroville as a programme which embodies its major and fundamental purposes. 1968: Yvonne Artaud presents to the Mother Education = 1. (See Annexure) 1969: Yvonne Artaud presents to the Mother Univercité = 1. (See Annexure) 1969, January 30 th : Excerpts of notes taken by Roger during his meeting with the Mother: Yvonne [Artaud]: A bridge to project the future. The question is how to realise her ideas. Television 47. [Dr. Malcolm] Adisheshiah 48. Unexpected stand. Yes, I felt that it was like a link between earth and heaven which would facilitate its realisation. 1969, February 1 st : Excerpt from Roger notes of the conversation he has with Mother: Which program should be submitted to UNESCO in the framework of the commission to be created soon? 1) Education by television The permanent university will be the key to Auroville s raison d être. It must be a leap forward; so that it can hasten the advent of the future, of a world of harmony, beauty and union. 2) Permanent Auditorium for the organ where one would listen to music coming from higher domains straight from higher planes. I am preparing somebody to execute it. 49 3) University of Human Unity 47 This refers to the entry dated 3 rd June Dr. Malcolm Adisheshiah was UNESCO s Deputy Director-general. 49 The Mother is most probably speaking of Sunil. 31

32 1969, February 28 th : Dr. M. S. Adiseshiah, Deputy Director-general of UNESCO, is interviewed on All India Radio 50 by Melville de Mello, a very well-known interviewer at the time. Kailas has felt inspired to write the questions to be asked and she submitted them, through friends, to de Mello, who amazingly asks them exactly as drafted by Kailas. Two of these questions are: Q.: Sir, in view of the fact that UNESCO is intensifying its efforts in educational research and programmes, how do you think UNESCO should, could or would help in the Auroville project of a World University? Dr. Adiseshiah: I must tell you frankly we have not come to that stage yet in UNESCO. We have not yet thought of a way through, of what we will do in the individual projects that constitute Auroville. But I can say that just as the basic pedagogy, the psychology and the spiritual foundation of the educational system of Auroville, which I have just referred to, is that of UNESCO, embodied in UNESCO's Charter which we are striving after, which we have not been able to realise elsewhere, so too is the programme for a World University where men and women at the highest level, the intellectual elite of the world, could be banded together, not to split the atom and produce new bombs, not simply to explore space in complete secrecy, but to explore the heart of man and the minds of men in order to promote knowledge, to build development in our under-developed countries in the third world, and to assure peace. Q. It is said that Auroville, by its very ideology, architecture and aims, would present a spontaneous design of integrated living, the kind that is sought after in the UNESCO resolutions on the Design for Living. How far do you think this will be rea1ised in Auroville? Dr. Adiseshiah: Now you touch on another programme of UNESCO for which we are grateful to this country. It was at the international symposium held here in 1966 in New Delhi, to commemorate the life and contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru, that this great programme called the Design for Living was initiated. It is a programme, an inter-disciplinary, an international programme for restoring man's lost equilibrium with nature. Well, we are making a start on this programme and. it is our hope that Auroville will be one demonstration of this large programme which will once more restore to man his primacy over the world which he inhabits, and bring him into equilibrium with nature and with his environment, whether it be the rural countryside or the urban living conditions which characterise so many of our countries. Kailas manages to obtain the tape of this interview even before it was aired and she plays it to the Mother who holds her hands and tells her: Kailas do you know what I felt when I listened to the interview? A very powerful being came down and tied Auroville to the ground. It was needed and he did it. Now, Auroville will be a reality and the world will see it. 1969: International Zone & Cultural Zones according to the modified Galaxy Master Plan sent to the Ford Foundation: A: International Zone B: Crown C: University of Peace (Université de la Paix) D: University Campus Note that the University of Peace (C: dark grey) is where the Administrative Belt now is. The Campus is the Cultural Zone. 50 This interview had been arranged by Nandini Satpathy, who at that time was both close to the Mother and Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting. 32

