Hindustan Times
God’s own city of Karm Yogis
Visiting Auroville gives the experience one always wanted: A tryst with divinity. Situated in Pondicherry in the district of Viluppuram, and founded in 1968, this heavenly abode with 2500 residents from 45 countries, living as an extended family, is based on the vision of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa, known as The Mother, who wanted to have it as a universal place where love and compassion rule and human unity in diversity sees its perfection in bonding.
The word ‘Auroville’ is a combination of two French words, meaning the ‘City of Dawn’. It also means Aurobindo Village — a supramental creation to represent the values and ideals of the Guru.
The whole idea of setting up of this place was to be one with nature and be in commune with the divine so that the journey of life can be done in a manner that is in tune with the purpose of life. Its residents are devotees of nature and are lovingly and enthusiastically involved in increasing the natural phenomena around them by devoting their lives to promote nature. Land restoration, afforestation, village development, research into renewal energy applications and related efforts are their daily concern.
Everything in this abode takes a heavenly shape and colour. In terms of the built-up of its buildings and the creation of the surrounding areas, done by world’s top architects like Roger Anger, are meant to create a feeling of the closeness to Him and come closer to one’s own consciousness.
As Dr Karan Singh, who has been associated with the project for a long time now, says that everything here is beautiful and wonderful in their purest form. But the most impressive object here is the Matrimandir, a domelike golden structure in the middle of the village with noting inside but a thin piercing ray of sun that wakes up one to one’s consciousness of the powerful divine. Here is a place where one gets to realize one’s real self with all the ballooning egos and related paraphernalia of worldly fusion torn apart.
This really is the fulfillment of what Sri Aurobindo himself had dreamt of, “There has been a dream of …. A new earth and heaven, a city of God, a divine descend upon earth, a reign of the spiritually …” Today, 48 years after it was first conceived in 1964, this city-village is a self-contained community, communing with the forces of nature and the divine. It is a reflection of Sri Aurobindo’s ideal who taught the world the Karma Yoga. Auroville is for those who want to do the Yoga of work towards the fulfillment of the search for one’s consciousness.
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