English

February 28th, Auroville’s birthday, saw the joyful opening of Sunship’s ‘La Petite Epicerie’ (‘The Little Grocery Store’) inaugurating this beautiful space created with an aspiration for collective participation. Situated in the Habitat Zone of the City Centre, it serves the residential communities of the area and the surrounding neighbourhood. It has been a story of dedication by the team of Louis, Anandi, Arul and Ananda, who patiently bore several years of hurdles to be able to offer this service to the community.

Srijita first visited Auroville at age 4, the first of many visits over the decades. After studies at the Ashram School in Pondicherry, she worked within India and then moved to France, She worked with European and International associations in the fight against human trafficking and domestic violence. She then did her thesis at the Sorbonne in Social Sciences. Joining Auroville in 2008, her first work was at the Matrimandir Offerings Desk. Later, in addition, she worked as police liaison for the Safety and Security team and now as primary dispatcher and coordinator for Auroville Emergency Medical Services. Committed to the Auroville Dream, she seeks to put in practice The Mother’s words on “work done as an offering to the Divine ”.

‘For as long as I can remember, drawing has been my oxygen …. and my quest for Being has been ever-present since childhood.’ Discovering Auroville in 1992 was an extraordinary key, ‘a remarkable opportunity to explore and express every facet of my being in service of Consciousness.’ In this second article in Art for Land’s ‘Conversation with an Artist’ series, Aurovilian Marie-Claire shares her aspirations and approach to the creation of art in various media. In addition to her art and exhibitions, she is an early childhood teacher at Auroville’s Oli School and does art therapy with adults. She says, ‘Art is a living dialogue between Matter and Spirit’ – one that can ‘provoke a spiritual transformation.’ (In English and in French)

‘This taste for supreme adventure is aspiration – an aspiration which takes hold of you completely and flings you without calculation and without reserve and without a possibility of withdrawal into the great adventure of the divine discovery, the great adventure of the divine meeting, the yet greater adventure of the divine Realisation.’ We are pleased to present here The Mother’s many instructive messages on aspiration for the period 1934 – 1956. One of which was her 1955 message : ‘Keep the fire burning steadily and wait quietly for the sure result …’ the result which did come, on 29 February 1956.

In this, Auroville’s ‘Birthday Week’ for its 58th year, , Acres for Auroville is happy to announce that to date 274.56 once-missing Master Plan acres have been registered as new Auroville land – a plus of 42.42 acres since our announcement in our November newsletter just three months ago. In this new February issue, we continue to present the inspiring and impressive contributions of the many builders of Auroville. On our side, the goal of Acres for Auroville is to provide and contribute the means for Auroville’s vision to incarnate in matter through a consolidated physical base. We invite everyone to read this issue’s very inspiring articles … and we thank all those who support and join us in our aspiration! Version française en pdf … பிடிஎஃப்பில் தமிழ்ப் பதிப்பு

Toby came into contact with Sri Aurobindo & The Mother as a teenager in the Netherlands and quickly became involved with the Sri Aurobindo Auroville Society and Auroville International Netherlands. From that early point on, his life path was made of a series of significant points which finally connected and found their meaning when he settled in Auroville in 2006. His professional career as a CEO in Finance and with Dutch water companies gave him skills that he now brings to Auroville’s town planning and water service groups. He sees Auroville as ‘a spiritual creation’ whose elements ‘have a spiritual place and meaning’.