33 1969 March 25 th : Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, issues this message from New Delhi: Pondicherry was Sri Aurobindo s place of political exile and spiritual unfolding. His effulgent message radiated to different parts of the world from Pondicherry. It is appropriate that seekers of enlightenment from various lands should found a new city there bearing Sri Aurobindo s name. It is an exciting project for bringing about harmony among different cultures and for understanding the environmental needs for man s spiritual growth. May Auroville truly become a city of light and of peace. Indira Gandhi The Prime Minister of India 1969, July 30 th : Mother speaks to Satprem of various means to communicate Auroville s message: I wondered if there couldn t be a publishing house in Auroville, because Auroville is an international city and there could be an INTERNATIONAL publishing house. There would be books in all languages. It would be interesting. [ ] So there could be a publishing house in several languages. Satprem: What we should also have, which has such a tremendous power, is cinema. Oh! Satprem: To have a studio. Listen, [name] told me she saw your book as a movie. Satprem: Yes, that s quite possible. It would be interesting. Satprem: Because you reach millions of people with cinema. And it has everything: light, music, colour, expression it has everything. But it would be possible. Satprem: Only it would take an enormous amount of capital. Yes. Satprem: But I d really enjoy working on making a film. I find it is such a complete means of expression: images, music, everything is there. You know Paolo?... He makes movies. Why couldn t you do that together?... He s going to come back. Satprem: I have a feeling it s an extraordinary medium to work in. Yes. Satprem: A book touches some people, but it s still rather limited, whereas a film touches millions of people right away. So to make a beautiful film, a TRUE film... Oh, but with that book you could make a very good film! You could look into it when Paolo comes back, he s used to it. It doesn t matter, it could start in Italy, then go on to France, then... It goes everywhere. Yes, that s an idea! Satprem: The power of a beautiful picture!... It penetrates so easily, you can convert so many people open, in any case, open the doors. Yes, yes. [long silence] And... (what s it called? I can t remember the word; you know, the movies you have at home?)... 33

34 Satprem: Television. Television... But it would be better as a movie than on television. Satprem: Yes, television is very limited. And then the viewing audience for television is usually rather common. It reaches many people too, but it's limited. I m telling you this because Yvonne s idea is to have television in Auroville (they re looking into it). A receiving and transmitting centre not to depend on others but to have a television station in Auroville itself. Satprem: But television is very well suited for scientific and technical programs, documentaries, information on that level it s very useful. Yes, but not for literature. Satprem: Not for beautiful imagery. I don t know, I ve never seen it. Satprem: It s just a little screen like that. I used to like the movies a lot. I always thought something could be done with them. Satprem: Oh, yes! It s an extraordinary medium. 1969, October 6 th : Mrs. Indira Gandhi, India s Prime Minister comes to the Ashram. She first visits an exhibition at the Auroville office where the whole Auroville project is explained to her in detail by Navajata and Roger Anger. She is received by a large cosmopolite group of Aurovilians each with a badge indicating the country represented. The Prime Minister remarks that she found the designs of the buildings very exciting 1969, December 11 th : Excerpt from a letter from Dr. S. I. Firstman 51 to Suresh Hindocha 52 : I also want to comment on the paper by William P. Netter 53 that you sent: The Problem of television Programming in India. As a layman in this field, I found Netter s paper to be extremely insightful. I am especially intrigued by his seeking way to communicate on other than the world level through use of the television medium. And, I am very supportive of his sensitivity to not creating materialism amongst people while teaching them to upgrade their lifestyle. We in the Western world have done a great job of creating a society of materialism. And, we have sowed much discontent amongst people whose expectations cannot realistically be fulfilled at present, within the economic structure of the western world. Television can be such a powerful force for the positive development of people. And, I look forward to future papers by Netter to follow his progress in this path. 1970, January 5 th : Excerpt from a letter from André Morisset (Mother s son) to Suresh Hindocha: I have read with great which interest Firstman s letter which was included in yours of the 29 th December. [ ] 51 Dr. Firstman, Intercorporate Director for Urban Systems Analysis of the Planning Research Corporation had been approached by Suresh Hindocha to use their state of the art planning technique to plan Auroville s development to be financed by the Ford Foundation. André Morisset and Roger had met him in Paris. All this was done with Mother s full support. 52 Suresh and his father, Laljibhai Hindocha (brother of Huta), would be appointed by Mother in 1970 as two of the eight members of the Comité Administratif d Auroville. Mother s love for both of them was very obvious. 53 William would much later live at Samasti. 34

35 There is some likelihood that financial help can be secured through international agencies for particular projects which can at once be needed by Auroville and useful to India. For instance the television and satellite programme and some parts of the International University. 1970, May 7 h : Excerpt from a letter from Sidney Firstman to Suresh and Harish Hindocha: I was impressed for example with the definiteness with which the writers of Equals One state on page 17, all the residents will be connected with the most modern means of communication (walkie-talkie, videophone, closed circuit television, etc). These, do not constitute luxury items but the nervous system of the society. It struck me that may be the Aurovilians, as they begin to live the life of Auroville, won t want this type of open intrusion into their selves. 1970, May 31 st : Excerpt from the minutes of the meeting of the Comité Administratif d Auroville (CAA) signed by Mother: Television Suresh has prepared an estimate for the Television project: dollars for equipment and dollars for the building. The draft of the covering letter has been sent to William [Netter]. The final letter will be sent to UNESCO and the Indian National Commission as soon as possible (probably end of October): Excerpt from Auroville News Gazette No 1: Aurofilms: Aurofilms is the film and TV wing of Auroville dedicated to producing films with a purpose educational, cultural and social in all the major languages. 1971, February end: Excerpt from Auroville News Gazette No 2: Aurofilms: The shooting of the colour documentaries of the Darshan of the 24 th November and the anniversary functions of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education has been completed. These documentaries are meant for films and television. The film on the life of Sri Aurobindo is under preparation. 1971: Yvonne Artaud presents to Mother her Auroville Programme of Education. (See Annexure) Among other things, Yvonne writes: Thus the enormous educative potential of a society at work will be utilised and liberated. Indeed it is this which constitutes the univercity of the future: a town open to all those who want to learn, a society where work, education and play are no longer separate, but instead profit from one another and complement one another to develop in a single cultural whole, in a consciously evolving society. After reading it, Mother writes: Here is an excellent programme which has to be realised with my blessings. 35

