History

The City of Dawn

The Universal Township project of Auroville was inaugurated on 28th February 1968, when young people representing 124 countries and all the Indian States placed a handful of earth from their home lands in a marble-clad urn near the centre of Auroville, in a gesture symbolising the creation of a town dedicated to human unity and international understanding.

Not a Yoga of world-shunning asceticism, but of divine Life.

Integral yoga, sometimes also called supramental yoga, is a transformational practice developed by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Central to Integral yoga is the idea of supramental manifestation on the Earth.According to Sri Aurobindo, the current status of human evolution is an intermediate stage in the evolution of the Earth consciousness, which is on its way to the unfolding of the Supermind, and the self-revelation of divinity in all things. Yoga is a rapid and concentrated evolution of being, which can take effect in one lifetime, while unassisted natural evolution would take many centuries or many births.

City the Earth Needs

Auroville, sometimes referred to as "The City of Dawn" is conceived for 50,000 inhabitants from around the world. At the centre stands the Matrimandir, the "soul of the city", a place for individual silent concentration, in an oval shaped Peace Area surrounded by a lake. Radiating out beyond the lake are four Zones - the Industrial (north), Cultural (north east), Residential (south/south west) and International (west) - each focusing on an important aspect of the town's life. Surrounding the township will be a Green Belt consisting of forested areas, farms and sanctuaries.