The History of Auroville - Mother's known words in their context

Books 1 to 3

February 2016 version 
Edited by Gilles Guigan 
Auroville Archives

Foreword to this History of Auroville

On 14th August 2014, it has been 50 years that the Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS), whose President was Mother, took the decision to build a new town, which She later named Auroville. Mother’s known words on Auroville date from mid-1965 to mid-1973 – an 8-year period. Though 43 years have passed since Mother left Her body, it is still very difficult for interested people to read about Her intentions with Auroville and how they evolved along these 8 years. 

During Mother’s lifetime, Auroville’s history was written in three different places: 

1. In Mother’s room at the Ashram where She spoke of Auroville, answered verbally loads of letters, wrote hundreds of messages & answers to letters and signed many notices written by others. 
2. In the offices of the SAS in Pondicherry, in Roger Anger’s office (which was at first in Paris, then in Pondicherry and then in Auroville) and wherever Navajata, Roger and others went to speak of Auroville and/or raise support and funds for it.
3. On the Auroville plateau as soon as land was purchased and adventurous pioneers started to settle there. 

The three most accessible compilations of Mother’s words on Auroville are found in: Mother’s Agenda, in The Mother on Auroville and in Volume XIII of the Collected Words of the Mother (CWM). Mother’s most interesting conversations on Auroville are definitely in Her Agenda, but they are drowned among many other topics and many of Her other interesting words are missing. The problems with The Mother on Auroville and the CWM are that many of Her words are also missing and that, as these compilations are thematic instead of chronological, it is very difficult to understand how the project evolved along the years – which it did. 

Savitra’s 1974 out-of-print “Auroville, the first 6 years – 1968-1974” is the only two records of what was happening on the Auroville plateau during these 6 years.* It is definitely very interesting but mentions very few of Mother’s words and of what was happening in the offices of the SAS and of Roger. There isn’t any publication reporting on what was taking place in these offices.

This compilation can only be limited to Mother’s known words because many interesting words of Hers were not recorded. There is no record of Her conversations with Navajata, with Her son André, with Her grand daughter Françoise (Pournapréma)** and with many other disciples with whom She spoke of Auroville. The notes Roger kept were very succinct and pertained only to a short period of time. This is unfortunate because we are missing very interesting conversations. 

Our aim with this document is primarily to present all Her known words on Auroville in their context in order to enable readers to better understand Her intentions with this Auroville venture and how She went about launching it. It includes also many general and other messages (such as Darshan messages) which were destined to all disciples.

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This compilation proves that, from 1912 onwards (that it two years prior their first meeting), Sri Aurobindo and Mother spoke of the need to give birth to an ideal/perfect society at a certain stage of humanity’s evolution. Mother described it in “A Dream” which She published in 1954 but wrote: “The earth is certainly not ready to realise such an ideal, for mankind does not yet possess sufficient knowledge to understand and adopt it nor the conscious force that is indispensable in order to execute it; that is why I call it a dream.” Hence, the question were always: When? Where? On which basis to launch it? How to secure enough land for it? How to attract the required human and material resources?... Mother was waiting for inner and outer signs telling Her that time had come to launch this endeavour. 

Because of its comprehensiveness, this compilation is not easily readable; it is a research document to be used by people seriously interested in learning about Auroville’s background and early years – and maybe in writing about it. The editor welcomes any addition as well as corrections of mistakes or simple inaccuracies. This has been a collective work from the start and has to remain such. 

This work is dedicated to Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and their dream of an ideal/perfect society developing an ideal place/town/city for itself as an example that should spread and be reproduced elsewhere. 

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*W.M. Sullivan’s “The Dawning of Auroville” has also many very interesting entries and covers a longer period. 

**Mother’s other grand daughter, Janine Panier, doesn’t seem to have been involved in the Auroville project.
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Auroville, 13th February 2016 

Gilles Guigan, Auroville Archives

Books 1 and 2

This 3rd Book covers the period from March 1965 to February 1966 included.

During this period, Mother turns Navajata's township (destined to disciple who wanted to live and work near Her and the Ashram without having to meet the very constraining conditions asked from Ashramites) into an "ideal city" of 50,000 with every material feature one could dream of.  She invites Roger, Navajata and others to dream big and ideal - materially.

Regarding the quality of the society it would host, Mother says that the way of life there would only be "slightly more ideal". Many are likely to wonder why, during this period, Mother seems more interested in developing an "ideal city" than in an "ideal society" as one would have expected.  It will only be in September 1966 that She will receive an answer to this question... which She will later dismiss when She received a different explanation on 3.2.68.

In this 3rd book, we have also included events which took place between India and Pakistan because, the creation of Auroville seems to have had an impact on India. This connection will be somehow confirmed by Mother on 3.2.68.

Go to part 2