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English >> Works of Other Authors >> On the Ashram and Auroville |
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Auroville: A City for the Future— Anu Majumdar
About Auroville: A City for the FutureA resident of Auroville for more than thirty-six years, the author explores the extent to which the city’s growth reflects its founding vision. To this end she has structured the book broadly along the four main lines of the Auroville Charter: to serve the Divine Consciousness, to be a place of unending education, to bridge the past and the future with a bold step into future realisations, and to work towards a living human unity. Her observations shift between historical narratives and personal perspectives, her own as well as those of other residents of Auroville, to reflect on how the city has grown through some of its most challenging periods and experimental efforts as it strives towards the promise of its charter. Numerous accounts of individual Aurovilians help build up a vibrant picture of the city today. REVIEWIt is always heartening to see an international imprint such as Harper Collins publish a book such as this, as Auroville is still largely unknown amongst the general public. One hopes someone browsing a bookstore would notice the beautiful cover and discover that yes, there are people working at the service of a greater ideal, trying to work out the details of a vast vision. That there is hope. As a longtime resident, having arrived in 1979, Anu certainly has seen all the facets of the community. And it is especially important that she puts an emphasis on its spiritual foundation. Certainly the afforestation and the international dimensions are important and part of the integral vision, but what is it that makes Auroville unique when compared to dozens of other ecovillages and various attempts at community or utopian living? Using the Charter of Auroville as a guide, she divides the book into four sections: Consciousness, Unending Education, City, and Unity. A basic history of the lives of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother begins the narrative, but Anu weaves the past together with her own reflections and anecdotes including those from various Aurovilians. Indeed, this blending continues throughout the book and expands the personal narrative. Anu recounts a few of the charming stories of those led to Auroville in the early years. Some came from an inner inspiration, others in search of a French meal, still others following what they thought was their true love only to discover a higher kind of love drawing them in. Of special interest are the Ashramites who first commuted to Auroville and ended up living there, in spite of the many challenges. And there was certainly a great deal of collaboration and support between the two communities, especially during the early years. Critical to understanding Auroville’s raison d’être is the Matrimandir. There is a general introductory chapter, but Anu, who spent time working there, also shares personal stories about the early stages of its construction and the various people who worked there, including the remarkable former Catholic priest, Ruud Lohman, who gave himself completely to the Matrimandir’s realization. Anu also had a trial by fire, taking over the Pour Tous food distribution service for the entire community while the manager went to France, and getting immersed into management, computers, Tamil and French all at the same time. As Anu is a dancer as well as a writer, the arts also weave in and out as a leitmotif throughout the book, and many artists make an appearance through a short profile and description of their work. Anu also includes her own poems from time to time as another portal through which to view Auroville’s evolution. One of the happy detours taken is a section on Golconde, a guesthouse of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Anu sees that in many respects the Ashram, as Udar Pinto used to say, was the laboratory and Auroville the field experiment. Antonin Raymond, the architect of Golconde, came to the project through Pavitra, whom he had met in Japan. Raymond had been working with Frank Lloyd Wright on the Imperial Hotel. He brought his family as well as two other architects, François Sammer, a student of Le Corbusier, and George Nakashima, a Japanese American who had studied at MIT. The result was a remarkable building hailed both in India and abroad. Golconde is the subject of a traveling exhibition based on the book Golconde: The Introduction of Modernism in India by Pankaj Vir Gupta and Christine Mueller. The Nakashima compound in New Hope, Pennsylvania, will feature the Golconde Exhibit in May, 2022. George Nakashima became a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and Mother and was given the name Sundarananda. He later returned to the USA and became world-renowned as a woodworker. He named his daughter Mira. Anecdotes about education, and town planning and governance continue the narrative, but what is most important about the entire effort is the constant reference to the foundational insights of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother into human nature and the need for inner growth leading to a new consciousness. Quote after quote in various contexts and subjects show the breadth and depth and radical nature of the vision guiding Auroville. That the Aurovilians are not up to the task at various critical points is a great frustration and Anu does vent with pointed words from time to time. But on the whole this spices up the narrative. The book ends with a focus on the youth, as we all pray that the next generation does better than ours, and so some highlights of dynamic young second and third generation Aurovilians are featured. Then, like The Lord of the Rings movie, there are four more “endings”: reflecting on the Galaxy plan, the esoteric supramental vision of the Mother, another of Auroville’s endless meetings, and the final fifth dream of Sri Aurobindo from one of his essays about India’s independence. And this extended opportunity to again learn about the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in the context of Auroville is the real treasure of reading this book. One could say that often Sri Aurobindo’s teaching is reduced to “All Life is Yoga”, as it appeared on the coins issued for his 125th Birth Anniversary. But in this four-year period between Auroville’s 50th anniversary and Sri Aurobindo’s 150th, it is good to see concrete examples of the lived experience Anu chronicles. She pushes into how we actually try to work out these high ideals in daily life. And this is what makes this book and Auroville itself so special. I wonder if an outsider will be overwhelmed by so many characters mentioned in this book. Having known many of them personally, I am delighted to be reminded and wish each one could come with a bio and photo. And, of course, Auroville itself is so colorful and visual, yet the photos are all in black and white—and too few and they lack captions. But as Auroville is so dynamic one can only look forward to the next effort to capture what is not always on the surface. —Julian Lines Julian is President of Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center in Mount Tremper, New York, USA, and serves on the Board of Auroville International USA.
Reviewed in August 2021 |
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