36 Chapter 4 Auroville as a possible site for the U N s World University 1969, October 26 th : Kailas Jhaveri writes to the Mother and Kireet reads this letter to her: I had a talk with Kireet [Joshi] on the U.N. project of the World University. On the one hand it seems better to work quietly by ourselves without bothering about this project. On the other hand, we felt that perhaps the time has come when we can no longer work in isolation inasmuch as the world around us is fast-moving and we wish to combine both these movements in our experiment. Personally I feel that this project has come up on this large scale to celebrate the centenary of Sri Aurobindo and fulfil one of his visions: human unity. I feel sure that He will preside over its execution. However we realise that we cannot accept the U.N. project unless we can have the freedom to work it out on our lines (The Mother affirms this sentence by a gesture of nodding, writes Kireet in the margin). But I see a line of action whereby it seems possible to secure the requisite freedom for our action. It is on the following basis. This being an educational project, the U.N. would undoubtedly consult UNESCO. And most probably [Dr. Adiseshiah] will represent UNESCO at the U.N. for this project. Inasmuch as [Dr. Adiseshiah] has publicly commended our Centre of Education as the only place where the dream has become a reality and affirmed that its pedagogy; its psychology and its spiritual foundation is that of UNESCO, embodied in its charter and which they are striving after but they have not been able to realise it anywhere else. (The Mother makes a note of these words.) I feel that the opening has already been made for us and this project will be given to us in the interest of the world. Since [Dr. Adiseshiah s] remarks are based on our Centre of Education we can demand the requisite freedom of action for the Auroville University only on the grounds that it will be an extension of our experimentation in the Centre of Education which has worked independently on the lines of Sri Aurobindo s teachings without any outside interference. And if they find that our experiment will fulfil the aims that they have in view as the Deputy Director-general believes it will they may collaborate in its development. This can be worked out with [Dr. Adiseshiah] without any difficulty. Incidentally, since [Dr. Adiseshiah] is not well-grounded in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and does not have the full picture of the practical side of our education, I feel it would be best if he is assisted by Kireet. I suggest Kireet for more than one reason, but also because Kireet and [him] have mutual liking and admiration for each other and they go very well together. Besides, the U.N. requires a person of great dynamism, strong conviction and indefatigable perseverance of will, and I can think of no other person better suited for the job who can handle it with equal keenness of mind and caution. (The Mother remarks on the passage Kireet had underlined and asks What does this mean? Does it mean that you have to go? For that is impossible. ) Knowing the U.N. and its manner of work, its diplomacy and difficulties, it seems to me to be a crucial issue and I am aware that one would have to handle it with caution, but in spite of all the difficulties I can foresee, I am certain of Your victory. Is this Your Will? Do You feel that it would be good to link up the World University project of the U.N. and accept Auroville University as an expansion of our Centre of Education? Would You approve of our working on the lines suggested? I await Your reply and direction with all humility and surrender to Your Will. Kireet writes down the Mother s reply: It is not exactly like that. It is not an extension. It is a New Creation. The whole of Auroville is education. It is to teach how to live for the New Tomorrow (late): Mme. Maurice Herzog 54, representing UNESCO visits Auroville; she is received at Aspiration s cafeteria by Navajata and Roger Anger. 54 She was also the wife of Maurice Herzog who had conquered the Annapurna summit in the Himalayas and had been France s Sports Minister in General de Gaulle s government. 36

