(The entire Ashram has gone to Auroville to attend its inauguration. Mother reads out her message, which is broadcast live to Auroville through All India Radio:)
“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.”
(Then Mother reads out the Charter)
Auroville’s Charter
1) Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.
But to live in Auroville one must be a 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.
(then the microphone is switched off… silence)
So now, till 11:30 we have a nice quiet time like princes and kings! It doesn’t often happen. If you have something to tell me, I am listening.
Maybe you are the one who has something to say?
No, no! That’s enough! (Mother laughs)
I’ve spent all my days and all my nights quieting the atmosphere, it had taken such proportions…. You know, those movements which start whirling like that, like the wind in a cyclone or at sea, and it goes on whirling faster and faster, more and more strongly, forcefully. Then people fall ill, they get worn out, they can’t do anything anymore. For the past three days I’ve spent my time calming and calming the atmosphere. Luckily they came to me (it wasn’t to “me,” naturally), they felt there was something stable here that could stop this disorder, otherwise… But it was very difficult because of the really large number of additions from outside: on the 21st, at the Darshan, they were more than four thousand people down in the street, and there are all those who came to be here today and tomorrow, so it must mean five or six thousand people—to feed, accommodate… a whole work.
Then they asked me, naturally, that it shouldn’t rain, but that it shouldn’t be sunny either! (Mother laughs) So it was a bit difficult, but a short while ago, Z came to tell me that Auroville’s area was clouded, without sunshine…. All these little entities are quite obliging, but they’re asked impossible things! I get requests, “Ah, I need rain,” and at the same time, “Oh, no, I don’t want rain”; “Ah, I need sunshine,” and “Oh, no, I don’t want sunshine….” How can they manage it!
Are you happy?
Happy? What does that mean?
Are things moving?
I don’t know. I think they’re moving all right over there.
Two days ago Z said to me, “Oh, it has been a good lesson: now we are convinced that the Westerners’ way isn’t better than ours.” Because they kept thinking, all of them, that the materialistic way brought about better realizations—so now they are convinced.
I told you that the Soviet consul is enthusiastic! He saw the Charter—in English first (in English, there is Divine’s Consciousness, with the apostrophe1). He said, “It’s a pity, it evokes the idea of God.” And S., who had been there, said, “It’s not that at all! There’s nothing religious in all this affair. We’ll show you the French.” Then he read conscience divine [divine consciousness], and he was satisfied. He said, “This is just what we want to realize, and without these words it would be officially recognized and supported by the Soviet government.” Then they asked him to translate it into Russian, but finally what’s being read out in Auroville isn’t his translation, it’s the one by T. She has just come, and words don’t frighten her. But I sent him my permission: I had it explained to him that words were just a more or less clumsy transcription not only of the idea, but of what is above the idea—the principle; that it didn’t matter much whether these or those words were used (each one uses the words that suit him best), and that, therefore, I allowed him to use the words that would be acceptable to his government. The Soviet consul said yes, he was very glad. He said, “When the Soviet government officially supports something, it’s serious.”—It’s true, I know it, they are very generous. So I hope it will have a favorable result. And you see, it’s just what I wanted: in America, for a long time they have been enthusiastic—which is good, but perhaps they don’t understand so well; the Russians, in their nature, are mystic, and as that has been oppressed, suppressed, naturally it has gained a lot of force. And now it tends to want to burst.
But if both together support Auroville, we won’t have any more financial hassles!
It has been coming little by little, little by little. I told you what Sri Aurobindo revealed to me about India’s condition, which was the symbolic representation of the present condition of mankind; and that’s why, Sri Aurobindo told me, that’s why Auroville has been created.2 Then I understood. Since then, it has become very clear—“clear,” I mean he seems to have made it spread and people seem to begin to understand.
So there.
***
ADDENDUM
(From a conversation between Mother and a disciple about Auroville.)
One needs to have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is at present the cause of difficulties.
Insincerity is in all men. There are perhaps a hundred totally sincere men on earth. Man’s very nature is what makes him insincere. It’s very complicated, for he is constantly cheating with himself, hiding the truth from himself, finding excuses for himself. Yoga is the way to become sincere in all the parts of one’s being.
It is difficult to be sincere, but one can at least be mentally sincere—this is what one can demand from Aurovilians.
The Force is there, present as never before; what prevents it from descending and being felt is men’s insincerity. The world is steeped in falsehood, all relationships between men have so far been based only on falsehood and deceit. Diplomacy between nations is based on falsehood. They claim they want peace and on the other hand arm themselves. A transparent sincerity in man and between nations will alone permit the coming of a transformed world.
Auroville is the first attempt in the experiment. A new world will be born if men consent to strive for transformation and the search for sincerity—it can be done. It took millennia to evolve from animal to man; today man, thanks to his mind, can accelerate things and will a transformation towards a man who will be God.
This transformation with the help of the mind, through self-analysis, is a first stage; afterwards, vital impulses must be transformed—which is far more difficult; then, most of all, the physical: each cell of our body will have to become conscious. It is the work I am doing here. It will allow the conquest of death. It’s another story; that will be future mankind, perhaps in centuries, perhaps sooner. It will depend on men, on peoples.
Auroville is the first step towards this goal.
In the final English version, the apostrophe was removed: "...To live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness." ↩
See conversation of February 3, 1968. ↩
***
February 20, 1968
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