Auroville - An alternative

Greetings from Auroville to all men of good will.
Are invited to Auroville all those who
thirst for progress and aspire to a higher and truer life.

One of the many things we hoped to experience from this hiatus abroad was an alternative to modern-day living in the States. Not only the day-in day-out predictable grind of work, but the bigger feeling of being a mouse on a giant treadmill that defines life in America. Auroville, a self-proclaimed Universal town in the making, is just that. The city itself was conceived 40 years ago and has since grown from a barren plot of land to a forested town with 2,000 full-time residents from 35 different countries, especially India, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands + America. There are a couple main gurus who conceptualized and built the city to what it is now, and whether you agree with all their spiritual teachings or not, their premise for Auroville is well founded.

The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity – in diversity. Today Auroville is recognised as the first and only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity and transformation of consciousness, also concerned with - and practically researching into - sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind.

By their very choice of being here, the Aurovilians commit themselves to be instrumental in the creation of "a universal township where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities". They are aware that "the purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity" so that, eventually, our species may progress.


It's taken us several days to just to figure out logistics of the city - get housing, transportation, opening hours, lay of the land... but now we're meeting great people and seeing inspiring things. We've been spending our days visiting some of the projects within the city to see what they're doing. Sadhana Forest was one of our first. The work they've been doing there over the past few years of creating a community devoted to extreme sustainable living is modest, but impressive. All the infrastructure is almost entirely out of natural, native materials. They utilize solar energy, collect rainwater, use composting toilets, are reforesting the barren landscape and more, and are continually working to expand and improve their systems by testing out new methods. The volunteers we met there said it's great - like summer camp for adults - but the 40-something project leader and his wife are committed. They've been doing it full-time for the past 7 years and devoted their entire life-saving into the work. Another that we visited was the Earth Institute where volunteers gather every day to make earth-bricks for the construction of Aurovillian homes and buildings. It's a HUGE task as Auroville aims to provide free housing for all of it's inhabitants. Our next stop was Solitude - another that aims towards sustainable living with a greater focus on a very low-impact style of organic farming called Fukuoka (aka Do Nothing farming) that also doubles as a zen meditative practice - very deep.

The general feel of an alternative, creative, primarily moneyless community reminds us alot of Burningman without the party vibe, and we find ourselves repeatedly making comparisons. What if our huge BRC community at home put our efforts towards more productive + lasting ends? We could do this too. Create an environment to nurture continual growth + learning. Instead of an event that's over in a week, we could live it year round. It gives us hope + inspiration to see this place flourishing after 40 years. It's not just an experiment... it's a viable, alternative reality to getting off the mainstream treadmill of western existence.

Auroville will be the place of an unending education,
of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.

Auroville is to be a major vehicle of evolutionary thrust and,
eventually, a platform for transformation.

It's interesting to note how many solid, interesting people we've met here in just a few days. People seem so open and willing to share. Compared to the disproportionately high number of expats we met all over Southeast Asia who are misfits, here, most we've met are on a journey of growth and making positive life change. Over time, I think being an expat in a place like Cambodia (as fun as it is) might have a degenerative effect while becoming an Aurovillian seems like it'd be nothing but positive.

So, if you're going to construct a city revolved around growth + learning, then building a central structure like the Matrimandir seems fitting. Though the Matrimandir is the spiritual center, the physical center of the city is an old banyan tree - one of the only mature trees on the site when they began. There are no particular Gods or religions followed here, hence there are no icons. You are free to worship as you like in silence. The Matrimandir isn't for spectators, and it took us 5 days to get our first glimpse inside, even as guests. The exterior of the sphere is comprised of numerous discs of 24k gold sandwiched between glass. It shimmers in the sun and is very futuristic in appearance. The interior is a light filled void in which to meditate and where absolute silence is observed. It's a wonderful, spiritual space, void of dogma and open to personal interpretation.

As with anything, Auroville isn't perfect, and we've heard our share of complaints about the growing pains it's working through, but they've got an impressive thing going so far. For anyone interested, there are numerous possibilities for living (or volunteering) and learning with different Aurovillian villages focusing on everything from sustainable living, organic gardening, empowering rural women, teaching orphans and others. There are available classes in yoga, reiki, capoeira, singing, drawing, healthy eating, language and numerous other topics. If this sounds good to you, plan to come for two weeks up to several months to make the most of it. We hadn't planned on commiting now, but we may well return.

(Photos: The founders - The Mother + Sri Aurobindo; Giant Banyan + the Matrimandir - the centers of Auroville; Matrimandir exterior detail; Crystal + Sectional elevation of the Inner Chamber; Modernist Aurovillian home; City site plan for accommodating up to 50,000 inhabitants)

As the world is rapidly changing and groping for new paradigms to re-model itself, so Auroville stands poised at the start of a new millennium, ready to enter a new phase of its development and growth, and aware of a new flowering of the faith in humanity's future that it represents.