24th April 2025 – the Acres for Auroville Newsletter
24th April 2025 – Acres for Auroville Newsletter.pdf
Photo of Pondicherry harbor when The Mother arrived in 1920
Contents
1.A4A Flier – 24 April 2025
2.LFAU Letter – 24 April 2025
3.The Matrimandir Area’s Development – Approaching the Goal!
4.My Auroville Story and The Mother’s Guiding Hand – by Giri Thirumal
5.On Matrimandir – from “A House for the Third Millennium” by Ruud Lohman
6.Divya Shakti – A Performance at the Matrimandir and an April 24th offering
7.Inspiring Quotes – Chapter 4 of ‘The Mother” by Sri Aurobindo
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dear friend of Auroville’s bright future,
Greetings from the LFAU – A4A team!
We are happy to announce that your support and solidarity since the start of the Acres for Auroville land campaign has realized the addition of 187.14 new Master Plan acres for Auroville with 35.59 new acres added just since 2022!
Since the start of the Acres for Auroville campaign, one of our major objectives has been raising funds to acquire the missing plots needed to protect the Matrimandir. Of the new acres your support has enabled, 11.81 acres are protectively next to or near the Matrimandir or in close proximity in the City Area. The most recently purchased will be the site of the Matrimandir’s needed new Reception Pavilion (see the photo in Part 3 below).
Lands not yet owned by Auroville have to be acquired on the Matrimandir’s western front to allow for the full development of the Reception Pavilion project – and this is one of the areas where support for Acres for Auroville is so essential!
In this newsletter of April 24th – coinciding with the 105th anniversary of the Mother’s permanent arrival in India – we continue to present the stories of those who have added to Auroville’s growth and spirit. In this issue, we feature Giri whose entire life has been spent growing with and contributing to Auroville as a Web Developer and Greenbelt farmer, and from Arnab of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Know Your Rhythm, a worldwide Ashram-Auroville-Integral Yoga collaboration, a special April 24th video gift, performed and filmed at the Matrimandir Amphitheatre in honor of The Mother’s and Auroville’s recent anniversaries.
And, in our support for the Matrimandir, we are happy to present its new Garden of Wealth, a report from the Matrimandir Team on the work for The Matrimandir’s completion planned for 21st February 2028, and excerpts from a deeply personal and inspiring essay by Auroville pioneer and longtime Matrimandir worker Ruud Lohman from his 1985 book “A House for the Third Millennium”. We finish with quotes from Sri Aurobindo on the management of money and wealth. We hope you enjoy this “wealth” of enriching reading!
With confidence in Auroville’s bright future,
Aryadeep & Mandakini
1. A4A Flier – 24 April 2025
The new Garden of Wealth was inaugurated on The Mother’s birthday,February 21st this year. Its prominent flower is the Water Lily (Nymphea), the one The Mother said symbolizes Wealth. Based on the meanings She gave for the many varieties of the Water Lily, we see that wealth is meant on many levels: intellectual, psychological, material, feelings and actions, and on the level of the soul. The Mother wrote: ‘The only emotional wealth is love for the Divine’ and ‘True wealth is the wealth that one offers to the Divine’.
https://land.auroville.org/a4a-flier-24-april-2025/
This image was generated using AI prompt “Divine, Auroville, Sri Aurobindo, the future of man” on Magic Studio website
2. LFAU Letter – 24 April 2025
Today, 105 years ago, The Mother – the inspiration source for Auroville – returned to India, to Pondicherry for good. From the viewpoint of the spiritual evolution upon earth, her return was of crucial importance because through that, Sri Aurobindo’s work of world transformation then acquired the new dimension of certainty, a new energy of success. Today, the world is in the throes of change and transformation and, we believe, this could be best interpreted in the light of Mother’s vision of Auroville and its two major sides: the physical, outer, visible side and the side of ideas, ideals, visions, and inspirations. https://land.auroville.org/lfau-letter-24-april-2025/
3.The Matrimandir Area’s Development – Approaching the Goal!
