Deep reverence kept the project alive

A volunteer whose family is from the Chennai area travels to Germany, learns first-hand about cultural differences with India, and is dedicated to empowering people.

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Written May 2023

I heard about Auroville for the first time in the fall of 1971. I was then working in Paris, France. I did not know anything about Sri Aurobindo or The Mother. I found a small book called “The Future of Humanity”, a small compilation of texts extracted from various essays written by Sri Aurobindo. I still remember vividly the extraordinary impression these texts made on me. I was sitting in my office, and I kept repeating to myself, “Here is someone who speaks the Truth, here is someone who speaks of what he knows to be true from personal experience”. I was in total awe that such a being had existed.

I had been from my childhood quite a devout Christian catholic, even to the point of nearly becoming a priest. Religions speak about “the kingdom of God” but it is for the after-life. Sri Aurobindo simply declared that the Life Divine is the future of Earth, that it is going to happen and human beings are called upon to cooperate towards this manifestation. The Mother was made to create Auroville as one important step towards this goal.

I visited Pondicherry in the summer of 1972, applied to become Aurovilian and was accepted by the Mother. Eleven months later, in mid-1973, I joined Auroville, an adventure towards creating a different world. I am still there 50 years later . . .

After the passing of the Mother on November 17, 1973, many problems arose and two years later a majority of residents became involved in a battle with Auroville legal sponsors who wanted to impose unwanted controls as if they were the owners of the Auroville project, in deep contradiction with the spirit of the Auroville Charter given by the Mother. This battle with many turns and ups and downs lasted for about 12 years.

What touched me immensely was the then Indian Government’s effort to rescue the project to the point of practically siding with a majority group of residents with many foreigners against an Indian Society. I am sure that in any other country the Government would have just closed down the project. Deep reverence for Sri Aurobindo and The Mother kept the project alive. I was present in the gallery of the Lok Sabha on September 5, 1988, when its members who happened to be nearly all present unanimously passed the Auroville Foundation Bill already approved a few days before by the Rajya Sabha. This scene will remain vivid, etched in my memory, forever. It is why, even now, when another Government has so far taken actions which for me contradict the letter and spirit of the Auroville Foundation Act, I cannot despair as I am sure another typically Indian miracle will occur and rescue the true Auroville.

For about 10 years in the 80s I spent lots of time in Delhi, working with Shri Kireet Joshi, ex-director of the Sri Aurobindo International Education Center in Pondicherry who had become Special Secretary in Charge of Higher Education. He wanted to develop educational research in Auroville and I helped him in the task of creating the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) in Auroville. During these years I also had the opportunity to meet with many bureaucrats at every level and most of the time I found that their Indian psyche was easily touched by their perception of our work for Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Auroville. This gives me a lot of hope for the future, in spite of the present circumstances.

By Alain Bernard