Auroville is being strangled by the institution designed to protect it. Auroville’s crisis is not just a local administrative failure; it’s a warning about institutional vulnerability everywhere. When appointed administrators can dismantle democratic structures, weaponize bureaucracy against residents and silence dissent with impunity, it raises urgent questions about institutional integrity worldwide. India’s handling of Auroville’s situation will have significant implications far beyond Tamil Nadu.
The holy fools of shining valley
A fable about what happened when serious-looking people arrived in an idyllic spot where people from different lands lived together in harmony.
To participate in the evolution of consciousness
Why does someone give themselves to a spiritual goal and purpose? What does it look like internally as well as externally?
Whose violence?
A response from a resident after a peaceful gathering in 2023 at the town hall was falsely accused of “being violent.”
Artists in Auroville
How the arts took shape in Auroville over the years, and the restrictions being imposed upon them today.
Money, power, ambition, and an air of superiority
An unsparing declaration of how the Governing Board’s groups contravene Auroville’s principles and spirit.
Censorship, Auroville Today, and the crisis
The central long-running journal of in-depth reporting from Auroville describes a new administration media policy which indicated that Auroville Today going forward would be told what they can and cannot publish.
I pray that Mother’s daring venture does not come to a halt this way
An account from a long-time resident of Dutch origin that balances inner and outer events.
Parliamentary report on governance, land use, visa process, and more
A committee of the Indian Parliament recently published a report that recognizes the Residents Assembly, affirms Auroville’s international character, and upholds the requirement for all three statutory bodies to be involved in decision-making.
We can build the Matrimandir, but we cannot build a tree
A meditative poem exploring the Power within Nature.