The Matrimandir, the heart and soul of Auroville, is a labor of love, built with the sustained and intensely devoted work of Aurovilians and so many friends, and is a source of inspiration too for the thousands of visitors to Auroville. The objective for the Matrimandir Team is to complete the rest of what The Mother had envisioned – all twelve gardens and the Lake – by February 21st 2028, the 150 birth anniversary of The Mother. Here we are happy to share how the Matrimandir Team is progressing on many fronts towards this great goal. The plot shown above is the site for the new Reception Pavilion. https://land.auroville.org/the-matrimandir-areas-development-approaching-the-goal/
4. My Auroville Story and The Mother’s Guiding Hand – by Giri Thirumal
Aurovilian Giri has been involved with Auroville since his childhood, thanks to his father Thirumal’s work, and aided in his life’s growth by Heidi and Patrick of Fertile East. Growing his skills step by step, he is a Web Developer and IT Support Person who has contributed at Aurelec, the Bamboo Center, Ness School, and at Blue Light and AV Web Services – his current two positions. Along with his wife Monica and his father, he also produces food and milk for Auroville, and is a member of the Forest Group. Giri’s story is one of The Mother’s guiding hand and Grace. https://land.auroville.org/my-auroville-story-and-the-mothers-guiding-hand-by-giri-thirumal/
5. On Matrimandir – from “A House for the Third Millennium” by Ruud Lohman
“A House for the Third Millenium” published in 1986, is a series of essays by Aurovilian Ruud Lohman, who left his body just before its publication. Hailing from Holland, for 15 years Ruud was a member of the Franciscan religious order and for eight years, a Roman Catholic priest. In 1968 he was sent as a sociologist and missionary to India, where he sought out learning about the different forms of Yoga. This led him to coming to Pondicherry, and arriving the next morning in Auroville on 21st February 1971. Ruud spent 15 and a half years of his dedicated life to the work of building the Matrimandir.
https://land.auroville.org/on-matrimandir-from-a-house-for-the-third-millenium-by-ruud-lohman/
6. Divya Shakti – A Performance at the Matrimandir and an April 24thoffering
The Matrimandir Amphitheater is the site of many inspiring offerings to the community and guests. One was the recent performance of Divya Shakti (Divine Power) – a collective dance offering for the birthdays of The Mother and Auroville. Today – April 24th – is the 105th anniversary of the Mother’s final arrival in India and to honor it, Divya Shakti will be screened at 12 Integral Yoga centres and Integral Education schools in India, plus in London and California. We are pleased to make it available here for you on this special day via our article’s link.
https://land.auroville.org/divya-shakti-a-performance-at-the-matrimandir-and-an-april-24th-offering/
7. Inspiring Quotes – Chapter 4 of ‘The Mother” by Sri Aurobindo
‘Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose. This is indeed one of the three forces – power, wealth, sex – that have the strongest attraction for the human ego …’
https://land.auroville.org/inspiring-quotes-the-mother-by-sri-aurobindo/
There are many ways to make your donation. Please click here to know the details and recent changes for both foreign and Indian donors. When you donate, kindly send us a mail at lfau@auroville.org.in or write a letter or call us (see contacts below), informing us of your donation so we can better track and immediately respond to your solidarity!
Now in the 11th year of the A4A campaign, we thank all the many friends
who are bringing their encouragement and solidarity
for the City of Dawn, creating a dynamic space
for the ideal of human unity to flourish and grow – a hope for us all !
For the Acres for Auroville team
Aryadeep, Mandakini, Jothi
In solidarity and trust in Auroville’s bright future,
LFAU (Lands for Auroville Unified), +91 413 2622657, Town Hall, Auroville, 605101, India
If you don’t want to receive our newsletter you can unsubscribe.
Like us on Facebook 
A4A info and land news on our website
LFAU (Lands for Auroville Unified), +91 413 2622657, Town Hall, Auroville,, 605101, India
If you don’t want to receive our newsletter you can unsubscribe.
