LFAU LETTER – 15 AUGUST 2020

Lands for Auroville Unified (LFAU)
Auroville Centre for Urban Research, Administrative Area,
Auroville – 605 101, Tamil Nadu, India
India’s 74th Independence Day and Auroville

“The Soul of India is one and indivisible. India is conscious of her mission in the world. She is
waiting for the exterior means of manifestation.” – The Mother, 6 June 1947 (CWTM. V.13, p.351)

The above words were written by the Mother two months before India’s Independence from British rule. Then, on Sri Aurobindo’s 75th birthday, on 15th August 1947 when India attained her long-sought Independence, Sri Aurobindo, at the request of All India Radio, wrote a message wherein he spoke of his five dreams, one of which was the spiritual gift of India to the world.

Some 21 years later in 1968, the founding of Auroville took place with the endorsement of UNESCO and numerous countries in the world thanks in part to the reach of Indian spirituality in the world – one of Sri Aurobindo’s five “dreams”. Writes Suryamayi Aswini in her doctoral thesis on Auroville: “The spirit and culture of the revolutionary era of ‘68 was in part informed by the concurrent discovery of Indian spirituality, popularised by contemporary artists such as The Beatles, which offered tools for the individual emancipation that was seen as necessary to accompany and realise the transformation sought for society at large.”

In the quest for “tools” for individual emancipation and a transformed society, we believe Auroville brings the knowledge and vision from the two pioneers, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which far surpass the reason-born or the idealism-born knowledge and vision of founders of earlier utopian communities. The richness of experience with this depth and breadth of knowledge and vision make Auroville one of the most appropriate “exterior means of manifestation” for the soul of India. Anyone who studies the Mother’s vision of Auroville with impartiality will agree that Auroville’s vision, worldview, philosophy, approach to individual and collective life, and even the practical dimension of the town-plan, offer India an inspiration and roadmap to emerge into a future worthy of her great and divine soul.

Auroville has been welcomed and nourished in India and, in turn, Auroville nourishes the Indian renaissance. This truth needs to be better understood and strengthened so as to create “the exterior means of manifestation” for India’s soul which alone can ensure India’s glorious future, and the subsequent vastly beneficial impact on the world.

“Acres for Auroville” seeks to strengthen this truth by consolidating the planned Auroville area.

With trust in Auroville’s bright future,