37 1970, March 15 th : First meeting of Auroville s Administrative Committee (C.A.A.). It is to meet every Sunday and its members (selected by the Mother) are: Anjani, André, Navajata, Laljibhai, Suresh, Dayanand, Malik and Roger. Shyamsunder is to join them for legal matters and Wil is to be the Committee s secretary. 1970, April 17 th : Minutes of the special meeting on World University. Present: Navajata, Julie, Norman, Seyril, Kireet, Yvonne, Medhananda and Suresh. (Roger, André, Anjani and Kailas are not able to attend the meeting): The reason for calling the meeting was explained briefly by Suresh. Julie Medlock explained further details from her memo sent to all the members of the meeting. She has received a letter from Arthur Lall who has been appointed by U. Thant to handle the setting up of the U.N. World University. In his letter the following important points were mentioned: i. Japan is making a bid to have the World University at Japan. ii. It is felt that the university should have campuses dispersed over several parts of the world. iii. Each campus would have 50 to 75 faculties with about 500 scholars. iv. The country bidding for a campus should provide all facilities and funds. v. The university should be for post-graduates. vi. The aims of the World University are (i) to realise the U.N. Charter in all its aspects (ii) to set up interdisciplinary problem-oriented fields like pollution, urbanization, cultural exchanges, and others. This initiated questions on the concept of World University at Auroville. The following concepts were prominent. i. The city of Auroville itself as a university in an experimental form. ii. The education at Auroville on the whole is meant to bridge the gap between life and education. The education is provided by providing an educational environment for the students of Auroville. iii. Auroville could be the World Centre of Education by a chain of three Televisions satellites which would cover whole of the World. In fact: as Auroville wants to be a new creation, education at Auroville may or may not be continued as an extension of the work done in education at the International Centre of Education. It was felt that Auroville should not compete with others in order to get a World University. In any case we do not want a university in the accepted sense of the Word University. Our concepts being totally different to those of outside world, it could mean that our concepts may not be accepted. As a clear agreement was not reached it was decided to hold another meeting on Wednesday 22 April 1970 at 8 p.m. at the Society House. At this meeting, members will be asked to bring written matter which will be discussed and a suitable conclusion will be drawn from these. 1970, April 22 nd : Minutes of the special meeting on World University. (Present: Anjani, Navajata, Jay, Maude, Kireet, Yvonne, Medhananda, Shanti, Kailas and Suresh). Yvonne started the discussions by suggesting that whatever material prepared for the World University should be sent directly to U. Thant and a copy to Arthur Lall. Julie Medlock explained that Arthur Lall had been appointed by U. Thant to handle the World University program. It was later decided to send the material through Anjani to Arthur Lall, UNESCO, the external affairs ministry and other relevant official channels for their information and necessary action. A draft of a covering letter prepared by Yvonne was read to the members present. All the members were very much impressed by the draft and it was decided to include it in the package to be prepared with very minor modifications. Then the question of the World University concept was discussed. It was clear that the concepts at Auroville outmoded the multi-campus concept as outlined in Julie s letter. It brought forward various aspects of a World University Centre as envisaged by the Mother and published in a Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in The concept was to have cultural pavilions of each country, built and maintained by the country concerned. In order to help build these pavilions at Auroville, we should gift the land to the country concerned and 37

38 invite the country to build a pavilion. The invitations would have to be supported by the Government of India. Julie suggested that a possible package could include the following: i. Yvonne s letter, ii. The Mother s Dream, iii. The extract from 1952 Bulletin, iv. A general covering letter, v. A specific proposal on what campus we would ask for on the basis of the talents and resources available at Auroville. The idea of campus was objected to on the grounds that it meant U.N. control over our ideas and ideals. However as the whole idea of education at Auroville is experimentation, it was decided that the so called, campus would be an experimental campus where any external controls would destroy its experimental status. It was pointed out that if Auroville were to grow as we expected it to grow, then a World University as envisaged by the Mother would automatically emerge which would eliminate any UN controls or interference. In view of the present conditions, Auroville needs all help it can get from a world wide body like the U.N. It was argued that the UN is not likely to grant a campus to Auroville without controls. It was pointed out that Auroville would get the campus through UNESCO as it is the agency through which the UN deals with subjects like the World University. Auroville will be able remain independent of external controls on the basis of its experimental nature of which UNESCO recognises. It was finally decided that a package would be prepared by Yvonne, Kailas, Seyril and Anjani and would be read to the Mother by André for her approval and then sent to Arthur Lall and others. 1970, May 3 rd : Excerpt from the Minutes of the Administrative Committee (C.A.A.) signed by the Mother with blessings: World University: It was felt that a whole session should be devoted to this subject and it was decided that this should be done next week. 1970, May 17 th : Excerpt from the Minutes of the Administrative Committee (C.A.A.) signed by the Mother with blessings: World University: It was felt that there should be coordination between the people who are working on the project, so that different sets of literature are not posted to the various organisations. A number of other issues regarding the setting up of Cultural Pavilions were considered. The various issues will have to be specifically placed before the Mother and Mother s guidance sought regarding of the constitutional set up of the pavilions, who will be in charge, to whom the pavilions will belong, how the work will be organised, etc. There are very urgent issues which letters to Government of India have to be sent within a week s time, since instructions from the Government of India to the Indian Delegation to the United Nations will have to be issued shortly if at all we expect the Indian Delegation to sponsor Auroville s cause in the July session of the United Nations. 1970: A brochure, entitled: Auroville, International University Centre is released. It contains: The Charter of Auroville, UNESCO s resolutions of support to Auroville dated 1966 and 1968, the message from India s Prime Minister dated 1969, and open letter from Yvonne Artaud to U. Tant (Secretary General of the U.N.O.), an excerpt from the Life Divine ( At present mankind is undergoing an evolutionary crisis..., excerpts of the Mother s 1952 article: An International University Centre, A Dream and two letters of support from the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO. 38

