Lands for Auroville Unified
Auroville Centre for Urban Research, Administrative Area Auroville – 605 101, Tamil Nadu, India
24th April 2019 – Goodwill Activation Point
Pioneering spirit
“Don’t lose the pioneering spirit” advised Auroville’s staunch friend J.R.D. Tata during his last visit to Auroville in 1993 when Auroville was celebrating her 25th year.
J.R.D. Tata was, of course, referring to the early years of Auroville when some 400 people lived on a spread-out barren plateau amid extreme heat, lack of water and infrastructure. A vast blue sky above and a red earth below their feet – they were certainly pioneers!
But we feel that the term itself is relative from a broader perspective.
From the perspective of emergence of consciousness and of light, Auroville was not pioneered starting in 1968 – but since the dawn of human civilization. The origin of Auroville goes back to ancient times when rishis in India composed the inspired word “Veda”. It goes back to the times of ancient Egypt when Amenhotep IV founded Akhenaton’s city:
“Here is the place that belongs to no prince, to no god. Nobody owns it.
This is everybody’s place. The earth will find joy in it. Hearts will be happy in it.”
They were the pioneers of Auroville as well. Similarly, the newcomers to Auroville could well be regarded as the pioneers of the future to come. One of the messages of the Mother, though in different context, is worth recalling here:
“A happy beginning
A good continuation
And no end
An endless progression”
When the goal is endless progression, each generation is both pioneer and continuer. “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it,” wrote an Occidental thinker.
The task before the early settlers was to reclaim the eroded land by planting saplings, and also the seeds of their creativity. “Acres for Auroville” is a part of that continuum. It seeks to consolidate the material base for the unique future city that is coming up. Thus, we are also pioneers, and those who will come to develop the city after us will be pioneers of the new things in the endless progression of Auroville!
Aryadeep Mandakini
Please specify “ACRES FOR AUROVILLE” (all Master Plan priority plots) or “GREEN ACRES” (Greenbelt plots exclusively) for all donations via:
- Auroville Unity Fund (checks & bank transfers),
- Auroville Donation Gateway (credit & debit cards) https://donations.auroville.com/
- Auroville International www.auroville-international.org
Tax deductibility, news & videos: https://land.auroville.org/
Phone: +91 413 2622 657 Fax: +91 413 2622055 E-mail: lfau@auroville.org.in website: land.auroville.org
