English

The new book “Dear Aurovilians – Inspiration from Karan Singh’s Auroville Collaboration”, documents the longstanding services of Dr. Singh, Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, for Auroville and re-lives many key moments in Auroville’s development. As Aurovilian Marco Feira puts it: “It is one of the fundamental books in Auroville’s history.” Prepared by A4A’s Aryadeep Acharya, it was released on 7th September in an official ceremony in Auroville by Lt. Governor of Puducherry Dr. Kiran Bedi in the presence of Dr. Singh, and dignitaries. The video of the event can be seen here.

Here is a selection of some of the messages issued by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother over the years to mark the special date of November 24th, 1926, also known as the “Victory Day”. The messages start from 1929, three years after this landmark event, and go up to 1972.

In 1992, the Ashram published the definitive book of The Mother’s paintings, sketches, and drawings. Now her artwork is available as a film in French version, as well as in English, along with the background to her creative periods in France, Algeria, Japan, & the Ashram. “La Mère – une artiste” and “The Mother – an artist and artistic influence” – by “AuroImage” to support the A4A campaign for Auroville’s still-missing land.

The Mother created a lexicon for the spiritual messages of hundreds of trees and flowers. Hibiscus is identified with power, and to 14 varieties of Hibiscus she gave the double name of “New Creation” and “Auroville”. For Auroville’s role as pioneer of the New Creation, Power is an essential quality – for as Sri Aurobindo wrote, power is the strength “to face all that can happen … to carry out what the Divine Will proposes”. One Auroville flower isn’t a Hibiscus – it’s the flower named “MIRACLE”. You can see the flowers here.

This 20-minute film with music traces The Mother’s life and work as an artist, from her youth in Paris, through her stays in Algeria and Japan, to her life in Pondicherry. It presents her paintings, sketches, and drawings from these periods, and works by the Ashramites she mentored, including Huta, who painted the work The Mother named “Spirit of Auroville”.

We warmly salute the beautiful actions of solidarity for Auroville’s land by young teenagers from the Tibetan Village School of Dharamsala, during their recent stay at Auroville’s Pavilion of Tibetan Culture. May we all be inspired by their example!