39 AN OPEN LETTER TO U THANT Secretary General of the United Nations Your Excellency, At this moment when the attention of the whole world is directed toward the possible founding of a truly universal university, we make bold to submit plans for a pedagogy of peace and a planetary education as they have been conceived for Auroville. It has seemed to us that whatever advantages a purely academic international university may present for the evolution of an international culture and the formation of an international body of specialists, such a university would suffer fatally from the same limitations as those which, in the eyes of our youth, make suspect even the most magnificent and best established of our national universities. Actually what our university faculties lack most is a wide field of activity where students can put into immediate practice the abstract, theoretical ideas which have been proposed to them: a society which would be a direct extension of the university and which, instead of keeping the students in quarantine in the seats of a lecture hall, would offer them the constant and inexhaustible stimulation of a full political, economic, social and creative life. What is needed is a new system of education, one which does not limit by entrance examination or otherwise the access to university life, but which opens it to everyone to the artist and the artisan, for example, the factory worker and the farmer according to his tastes and capacities; a system which would enter the whole life of man his aspiration, his work, his play in the rhythm of his daily development. Rather than another set of magnificent buildings with laboratories, libraries and lecture halls, there is a critical need for a new, organic and living relation between the university and society, for an open school in an open community which would put an end to the malaise of the younger generation and inaugurate an era of lifelong education for everyone. This is why Auroville has been conceived not as a city with a university in it, but as an experimental symbiosis of university and society a univercity whose first aim would be the progressive creation of a town, of a society entirely dedicated to education and the evolution of planetary man. In order, however, to realise that miracle which will one day be life-long education for everybody, many taboos must be overcome, and as many bridges must be built as there are now divisions, not to say abysses; between nation and nation, race and race, between school and society, between education, work and play, between university education and primary, maternal and prenatal education, between science and the humanities, between one philosophy and another, one generation and the next. It is only such bridges and conquests that will enable humanity to become reconciled to itself and its fabulous destiny, which is to transform itself ceaselessly. Finally a great reversal of perspective is necessary, one which looks forward rather than backward. This means that we must keep a place in our hearts for the unknown, for the future, be it in the form of a new scientific or philosophical discovery, of a meeting with beings from other solar systems or even with our own children, the existence of a new space-time, or simply the presence of the infinite. If, like adult dogs and cats, we find it difficult to play together, we can have the assurance that the puppy and the kitten who grow up together will be able to live together when they are adult, and to practise together the plays of friendship. That which little children possess spontaneously, the capacity to recognise and adopt the other, the unknown, into the unity of a native universal consciousness, we should not destroy in our schools but rather develop in appropriate educational environments. And such environments can be the fruit only of a society which is dedicated to the ideal of oneness. This, in brief, is what we consider our pedagogy of oneness. To return to the world university itself which is the subject of this letter, let us say that only a union of the universities and other educational centres of all the countries in the world could pretend to this title. Such a union connecting all in an immense network of continuous exchange of information would enable every student in the world to profit from the best teachers and specialists, within an electronic 55, omnipresent and global community. 55 This obviously refers to Yvonne s idea of world television, which the internet has become. 39

40 The central seat of such a universal university should not belong to any nation in particular, but to mankind as a whole. It should be a free port for new ideas, a sanctuary for youth, and an asylum for all those persecuted by the justice of the past and redeemed by the justice of the future. It would be a true laboratory for a society of the future) a working pilot prototype of the global world to come and a continuous source of inspiration to all. For more than a generation Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in their Ashram and its International Centre of Education in Pondicherry have prepared this universal consciousness, this universal philosophy, this universal aspiration. Today this new consciousness is materialising in Auroville, the Univercity, which is building into its very structure the ideal of human unity proposed by Sri Aurobindo. And the noosphere of our planet, surcharged with hope, is sending out its first invitations for us to dream together and to create together the earth for our children. YVONNE ARTAUD Auroville Service of Education 1970, May?: Navajata asks Kailas to write a project report for a World University for human unity; he adds that the U.N. deadline is in two weeks. She calls for Sri Aurobindo s help and is able to complete the task within the two weeks. This is her introduction: COMPILER S INTRODUCTION Basically, we may say, Auroville is Education ; for the educational future of the world is bound up with this growing City of Dawn where a new consciousness is to be variously educed. But, for convenience's sake, we have three sections in the material I compiled here. A paper on Auroville and its raison d être precedes that on Auroville University, and one on Education and Research in Auroville succeeds it. The first paper shows how Auroville with its ideology and the background of cultural pavilions of all nations of the world offers the right and unique conditions for a free search after the Truth and hence serves as a necessary basis for the fulfilment of the aims and objectives of the kind of university envisaged in the second paper. This paper on Auroville University indicates its lines of researches, the vision behind them and the programme; its ideals and aspirations; its aims and objectives; its own unique contribution and its necessity for humanity. It is an attempt to sketch, in brief the crisis of our age, the basic,issue, the proposed solutions, the reason of their failures to end war and revolutions and to bring about peace, order and unity by systems of international law and control of armaments, education, ideal of brotherhood, religion, etc.; the true solution of all problems and the unique role of Auroville University, which to state very briefly adapting some words of Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's is as follows: A perfected world cannot be created or composed by men who are themselves imperfect. The conditions under which men live are the results of their state of consciousness. ( Wars are made in the minds of men and it is therefore in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed. We go a step further and call for a change of consciousness which alone, we believe, can transform not only the mind, but all the other members of one's being, including the body itself.) To seek to change conditions without changing the consciousness is a vain chimera. For man is not a machine and cannot be changed by any machinery of laws, social, political, economic, religious, or moral. However, a change of consciousness can only be brought about by a conscious evolutionary process and an attempt, at selffinding, self-perfection and self-transformation. To be or to transcend and become something or to bring something high and noble into our being is the whole labour of the Force of Nature. Knowledge, thought, action, whether social, political, religious, ethical, economic, or utilitarian cannot be the essence or object of life. They are activities of the powers of being or the powers of becoming, the dynamis of the Spirit and its means of discovering what it seeks to be. To be and to be fully is Nature's intention and the necessity in Man. To become complete in being, in consciousness of being, in force of being, in delight being and to live in its integrated completeness is the perfect living. To be fully is to of be universally, to be one with all... All this implies that the function of the University in Auroville will not stop with providing conditions and 40

41 facilities for the development of all the powers of one s being through the study of arts, humanities and sciences and their researches, which area necessary part of the disciplines of university education. Through them all and above all, the true function of this university will be to bring forth from the inner potentialities of its students a new creation, the creation of a divine race. The distinguishing feature of Auroville University will therefore be not only the researches into all that was and even all that exists and their synthesis synthesis of all knowledge; synthesis of all aspects of the Truth; synthesis of all ideologies; synthesis of all realisations of the Past, Present and Future; synthesis of all cultures; synthesis of all nations, paving a way for the realisation of human unity in diversity, peace, development and progress in all parts of the world; a bridge between Matter and Spirit or Science and Spirituality; a bridge between man s external realisations and his highest aspirations, etc. The unique contribution of Auroville University will be a new creation with a new culture that will be integral and universal, thus changing the whole life of the earth-consciousness and bringing about a new world order... The aim of Auroville University will be always to move forward ceaselessly towards greater and greater perfection by an endless education, constant progress and a youth that never ages. We are confident that Auroville will provide the right and necessary conditions to make a full and free enquiry into the glorious future of the human race by a rich and vast synthesis of all our gains on the material and spiritual planes which will fulfil the highest and most noble aspirations of humanity everywhere. The Mother hears the letter and this synopsis and wants to listen to the whole paper. While Nolinida, Counouma, Amrita and Navajata wait outside. She listens with rapt attention to the whole report on Auroville and Education. Pournapréma returns the synopsis and the papers and writes down the Mother s comment: Dear Kailas, It is very, very good. The Mother writes to Kailas separately: Kailas, it can be sent. Blessings. Kailas article will come out later in the Mother India issue of July 1970 and will cover 28 full pages of this Monthly Review of Culture. 1970?: Kailas writes to the Mother: Kireet told me that You approve of the linking up of the World University Project of the U.N. with Auroville University, provided that we are given the requisite freedom of action to work on our own lines. On the other hand, I am told that a letter has been sent to U. Tant, asking them to accept Auroville University as a World University and to send their committee of experts to draw up with us a plan for Auroville University. I pray for Your forgiveness for any transgression in this note, but I write it because I fail to understand Your intention in this approval inasmuch as to me it seems to be rather difficult and precarious approach, and may invite unnecessary interference. Besides, our direct action may place us as one among many applicants for the U.N. project. The Mother asks Kireet to write her answer: This is horrible. I did not know that Norman was to give the letter. It should be stopped. What I had in view when I sent my note with Kireet was to let UNESCO make this proposal to the U.N. in the interest of the world, which I felt could have given our project its due perspective and importance and at the same time would have left our hands free to work out our own plan... To Kailas suggestion that the letter should be sent to Dr. Adiseshiah UNESCO and that he should present it to the U.N., the Mother says: That is better. 1970: Following a visit by Roger to discuss with her UNESCO s project Design for Living, Kailas writes to the Mother: Roger came to talk about Auroville and UNESCO. He told me about his talks with Pouschpa Dass and Gilbert s trip to Delhi in that connection. I do not know if You would approve of my writing this, but since the matter came to my attention and Roger wanted me to give my views regarding it, I put before You 41

42 what I feel impelled from within, not as a criticism, but as a concern. And I pray for Your forgiveness for any error or transgression. I have enquired with Navajata too on the subject and I am told that a decision has been taken to make Auroville a part of the project of Design for Living sponsored by Ramesh Thaper and a few others, and that we are proposing to offer Auroville for their experiment, because it is believed that the Design for Living will be soon accepted by UNESCO and a huge sum of money is expected to flow to it. I do not understand why we have to tag ourselves to somebody else s tail for the sake of money. It seems to me quite undignified, undiplomatic and uncalled for. I feel that it implies a lack of faith in the merits of our own project and the strength of the vision of Sri Aurobindo and its sure action. I do not see why Auroville should not be accepted on its own merits by UNESCO, fulfilling its aims, when [Dr. Adiseshiah] as the Deputy Director has publicly expressed his strong convictions and the importance of Auroville, our International Centre of Education and the Ashram for India and the world and extolled them as the only hope for humanity. Besides, I am told by Roger that in spite of all oppositions and great difficulties, [Dr. Adiseshiah] has been able to get the preliminary sanction of $ 3,000 from the Executive Board of UNESCO as a token of their acceptance of Auroville. It seems to me most ironical that we are ready to have more faith in the Design for Living than in Auroville in spite of Your Force working with us all the time and that we are ready to make Auroville a part of the Design for Living project, thereby giving it a subsidiary position just for the sake of money! Somehow, I feel that this action is vitiated by our overdue concern for the money. I have studied the Design for Living project and in spite of their good points and common objectives, Mother, I feel that our fundamental aims, approach and the basis of work are quite different from their and I am a bit apprehensive about unnecessary interference from them if Auroville is offered as a part of their project and experiment. And I feel that any association must take place, it should be the Design for a Living which should become part of Auroville since our aims and objectives are much vaster and farreaching than theirs, and the request must come from them or from UNESCO rather than us going after them. This approach of ours at present seems to me quite undiplomatic and unnecessary perhaps because I feel strong possibilities of UNESCO accepting Auroville as a major project and taking the initiative for its fulfilment if [Dr. Adiseshiah] takes it upon himself to pursue and then the funds may be directed to Auroville. Would it not perhaps be wiser to work through the key persons in UNESCO [Dr. Adiseshiah], Tewfik, Kirpal, Pouschpa Dass and explain them how Auroville embodies in its very ideology, conception and town planning the very objectives envisaged in Design for Living and goes even further than those objectives to fulfil the larger aims, rather than running after Ramesh Thaper and asking them to accept Auroville as a part of their project? But if you have approved of this approach, I must admit that the Design of the All-wise Diplomat still escapes me and I would be grateful for Your enlightenment on the subject. The Mother writes her reply on Kailas letter: I do not know who told you that but there is a misunderstanding somewhere because to hand over the management of Auroville to any country or any group however big it may be is an absolute impossibility. Blessings. If it has at all been taken, it is without my knowledge because I say to it an emphatic NO 42

43 Epilogue: (downloaded from Wikipedia) The United Nations University ( 国際連合大学 Kokusai Rengō Daigaku? ) (UNU) is a United Nations agency established in Tokyo in 1973 to research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations and its agencies. It is a think tank for the United Nations and the member states. Its creation was set in motion by Secretary-General U Thant in The university motto is Advancing knowledge for human security, peace, and development. The United Nations University provides educational opportunities to researchers, mainly at the graduate and post-graduate level, through an extensive range of fellowship schemes. It operates through a number of research centres around the world where research fellows or Ph.D. students from other universities, especially those in developing countries, can come to do research. UNU is headed by a Rector and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It does not receive any funding from the regular UN budget; it relies entirely on voluntary contributions from member states which are currently valued at US$ 350 million. The budget of UNU is approximately US$ 37 million per annum. UNU relocated its Institute of Advanced Studies to the Minato Mirai 21 development in Yokohama, Japan in March

44 Chapter 5 A First Cultural Pavilion in Auroville 1970: A national competition is organised with the help of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) for the Pavilion of India, Bharat Nivas. It is a two-tier competition. The jury consisted of the head of the IIA, of Roger Anger, Navajata, Piero Cicionesi and Alain Grandcolas. The first tier results in the selection of the 3 best proposals. The architects thus selected are then given some more time to improve their design and models. The jury meets again and comes to some conclusion though its members are divided. The three models are then brought to the Mother without telling her who prefers what and what the jury had decided. The Mother chooses the design from one Mr. R. Chakrapani (from Madras), which is the one Roger had preferred and some other members too. The Mother made this comment: It is simpler and easier to modify. History will show that Chakrapani s design was to be later modified. Proposal by a team of architects from Ahmedabad (preferred by Piero) Proposal by Porus Master from Bombay (preferred by Navajata) 44

45 Model of R. Chakrapani s winning entry for Bharat Nivas In the upper part one sees the 19 mushroom-shaped State Pavilions Next to them on the right, the 3 cylindrical buildings were meant to be a Student Hostel Bottom left, one recognises the Auditorium (surrounded by 3m above ground level plaza not built) and the restaurant building with its kitchen (which have now become Kala Kendra) The buildings on the bottom right were meant to house a Library and a School of Linguistic. Originally, Bharat Nivas was supposed to be built where Darkali is now, which explains the presence of a canyon on the left side of the model. As there wasn t enough land owned by Auroville on this site and no proper lorry access, the site had to be shifted to where it is now. Details of the States Pavilions in Chakrapani s original proposal Did Chakrapani know that Roger had studied the possibility of giving the shape of a mushroom to residences? Did he give such a shape to his State Pavilions to please Roger? The structure of three of these Pavilions will be started, then abandoned and finally demolished. A footbridge at mid-level gave access to the exhibition space which was on two levels. 45

46 1970, November: UNESCO s General Conferences passes its third resolution in support of Auroville: The General Conference Recalling resolutions 4.36 and concerning Auroville which were adopted by the 14 th and 15 th sessions of the General Conference, Noting that the Charter of Auroville aims inter alia at establishing a place of unending education, of youth that never ages, and living embodiment of an actual human unity, Recognising the progress made in Auroville since the foundation stone ceremony was laid on 28 February 1968, Conscious of the new responsibilities cast on UNESCO in the wake of growing unrest among youth from almost every part of the world; and which has taken the form of an open dispute with the universities and society, Aware of the urgent need to welcome the newly vocal young as allies in the search for a better world, and in keeping with the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for the promotion among youth of ideas of peace, mutual respect and understanding between peoples, and in conformity with the Declaration of the Principles of International Cultural Co-operation, Noting further that towards this end Auroville is already preparing and creating an instrument of education capable of meeting the formidable demands of our age, linking East and West in a new relationship, Considering that UNESCO s Major Projects on the Mutual Appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural Values gave a pioneering start, and recognising that Auroville can be an effective and integrated follow-up to this project, Requests the Director-General to take such steps as may be feasible within the budgetary provisions, to promote the development of Auroville as an important international cultural programme. 1972, March 4 th : After meeting with the Mother, Roger notes: Each country has a particular relationship with nature and the way it expresses beauty; this is what interests us in Auroville. Each Pavilion must be the expression of the culture of each country so that the whole becomes the representation of all the cultures on earth. No politics in Auroville, no politics. This must be repeated and understood; it is Auroville s raison d être, and while waiting for it to be realised in the world, it must exist here first. Each State must express its particular relationship with nature, its culture, its industry and must forget all politics. Those who will take care of the Pavilions will be Aurovilians because it will be compulsory for them to live in Auroville. 1972, March 10 th : After discussing with Roger about a fire in a mechanical workshop at Aspiration, Mother tells Rijuta: I can see, I have truly the occasion to see that if I left, I have nobody here, it would be our destruction Then if the work must be done, if Auroville must be built, not only do I have to remain in my body but the body must become strong. Twenty months later the Mother left her body. This probably explains why Auroville had to face, and is still facing, so many extraordinary difficulties. The fact that the Mother left her body should have led to Auroville s destruction; it came very close to it... but miraculously it did not happen. 1973, October 28 th : Karunanidhi lays the Foundation Stone of the Pavilion of Tamil Nadu: At a special function, held on 28 th October, Dr. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, laid the foundation stone of the Tamil Nadu State Pavilion in the Bharat Nivas Complex. Dr Nedunchezhian, Education Minister, presided. Earlier they had both gone around Auroville and were very highly impressed. Dr. Karunanidhi, in his speech, promised full cooperation and support to Auroville on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu and expressed the hope that Auroville would shine in the world as a rising sun Gazette Aurovilienne, Vol. III, 1973, No. 1, p.26. These photos were published in the following issue. 46

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